Part Two Mimimalism...My Capsule Wardrobe

I wanted to post this video to explain exactly what minimalism is, as some people are slightly confused...Amanda round the Globe explains it quite simply...

I wanted to take from this, how personal and individual minimalism is.

And now my journey continues....

When you have moved as much as I have it's almost mandatory to have 'a clearout' just before moving, it makes you feel like your being good, we always say " don't wanna take all our rubbish to our new home" 

So a huge plus of moving many times is we haven't accumulated too much, and as we down sized we had a good cull, two years ago , so the job of building my capsule wardrobe probably wasn't as huge a task as it could be for you if you have lived in the same house for many years.

Step one for me , and I wish I'd taken a before photo, believe me it wasn't pretty! Probably the sight of most 48year olds (& probably 20 year olds) wardrobes, and shelves and drawers,
 too much in too little a space!So it was no surprise that I didn't know half of what I owned!
 It almost made me feel greedy, or over consumed.

I started by literally pulling out EVERYTHING I owned! Yes pull it ALL out, it's a great  feeling I promise!

Then step two.... the fun bit, sorting into piles:

Pile 1: keep- now some may struggle here because you could end up with the same pile as  you started, so this is where my research came into play, capsule wardrobe advice, from almost every article,pin, blogger, states you must have a plan, decide on a 'colour palette', 'print,' and a 'primary colour'. It is important you stick with this, maybe if your a visual person , either print off the colours or simply write them down, to help keep focus. Which can be difficult &  time consuming,which is what I found.....Ooooh this is lovely!,  I forgot about this! I haven't even worn this,!  let that little angel on your shoulder take centre stage, No you haven't worn it for a reason.

Pile 2: Charity Shop - always a great pile, your giving to a great cause, there are so many to choose from, I like to goto a couple, dogs trust, oxfam, my neighbour takes bags to romana to help, so you see you are giving something back, and believe me , this pile will grow with time, when you Re-Sort, yes I'm afraid there will be more re-sorting!

Pile 3- Selling - yet another great pile, selling for me was easy, I started my things on Spock, and Facebook sales, there are soooo many to choose from, if this fails, gumtree ,which are all free sites, then if all else fails...trusted Ebayuk. Now I'm at that point, where some things haven't sold locally so I'm about to add to eBay. Yes it can be time consuming, but believe me when the cash comes flying in you will get the bug, I'm now wandering  around 

my tidy, everything in its place' home saying " what can I sell?" My hubby actually said, "if I stand still long enough will I be next?" Well that's another blog 🙊

Back to pile 1 again ...for me the statement pieces are black, white and grey, with a touch of Red, and well, as my friends and family who know me well will know I'm  known to be a small fan of Leopard print😜And Digressing again , my trusted seamstresses said to me"you like a bit of leopard print don't you!" But quickly stating"oh but it really suits you"hee hee so pleased! 

So anything which doesn't fit my criteria is out! 

Something to also bear in mind , we do have washing machines! We can wash our clothes regularly, which means less is more, for me it was also about learning to 'mixnmatch' and very importantly:
" wearing what you enjoy, feel a million dollars in, and LOVE to wear !"
with just a few statement pieces we can create lots of great outfits.

Another thing to consider...
Lifestyle:
For me it's outfits for my job as a hairdresser, I'm mobile so it's pretty relaxed, but as ladies of my age know , heat can be a problem😅

So the cooler the better please! Layer me up, so if need be I can de-layer!

I love walking miss Darcy on the beach and in th woods, so during Winter  my staple outfit: .leggings and a t.shirt or sweatshirt ! my trusted Barbour Jacket &  hunter wellies,

Summer : white jeans, a tshirt, shorts and tshirt, with my comfy birkenstocks, or Saltwater sandles are pretty much my clothes most days, , and maybe a summer dress .
oh apart from pilates/yoga attire! But I have learn that most people don't seem to count gym or exercise wear or underwear, which is great as I do love matching underwear!

When I do meet friends for lunch or afternoon tea, I'm not a lady that lunches often really!

A crisp classic white blouse, jeans, or skirt, or maybe a classic fitted dress! 

I also have learnt that if you don't spend money on lots of clothes, being enticed by consumerism, you can spend on quality items, which are classic and will last a lot longer! Win win I say! 

When you feel you have created what is right for you and your life style I promise you won't look back, just bear in mind the rule of thumb

"one in one out! It's about when one item wears out replacing itwith a quality item, so don't feel you have to spend straight away to create your perfect wardrobe, and please don't be pressured to feel you need to have a set amount of clothes! It's not about , 20,30,40 items it's about 

Your perfect capsule wardrobe 

 I would love to talk about this all day, I'm so excited about mine! It's still a work in progress, so let's talk about how you can get started too!