Seasonal Switch
In my last blog post I mentioned my new venture, The Counter-Jones: permission to let go of the have-have-life. Well, I figured the best place to start was in my own closet.
Plus, I said I was going to do another one of these posts in the fall, and here we are. For the first post click HERE.
It was hardly a good day, temperature-wise, to switch out my summer clothes for my winter ones. I think the thermometer topped out somewhere in the 90 range (in the sun). But I know that cooler weather has GOT to be close, and since I had a little bit of time on a lazy Saturday, I went for it.
As I stated in my post from the Spring, I am working on paring my wardrobe down. I find that I can get dressed more efficiently, and even feel more satisfied with what I have, when there is less to choose from.
I have attempted in the past to do a Capsule Wardrobe but I just could not bring myself to eliminate my closet down to 30 items. Once I switched out my clothes from summer to winter, I thought I would just go ahead and at least count how many items I have.
Full disclosure: I did not count my leggings, undershirts, pajamas, or running clothes. Those are sort of essentials that I felt shouldn't be counted in my number. Leggings are just about an everyday must for a work dress code that calls for skirts and dresses. Undershirts are needed for those V-necks that are just a little too "V," and running stuff....well I'm not quitting that.
I ended up counting 80 items: shirts, cardigans, sweaters, jeans, dresses, and skirts.
I figured I could at least pare it down by half. So I shot for 40.
A few things were easily to pull out. Others, not so much. I'm going to give it a shot but I think for this thing to really work is that I am going to have to do one main thing:
Avoid Target.
Nothing makes me want get the style of the season quite like a stroll through the women's section of Target. I usually end up at the discount racks, but still, it isn't really anything that I am needing.
Keeping up with the style, keeping up with the Joneses. However you look at it, I'm trying to work against it.
For me, it's having items that I absolutely love and that I feel comfortable in. Items that are classic, things that don't necessarily go out of style. If it's a fad...I don't own it.
So, I am going on a spending freeze. No thrift stores, no Target, no online shopping. No clothing purchases for myself for this season (so, let's say, 6 months). This sounds really good in theory, but when it comes down to it, I think it will be a bit difficult to implement. Stay tuned, I'll let you know how this goes!
A sweet upside to doing this exercise, Hannah wanted to do the same thing to her closet!
I figured I better jump on that train before it left the station and we started right in on hers when I finished with mine. We pared hers down to 30 winter items (with 10 additional summer items since I don't know when this heat will break) and she was thrilled with it. Let's hope with fewer items it helps with this disaster.....
Yeah, we're going to address the rest of it very soon. And this is how Madeline feels about it....
Plus, I said I was going to do another one of these posts in the fall, and here we are. For the first post click HERE.
It was hardly a good day, temperature-wise, to switch out my summer clothes for my winter ones. I think the thermometer topped out somewhere in the 90 range (in the sun). But I know that cooler weather has GOT to be close, and since I had a little bit of time on a lazy Saturday, I went for it.
Before the switch
As I stated in my post from the Spring, I am working on paring my wardrobe down. I find that I can get dressed more efficiently, and even feel more satisfied with what I have, when there is less to choose from.
I have attempted in the past to do a Capsule Wardrobe but I just could not bring myself to eliminate my closet down to 30 items. Once I switched out my clothes from summer to winter, I thought I would just go ahead and at least count how many items I have.
Full disclosure: I did not count my leggings, undershirts, pajamas, or running clothes. Those are sort of essentials that I felt shouldn't be counted in my number. Leggings are just about an everyday must for a work dress code that calls for skirts and dresses. Undershirts are needed for those V-necks that are just a little too "V," and running stuff....well I'm not quitting that.
I ended up counting 80 items: shirts, cardigans, sweaters, jeans, dresses, and skirts.
I figured I could at least pare it down by half. So I shot for 40.
A few things were easily to pull out. Others, not so much. I'm going to give it a shot but I think for this thing to really work is that I am going to have to do one main thing:
Nothing makes me want get the style of the season quite like a stroll through the women's section of Target. I usually end up at the discount racks, but still, it isn't really anything that I am needing.
Keeping up with the style, keeping up with the Joneses. However you look at it, I'm trying to work against it.
For me, it's having items that I absolutely love and that I feel comfortable in. Items that are classic, things that don't necessarily go out of style. If it's a fad...I don't own it.
So, I am going on a spending freeze. No thrift stores, no Target, no online shopping. No clothing purchases for myself for this season (so, let's say, 6 months). This sounds really good in theory, but when it comes down to it, I think it will be a bit difficult to implement. Stay tuned, I'll let you know how this goes!
A sweet upside to doing this exercise, Hannah wanted to do the same thing to her closet!
I figured I better jump on that train before it left the station and we started right in on hers when I finished with mine. We pared hers down to 30 winter items (with 10 additional summer items since I don't know when this heat will break) and she was thrilled with it. Let's hope with fewer items it helps with this disaster.....
Yeah, we're going to address the rest of it very soon. And this is how Madeline feels about it....
So it's 30 items per season?
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's what I am doing. There is some overlap but I feel with the drastic temperature changes we have in the Midwest, I've got to do two seasons of capsules. If I lived in San Diego I could get away with one ;)
DeleteGot it! I am always curious about capsule wardrobes when I hear people talking about them-esoeciallly the strategies behind pieces do you can make lots of outfits. Since I hate shopping, I think I probably am passing the 30 pieces with soaring colors, but not so much with actually having outfits to wear. ;)
ReplyDelete