This week I was asked the same question from 2 different people so I thought I'd blog about it. The question was How many outfits do you own? I couldn't help but wonder if people were asking that because they always see me in photos on my blog in the same outfits? HAHA Well, I looked through some past blog entries, and I think I understand where the question comes from. In previous posts I had been blogging about how I had narrowed my wardrobe down substantially and how much easier my laundry life was now as a result of that one simple step.
*And just in case anyone's wondering, these are NOT my clothes.
We have successfully narrowed our clothing down to every member of the household having between 15 and 20 outfits. My husband has 15 outfits, my son has 15 outfits, and I have 20 outfits. Our family decided to limit our wardrobes to 15-20 outfits each in order to make our lives more simplistic and less stressful (this includes 1 bathing suit each). I also have 1 bin of maternity clothes in the basement, and another bin in the basement where I store my seasonal clothes (for example, in the summertime I put my sweaters in that bin, and take my t-shirts out of the bin).
I must say that this single decision has impacted our lives more positively than I ever could have ever imagined. For one thing, laundry is so much easier to wash, dry, fold, and put away. When each outfit has a place and you can actually see the clothes in your closet, it's easier to get dressed in the morning, pack for trips, and know when it's time to do laundry. I've narrowed my baby son's clothes down to 15 outfits per/size (so only 15 outfits in his closet at a time). I choose the 15 outfits I like best on him, and then I consign the rest of them at our local children's consignment shop. Then I use the money I make from consigning his surplus clothes for buying him outfits in the next size up. When he's outgrown a size, I put the 15 outfits in a bin, label the bin, and store it in the basement.
Some people might think that they could never live with so few clothes, but if you think about it, I'm sure those of you who have 100 outfits or more really only wear 15-20 of them! Just think about how your surplus of clothing could bless people who are less fortunate, and think about consigning your children's clothing if you don't already do so. If you're not comfortable narrowing your wardrobe down to 15-20 outfits, try for 1 month cleaning out your closet and just leaving your favorite 15-20 outfits in there. You can put your other clothes in a box for the time being. Try living this way for one month, and then tell me your life isn't easier!
*Also, I should mention as a disclaimer that I'm not saying 15-20 outfits is the magic number of outfits every person in every family should have. That's just the number we came up with for our family. If, for example, a husband has to wear a suit every day to work, he will most likely need more outfits than a husband who is allowed to dress casually at his job. So it's up to every family, given their individual circumstances, to determine the number of outfits that's right for each family member in their family. I will remind you though, that if you have a 4 person family, and everyone has 20 outfits, that's upwards of 80 pieces of clothing in your house (since remember, an outfit usually consists of multiple pieces of clothing!)
12 comments:
Adriana's closet already looks great. I don't think I can get down to 20 but I'm working on it. My closet is next. In fact how many towels do you need. I getting ride of towels. I may regret that decision but all I have to do is go the store. :)
I just got rid of two huge bins of towels! Ah, my linen closet looks so much better.
I think your idea to cull your outfits is great. So, define an outfit for me. If you have four skirts and four tops, but they're all interchangeable, would that be 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 outfits (or whatever the math is)?
Adrianne, that's awesome! To answer your question, here's our towel breakdown. Ben and I each have 2 towels (a regular sized towel and a larger one...I think they call them "bath sheets") Leo has 1 towel. We have 2 guest towels. Each of us have 1 beach towel.
Hi Katherine, here's the breakdown - I just counted. I have 10 skirts, 5 pairs of pants, and 5 dresses. Then I have 20 tops - 6 sweaters, 8 long sleeved shirts, and 6 t-shirts. I forgot to mention that I also have 7 night gowns, so you can add that to the 20 outfits, plus my bin of maternity clothes which is in the basement :-)
Okay, I have about that many items of clothing also. I thought you were getting really extreme, like combining four tops with four skirts in innumerable ways.
Oh, no. I don't even think that would be worth it laundry wise! You'd probably spend more money on water just doing laundry if you only had 4 tops!
Rebecca,
Tell me more about the consignment stuff. Do you only sell brand new stuff (with tags) that Leo never wore (which I have plenty of...a baby can only wear so many pajamas!!! And since it has been quite warm here already Ben has not even been wearing pajamas...just a onesie)? Or also good quality, but worn clothes? People are still sending us clothes as gifts with no gift receipt and a lot of stuff doesn't fit him already or we can't use. Anyway...please advise LOL..
Jamie, who never understood the use of an open bottomed gown for a baby.....especially a looooong baby!
