What is a Capsule Wardrobe and Why You Should Start One Now! Capsule Wardrobe 101

What is a Capsule Wardrobe and Why You Should Start One Now!?!

Especially if you have too many demands on your time, your energy, your health, and your life.

Capsule Wardrobe
French Wardrobe
KonMari Wardrobe
Project 333
Be More With Less Dressing

All of these terms describe the same idea. It is the idea of having a beautiful wardrobe of a few items that mix and match to create multiple outfits.

It is the idea that 50 items (or 33 in the case of Project 333), including shoes, belts, jewelry, and accessories, gives you more freedom.

Freedom from what?

Freeing up your time in the morning because you have fewer decisions to make regarding your clothing choices.
Free energy because you have less decision fatigue.
Freedom from doubt that you don't look and feel your best because you kept only the items that make you feel delectable.
Freedom from guilt for impulse clothing buys.
Freedom from shopping highs.
Freedom to say no to something that doesn't fit into your capsule.
Freedom to buy quality items that last.
Freedom from competition with other people's (and advertiser's) idea of what you should wear and buy every year.

    As a chronic pain patient, I can't even count how many hours I have stood in my closet feeling I had nothing to wear.

    Feeling that I was ugly.

    Feeling unsexy and undesirable.

    Feeling upset, miserable, and guilty that I had lots, and lots, of beautiful clothes that I could not wear, did not want to wear or did not make me feel beautiful.

    I should not be standing that long trying to put on clothes in the morning.

    That's bad for me physically but what about people with no problems? They don't have the time to be standing in the closet either. You have a job to get to, or kids to get out the door to school, or both.

    How can your life get immediately easier? Create less decision fatigue.

    Clean out your clothes for good and create a capsule wardrobe.

    Capsule Wardrobe 101

    Get all of your clothes, and I mean all of them.


    The ones you hid under the bed. The boxed up clothes from undergrad in the attic. The clothes in your storage unit. The ones in the upstairs closet. Hell, get the ones still stored at your parents' house. Pile everything on the bed and start your first sort.

    Project 333 creator states putting it on your bed so you have to get it done. I did this even though I knew doing this in one day was going to cause a pain flare. It made me get it done by the end of the day.

    It took me two days to recover from doing this.

    The first day after I laid on the couch and watched TV. Thank goodness Houston froze over because my husband had to work from home. He fed me.

    Day two I could move but was more energy wiped than hurting.

    First Sort - Love and Hate

    If you love it and are absolutely going to keep it put it on a hanger and put it back in the closet sorted by color (this is important for later).

    I love ROY G. BIV method of sorting my clothes. It's how I always knew one of my sorority sisters pilfered something of mine in the house.

    Reds (and variations of red like pink)
    Indigos (Dark Blues)
    Violets (Purples)

    Then your neutrals:
    Navy (Anything Blue Jean)

    If you hate it get rid of it.

    This means it looks frightening on you.

    This could have been a gift, an impulse buy, fad fashion from 10 years ago, or something you wore when you were 18 and now you're 38.

    Make two piles one for a donation if it is still a good item and one for the trash. Items that have stains, holes, and reek of body odor should be thrown away.

    Second Sort - It Might Fit Again

    Now you should have what you love and hate separated, you have a bunch of maybes leftover.

    Now it gets hard. This is the pile of clothes that have possibilities but also have negatives. If it doesn't fit anymore it needs to go. I know that you think to yourself I just need to lose that 5 pounds...

    Toss it.

    If you lose the 5 pounds treat yourself to something new that is a quality item. You know in your heart of hearts that if you do end up losing the weight you are going to want new clothes to treat yo self with.

    Practice the KonMari Method of discarding clothes, hold it in your hands, thank it out loud for being an amazing ___ (dress, skirt, top or jeans) and let it go.

    Do this for all clothes that no longer fit.

    Now separate the too small or too big clothes into donate and discard.

    I had both as I was in the middle of my weight loss journey. Let me tell you, getting rid of the big clothes was actually harder than the small ones because of the fear that I might be that big again and would need those big clothes.

    Third Sort

    You should now have clothes you love and clothes that fit you.

    Of the clothes that fit you. Pick each piece up and hold it. How does each piece make you feel? Good? Happy? Sexy? Irresistible? If these words do not describe to you how you feel, then let that item of clothing go.

    Almost done!

    Of the clothes that you are now (for the most part) keeping, start matching them up to other clothes in your closet to break them up into seasons.

    I divided my clothes into:

    Winter - December, January, and February

    Spring - March, April, and May

     Summer - June, July, and August

    Fall - September, October, and November

    The Fourth and Last Sorting

    Clothes that did not match any color schemes.  I had weird one-off colors that just didn't go with anything else.  I also put those into the donate pile.

    To find your color schemes:

    Since I live in Texas I have to be prepared for all weather occasions. Just take this winter. One day is 70°F the next is 15°F. In my winter wardrobe, I have tank tops and shorts to wool lined trousers and sweaters. So I have to have a variety of options.

    Summer for me only involves shorts and dresses.

    Figure out what you need based on seasons.

    For instance, I don't have that many long sleeved items because...Texas. The few items I had obviously were going to be used in November, December, January, and February.

    You can see a better idea of what I am describing in this video. Laid out on the bed, I am already matching up color schemes. I'm also talking about how when I was suffering from uncontrolled high pain how shopping for clothes was one of my addictions.

    I would like to state that I went shopping with my husband this President's Day sale and didn't buy any clothes, that was a huge step for me.

    Going to a capsule wardrobe has really helped me save time, energy, and unbelievably money.  I feel happier with less because I'm not weighed down with stuff that has so many negative feelings associated with them. I also don't feel the urge to shop because I like my wardrobe the way it is.