Anyone who knows me, minimalist is a word that would rarely be used to describe me. I wouldn’t say I’m over the top in any particular way, but minimalist is not me at all.

However, I have been OBSESSED lately with minimalist (aka capsule) wardrobes.  I have clothes in at least 4 different sizes in closets, dressers and plastic totes around this house and STILL I suffer from the dreaded “I have nothing to wear” problem. Seriously.  So after studying Pinterest and websites like Project 333 and The Vivienne Files, I give you my method for getting starting on a minimalist wardrobe.

1. Spend weeks and weeks looking at how to do this. Occasionally look in your closet and other places you clothing stashed and try to imagine how you will ever part with ANY of it.
2. Find a particular minimalist wardrobe that speaks to you. For me it’s the Pink/Purple/Gray/Navy combo on The Vivienne Files website.  Obsessed, I tell you, obsessed.
3. Join Weight Watchers, again. Why oh why can’t I be a size 6????
4. Grow 5 inches taller.  Ok, maybe I can’t do that, but when you are looking online at clothes, it is hard to imagine transferring those clothes to a 40-something, 5 foot 1 inch tall woman who is pushing into plus size (not that there is anything wrong with that.)
5. Obsess over more capsule wardrobes and continue to be amazed at how 10 items of clothing will get you through a month of work. No one will notice, right?
6. Sort through some of your clothing stash. Fill one garbage bag with items from closet that are too big and look sloppy or too tight and feel terrible or that you know you are never going to wear again. (Unless it is a fancy dress with the tags still on it.)  Take note of colors that get left behind in the closet.
7. At this point, I’ve decided that I just love the idea of the pink/purple/gray combination and I will switch out black for navy because a large portion of my work clothes are black and I’m not going to buy all new pants/shoes/cardigans.
8. Sort through the plastic totes of clothes and fill 2 more garbage bags, and still leave behind anything from Banana Republic, J Crew or Calvin Klein.  Leave behind the bin of expensive bras that you WILL wear again one day. Leave the bin of skinny clothes that are classic in style or that you just spent too much money on and it still breaks your heart to part with. This is what the guest room closet is for anyway, right?  Keep the bin of cruise clothes for the next time you go to the Bahamas. Promise yourself if they don’t work for you then, you will get rid of them too.
9. Sort through your shoes. If they pinch, are falling apart or you just don’t wear them… buh-bye.  Cry because you didn’t listen to the salesman and paid $600 for a pair of black heels when you should have gone with the nude. Nude is forever!!!
10. Pack the car with the 5 bags of clothing and shoes and drop off at the donation center.
11. Download the Stylebook app so you can take pictures of all of your clothes and mix and match outfits from the comfort of your recliner… uh, I mean… while you are on the treadmill, walking your way to that magic size 6! (ha ha ha… I’ll be happy with size 10, thank you.)
12. Check your credit card balance.
13. Shop online for HOURS looking for the perfect items to make your capsule dreams come true.

Truth be told, I shopped Kohls online. I know my sizes, I had a coupon and free shipping.  I still managed to order over 40 items.  Damn sales. Hopefully I can part with some of it and return what doesn’t work. I’ve vowed to myself to only keep what fits today and what I will wear to work. My capsule will likely consist of more than 33 items, but I have a great base already in my closet.  I have black dress pants (4 identical pairs), a tweed pair, a black and white check and a gray pair. I have a tweed skirt and a solid black one as well. I have three different styles of black cardigans, a hot pink one, a gray one and several black and white print.  This is an awesome base if I do say so myself. I’m just organizing my color scheme to a tighter range. I really believe that this will make life easier in the mornings.

So maybe I won’t be totally minimalistic and have the perfect 33 item capsule. But that really isn’t the point of the project. The idea is to do more with less and I can certainly appreciate having less to work with.