Happy Superbowl Sunday… I guess?

I was tempted not to write a follow up since this “season” is about half way over. But after replacing, and further cleaning out my stash of clothes, I think I finally have a winter capsule worth writing something about.

Let me start by saying that I ended up with about 2.5 capsules. One is for work or leaving the house for social engagements. The other is “toddler safe” or clothes I can safely wear around the house and don’t care if I get slobbered on, food thrown at, snotted all over, or drenched. My 1/2 capsule are my collection of ballroom dance shoes and things I wear to the studio and special occasion wear which has been fitted for ballroom dance.

Here is what is included:

1 jean jacket, 2 blazers (grey, black), 1 navy dress, 1 gray pencil skirt, 5 blouses (2 plain, 3 pattern), 3 cardigans (2 work friendly, 1 casual), 3 sweaters, 6-7 pairs of shoes, 4 t-shirts/tanks, 3 misc shirts for work/play…

3 work friendly pants, and 3 pairs of jeans or jean like pants. (The toddler capsule of yoga pants and t shirts are on the right.)

If you include the 2 jackets I’ve been swapping out, that gives me about 36-37 pieces to work with. This has been surprisingly easy, unless of course, toddler messes occur while wearing said work capsule.

Scarves and Tide Sticks have been my saving grace. They hide everything.

What I like about it so far:

• The business trip I took last week involved one carry on bag and about 10 minutes of packing time. Usually, I needed one large bag and packed WAY too much/never wore half of it.
• Everything mostly works with each other so I very rarely feel like I’m wearing the same thing over and over again. (Even though, I am.)
• I’m getting use out of pieces (like the magenta pants) that I only wore once in a while.
• I was able to find a lot of pieces I was missing via second hand. (Either for this capsule or the next.)
• Laundry isn’t insane and it’s impossible for clothes to pile up when you don’t have that many to begin with.
• I’m shopping smarter. If I don’t like something, or it doesn’t fit right, it gets re-sold or returned.

My challenges:

• As mentioned, the mess. While I can avoid my toddler most of the time, one coffee spill, and I can take out one of my key pairs of pants faster than you can say “skinny vanilla latte.” And I hate doing laundry mid-week.
• Strange seasonal weather. Two weeks ago, it rained a ton… this week, the average temp is 70 degrees. When I was planning this capsule, the average temp was 45 degrees. Layers, layers, layers.
• I didn’t really plan all that well for competing in west coast swing next week with the items I had. It’s not my preference to compete in long sleeves – but I guess that’s what I’m doing.
• I hate hand-washing stuff.

I am planning to continue the capsule project April-June. I think this is going to need another 3 months before I decide if I want to keep up with it. M says I’ve been spending a lot of time in my closet cleaning and re-cleaning, so he thinks all the effort is stressing me out. (I don’t know – I kind of like this kind of organizational stress.) I’ve donated a lot of clothes and sent a lot to be consigned/upcycled at ThredUp. (Affiliate link – I do get a wee bit of credit if you click that and sign up.) And I’ve been trying to use these same techniques with other areas of the house – like Bean’s toys, or my diabetes supplies. (Well, I’ve been so focused on the closet, I haven’t gotten to these projects yet. But, in due time.)