The Frugal Retiree Finally Tackles Her Wardrobe, Part One (a long post)

It's no secret that I have been wanting to come up with some kind of capsule wardrobe for at least a year now. For both financial and organizational reasons. Unfortunately, when I began my investigation of how to do this, I found that the "33" items were not nearly enough, especially if you consider accessories (seriously, I have earrings for every outfit or at lest every top and dress).

 Also, the seasonal thing four times a year would never work for me. Except for my heaviest sweaters and jackets and my shortest shorts, everything is left out. It snowed just before Mothers day and got to almost eighty in February. See my point? I think about doing a summer/fall, fall/winter, winter to spring kind of thing, but I mean seriously. Thinking about that that hurts my head!!

And so for awhile I had been considering the year around wardrobe, but had not just figured out how to do it. I understand that for many this is the anti project 333, either because you want a completely different look each season, not that many clothes out or whatever. For me, I would prefer to have a wardrobe where I can wear the 3/4 in sleeved top with nice shorts, or layer one of my short sleeved tops under sweater. So I had already decided that this was what I should try. And once a found a website that was-sorta-going in my direction I decided to take her list and make it my own.

A couple qualifiers in my personal quest:

1. I've never been "styled"  have no desire to be styled but I absolutely know what I like. I HAVE had my colors done, and in my case even with the change to gray, that has been very accurate. I adjust the colors a bit sometimes and often look for a lighter hue, but in general the colors work.

2. I don't wear neutrals as such except in terms of bottoms-so the "have five neutral shirts and two brights or trendy" is not my think. I want my clothes to be in the colors that I use from the chart:  Light/dark green, violet/periwinkle, blue and turquoise, with the occasional yellow or peach and warm pink and a couple neutrals of navy, cream or gray (no browns). Yes, I have a bright true blue sweater that I wear with a bright warm green top-and it works. I even have the earrings to match.

4. I live in the land of casual. In theory you might need a jacket to wear to the best steak restaurant in town, but you could probably wear said jacket over dockers, a graphic T and sandals.

5. I dress once for the day I plan to have, I don't throw on shorts  and a T and then change my clothes when I go out. Which is why my plan will have those soft shirts and pull on pants and even fleece pants-because I don't want to have an organized wardrobe with a dresser full of around the house clothes, I want to account for everything. Organization wise, fashion wise and budget wise. Tomorrow I am going to walk with a friend in the morning, meet someone for lunch at a wine bar, some home and spend time with the dogs and either knit or sew. I will wear the same thing all day unless I opt for fifteen minutes of vitamin D in a sundress.

6. And last (for the moment) as some regular readers know, no wool or gabardine or even linen can touch my knees. Fabric must be stretchy, knit and soft (or crepe like) even for casual clothes.

7 And really truly last, I do have a small (very small) subset of truly dressy as in going to volunteer ball or a wedding group of clothes not included. Basically three semi formal dresses and a wrap.

So, on to my attempt to organize the clothes I have and plan for the future. On one of my many forays into the deep pit that is Pinterest, I found  this link to a web page and attendant clothing chart. Now, I am only using this for a guideline. My numbers will be different, my types of clothes will be different (do I really need that many tanks if I am not using them for layering?). Her list of pants doesn't show crops, for example. I wear crops or shorts in the summer (yes, even in public, sorry over 40 fashion police). But I don't wear "capris" because of the place they land on the leg.

My numbers will increase in some areas, at least to start. I'm beginning with the "rule of sevens", in most categories, with the theory that if underwear and nightwear is sufficient I can get to ten days or two weeks without doing laundry (I would rather scrub the potty than do laundry). Unlike her chart, probably one top in each category will be neutral and all the rest will be in "my colors". 

So my tentative starting point for the tops and bottoms is this:

7 tanks (until I decide I do not need them and I'll include "cap sleeve" type stuff in this
7 Short sleeved tops
7 (presentable, no stains and so on) knit type shirts/tops long and short sleeved 
7 Sweaters
7 Outer pieces (cardigans, kimonos, ect, I don't wear jackets). This will not include the heavy coatigans that we wear here instead of coats of which I have two or three (last year I wore a real coat four times).
7 Pair of long pants which includes jeans, leggings and straight pants,
5 pairs of relaxed, knit pull on style pants that are clean and can go outside (read pull on velour, so called 7 day knit pants and so on).
5 Pairs of crops/shorts.

Lauren's list includes 52 pieces, and this is that without the dresses and skirts and shoes.. Her list does not include accessories. This list is closer to 66 than to that, which is fine-two seasons of clothes build into a year, if you will. And this list includes so called around the house clothes.  * I don't garden or do home improvement so I don't need icky clothes as such, and I don''t own workout clothes. Once or twice a week I hit the pool and I wear those soft knit things listed above there and back. I do Zumba once a week on a day when I have no other obligations and the same is true. I DO have about 5 Sleeveless casual knit dresses that I wear about the house on warm days (and may throw over shorts so perhaps should include them). And I am unashamed to admit that I often stay in my nightgown until ten or so and get dressed.

My goal in those pieces of seven is to have one top in each of the colorways above plus a neutral (navy/cream or gray). Right now, as you can see from the photos, when it comes to my short sleeved tops I am very uneven. I have three green short sleeved tops, two blue, one gold and yellow-and a pink one with a split on the top that can't really be worn year around. So I need a pink, a purple or lavender, and perhaps a cream top to replace some of those duplicates. 

Not yet sure about the gold pineapple shirt, hence the tag remains.

not cream, but my favorite top

An on sale substitution for the pink perhaps?  As you can also see, I am not into button down shirts, but prefer pullovers that are a bit fitted.

Even so, I'm not going to get rid of anything unless I hate it right now, which means my load is will still be uneven. I have a group of things I don't love to go to the consignment shop. Will I elminate a top when I bring a new one in? Probably, the decision will be which one.

My next post on this topic (sometime within the next week or so) will involve something close to a full inventory (written only), which may drive me to drink.

Meanwhile, what do you think. Would this work for you? Is it too many clothes in a year? To few? Do you bother to coordinate your clothes?