I swear my style is the most bipolar thing ever. I constantly swing back and forth between wanting to be a boho queen, and lusting after a minimalist wardrobe. Currently I am leaning towards minimalism.
This means that this weekend I have major plans to ransack my closet, and get rid of everything that I haven’t touched in a while (while I still have the motivation to do so). This is definitely easier said than done. My mom instilled some pretty mean hoarder tendencies in me when I was younger. She doesn’t hoard things, but I did, and every time I’d try to get rid of something it was met with an “Aww you’re going to throw this _____ out? That’s ok I guess, you’ve just had it since you were a kid” (seriously it took me years to get rid of my old high school school work because of this). I suffer from a terrible case of “but, what if I want that in a year?” because of constant comments like these, and the fact that I attribute a sentimental value to literally everything.
By no means do I intend on whittling things down to a French Capsule Wardrobe, but I would really like to get rid of at least a third of the clothes that I currently have. My husband’s side of the closet has been getting smaller and smaller, and I am starting to feel a little guilty about it.
So this is my game plan;
- Separate things out based on fabric quality, then go through everything that is “lower quality” first. Only keep things that I really love.
- Go through the “quality pile”, just because it’s nicely made, doesn’t mean I need all of it.
- Get rid of duplicates. When I shop, I usually resist the expensive option, and end up with three or four similar pieces because I was trying to find a good dupe (totally counterproductive, I know). I definitely don’t need that many of each basic.
- Get rid of 90% of the shirts that I kept around to wear to work when I was a barista/the shirts I wore under my scrubs when I was in clinics. Basically just get rid of almost all of my “I don’t really care about these” shirts, they take up like a drawer and a half and that is unacceptable…
- Go through the clothes that I bought that weren’t me, but I bought them anyways because “I really want to try and dress like this!”. There are way too many pieces in my closet that were purchased and never worn because I hadn’t quite figured out my personal style yet.
- Go through my dang shoes. WHY DO I HAVE SO MANY SHOES!? Seriously though, I feel like I only wear about six or seven pairs, I don’t need a closet full.
It might be because my side of the room has been a trainwreck for about five months now (seriously, my poor husband). It might be that I caught the spring cleaning bug. Or, it might be that since starting a blog, I have really started digging through what I own, and realizing how much of it just isn’t me anymore. Really it’s probably a combination of all three of those, but there is definitely something to be said for the last one. I’ve never taken the time to critically look at my clothes, and put thought in to whether or not they represent me as a person anymore. Choosing what I want to wear or shoot for the blog has been really eye opening to me, it really speaks volumes about a piece of clothing when you instantly come up with five excuses as to why you don’t want to wear it in a post.
So here’s to shrinking my wardrobe, making putting away my laundry more bearable (yea right, I hate putting away laundry), giving Nick his half of the closet back (maybe), and most importantly only having clothes that I love!
(Wish me luck)
Those are beautiful photos! I hear ya, it’s way too easy to accumulate too much. I’ve always found it easier to get dressed when I have fewer items though. I used to do the same thing in ‘dupe’ category. FINALLY, I have stopped, and now I find it’s just better to wait and save. The original thing is always wayyy better than any dupe. Good luck with your pairing down!
Oh my gosh, I am so bad about buying dupes! In the last year or so I’ve started just saving for the original item I was lusting after in the first place, but I am still drowning in clothes left over from the years of trying to find cheaper alternatives. It was definitely a hard lesson to learn that sometimes it’s just worth the investment in the nicer thing!
Thank you for the luck, I’m definitely going to need it!
I’m having the same realization lately! I have *so* many clothes and sadly most of them have only been worn a few times. #RetailProblems
This outfit is super cute and I love how you braided your hair!
I buy so many things that I never end up touching, it’s a little sad. I also have the worst #retailproblems, haha!
I like your clean out the closet strategy!! I have to so many of those “I can wear this when I paint/garden/clean the house” t-shirts. You are right, why so many??? HA! I hate shopping so I tend not to have excess amounts of other things, but you are inspiring me to clean out the inordinate amount of junk t-shirts!
Oh my gosh, I seriously have so many “I don’t care” t-shirts, it’s borderline ridiculous. Haha, the problem is that I bring my clothes to consignment shops, then shop with the money I make, I really need to bring them in and just not replace them with anything!
Good luck going through your junk shirts!
I am currently in the process of getting rid of a lot of stuff I just don’t wear or aren’t me anymore! I have been thinking about creating a capsule wardrobe but I’m kinda in the same boat as you and I’m not sure I will go that far yet. I really love your outfit though. It’s simple but still very fashion forward 🙂
That’s awesome, it’s definitely a challenge to let go of things. I super admire anyone that can function with just a capsule wardrobe, I know I definitely couldn’t. Maybe a capsule for each season would be doable, but I don’t even know if I could fully commit to that. I think just making sure that you only have pieces that make “you feel like you” is the best thing for all the rest of us who still want a variety to strive for!
I LOVE this outfit so much! Definitely something I’m putting on my giant secret Pinterest board of outfit inspiration (which, by the way, helped me clean out my closet!).
I hear you on the wardrobe downsize. I did that a couple months ago and now all that’s left is stuff I really love and want to wear all the time. You’ve got a good plan, and I think you’re going to be really happy when the process is over.
Aww, I’m so flattered!
Haha, yea, I totally put off doing the clean out this weekend. I think I’ll try and get it done on Wednesday. I’m ready for it to happen, and I know it will feel awesome, I just need to get up more motivation to sit down and do it!
I have the same dilemma between boho and minimal. I feel like I am reading my thoughts. But finally I just decided to be my self, we are complex human beings and not brands that need to stick to one identity. The end result is that your outfit is so you, gorgeous, minimal and with a chic boho chic vibe. We also need a tutorial of your hairstyle ????