Three words that make me wanna run screaming and crying to my mommy!
I absolutely love clothes. I buy more clothes than I want to admit. But, at 29, I am STUCK. I'm stuck in a clothes rut. Bad.
It's hard to shop for 29-year-old working mom me. Shopping for 16 year old me was easy. This whole I-have-to-go-to-work AND I-am-raising-a-toddler makes dressing myself quite a challenge.
On one hand, I want to wear fancy business gal outfits like this:
But most days what I feel like wearing is this:
And so what I normally wear ends up somewhere in-between - a basic pair of neutral colored pants with some sort of mom-style shirt. I do have some fun dressier, fancier clothes but I rarely wear them.
I also have a problem with colors. I try to "branch out" when it comes to colors, but... I mean, how many colors are there really??? Every season it seems like you can buy the same shirt at any store in the same color palette. And with limited time to shop, I end up only being able to go to one or two stores and end up coming out with several pieces in the same color family. That can be good for mixing and matching but... how many black pants and mint green shirts do I need? (A lot, apparently...)
Then there's the price factor. My husband is in graduate school, so clothes are not high on the budget priority list. But, still, we need clothes. For the longest time, I have gravitated towards clearance racks and Old Navy and end up feeling completely disappointed and like I've wasted money on clothes I don't like. So I have made a rule with myself NOT to buy things just because they're cheap. Sure every now and then a $4 shirt from Old Navy is worth the four bucks. I also get a lot of hand-me-downs that usually aren't "my style" but they're free, so I don't mind that they aren't perfect. But I'm working on buying pieces I actually really like. I try to watch for sales and coupons and can usually end up getting a really nice piece of clothing for up to half the price! But... I still struggle... Old Navy is SO tempting!!!
And let's not forget size and shape. I'm a petite person... short and small. To the "average" woman, it seems like being petite would make buying clothes easy. NO IT DOES NOT. Petite sizes (and FYI - "petite" sizes are based on height, not weight) are very hard to come by in stores. Many times I have to order things online to try them on because the store doesn't carry them or has such a limited selection that they don't have my size in stock when I am actually in the store.
So all of that leaves me stranded in the closet struggling to pick out an outfit that meets my needs: style, color, comfort, affordability, and size.
I heard about this "Capsule Wardrobe" idea and have given it some thought and I'm going to give it a try!!! Basically the jist is that you have 37 pieces of clothes that you mix and match during a 3-4 month season. That includes shoes, but it does not include accessories - so you can go nuts accessorizing those pieces! And you do not buy any new clothes until the end of the season - this encourages you to put together outfits with what you already have so that you can see just how versatile your wardrobe really is.
This weekend I am going to sort through the clothes I already own and I'm going to try to build my 37-piece wardrobe simply from the things I already have since I just did a little shopping before wanting to try this experiment. Then as I get more comfortable with the idea, I will purchase some new items towards the end of that "season".
I am really excited about trying this! Of course, I'm going to keep you updated on my progress! I'll be posting pictures of the process of going through my closet, my 37 pieces, and outfits!
Do you wanna jump on this bandwagon with me!?!? I think it's going to be a fun ride to Fashion Land!
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