This post is coming more from Stephanie than from Gene. To be fair, Gene is on board in theory, but he hasn’t jumped in with both feet in practice like I have. He’ll get there. It’s a process.
This is my entire wardrobe. The first two pictures show everything I wear pretty much year-round (minus the tank tops and swimsuits). The third picture shows the things I add in the winter (and I rotate out the swimsuits and tank tops). Everything in the first picture will fit in my checked baggage.
Why a minimalist wardrobe?
First, the obvious reason: so everything will fit in a suitcase. But the secondary benefits have been surprising. I don’t have to make decisions about what to wear. I only have a few choices, so decision fatigue in this area has been all but eliminated. I have no guilt about all the clothes in my closet that I never wear.
Also, of course, I rarely buy clothes. Our budget doesn’t have a regular line item for clothing, and we rarely go to clothing stores. I’m more likely to seek out specific pieces on Amazon and have them shipped. For example, a new white t-shirt to replace the one I stained and forgot to stain treat before I washed it. It will be here tomorrow. 🙂
I have been reading a lot about the benefits of minimalism and we’ve been reaping some of those as we put the tenets into practice (like the freedom I feel now that our closets are cleaned out – see Week 100). Paring down my wardrobe required me to let go of items I was keeping out of obligation, because someone gave them to me, or because they were expensive. I was forced to identify those items I truly liked to wear, that made me feel good, and that worked well with other things in my closet.
In the end I was left with 76 total items in my entire wardrobe, including shoes. That includes winter clothes, summer clothes, and everything in between. My painting shirt? I counted it. That one black top I keep in case I need to go for New Year’s Eve? Counted that too. It also includes the one pair of dress pants and dressier shoes I wear very rarely. I did not count underwear or socks.
**I will admit to having 5 swimsuits, which may sound excessive. But in the future, I hope to wear one pretty much every day, so I consider them an investment. Also, as women readers can attest, when you find a swimsuit you like, you buy it.
My minimalist wardrobe guidelines
There are a few guidelines I followed to pare down my clothing:
Find a few colors that work for you – I know that I typically wear white, black, and gray with a little red thrown in for Chiefs game days. Once I identified that, I kept items that work in that color palette. Is it boring? Maybe. But I like it, and these are my clothes.
Choose classic pieces – My clothes are basic. Generic, even. Plain t-shirts can be worn alone or layered under a cardigan or jacket. Black pants can be dressed up or down. Silver hoop earrings go with everything. Nothing in my closet is trendy. I could wear these pieces now, 20 years ago, or 20 years from now and no one would give me side eye.
You just need enough to last until laundry day – I don’t need 20 tops and 20 pairs of pants for everyday wear. I need 7 of each, and then, laundry day! Wash, dry, wear, repeat.
Don’t forget shoes and jewelry – I have three necklaces, three pairs of earrings, and one watch. I only wear the Chiefs earrings on game days. The silver hoops are my everyday earrings. The pink ones are for when I’m feeling fancy. They were made in Belize by a guy near the beach that carves them from conch shells.
Having so little jewelry means I don’t have to wonder which earrings or necklace I’m going to wear. I’ll save the decision fatigue for more important choices.
Downsides to a minimalist wardrobe
It’s not all puppies and rainbows. There are some downsides:
Laundry day is an IMPORTANT day! When it is laundry day, most of my dresser drawers are empty, or nearly so. I don’t wash clothes because my favorite shirt is dirty. I wash clothes because all my shirts are dirty. If I skip laundry day, I’m pulling weird combinations out of the closet. If you see me wearing “office clothes” around the house, there’s a good bet that laundry day has been delayed.
I can’t follow all the fashion trends – My wardrobe doesn’t have room for trendy items. This is not really an issue for me. With age, I’ve determined my personal style and it isn’t trendy.
Sometimes I get sick of my clothes – Yep. Sometimes I look at the same 20-ish items that are for everyday wear and wish for more choices. But that feeling doesn’t happen often and it never lasts long. Overall, the benefits of minimal choices outweigh the lack of choices.
I invariably miss that one item I gave to Goodwill – I’ve gone looking for this shirt or that jacket, only to realize I sent it to the thrift store. Usually this happens when I remember an item when it was trendy, when it fit me well, etc. I have to remember that it made its way into the thrift basket because it was either no longer trendy, no longer fit, or was too worn (those usually went in recycling, rather than the thrift basket).
How I pared down my wardrobe
I started by giving a lot of thought to who I am from a fashion sense. At my core, I can easily wear the same thing day in and day out without much issue. I wear t-shirts and pajama pants to work (I have a few dressier tops for client meetings, but always, pajama pants on the bottom!). I don’t need a lot of variety in my wardrobe.
Side note – Even if I did need variety in my wardrobe, I think this could still work. Instead of having 4 of the same t-shirt in white/black/gray (guilty), I would make sure each shirt I had was different and something that I loved. If I wanted to follow fashion trends, I could add in a trendy piece or two with the knowledge that they would end up at Goodwill when that trend ran its course.
Once I found my fashion “identity,” I went through my closet and removed anything that didn’t fit that identity. I didn’t worry about hitting a magic number of items, I just focused on classic items that I truly loved that worked well together, and the number of items took care of itself.
This isn’t for everyone
I get the privilege that I have to be in a position to create such a minimal wardrobe. I know that the fact that I work from home makes it easier for me to have a minimalist wardrobe. My days are pretty casual, and I don’t have to dress for an office. The WFH life has benefitted us in so many ways. I’ll just add this to the list.
I also know a minimalist wardrobe isn’t for everyone. And even if it is, the journey to it will look different for everyone (Gene’s definitely looks different from mine). Regardless of where you fall on the wardrobe continuum, I challenge you to look at your wardrobe from the perspective of the energy it drains from you and consider how less could, indeed, be more.
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