Will a Capsule Wardrobe Save You Money?
For the last few years, capsule wardrobes have become a very trendy and popular movement. I am not one to chase trends, but this one is actually an amazing idea to get organized and to save money. Did you know that the average household spends around $1900 a year on clothing? That is about $161 every month on clothes and shoes. Another survey estimates that women in general spend between $150 to $400 a month on apparel items.
According to clinical psychologist, Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner, most people only wear 20% of the clothes in their closet 80% of the time. So, if you really think about that, most people already use a capsule wardrobe and the other 80% of our clothes just take up space.
Capsule Wardrobe Basics
The most basic principle of a capsule wardrobe is making a collection of clothes that you will wear for the next season which is about 3 months long.
You will need to take a look at what you are most likely to wear the most at different times of the year.
For example, during the summertime you may be more likely to wear dresses, and in the wintertime, you will rely on sweaters.
Capsule Wardrobe on a Budget
Supplies needed:
4 large plastic totes (you can buy a basic 58-quart tote at Walmart for about $6 each, so total cost would be less than $25)
Step 1: Closet Clean Out
This is honestly the worst part for me because you will need to pull out all of the clothes in your closet. I like to do this right after I have done laundry, so that way I don’t end up with another pile of clothing that I have to sort through later.
As your cleaning out your closet I want you to make 3 piles: one for the clothes you wear all the time and love, one for clothes that you never wear, and a pile of clothes that you might want to wear but are not sure about them. If you have a large collection of footwear and jackets, these will need to be sorted as well.
The pile of clothes that you never wear needs to either be sold on Facebook marketplace, Mercari, Poshmark, etc or needs to be donated. If you never wear it now, the odds of you suddenly wearing it are pretty slim.
Step 2: Sort by Season
Most clothing items have a particular season associated with them. For instance, a fluffy warm sweater and knee-high boots are most likely to be worn in the wintertime, and a sleeveless thin blouse and flipflops are more appropriate for summer.
So, in this step we are going to take the pile of clothes that you wear all the time and separate them into each season. I go ahead and set up the 4 totes on the floor and make each tote a different season.
Now some items like jeans, pants and t-shirts can be worn in multiple seasons so I just leave these in a pile on the bed.
Step 3: Start with the Season you are in
Now is the fun part and we are going to start building out first capsule! So at this point, we need to think about our lifestyle and what we typically wear.
I am a stay-at-home mom, so my wardrobe tends to run more casual, but if you work in a corporate job, you can still use a capsule wardrobe too!
Even though I would love to get a better handle on doing laundry, I know that I typically do the majority of our laundry once a week. This means that I need at least 7 bottoms like jeans, khakis, skirts, shorts, etc.
Depending on which season you are in, you will need to choose items that make the most sense. So for summer time, I know that I will need at least 2 pairs of light weight jeans, maybe 2 skirts, and probably 3 shorts. For winter, I will probably choose 4 jeans, 2 corduroy pants, and a pair of khaki pants
Now that I have the bottoms taken care of, I will move on to the tops. During the summertime I like to do light layering with camisoles, so I will pick out 7 camisoles that all work with at least one item.
Then I will pick shirts that I love to wear during hot weather, that will go with the bottoms I picked out. So, for example if one of the skirts I picked has a very distinctive pattern, I will make sure I pick a top that matches that skirt and also would look great with jeans or shorts.
You will keep picking tops that will go with at least one bottom until you have about 7-10 shirts. If you realize that you have way more than 10 shirts, I would try to narrow it down to just 10, and put the other ones back in the tote for the season.
If you reach a point where you can not pick 7-10 shirts to go with your bottoms, this is the time that you are going to go back and look at your maybe pile. Hopefully you can find options that will work with your other items.
At this point, I am not worried about staying in a color palette or having enough neutrals, I just want to pick tops and bottoms that I love and that I like to wear. Most of the time, when you pick out your favorite pieces, you will notice they either tend to be in the same color family or they are all over the place.
It doesn’t really matter if you tend to stick with one or two colors or all the colors of the rainbow, as long as each top can work with at least 2 bottoms, you are fine! (Most bottoms can always be paired up with multiple tops)
Step 4: Finish the rest of your seasons
After you get your first season capsule wardrobe done, it is so much easier to get the other 3 seasons created. Now keep in mind that items like jeans and khakis can be worn all year round, so these may just stay hanging in your closet and don’t have to be assigned to a specific season.
After I complete my first season, I typically hang that in my closet right away and any clothes that I love but didn’t work for this capsule at this time, I will either move to other seasons or store them in that season’s tote in the closet.
The final goal of this simple capsule wardrobe is to have 1 season hanging in the closet, and the 4 totes stacked nicely in the closet. We want to pick our daily clothes based on what is hanging and resist going into the other totes.
If you want to get fancy, you can label each tote with the season, but I like to use clear bins so I can just see what season it is by the outside.
Step 5: Switching to the next season
Summer time is over and it is starting to get a little chilly, so now is the perfect time to switch seasons in your capsule wardrobe.
