My Fall Capsule Wardrobe {an experiment}

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Okay, so I’m definitely not a fashion blogger. However, I do love to look cute AND I have a limited clothing budget {and what I do have typically ends up being spent on my girl … can a momma get an “amen” on that??}.

I mentioned last week my interest in developing a capsule wardrobe.  I have several reasons I wanted to give this a go — but the biggest one is this: There are so many big and complex things happening in my life right now that I really {really!!} need my clothes to be simple. There’s enough drama about what to wear happening with my girl, I need to be the calm one.

And, since we’re on that topic, can I take a little detour here? Thanks …

Our girls are watching us to see how we dress and how we feel about our appearance and how we manage our wardrobe. I want my girl to see my owning my clothes not my clothes owning me. I want her to see that I don’t have to have a closet bursting at the seams and I want her to be confident in how to dress comfortably and stylishly without breaking the bank.  Those things won’t happen because I made Pinterest boards or bought a ton of items on clearance at Target because they were cheap. Just like everything else I want her to know, teaching her to comfortable in her body and with her clothes will happen because I’m intentional about it — and, as with most things, it will start with me living that way myself.

Okay, back to the capsule wardrobe thing. 🙂

It all started with Hayley‘s book, The No Brainer Wardrobe: Feel More Like Yourself. Truthfully, Haley rocked my world! I had never considered I could have more outfits with less pieces if I was intentional. But, honestly, it all seemed like work. So, I kept doing what I was doing {filling up my closet with random good buys and impulse purchases}. Along the way I started pinning posts of capsule wardrobes and reading more about the idea. And then, last week Erin posted an Instagram photo about beginning her Fall Capsule Wardrobe plan and how she was using the free {woot!} planner from Caroline at Un-Fancy.com.

And, as they say, it finally clicked! I read a ton of posts Caroline had written about her journey and her philosophy of clothes. And every word made sense. For the first time, I really thought, “I can do this!” And so last night, clipboard in hand, I emptied out my whole closet. My girl helped me evaluate every single item and we came up with my capsule wardrobe.  {Mine is just a little larger than Caroline’s 37 pieces but it’s still well under 50 items.} It wasn’t easy — September to November in the south can be a mixture of all four seasons.  But I did it. {I will share all the items in my capsule wardrobe in a later post. I promise.}

Since I put all my other clothes away, I had to choose from the capsule wardrobe for what to wear today.  Here’s what  I came up with:

I have a feeling that adorable navy tank from Zulily is going to be one of my favorite items. It is super comfy and long. And where would I be without my adorable scarf from the Redeemed collection at Dayspring. {FYI, this scarf is just $12.99 right now and I literally wear it at least once a week.} So, here I am in day one of my experiment with a capsule wardrobe and so far, so good.  Just for fun I thought I’d share the outtakes from my attempt to get a photo of myself. Seriously, full length selfies are not simple for the over-40 crowd.

Anyone else tried the capsule wardrobe plan? Advice? Fears? Doubts? Questions?

Leave it all in the comments and I’ll keep sharing my journey to a simplified closet.  Maybe we can form a support group or something. 🙂

xo,
Teri Lynne

Linking up with Lindsey for the first time — joining all the loveliness I’ve been following for years at What I Wore Wednesday.