I shared my closet with my youngest child. the blue totes are mine. The top black tote contains my son’s new outfits and the bottom black tote has all my children baby outfits that I kept.

In 2017, I downsized my wardrobe. Up to that point, I kept my clothes in totes in the basement and only brought up the clothes I would wear for a week. I had 6 totes full of clothes. I downsized to 3 totes at the end of 2017. One tote has my pants and tops for winter wear, another tote has my dresses for summer, and the third one is for home clothes. The pants and dresses filled two totes. The totes for home clothes was half full. I brought them up. I kept 2 totes in my closet and one tote in the girls’ room.

 

In winter, I wear pants to work and in summer I wear dresses and skirts. It was late spring 2019 this year when I pulled my dress tote and set it on top of the pants tote. In case you don’t know, I keep my work clothes in 2 totes and take out what I need for work and church for the week. I keep my home clothes in a third tote. Once I wash my clothes at the end of the week and dry them, I fold my work clothes and wrap them all inside one cloth of the same group. Then I put back in the tote. I take out another roll of clothes for the following week. Doing this makes it easier for me to choose my outfit in the morning and this keeps my closet clean. During winter I wear pants and I have 4 groups to choose from. Each group has 2 pants, 5-6 tops, and 1-2 sweaters or 1-2 jackets. I sorted my pants and tops based on color. For instance, black pants are paired with black tops so that I can wash them all together and save on water. Also they blend well. Brown and khaki pants are paired with blue and green button down shirts and so forth. I just try to pair what I have and see how they all fit together and allow me to wash many outfits together during laundry time. I have few extra pants and tops kept in the tote for replacement. I made 3 groups of clothes and I have a group that I use during my menstrual. It takes 3-4 weeks before I wear the same outfit again.

In summer and fall, I hear dresses and skirts. I organized them the same way I have organized my winter clothing since 2017. I have a tote for pants and tops, and another tote for dresses and skirts.

In late spring 2019 after putting away my winter clothes, I moved the pants’ tote down and the dresses’ tote up. I took 1 camisole from the winter tote to the summer tote as I knew I have skirts and I might need some tops. By the way moving the totes out of the closet was a perfect time for me to grab a broom and clean the back of the closet.

I took one group of dresses out of the tote. That was the group of green and blue. The first day of the week, I wore a green dress. I love that dress. It is a sheath dress that hugs write below the bust. I love that dress because I am short waisted. However, I didn’t feel good about wearing it to work that day. I walk to work in spring, summer, and fall and take the bus in winter to save money. We have one car and I don’t buy into the idea that every household should have at least 2 cars. I don’t need a car. My husband needs it. So we do with one. My job is at 35 minutes by walk from my house. And the bus takes about 20 minutes. Walking is a great way for me to exercise without any machine or paying a gym membership. Walking allows me to clear my head, think, and reflect on many aspect of our life. It is a calm and quiet moment for me and I value it. Although, I started it out of necessity, I made a positive outcome out of it. Let get back to my dress issue shall we? I walked that day to work and the dress wouldn’t stay put. First, I found that my tummy was a little big in it. That surprised me and I took my weight. I was 145 lbs. I am 41 years old and 5’8’’ tall. My targeted weight is 135 lbs. I generally was around 127 lbs. when I started to have kids and set 135 lbs. to reach. Now I passed that and am 145 lbs. That reminded me that by the end of winter, many of my pants that were loose on me before, became fitted. As I reflected in my diet, the only thing that changed was the porridge I drank every morning of the week day throughout the winter season. I made it out of whole grain of red wheat, barley, and corn meal. I made a mental note to stop drinking it. I am out of all the grains I purchased 3 years ago but red wheat berries anyway. I also remarked that to wear the dress my bras was just thigh around my torso than before. I definitively gained weight. I have a rectangular body shape. I gained weight throughout my body but a little more from my waist down shifting me a little from rectangular body shape to pear body shape. But the difference is minimal though to the exception of my tummy.

