Capsule Wardrobe: {The Why}

What the heck is a capsule wardrobe you say? I stumbled across the idea on one of my Pinterest binges and followed about 20 links to find out the deal. My favorite source and one of the first (I believe) bloggers to suggest a capsule wardrobe was Unfancy.  She does an awesome job giving her rationale and walking you through the process. Another blog that I really enjoyed was Project 333. They have slightly different numbers and rules for your capsule, but the blog is full of great tips and tricks, especially if you are getting bored with your wardrobe. Check out my Pinterest board for more blogs and ideas on creating a capsule wardrobe. I did a ton of weeding through several blogs and came up with my own set of rules and rationale.

BASIC RULES

1. One capsule per season (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer)
2. 33-40 items in each capsule
3. Store/Donate/Keep/Purge each season
4. No additional shopping during a capsule unless it is for the next capsule
5. Workout wear, intimate items, and lounge wear do not count in your number.
6. Accessories do not count in your number


Next, I'll share my motivation for looking into capsule wardrobes in the first place.

1. We sold our house and would be homeless for about 6-7 weeks. Wonderful family and friends volunteered to put us up over this time which we are so grateful. However, we did not want to invade their homes and completely take them over with all of our stuff. We are a family of 6 and two dogs which is overwhelming enough without all of our clothes and such. Limiting each of our girls to just one bin of clothing seemed a bit torturous. To be fair my hubby and I put the same limitation on our own clothing. THIS WAS A BIG. HUGE. deal for me. How would I ever choose just one bins worth of clothing??

2. More than once over the years a student or two or three has commented on my wardrobe. How I never seem to wear the same thing twice (I hope this isn't true). How I must have at least 20 different colors of cardigans. How everything matches down to my shoes. I used to take pride in these comments, but as of late they are starting to sting a bit. Do I really need 173 completely different outfits? Would 10 cardigans do as much as 20? How might mixing and matching make less be more? I was also convicted on several of these fronts after reading Jen Hatmaker's book, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess.  She goes to a bit of an extreme for my taste but her sentiments and observations during her experience hit a bit too close to home.

3. I added an ADDITIONAL closet just for my shoes and accessories. Gulp. Don't get me wrong--it was pretty and functional and just plain awesome. However, I always felt a bit guilty showing it to anyone as I strongly feared their judgement and mental gasping when they laid eyes on it. Shouldn't there be a way for me to get my wardrobe into the closet I have? This was my goal for my new house. Plus, my initial closet was so packed that despite all of my clothes being hung up, they still came out wrinkled because they were so squished together.

TIME. TO. PURGE...Check back to see the purge! FYI.....How my closet started...

OOTD: Countdown to Capsule Wardrobe

Greetings peeps! Here I am posting nearly a month later! Ugh. Our  move is a mere 14 days away and I promise I'll be a better blogger then! Plus it will be SUMMER. Speaking of summer--our MN weather cannot decide what it wants to do. One day it's 75 and sunny and the next day its 49 with pelt-y rain. I have not fully transitioned my winter clothes over to my spring and summer due to this manic approach to the weather. I am trying to transition from one season to the next by wearing skirts with tights and utilizing layers. In addition, I am just a mere weeks away from implementing my first capsule wardrobe--the packing and moving is my impetus--and am trying to wear a few questionable pieces to see if they make the cut. More on my capsule wardrobe to come!

My go to neutral this winter and now into spring has been NAVY. It simply goes with so so much. I feel like every color I pair it with is an immediate yes. Gray? Yep. Coral? Absolutely. Yellow? Ding!

 I have also worn this exact outfit without the tights and just the boot sox when the weather was nice enough to expose my painfully white knees.

{Shop the Style}

Sweater: The Limited

Skirt: Loft

Tank: Gap

Necklace: Premier (ancient!)

Tights: Target

Boots: Target

Product Love: {Fitbit}

I consider myself a decently active person. I am a teacher which means I rarely sit down while I am working. I work out 2-3 times a week and I have four kids who keep me on my toes--literally and figuratively. However, I was very curious to see HOW active I really was so I asked for a Fitbit Flex for Christmas. We got mine at Target on a screaming good deal on Black Friday. They normally run about $100 for the basic model. The main point of the device is to where it on your wrist so it can monitor the number of steps that you take in a day. It syncs with an app where you can keep track of your sleep, calories, and water intake as well. I convinced my hubby to get one too--he got the Big Daddy one with the heart rate tracker and such.  I was a bit concerned that I would not like wearing it all of the time, but I really hardly even notice it. It is also extremely motivating. My daily goal is 10,000 steps and I do my darndest to make it! Even if it takes jogging in place next to my bed to get there!! Ha!! You can even add friends with a Fitbit and hold some harmless competitions. Keep scrolling for some links to Fitbit fun!

Great video tutorial that walks you through the basics of your Fitbit!




Don't like the color of your Fitbit band? Here are some options!

Target 1

Target (I have this one and my decal has never peeled!)

My dream Fitbit Band

Hello AGAIN!

Whoa. It's been over two months since my last post. Some of you may not have even noticed--whew. Some of you may have been wondering, "what gives?" Well....life has been Crazy with a capital C. We have been mired down in the process of selling our home and building a new home. My focus has been diverted to things out of my normal routine and I am exhausted! Thanks for being loyal and sending me adorable messages as to where I have been hiding out! The hardest and biggest humps and hurdles of our home process are hopefully behind us and I hope to get my life AND mind back. I will be present and accounted for with some brand new posts in the coming weeks. I have a long list of things to share!!! See you soon!

OOTD {Clearance finds!}

This really is one of my favorite times of year for excellent fashion finds. Despite the fact that I am writing this during another snow day for it being just too darn cold here...this time of year provides some of the best clothing steals. Target has huge clearance right now and I have been scoring big time! I hope to share another outfit this week made up mostly of Target clearance as well.

I know a lot of people around where I live that avoid dresses during the winter. My apologies to them for their craziness. You can bundle up a dress and be just as warm, if not warmer than if you were wearing pants. Leggings, tights, boot socks, and boots make this possible. This outfit was super cozy and comfortable. I almost went rogue and wore yellow tights as well but chickened out at the last second. Instead I accented my pop of mustard cardigan with a new necklace (Christmas gift from my sis--Thanks Janel!) and called it good. 

{Shop the Style}

Cardigan: Target (clearance)

Sweatshirt Dress: Target (Clearance--I own the khaki one too)

Tights: Target

Boots: Herberger's

Necklace: Gift (need to find out where its from!)

Stay warm peeps!