Monday, December 01, 2008

How I configured my Over-Simplified Wardrobe

If you have been following my Over-Simplified Wardrobe, I am going to explain how I came up with the numbers. Hopefully, you can do something similar and customize your very own OS Wardrobe. :) Enjoy! If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. I will do my best to explain further.

In a typical week I do these things:
Sunday - Church
Monday - SAHM
Tuesday - SAHM (errands) and Seasonally Bible Study
Wednesday - SAHM and Church
Thursday - SAHM
Friday - SAHM and Date
Saturday - SAHM
(SAHM - includes all my stay-at-home-mom duties such as chauffeur, cleaning, trips to store, bank, etc.)

So I figured on any given week for the most part I would need:
Sunday - Dress or a Skirt and Top & Every day Top and Bottom
Monday - ED (stands for Every Day) top and bottom
Tuesday - ED top and bottom
Wednesday - Dressier top and bottom & ED top and bottom
Thursday - Day Dress
Friday - Skirt or Dress Pant and Top & ED top and bottom
Saturday - ED top and bottom

In a typical week I would need:
6 Every day tops
6 everyday bottoms
1 dress
3 dressier tops
3 dressier bottoms
1 day dress

Here is what I thought. I would combine the tops to get more uses (Bible study days and errand could use a dressier than normal top). Hence the 9 tops with 3 being a little dressier. I could use one of the skirts for everyday and dressier occasions. So, I only needed 5 pants (shorts, capri's, jeans, etc.). I would do 2 dress pants which would leave 1 more dress bottom which I chose to make a skirt. Hence, the 2 skirts. A wanted to make sure that I had at least 1 great pair of jeans. In the summers where I live it gets well into the 90's and even 100's for many days straight. I would not normally wear jeans as part of any outfit. But, it would be nice to have at least 1 pair available for various purposes. Also, I wear a lot of yoga and athletic style pants. That would ensure at least 1 pair of jeans. The 1 day dress is self-explanatory - just a good dress for everyday purposes. The 1 dressier type dress is for church. I reserve my specialty capsule for occasional evening wear type garments. I added a jacket to each capsule as a layering and functional piece. I will need at least 1 shoe for every day and 1 shoe for dressier outfits. I wanted a minimum of 1 handbag (or purse - I guess that is what some people call them) that could go with all outfits if possible. The jewelry was just a reminder to accessorize. I am terrible at adding the small touches. If all things coordinate in my capsule then I am hoping that 2 necklaces, 2 earrings, and 1 bracelet will be okay. I could add an ankle bracelet for the warmer months.

The rationale behind the rotation is that I didn't want to have 4 separate wardrobes (one for winter, spring, summer, and fall). We get all 4 seasons each year. It is too difficult to try to change out every 3 months. Also, both spring and summer can be seasonally warm or seasonally cool or there other extremes. So, to simplify I decided to switch out only 1 capsule every 3 months leaving another to finish the transition from one extreme to the other.

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