Capsule Wardrobe 2019 Challenge

With a fresh new year beginning, comes fresh resolutions and goals for 2019. This year, a few of us at ZoLi HQ (Juli and Kristin - nice to e-meet you!) decided we want to de-clutter and organize, specifically our wardrobes!

To do this, we are inspired by the concept of a capsule wardrobe — a compact, organized closet that only holds a bare minimum of items that match each other with ease and much time saved in the morning. Ideally, this wardrobe has only 37 pieces. We think that this type of closet deters from online shopping (which is so easy, and we buy things that we don't need!) Rather, we will be using clothes we already have to layer and build new outfits with older items and without having to shop for every season. 

The first step to achieving our capsule wardrobe will be to purge all of our items that we haven't worn! There are plenty of resources that will gladly buy or accept donations for your used clothing and accessories including:  Thread Up, Dress for Success, Arc, Salvation Army, and Good Will. Take a look below for both of our insights on this experience!

"Disclaimer to start: I LOVE cleaning and getting rid of things. If I haven't used a hair product in a few months - goodbye... If there's a hole in one of my dog's toys - sew it up and to the donation bin you go!... Trinkets - what are those? Basically, I am not one to hold onto clutter.

With that being said, this first step of my capsule wardrobe experience was much harder than I thought it would be. I had given a few bags of donations away about a month ago, so I didn't think there was much more to sort through. My closet was organized and pretty minimal as it was...

I thought a good place to start would be throwing everything I hadn't worn in 2018 into a pile. It was a big, BIG, pile. It wasn't that I didn't like the items - in fact, I would buy most of the pile all over again if I saw it at the mall. The issue was that I had so many items in my closet, that I had forgotten about the quality pieces that were shoved behind the free Boo Boo Records t-shirt folded in the back of my closet from 4 years ago (a t-shirt which I love and will never donate, thank you...)

I took a step back and looked at the hoard of clothes on my bed and had to rethink my method. I started organizing items into similar piles and realized that I had several of the same pieces of varying qualities. Three black detail tanks, two pairs of identical Levi's... So I put the low quality pieces into a different pile and cut my original heap in more than half! *pause to high-five the dog*

Overall, what I was left with was a pretty complete wardrobe that I knew I would wear. I tend to sport a lot of black, white, and grey with small pops of color in accessories and jackets, so pretty much everything matched. I was left with a small list of items that needed to be supplemented or replaced (white t-shirt with a hole in it from 8th grade should probably be replaced by a more high quality version that's not from 2007's Forever 21) I found that Lulu's and Nordstrom are great places for basics that will last a long time. 

I couldn't stick with the 37 pieces rule, and ended up with about 60 items (shirts, jackets, dresses, and jeans). I was disappointed at first then decided not to be so hard on myself since this was just the beginning of the challenge! I'm sure I will give more away as I realize which items I wear the most, what items I'm lacking, and which ones don't match with the rest of my closet.

What I was most surprised about was how dramatically this process changed the rest of my life - I was organizing the shed, inspecting pots and pans that hadn't been used, looking through my camping box for dead flashlights... I wanted to de-clutter everything! But I did stick to one rule - keep clutter that makes me happy. This may seem like an oxymoron, but I realized that some things (even if others consider them to be junk) should be kept just for the happiness they bring. For example, my gigantic yoda-shaped coffee mug. Does it take up a ton of cabinet space? Yes. Is it hard to drink out of? You bet. But it makes me laugh when I open the cabinet and that is worth something. 

I am looking forward to styling all of my old favorites along with my new additions and seeing what I come up with!"

"I was really looking forward to this challenge given that it’s been a while since I’ve done a thorough evaluation of what was in my closet. While I hate clutter, I do have a hard time getting rid of things. So this challenge would force me to get rid of those pieces of clothing I was holding onto for no reason other than “just because …”

The first step was to empty everything from my closet onto my bed. I chose the bed because that would definitely force me to complete the task by end of day. After it was all on there, I stepped back and have to admit that I was a bit intimidated by the huge, daunting pile of clothing. Nevertheless, fortified with caffeine I started tackling the task at hand.

Hidden in the back of my closet were suits from my corporate days that I kept for those just in case situations but 10 years later, I have yet to find a just in case situations so those were the first to go …

Then came the shirts and blouses that went with those suits. After that, things slowed down a bit. I needed a new set of criteria for what to donate, what to toss, and what to keep. I started to group similar items together and started realizing that I have multiples of everything!! I am embarrassed to admit how many pairs of jeans I really own and how many of each style I had!! How many pairs of boyfriend jeans do I really need in the same wash?   I started picking 1 - 2 my favorites from each grouping to set those aside. The rest depending on the condition would go in the donate or toss pile.

It was refreshing to go through this exercise and walk away with some items I had forgotten I had … “everything old is new again.” Like Kristin, I did not manage to keep to the 37 rule but for the purpose of the capsule wardrobe challenge, I picked out 37 pieces that I use for this challenge and stored the other items away. This way, I only had the items that I would wear for the next couple of months in the closet and not be bogged down by the other excess items or the spring / summer items that I would not need for another 5 months.  

I look forward to seeing how I fare with my capsule wardrobe in the next couple of months and whether I can keep to my goal of not making new clothing or shoe purchases."

  

Comment below if anyone else has done a capsule challenge or is thinking of doing one!