Happy New Year Plannerista!

Thank you for visiting and checking out my blog! This post is especially exciting because I am here to share an idea that I have been working on for a while. As of lately, my intentions, thoughts and plans have been around capsule wardrobe planning! I wanted to share an update of how this form of planning has helped me reach my goals to become a minimalist (with a feminine touch) and to purge my outfits, declutter my closet and find fabulous in everything I wear.

Mind you, my main interest behind this plan is to stop buying clothes, accessories and make-up products that I don’t need, to be more focused and committed to support ethically conscious companies and to liberate my mind, and closet of the unnecessary task to have to pick an outfit every day. As a matter of fact, somebody did the math and those extra minutes that you spend every morning, staring at your closet, add up to hours in any given year. Isn’t that a crazy thought?  Time, my friends is some sort of a privilege and I wish to spend mine doing and making room for what really matters and going through a closet full of clothes (and not finding anything to wear) is not how I wish to spend my mornings.

Now, let us put all these plans to work with the steps that  used to dig in my closet and plan my outfits.
NOTE: For the purpose of this post, I am only counting work clothes, not workout clothes, outerwear, underwear or bathing suits. But seriously, throw away those old panties, would you?
– Go in your closet and take all your clothes out.
– Figure out which colors are in season.
– Create YOUR color palette
– Put away the clothes that do not fit your palette selection, don’t fit, are outdated, haven’t worn in a year. (you know which ones I am talking about)
– Write down an inventory list identified by garment, i.e. blouses, pants, slacks, etc.
– Hang them back up in your closet.
– At a later date, start filling gaps of items from your inventory and then and only then, go shopping, in case you need a new jacket or skirt.
– Enjoy your new found freedom.

After I purged, it was easy to get a vision of a look that I wish to accomplish and to give me inspiration on pieces that I wish to buy. To clarify, I am not saying NO to buying, I am saying no to buying without knowing what I own and skipping the shopping in my closet, which I find so essential. I am actually saving for a new leather bomber jacket and the savings from last year, were great incentives for my partner, to get me a new bag. 

Since I started planning outfits,  I use stickers to create the starting point of my weekly capsule wardrobe planning, by using the pants as the main item and then I work building around them. On Sunday nights, I place stickers of the pieces (similar in color and shape of what I actually have) and build possible outfits for the whole week. Other factors, such as weather, work meetings, functions or casual days will impact those decisions, although with stickers, I still know what I have. If you are following me on Instagram, you may have already seen most of the inserts that I mentioned earlier.

Also, ever since I got Cladwell on my phone, I have been using this tool to plan my outfits, since you populate the app with clothes (or similar) that you own, you are essentially basing your planned wardrobe with a great vision of how your outfit is going to look even before you wear it or try it on. With no affiliation to the company, I am very happy to say that this app, installed on my phone, has been a game changer in how I plan my outfits. It is only available for iPhone but what a great tool it is!

To end this post, I wanted to share what I have concluded to be the main part of this process and what is making me very happy and excited about what I am doing:
– Jeans go with everything
– So does leather
– Animal prints can be introduced in the form of a blouse, a scarf or an accessory
– Salmon color is universal
– Pink (Blush) & Gray Tops are the new Black
– Tall Black Boots are universally flattering
– Minimalism is not the lack of something. It is the perfect amount of everything.

Thank you for reading