four years later | a capsule wardrobe update

sooo...how's the last...year...been?? mine's been super. i realized my macbook has over 13,000 pictures stored on it that have never been backed up or printed off soooo that gives me nightmares. my poor computer is slowly dying. i blame the kids. i am currently copying & pasting the letter "g" over & over as i'm writing this because it no longer works. also half my arrow keys are gone. along with the esc key. irony.

twelve months-almost thirteen-since my last entry. shameful really. i don't know where the time went.  i have so many things i've been learning over the past year & have thought many times to write them out, but ya know, life. but i'm itching to share. SO MUCH GOOD STUFF. of course, i'm not sure people even read blogs anymore. it's practically 2020. i think i'm supposed to be vlogging (so many "g's" right there dang). do i need a youtube channel? i don't think i will. 

some of you have been here since the start. mostly blogging about life & raising kids & whatever randomness that inspired me at the time. but a lot of you have found me in the past few years through my outfit posts & thoughts on living with less & buying better. soooo...i thought now may be a good time to give you guys some honest feedback about how the capsule wardrobe has been going--especially over the past 12 months.

if you didn't know, i began my capsule wardrobe journey the summer of 2015 with the main objective being that i strip my overstuffed closet down to a few super versatile pieces that i could mix and match. however, over time, i've learned so much more about the importance of where my money goes...my eyes have been opened to the textile waste epidemic, the threat of fast fashion, the beautiful word of slow/ethical fashion, the fomo on new slow fashion releases, the struggle of size inclusivitiy...i could go on. the eyes are open, mmmkay. specifically though, when looking at my own closet & my garment purchases since 2015, i've picked up a few things & thought i'd share, so here are...

the top ten things i have learned from having a mostly ethical, capsule wardrobe as a stay at home mom to five on a very strict family budget:

1. my tastes change. often. (i stopped believing "this piece will last ME a lifetime."But it may last "someone" a lifetime, so that's still good.)

2. having too many "basic" pieces bored me. 

3. i cannot imitate someone else's entire capsule wardrobe.

4. if i invest in quality pieces, they typically hold a high resale value which will help fund new purchases in the future. 

5. if i purchase quality pieces & wear them a lot over a short period of time, they will continue to have lots of life left in them if/when i choose to resell.

6. it's okay to still wear your nonethical pieces from your past if you still love them.

7. i almost never ever make impulse buys anymore. 

8. saving for new, (ethically made) quality garments gives me time to evaluate how much i really want something.

9. being a stay at home mom to five kids & wearing ethically made (higher priced) clothing can become a real heartbreaker when something happens to "mommy's nice clothes" & i really hate that i even wrote those words & actually dont know how i'm supposed to handle that truth.

10. i love thrifting whenever possible & must find more time to do that because it might solve the problem listed previously in number 9.

well there you have it. 

wondering if you guys have questions--?? have you tried a capsule wardrobe? what kind of hurdles are you looking at? you can comment below or back on my social media post. if you have questions about how something works or what this all looks like in my life or maybe there's something you want to know more about, comment & let's talk!!

earrings by my boo sedona moon

okay, that felt good. most do this more often. blog baby, i've missed you!!!

Linking a recent Tradlands post talking about how they style their ethically-made denim chore coat! Check it out!

xo

Amanda