Ok back to the dress again. During my walk, I felt like the dress was too short. It met the fingertip length rule but still as a sheath dress, it kept pulling up showing more my legs. I made a beautiful mistake of purchasing my office dresses on credit card when I couldn’t afford them. It was 7 years ago I purchased many dresses online with the intention of building a wardrobe for my future corporate job while I was working at a fast food. I purchased them on sale even from England for some of them using credit card I couldn’t pay in full. It was a mistake. I didn’t give up applying for job though, even when I was working at a fast food place with two master’s degrees. I eventually found my office job but I don’t think it was necessary going into debt for the wardrobe. We lived on one income back then and it was four of us. My fast food income was less than $300/month and most often I forgot to cash the checks. It was so minimum that I would collect my paychecks every two weeks and kept them in my closet for two months before handing them over to my husband to deposit in our checking account. I was not a big spender but I was not frugal either. My weight was around 127 lbs. in the year I made these purchases and I was size 2. I purchased many size 4. Many of them are sheath dresses. Now they hug me thigh and show my tummy. Additionally, they pull up as I walk and display my legs. It is time to let them go.

 

 

I went through my tote and pulled all the sheath dresses out to compare to the two I wore so fare. Any of them that sit above the knee were set aside for donation.

I continued to wear the rest of the dresses to go through all the groups. The outfits that didn’t suit me any longer were deposited in the donation pile. That was a deep downsizing. I downsized my four groups of dresses and skirts into two groups. Into the donation pile went 12 dresses and two skirts. I kept 7 dresses, 1 suit, 3 skirts, 2 camisoles, and 5 cardigans. I divided them into 2 piles and rolled them into 2 groups. Therefore, every week I pulled out one group of clothes to wear for the week. If I have to increase my wardrobe or update it, it would be with my allowance this time. I would save my allowance of $100/month to purchase them at the end of the season. At the moment, I saved my allowances to purchase online courses to renew my substitute authorization. I have a job but I like to keep my substitute authorization valid. I have substituted before and I loved subbing at high schools. It is all about being diversified when it comes to our skills. As it is said in “The Millionaire Next Door” written by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, if you think being an entrepreneur is risky, being an employee is even riskier. An entrepreneur has multiple clients thus multiple avenues of income where as an employee has only one. Anyway I won’t need more clothes any time soon. I would downsize my home clothes as well this summer. In winter once I started to wear my pants, I would be able to sort through them as well. My goal would be to fit all my clothes in one tote. In case you are wondering the size of the totes, they are 22 gallons (83 L) each.

I have reduced my shoes as well. I have 6 pairs of shoes including: one pair of high heels that I am not wearing, one pair of high heel I wear at the office, one pair of walking shoes I wear to walk to work , one pair of walking shoes I wore with sock in winter to work, one pair of shoes I wear in the garden, and one pair of sandals I wear at home.

When I need to update my wardrobe, I have a list of items I would purchase and I think stores like Burlington and JC Penny would be just fine for now.  Work outfits purchased from these two stores are the ones that remained in my wardrobe compared to the expensive fitted dresses from other stores like Ann Taylor, the Loft, Reiss, Neiman Marcus, Fenn Wright Manson (England) that ended up in the donation pile.

I am short waited and have a rectangular body shape. I walk to work.

My targeted dresses would be:

*Empire waist dresses: They fit just under the bust and flow down.

* A-line dresses and skirts: They fit at the natural waist and flare from there down.

* Wrap dresses: They can be tied at the waist and flare down.

*Shift dress: They hug at the shoulder and go straight down. They are not my favorite but they would work if that what I find. I wore one from my tote and was comfortable in it. I could add a slim belt at my waist if desired.

Dress and skirt length: They have to be knee length or right below the knee.

Color: I would favor colors like navy, gray, black, and plain color.  My goal is to be able to wear and wash my dresses together to save on water and electricity. Also a black pant or dress can be paired with other tops and no one would notice that is the same outfit wore the day prior. That reduced the need of having many outfits as they blend in. For instance, one week I wore a green suit (I purchased it years ago at Burlington. The jacket is green and the skirt is black). I wore a green camisole under the jacket. The next day, I wore the same black skirt and a brown camisole, topped with a brown cardigan. I didn’t need two skirts for two days. Similarly, the green jacket would go well on a green camisole and a black pant in winter. Buying clothes with the vision of pairing them like that reduces the need of having a lot of clothes and helps use what we already have to the fullest.