Capsule Wardrobe - 5 Reasons Why You Should Have One
Oh, capsule wardrobe how I love thee… Let me count the ways…
1. You have helped me save so much money
Once my wardrobe was established, the desire to purchase new items reduced. I will struggle to explain this but weirdly enough, by getting rid of items I didn’t really love has left me feeling like I have so much more. Perhaps it is because I can finally see what I have. And because I love each piece that remains, it just feels like more.
I still get tempted to purchase things – don’t get me wrong (I will go into how I avoid and battle these desires in another blog post). However, since adopting a capsule wardrobe my consumption has definitely reduced.
And because I’m a little bit of a budget fiend I can calculate to-the-dollar how much money I have saved since I adopted a capsule wardrobe. The before and after analysis was quite shocking!
I’m uncomfortable sharing the figures but the total savings in the first full year I kept a capsule wardrobe was a four-digit figure. I will say no more.
2. You have given me back my time
How could I have so many clothes and have no idea what to wear? For work? For a night out? For special occasions? Before I had a capsule wardrobe I struggled to figure out what went with what. The only way I got around it was to buy entirely new outfits every other week.
In a capsule wardrobe, each item is chosen to go with others – others with an “s”. The idea behind a capsule wardrobe is that the items are interchangeable. This really forced me to consider how each item goes with other items in my wardrobe. A fall-out of such careful consideration is that knew my clothes well and I found I had several go-to, well-considered outfits for work, a night out etc. So less time deciding what to wear.
Also, the fact that I was shopping less saved a LOAD of time! That has been THE BEST. Pursuing the best deal in the department stores for hours on end is no longer how I spend my weekends. I love it.
3. You have reduced my stress levels
What do I wear today? Why does nothing in my cupboard look good on me? I really loved that boho skirt that girl wore, where do I find that? Why did I buy that, it looks terrible on me? Did I waste my money on that? Should I return it?
Oh my God!
Thankfully much of that just stopped once I put a capsule wardrobe in place.
4. You have improved my self-confidence
I mentioned how having a capsule wardrobe forced me to consider what went into my wardrobe. As a result, it forced me to focus on my own true style – the clothes that I loved to wear and was comfortable in, as opposed to clothes I would see others wear and wish I were comfortable in. The resulting wardrobe is a warm blanket, a second skin that helps me face the world as I am.
And in my work, I have seen people hang onto clothes from the past – clothing that no longer fits, clothing from a different time that is no longer. These extra clothes in your wardrobe can act as a weight that can harm your feeling of self-worth. Not accepting where you are in life, how you look at present. It is not a good place to be.
A capsule wardrobe itself doesn’t act as an antidote to that but I have seen that by going through the process of building a capsule wardrobe, going through the Pro Organise process of decluttering, can help to improve your self-confidence.
5. I am one step closer to a life aligned with values that matter to me
I remember as a kid I was moved by reports about the harm we were doing to our environment. Waste and excess and overconsumption were things that always bothered me.
But then I started earning money and shopping became my favourite pastime. I LOVED shopping. The same way I love a jar of Nutella, a big bag of Doritos, the YouTube rabbit hole – I loved shopping.
If you don’t get what I was alluding to, well I love it knowing too well it is no good for me.
So the savings in money and time are great. The fact that clothes take up very little mental energy and leave me feeling good about myself and not the other way around is great as well. But what feels really good is that I have found a way to curb my over-consumption of clothing and I can look back at the kid I once was and feel more connected to her.
