Random ranting: I have no clothes left!

Today I want to talk about maintaining your wardrobe in an organized, simple and paired-down fashion. The trouble with shopping for new clothes can be, that once we return home with our new purchases, we keep hanging on to the old ones. Of course, this is not what we wanted to achieve when starting out with building a capsule wardrobe. But let’s be honest here, despite all the good intentions, we still have the tendency to “hoard”. The reasons can be anything from feeling anxious because all of a sudden that closet looks so empty to feeling guilty to give clothes away that could still be used for gardening, sleeping in, lounging…

Stop! Right there! Wrong attitude.

There is nothing frightening about a capsule wardrobe. Yes, your closet suddenly looks pretty empty, but consider the facts. Look at the size of the closet. Mine is 1 meter wide and 2.3 metres high. I may only fill half of it, but this closet is HUGE, and filling up half of it still means that I have plenty of clothes. It is our perception that tricks us into believing we own nothing anymore, mostly fueled by the fact that the size of our closets has become mind-staggering. Since when do ordinary people need a walk-in closet? Keep thinking it through and, if necessary, repeat the facts to yourself daily. It is all good. Start using your new wardrobe and see how it goes. If there really is something you miss, go ahead and buy it.
But before you buy items, at least give your current setup a try. Who knows, after a while you may find out that what you initially thought you needed is not really helping and you gravitate towards something else.

Keeping your old garments for wearing at home or in the garden is a bit harder to tackle. Using up items in the garden where they will get dirty and ripped and what have you is understandable. As long as you keep the proportions right. There is no need for six sweaters, eight jeans and fifteen T-shirts in the gardenwear-pile.  Be realistic. Think about how much you are in the garden and how many sets of clothes you will need to have something available in between laundry runs. Then, stick to that number. Assign a place in your wardrobe for these items and only keep what fits into the space. Do not allow your clothes to claim new territory. Evaluate your pile before adding something new. One in, one out is the concept you want to stick to.

As for wearing old garments at home…. Hm. I am also guilty of doing this, but to be honest, I do not like it anymore. Why do I want to dress like a schlump at home? What if people come over for an unplanned visit? Do I want to great friends and family looking like this? And I am not even going into the territory of looking reasoblably attractive for you beloved. Believe me, if you put effort into your appearance at home as well, your relationship will benefit. So I do not think that one should be wearing old, frumpy and worn out items at home. Get some nice, reasonably priced items for loungewear and I promise, you will feel better about yourself every time you cross that full-body mirror in the hallway ;)

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