Crunching Numbers and Capsule Wardrobe Updates
Since Black Friday 2018, here are the numbers. It’s now the end of April.
Number of Clothing Items Purchased: 30
Number of Items Returned: 11
Number of Items Kept: 19
Total Spent on Shoes/Clothing After Returns: $382.16
Capsule Wardrobe Items Added: 13
Shoes Added: 2
Pajamas/Gym Wear/Accessories/Storage Added: 4
Current Capsule Wardrobe Count: 30
Current Shoe Count: 13
I feel pretty comfortable with the numbers in terms of my capsule and my shoes, but my spending is pretty shocking. For someone who's attempting to keep a small wardrobe, that's a lot of money to spend in 5 months- $77 a month blows my mind. Of course, a good chunk of that was on boots, and many initial items were for my increased weight, but still. Let's look a little closer:
Number of Items for Weight Gain: 9
ASOS T-Shirt 3-Pack $24.00
2 J. Crew Supima Cotton Tees $43.80
Cable and Gauge Green Sweater $19.99
Black Skinny D. Jeans $19.99
Blue Skinny D. Jeans $19.99
Columbia Zip-Up Fleece $26.99
Total $154.76
Really not bad for a 30 pound weight change. Granted, none of the items were ethically or sustainably made, but in terms of finding bargains, I did well. 8 items were for my newly formed capsule wardrobe, and the fleece was for my gym capsule. In the past, I had gone through a 59 lb. weight loss and had to replace all of my clothes, including bras and underwear, gym clothes, and even pajamas. I shopped very carefully with the capsule wardrobe idea in mind, but still ended up spending around $1,000. So $154.76 for a 30 lb. gain is really nothing compared to that. Now one reason for only having to buy 9 items with this most recent weight gain is that I did have some things in storage. The last time my weight was up quite high (around 211 to be exact), I had some clothes my mom bought me that I really liked. I couldn't bear to part with them when I lost weight, so I was able to pull them out the next time around the scale. Some of these items that are in my current capsule include my trouser jeans from Lands' End, my linen pants by Merona, and my purple-grey shawl cardigan from Sonoma. This is a great example of the "Weight Change Capsule Wardrobe" in action; keeping extra clothes for weight fluctuation can be a really good idea for some. Both my coats are holdovers from that time, as well as my black silky oversized blouse, some black pull-on pants, and my black and white striped top (stretchy or oversized clothes are obviously good for in-between weights as they are more forgiving of any minor fluctuations).
Now let's look at the more recent spending. These purchases were not for the sake of a weight change, though my weight is on the way down. These clothes reflect my changing style, incorporating masculine elements with my otherwise minimalist look:
Burgundy Shawl Cardigan $10.99 Thrifted
Light Blue Hanes Tee $2.99 Thrifted
Green Corduroy Shirt $6.24 Thrifted
Navy Blue Men's Pants $8.99 Thrifted
Khaki Men's Old Navy Pants $2.44 Thrifted
Grey Flannel Men's Pants $2.79 Thrifted
Taupe EveryBody Pajama Pants $7.99
Adidas Black Stripe Sneakers $34.99
Carolina Logger Boots $134.99
Dickies Black Leather Belt $14.99
Total $227.40
If I separate the boots, the rest only comes to $92.41, mostly due to the fact that a lot of things were thrifted. And in the case of the boots, though they were expensive, the quality is very good, and I plan to wear them for years to come. On the ethical/sustainable point, the thrifted items are a good thing, but the other items are not. These were things I could not find used and could not find a sustainable option for that fit. Five items are officially being added to my 25-Item Capsule Wardrobe, bringing my total number of items up to 30. The grey men's pants are too small (I was kidding myself a bit when I bought them), and are going into storage. The taupe pajama pants are obviously for my pajama capsule, the belt is an uncounted accessory, and the shoes are being added to my shoe collection, now up to 13 pairs (keep your eye out for a shoe declutter post coming soon). When all is said and done, I think my shopping ethics have improved, thrifting 6 out of 10 of the most recent items, versus my pre-capsule record of 9 all-new bargain-priced items. And a 30-item capsule wardrobe feels just fine to me. I don't feel the need to scale back when my weight is still in flux. I'm going to wait and see what happens as I explore my options in storage and reassess my shoe collection.
Here’s what I started my capsule with:
Here’s what I bought to get it up to 25 items:
And here are the most recent additions to my capsule wardrobe:
Non-capsule items mentioned:
