My 10-Item Summer Wardrobe

I have been loving this challenge. My first rendition of it was such an amazing blessing-- no decision fatigue in the morning and everything goes with everything. 10 out of 10 recommend. 

I'm still breastfeeding Esther either 5 for 15 times a day, I swear this child is giving my boobs whiplash! I plan to wean it out around Christmas but who knows. Since she is most likely my last baby perhaps I will nurse her until 3. 

Above, we have my shirts and dresses. I have four linen shirts. I wear the first two, the blue floral and the gold shirt the most. I have only worn the white daisy crop top once. It was kinda an impulse buy and belongs to teenage me. But I can still enjoy it a bit. Of the dresses, I wear the one on the far right with the checks the most. The other three get worn perhaps once or twice a month. Usually I am in the blue check dress...it's my favorite. In full disclosure I have two of them, one in XL and a 1X because I wear it so often. One week I wore it four times. I only count it as one item. It's literally the same.

I have three pairs of pants and three skirts. One of my pairs of pants doesn't fit me anymore. It's shrank in the wash, I haven't grown. The pants are a 1X so I am baffled that this happened, but I guess it does. They are too tight in the thighs. They say 1X but run small--they are about an XL. Maybe now that they shrank they are a L.

The two pants that fit. I have a brown pair that doesn't.

Two of my skirts are too big and I have to safety pin them now which makes them look funny. I haven't weighed myself and I don't think I have lost weight, but apparently I have, somewhere? Or the skirts grew, which I don't think can happen. (Linen, that I wash?) So. While I have 3 skirts and 3 pants in my wardrobe, I can only wear 2 of the pants and 1 of the skirts and thats what I am counting towards my "ten items". 

I need to save up to replace them with a size down next spring if I don't gain any weight over the winter. 

skirts. the brown and green are too big now, the rust colored one fits!

That makes 11 wearable items in my wardrobe and 14 total. I have four cardigans as extras as well, light summery ones. I don't really wear them right now, it's been 90 out! But they are there. 

I am loving the 10-item wardrobe. My mind is free, my choices seem endless and I am happy. My laundry is minimal. I don't know how to express how much weight this takes off my day. I don't have to buy new things (I still do sometimes though but have noticed I usually donate or gift it again very quickly) and I truly love each item in my closet. This is a blessing and I am never going back.

Fall is just around the corner! I'll probably do like I did in Spring--for awhile I had Spring and Summer in my closet, each on one side while the weather was doing its schizophrenic thing--and it worked so well. Warm? Go to the left. Cold? Go to the right. Warm but cold later? Layers are your friend.

Is this helping me love my body more? That was one of the reason I started--I hated that my closet was full of things I loved but that wouldn't fit me. I think I will struggle with loving my postpartum body (Three times post now!) until I heal my diastases recti. I'm working on that too. But my bloating is down and I am feeling better. Getting rid of everything that didn't fit me, no matter how much I loved it--really helped. 

The kids are doing the 15 item wardrobe this fall and, well, only one of them excited. I won't make them do it but our budget is really limited and I'm not sure they have much choice? Anyway, in our house we have a try it once rule, and so we will try it once. I'm going to vlog their wardrobe choices, if they want me too! If I grew two inches or more a year, I'd need a whole new wardrobe too. Oh to be 12 again! 

See ya all later, I'm going to play Animal Crossing.

10 item Spring Wardrobe (while breastfeeding!)

If you know me at all, you know I struggle with overconsumption. I actually made a pledge on the first day of spring to buy zero clothes for the rest of the year and to use what I have. I have a closet bursting with clothing. It's overflowing and overwhelming and yet I still buy things and can't find anything to wear and am unhappy about my clothes and how they look on me. 

I realized that my problem of overconsumption is twofold. One, my love language is gifts. So when I am upset or having a hard time I buy myself a gift. Sometimes it is as small as a chocolate bar but sometimes it's a new or thrifted shirt. And in this economy with how bad the inflation is, that just isn't doable anymore. I know I have struggled with shopping addictions before too--shopping from boredom or from a place of depression, and I'd like to nip that in the bud as well. We don't have credit cards and I'm not in debt anymore, so I don't know if I can call it an addiction any longer, but I still struggle with shopping.

My other issue is a body one. My body is not the same as it was pre-Esther pregnancy, and that's okay. My body grew a whole baby! Amazing. And it looks like it grew a whole baby for the third time! And I'm thirty eight years old! This is expected and typical and I don't know why my brain expects me to be trim everywhere and perpetually thirty-two! 

I find when I don clothes they don't look on me like how I thought in my head they would look. There is a discrepancy and I must address it because I keep buying clothes hoping that "this time" it will turn out different. I unconsciously wasn't blaming my body and my body dysmorphia but instead the clothes. And that has to stop.

So this year I would like to learn to love my body. And that starts with the 10 item spring wardrobe challenge! I do love a wardrobe challenge and have done several in the past but nothing ever sticks. I am hoping that this one will. In this challenge you pick 10 core pieces and then you can add extras to flesh it out, like sweaters or other layering pieces. There is probably more to it--I didn't read the book I just watched a few YouTube videos about it. 

Here is what I picked for my spring 10 item capsule wardrobe, which I will use until summer when I'll refresh it with what I already own in my closet. I'm super excited about this and hope it works out!

I picked five dresses. Five may be a little excessive but I love dresses and I had so many this was as small I could get it without wishing to abandon the whole project. Here they are! I have two not perfect linen dresses, both thrifted from postmark. One other linen dress (the stripy short blue one) is a gift from a friend. The brown dress is also from postmark, it is a Daughters of India dress that I thrifted from there for around $60. I couldn't believe someone was selling it for that--until I got it and it was covered in stains and holes. I was so mad they didn't disclose these issues. I could have sent it back but instead I tried my best to get out the stains (some did some out) and I sewed up the holes and...that was kinda what made me start the 'no buying clothing' for a year trend. But here it is in my capsule. The multicolored dress is from an Etsy shop called off/on linen and I love it. 

I picked four bottoms, of one I am obviously wearing right now so it's not pictured. I have a green skirt and a brown one (I'm wearing the brown) and a black pair of pants and an orange pair of pants. 

I have five shirts, including the one I am wearing, which is handmade. Anyway, that makes 13 items, but who's counting? Okay, we are supposed to be counting. But this was as low as I could get it. Actually in the above closet picture I have one more shirt hanging up that I removed and put away! (The tan on with the ruffles, I'm going to save it for summer.) So maybe I will be able to remove 3 pieces to actually get down to 10, but this is pretty good for now. 

The black shirt in the photo is really worn out and needs to be replaced soon. I like to have a dark shirt because it goes with everything, and this is the only one I have. It's a cotton gauze shirt that my friend gave me. I'll try to keep wearing it since I am not supposed to be buying anything new or used this year--but maybe I can sub in my linen shirt that is dark that I use only for exercise right now? That might be an option when this one completely runs out. 

Here are my extras: I have three sweaters I will use as layering pieces. I can also wear these as shirts. These are my two handmade sweaters and one black wrap cardigan that I love because it goes with everything. I also have (not pictured) two cotton black leggings I wear under dresses when it is cold and one cotton black "shorts" I also wear under a dress if I feel I'll be running around and it might fly up. 

I'm not sure if PJs count as extras. I sleep in a nursing shirt and a pair of sleep pants and have just enough pairs to take me through the week. I wash laundry once a week and plan to keep on doing that even with a smaller wardrobe. 

I hope after doing this all spring I will find I can declutter most of my other spring clothes, keeping only a few to "switch out" when my regular 10 item wardrobe needs a piece replaced. 

What about you? Would you try a 10-item wardrobe and why or why not? And should I read the book?  I probably should read the book. I wonder if they have it on audible...

100 days (10/10)

 I made it! 100 days, one dress, a pregnancy 'surprise' and 7 weeks of nausea. Woah! 

100 Days (9/10)

10 more days! I have fallen in love with the dress again...so weird since I spent like 30 days hating it in the middle of this challenge. I think it was the constant pregnancy nausea and the fatigue and the "same dress" and the keto food...so many ways I was challenged at once. But now that it is almost over and my nausea is slightly better I am able to feel less confined by wearing the same dress for most of the day! 

Wheeeee. 10 more days! 

I think I will give birth in this dress. It seems a fitting end to it. I really honestly don't want to wear it again after wearing it for 100 days. Hah! It did hold up well, only the top got a little loose for some reason. It isn't a big deal, I either safety pin it or wear a shirt under it. 

Also, the elastic is getting a little tight on my 13 week pregnancy bump. My doctors appointment is this Friday and I am nervous and excited all at once... ahhhh!

Now to get dressed and start homeschooling.

100 days (8/10)

80 days, one dress. Nausea and 12 weeks of pregnancy! Huzzah, so many milestones.

I'm exhausted. 

100 Days (7/10)

Another 10 days have passed, and I am almost done. 70 days of the same dress! I kinda like it again. It's funny how I fall in and out of love with it. But this week I am more excited to style it and have simplicity in my life. 

I am so glad I picked a dress that will be both pregnancy friendly and breastfeeding accessible. 

30 more days!

100 days (6/10)

The end is in sight. Honestly, so many of the clothes I wanted to wear this fall won't fit over my burrito baby anyway, so I have fallen in love with the dress again. These 11 pictures are from 10 different days. Happy fall! 

 I'm wearing the Brooklyn Merino Wool Dress in the color Pacific. 

100 days (5/10)

What a week. Er, 10 days. There isn't a word that means "10 days" like week means 7...but what a...long and stressful 10 days.

During these last 10 days I have been having some digestive issues and also headaches and other health problems that have derailed my life. Hence the mostly-selfies and I am tired. 

I also found out I am pregnant. Which is probably related to the health issues. And/or the main cause of them. Sigh. 

After that emotional roller coaster, I am facing the next 10 days... with a lot to figure out. Oh, and deal with the debilitating nausea that hit like an unwelcome friend soon after the pregnancy awareness. I'll be honest, I have been laying around feeling sick and sorry for myself and moody and irritable and cranky and upset and nauseous and waiting to have a miscarriage (because I have had six) but this week I am 7 weeks and have not miscarried yet. SO. I guess this is happening. 

I don't know how to feel about it yet.

Well. I think its a boy and we don't have a name, but I guess that can wait.

Pray for all the decisions I have to make in a short time!

How are you all? 

100 days (4/10)

I made it to 40 days! I am getting used to "the dress" and enjoying it throughly. My favorite way to wear it is with my new sweater and now that fall is here I plan to wear it for at least 5 days straight. I am finally starting to realize I need to wear my apron when I cook so "the dress" doesn't need to be washed. I had two times where I had to wash it and was only able to wear it after lunch and that was frustrating! 

I'm almost halfway!!! Wheee. 

No one has noticed that I wear the same thing...Reuben noticed the first 10 days...now no one comments anymore.

100 days (3/10)

These last 10 days...it finally got hard! Many times I don't want to wear my dress. I am worried that at the end of the 100 days I won't want to look at it again, hah! But I am keeping on keeping on. I got two days behind because Becky was sick and I didn't post those pictures, but that's okay. 

I am over ONE FORTH of the way done!!! WHOOO. 

30 days in. One month! I have 70 more days to go, all of September and October and part of November. 

Also I only 'did' my hair twice these 10 days but, its something, right? (I was shocked to see when I took these pictures that I do have some gray hairs; but they blend in when my hair dries). Also the kids are done taking pictures of me (they were originally arguing about who got to take my picture) but now they are not interested, so expect more selfies and timer-photos! Hehe. 

Becky has been wearing her dress when it suits her and looking cute as a button. 

Here is to the next 10 days. 

100 Days (2/10)

After taking a photo of myself wearing the same dress 20 times now, I am glad to say I have learned something.

That something is: I don't do enough with my hair. For the next 10 days I am going to try to do a different hairstyle each day. I really need to do something with my hair. At least, that is what these pictures are telling me. Even exhausted homeschooling mothers whose days are full of wonder (and tantrums) can do their hair.

Also, I finished my Jupiter Crop sweater. I wore it twice in the last 10 days (upper right) but the second time I took it off before the picture; its hot here again and pushing 90f (32c). I can't wait to wear this sweater all the time this fall. It has been fun getting the kids or a friend or my husband to take a picture every day; and sometimes I just do the selfie. 

I still love the dress. Here is to the next 10 days! I'm 20% done.

On instagram I shared a picture of me playing the violin instead of me eating pizza, but the violin picture (which I loved) seems to have totally disappeared. My phone must be having a glitch. The sourdough pizza was amazing.

Also, in the middle there I am with Julia and her Wool& dress!

100 Days (1/10)

My friend Julia told me about the Wool& dress challenge where you wear one of their dresses for 100 days and they give you a $100 gift card.

So we both decided to do it! I just reached day 10 and here are my outfit photos. I am wearing the Brooklyn Merino Wool dress in Pacific. I bought a large but I kinda wish I got a medium, because I do not have a large chest and I think a M might have fit better. Oh well. I will make it work! (Been sticking a clip to the inside of the dress or wearing a tank top under it...)

The star of the show this week is Becky. Because we found Becky a matching dress! Its the Wrap Dress from Hanna Anderson. We saw it as we were shopping for some new PJs for Becky as she has outgrown the ones I bought her two years ago. So we got that for her and now we love matching whenever we can!

I am not tired of wearing this wool green dress yet and I love how easy it is to get dressed in the morning and finding different ways to style it.

Most pictures taken by my kids. Can you tell? LOL.

I bought all Ethical "Fairtrade" Shoes

My shoes fall apart every season. Every fall for many years I've been buying cheap shoes and regretting it! I have wide feet, so my toes always get pinched and the cheap plastic "leather" always looks horrible by the next year, making me have to shop all over again. Actually for awhile I've been buying the same pair of black shoes on Amazon just because I hate shoe shopping and I at least knew they would last me one season.

This year I'm turning 31. And I'm tired of my shoes not fitting and falling apart. So, I decided to do something different: buy all ethical fair-trade shoes and see how they last, see if the quality is higher than my fast fashion splurges. I donated all but two pairs of my shoes (they were all falling apart/pinching my toes anyway) and decided to buy 3-4 pairs of shoes to replace them, giving me six pairs of shoes total instead of the nine pairs I had previously. I realize I could live easily with four pairs of shoes but I went a bit overboard... I don't really need three pairs of boots, but oh well.

I also gave myself a budget of $500-700 that I saved all by myself from my YouTube money and Christmas/birthday money! And I researched each brand and came away with shoes that not only are extremely high quality, but that I LOVE. And they go with everything! 

In the video below I show some of my old shoes, the two pairs of shoes I kept, and the four pairs of ethical fair trade shoes I bought. Hope you enjoy!

My Maternity Capsule Wardobe

I love clothes. I am not one to usually do a capsule wardrobe; but for pregnancy it made perfect sense. I am only huge enough to wear maternity clothes for the second and third trimesters, so why buy a bunch of things I won't use much after? I do wear a bit of it postpartum, but that is a little different. I am due in January, so this is very much a fall and winter centered capsule. About half of it is left over from Reuben's pregnancy and a few pieces are not maternity, but loose enough to wear.

I love the ease a capsule wardrobe gives me as a busy mom. That, and the short term wear factor are really my only two reasons to chose a capsule wardrobe for my maternity season. Enjoy the video!

My Toddler's Minamilist Caspule Wardrobe

I don't use a capsule wardrobe for myself. However, for my wiggly toddler, utilizing a capsule wardrobe has lowered my stress, made it easy to fold and put away laundry, and helped me and my husband know exactly where everything is.

Also, he gets to wear everything he owns. I hate it when he owns clothes he never wears. It feels like a waste. I mean, what is life unless he can spit up on all his shirts?

I don't know why it works, but it does. I find a capsule wardrobe simplifies and reduces my anxiety about clothing, laundering, and overall wardrobe toddler management.

He owns enough clothes for one full week without washing. Since I wash his clothes twice a week, its an easy and manageable number, and if I miss a wash, he still has things to wear. I'm not overwhelmed with the sheer number of items he has, I don't have to hunt for his favorite shirt or his cutest pajamas. They are always clean every week for him to wear to bed!

Everything in the video we bought for around $60-$70 USD. Some things were gifted by family for birthdays, but the majority of it I bought from a used children's store called Once Upon A Child. We plan on buying him a spring capsule from there too.

Enjoy the video!

Goodwill Haul

I took a two year break from shopping at Goodwill, but this year one of my new years resolutions is to shop ONLY from fair trade or thrift stores. And I plan on sticking to it. For one, we are trying to save money for a fence and some playground equipment for our son this summer, so I can't drop $30 on a shirt anymore. Second, I want to start being more sustainable. I love clothes, and I also love to shop. Goodwill is like a treasure hunt, and now that I feel a lot more positive about my postpartum body, I am enjoying shopping there again!

I am also glad I shop in a community where a lot of women donate their clothes--it's usually easy to find things I like! That isn't true for all areas.

Regardless, here is my first haul of the year!

April 2016 Stitch Fix

I asked for shorts in my April stitch fix, because I only own two pairs! And I have been wearing way less skirts and more shorts as a mom (they are easy to style and easier to bend over in). I think this box was one of my favorites!


I didn't end up keeping the tan shorts because they were just to big. It's funny, because the jean shorts were the same size (a 14) and fit perfectly!

The two things I kept were the Alonza Keyhole Back Knit Top and the Kaiden Cuffed Denim Short.

My March Stitch Fix

I love love love stitch fix! Every month I eagerly await my box.

For this fix I asked my stylist for tunic type pieces and told her I was interested in a black skirt and a black cardigan. If you are interested in seeing what she sent me, the video is below!


What do you think? I think I chose well! What about you? Do you subscribe to any fashion boxes like Stitch Fix? What would you have kept?

Favorites / Most Worn

My favorite piece of clothing has to be this pineapple sweater. I love it and wear it once a week! I am not sure why it makes me so happy, but it does.

My most worn clothing item is probably black leggings. I wear a pair of black leggings at least 5/7 days a week. They go with everything, and they keep me warm--I would call them my most functional clothing item. Usually I sleep in them too.

I don't wear this sweater with just leggings. I usually dress it up like this!

I am really enjoying slow fashion october so far!

Why Capsule Wardrobes are Stupid

I think capsule wardrobes are stupid. I'm sorry, I do. They sound so dull and monochrome to me! I mean, I can see the use if you are traveling and have to fit a weeks worth of clothes in a carry-on, but other than that, no. No thank you. I love my variety and color and I need way more than two pairs of leggings because who has time to do laundry every other day and Reuben certainly isn't going to realize I only have one more pair of leggings and decide not to spit up all over me right before I am about to leave for church.

I also don't want to be known as "the lady who always wears ____" where ____ is the base of my capsule wardrobe. I mean, I know a girl who does this capsule thing. And she always wears the same two colors. And the same shirt every other Sunday. I want more options than that.

And I don't want to just jump on some minimalist bandwagon because it's hip or mainstream. I feel like 50% of the people who tote this capsule wardrobe nonsense do it because they think it sounds cool. And that definitely isn't me. I am the girl who wants to look like a rainbow one day but the next decides to wear a little black dress. (Wait who am I kidding I wear leggings and my kid's body fluids mostly, but hey, a girl can dream, right?) Regardless, I love having more than 30 pieces of clothing. I love it. And I feel absolutely no shame in that fact.

I think sometimes that people are afraid to have nice things. Or to let people know they enjoy having nice things, like it makes them look bad or something. Today's youth or millennials or whatever you want to call us always seem to want to one up each other in the suffering category. We talk about our gluten free diets or our paleo journeys and sneer over our Starbucks at each other, comparing our lives to see who is giving up the most, who is suffering the most. And it's not about that.

You know, I enjoy having a full closet to pick and choose from and that isn't going to change, and it does not have to. Owning more than five cardigans is not a shameful thing. What the whole minimalist movement is missing out on is the fact that having more than 10 sweaters in my closet is not an unpardonable sin. There is not some magic number of clothing items that summons Nirvana or will turn you into a zen goddess--and there is equally not a number that suddenly makes you a scrooge. 

And that's my thoughts on that.