I don't know about you, but I LOVE clothes...I used to really love clothes before I had kids...
Let's be real. Having kids changes everything. For me, it was the clothes I could wear. I couldn't wear the same styles, I couldn't wear the same fashions, heck, I couldn't even fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes. I know some people can and I'm happy for them, but that wasn't my journey.
And it was hard. It was frustrating. And it was sad. If this has been your experience, I just want you to know that it's ok...it's ok to feel sad that you can't wear the clothes you loved...and it's ok to move on.
By the time, I had two kids I had TONS of clothes...I had ALL my clothes from high-school, I had all my clothes from pregnancy, and all the nursing friendly clothes...I had a TON of clothes that no longer fit and lots of clothes I didn't love. It was time to Marie Kondo my closet...
We were getting ready to move into a fifth-wheel so I had another reason to pare down my closet significantly. I found this idea of a capsule wardrobe and I knew it was exactly the answer I had been searching for! The basic gist of a capsule wardrobe is that you choose 2 neutral colors and then pick 2 complimentary colors and all your clothes fit into these two categories. If you think through about how many clothes you wear a week, you'll have a good idea of how many pieces you might need.
Maybe you wear jeans for 3 days so over a week without doing any laundry, you need two pairs of jeans. You might need 6 long-sleeve shirts & 6 short-sleeve shirts. You might want 3 sweaters that coordinate with the color scheme and a neutral jacket or two. I'll go more into detail in a later post to help you plan your own capsule wardrobe, but the idea is that you don't need many clothes to create a lot of different outfits!
I meticulously planned out the pieces that I had in my closet that I LOVED and definitely wanted to keep and then I thought about the kind of clothes that would fill in the missing pieces for my capsule wardrobe. And I went shopping specifically for only those pieces! It was actually very freeing! I just looked for clothes that were in my color scheme! And I only took home the pieces that I LOVED. If I didn't love how it fit right then and there, I didn't buy it.
I will tell you one of the best ways to accept your post-partum body shape is buy clothes that look good on your body the way it is. There is always room for improvement but feeling confident in the clothes that you wear for the shape you have right now goes a long way in accepting and loving your body. If you are wearing frumpy clothes in colors that don't look good on you, you will have a much harder time feeling confident in your own skin. Ask me how I know ;)
I've had a capsule wardrobe for about 2 years now and I have added a few pieces here and there and then I get rid of a few pieces, but I LOVE it! The clothes I have in my closet, I actually wear! They don't just sit there collecting dust and I have enough room in my closet to keep all my winter and summer clothes out without having to box any up each season. I LOVE it!!!
So yes, this is permission to go shopping...but I'm telling you, if you plan out your capsule wardrobe well and find the right clothes to fit into your wardrobe, you will hardly need to go shopping until a piece of clothing wears out! And then, because you don't have that many clothes to begin with, it's the perfect reason to go shopping and buy one more perfect piece. But you will actually save a lot of money and not go clothes shopping all the time when you already have clothes in your closet you love to wear and that you can create endless wardrobes with! Plus, as a busy mom, I just like to keep things simple...if I have to stand in my closet wondering what to wear...I don't have the right clothes in my closet.
Have you ever considered a capsule wardrobe? Do you think you would try it?!
xo Rachelle <3
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