As you take down your current season items, I want you to inspect them for damage or stains. If the item can be repaired go ahead and make a time and a plan to fix them. If they are stained, it may be time to recycle these clothes into cleaning rags.
If you come across any items that you only wore once or twice, you will need to ask yourself if this item is worth keeping or if this item needs to be donated.
I would also weed out any items that are uncomfortable or don’t fit in a flattering manner anymore. Odds are good that you won’t want to wear it next time this season comes along, so it might need to get passed on.
Now do you remember those extra clothes that didn’t quite work for the original capsule we created but we loved them?
Now is the time to see if they can fill any holes, we may have created by removing some clothing items that were stained or don’t fit anymore. Those extras will now be a part of this season’s capsule.
How do you not get bored with a capsule wardrobe?
Capsule wardrobes can get boring if you let it. A great example of a boring capsule wardrobe is when everything is just one color, and this is why I suggest picking clothes that you love and not picking clothing based on a color palette.
I have noticed that people that try to make a year long capsule wardrobe do get bored wearing the same clothes for that long, and this is why doing a wardrobe based on seasons works better.
This next question is going to be very telling of your true feeling about your clothing…..Is your wardrobe capsule boring because there is nothing new and shiny in it?
Sometimes when we are constantly buying new clothes, we associate new clothes as more exciting than our older clothes and only want to wear new clothes. This is why fast fashion is so popular and cheap.
Fast fashion tends to be very trendy, pretty cheap to buy, and usually not of great quality.
If your goal is to save money and declutter your closet space, we have got to cut down on spending money on new clothes. Just like we want to assign our money to certain goals, we should assign our clothes to certain goals.
Shopping Lists are no longer just for groceries!
As you are making a capsule wardrobe for each season, if you notice that you are lacking certain items to make your collection work, then we are going to need to start a “Want List”.
This is going to be an ongoing list of items that we will keep an eye out for and will consider buying. I store my “Want List” on my phone in Notes so I can access it at any time. Notice that we are labelling this as a want and not a need. We want these items, but they are not essential needs.
For example, if at the end of summer, you notice that 2 out of the 4 pairs of shorts in your collection are just really too faded or damaged to be used for another year, you will add 2 pairs of shorts to your Want List.
Now a great time to go shopping for clothing is during the end of a season or off season. So, at the end of summer is usually when summer clothing will be at the lowest price.
I would then go check out a few stores and see about replacing those 2 pairs of shorts. Now I would not go shopping just for 2 pairs of shorts, I would actually take my whole “Want List” with me and look for other items on the list at the same time.
If I go to the store with a very specific list of exactly what I need, I am going to be less likely to impulse buy a bunch of new clothes that may not work with my seasonal plan.
If you need to try to match a certain color, take the item with you to the store so that way you can compare in person and make sure that it works before purchasing.
This will improve your chances of finding a perfect fit and not just buying another shirt that may or may not work.
For more money saving tips on clothing, check out “Are Thrift Stores Worth It?” and “What is an outlet store?“. When you look for bargains and know how to shop, you can save more money!
I am horrible about returning clothes, so I want to make sure that everything that comes in my house is going to work and I don’t have to make a special trip to return items later.
Remember all those extra clothes at the bottom of the totes? Those will just hang around until they get used or you decide you are okay with donating or selling them.
As long as you have options left over in your tote for that season, you should not be going out and buying new items. For example, if I need 2 new shorts to replace my damaged ones, I am going to “shop” the extras in the bottom of the tote first.
So, if there are any shorts in the extras, they have now been upgraded to being in that collection.
Can a capsule wardrobe keep you from overspending on clothes?
In general, when you assign your clothing a purpose you will no longer need to spend excessively on clothing just for fun. It is fine to replace worn out or damaged clothing as needed, but the whole point of a capsule wardrobe is to cut back to just having clothing that you actually wear.
As I mentioned above, the average woman spends between $150-400 a month on apparel. If you are currently drowning in debt and don’t have any savings, you need to stop this frivolous spending immediately. That is $1800 to $4800 that can be used in 1 year to help pay off that debt and to beef up your savings account.
That pile of clothes that you never wear can be sold online or at a garage sale to make a little extra cash. I would take this money and set it aside to purchase items from your “Want List”. This way you can replenish your wardrobe without ever dipping into your monthly income for a little while.
I occasionally would go on a clothing shopping spree about every 6 months, and just buy what I saw was a good deal or that I liked. I started to realize that I was always buying the same items over and over again like black tee shirts. I don’t actually need 27 black tee shirts. So, to continue to buy them, was just a waste of money even if they were on sale.
By making a plan for my clothing, it actually keeps me just wasteful purchases, and makes shopping less stressful. I know exactly what I need and what to look for when I go shopping now.
I also found that when I can take my time to purchase clothes, then I can wait for a mega sale or coupons from my favorite places. Buying new clothes whenever you feel like it, means you may not be getting the best price for those items. Shopping with a purpose and not having to buy them right away, makes it easier to save a lot of money!