Jamie, yes, I definitely consign stuff that still has the tags on it. You'll get SO much more $ for items with the tags on them! Nevertheless, you will get more $ if you're able to exchange baby clothes that still have the tags on them at the shop they were originally bought, because they'll give you full price, whereas at a consignment shop you'll only get a percentage.
If you don't know where the clothes were bought but they still have the tags on them, I've heard that Babies 'R Us and Kohl's are really good about exchanging items and giving you store credit even if the clothes weren't purchased there - as long as they carry the BRAND (i.e. Carters), they'll take it back and give you store credit (or at least I've heard that the Kohl's and Babies 'R Us out here are good like that). You would most likely get more for your $ by doing that if the items still have tags, but sometimes it's easier just to take a bag of stuff to one place - such as a consignment shop.
I'll consign any baby clothes though, as long as they're in good condition. I'm VERY blessed to live 10 minutes away from an excellent children's consignment shop that people drive from all over Massachusetts and New Hampshire to come to.
Here's a link so you can have a visual: http://www.cutiepatuties.com/
They are VERY picky as to what they'll accept though. The items have to be in really good condition. This makes it great when you're a shopper though, because you can trust that anything you purchase won't have stains on it.
Each piece of baby clothing will have a tag on it with three different prices and three different dates. For example, $3.50 4/1 - $2.50 5/1 - $1.50 3/1. What this means is that if you buy the item after April 1st., it will cost $3.50, if you buy it after 5/1, it will cost $2.50, etc, etc. So each item you consign (at least at our shop) will sit on the rack for 3 months and each month the price will be decreased. If it doesn't sell after 3 months, then the item is donated to charity.
I should mention that our consignment shop has a three-day-rule though...they won't post it, but if you come in on April 28th, and it says on the tag that the price will be lowered on May 1st, the lady at the register will give you the lower price as long as it's within three days. So be sure to ask about that if you do decide to consign anything and you want to buy an item a few days before it's price drops.
The way it works is that once you start consigning, you're given an account number. If I consign an item, and you buy it, then when it's purchased, a percentage of $ goes into my Cutie Patuties account, and the other percentage goes to the store.
When you sign up for an account as a consigner, you have 2 options: 1). you can opt to get store credit for your sales or 2). you can opt to get cash back for your sales. If you opt for cash back, the percentage of what you earn is slightly less than what you would earn if you had opted for store credit.
When Leo was younger, I always opted for cash back, because I had more clothes than I knew what to do with! I was still 'making money,' because I hadn't paid for any of the clothes in the first place - some of them where duplicates I received as baby shower gifts...a lot of them were 0-3 month sized which Leo never even fit into because he was so big when he was born! HAHA
Now when I consign I opt for store credit, because Leo is entering the age where for the first time I'll actually be needing to buy him some clothes!
All consignment shops work differently, but I hope that answered your questions and gave you a general idea about how it works. It's become another hobby of mine :-)
Rebecca,
I just wanted to give you an update. Before I left for Boston yesterday I weeded through my clothes. I got ride of atleast 15 outfits. I said to myself "If it doesn't make me look good, it goes." It was so freeing. I got rid of tons of towels, Anne said she needed some so it was easy to just go through them and bring them to her. I am continueing today with my and Adriana's clothes. Still a long way to go. Today I'm saying "If it doesn't have a match it must go." Thanks Rebecca, this is truly freeing.
P.S. I am consigning some. I made and appointment today for Monday. Some have gone right to the trash. Others are going to the LLL yard sale. Sad to say I am going on worth. If it is not worth alot I'll give it to the yard sale. lol. I need to have money to buy James clothes. lol
That is so great, Adrianne! Yes, it is so freeing to let go of things that don't make us feel pretty. Why have them around when just looking at them makes us feel bad about ourselves?
Funny you should mention the LLL yard sale. I was going through boxes just as you posted your comment.
My next project is going through all of the books, CD's, and videos in our house. I was going to to call "Got Books" and have them come pick them up, but once I heard about the LLL yard sale, I decided I'd donate them there instead. I have a few decluttering projects left, and that's one of them. Another one is to put all of my photos that mixed together in a large box into a photo album!
Right now, Ben is going through the basement and putting a few things out on our curb. We do this every Saturday morning. The last time we did this the items were gone within an hour! Who needs Freecycle when you live in our neighborhood? HAHA
Adrianne, be sure if you go to Cutie Patuties to consign that you make an appointment first. You have to make an appointment, you can't just show up. Also, they'll only accept clothes that are in the current season - so they're probably accepting summer clothes right now. It's a good idea to call first :-)
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