Thumbnail Photo taken by Caitlin and Manda
I’ve always prided myself in my outfits. Everyone would always say, “Veronica you always look so nice!” And it’s true, I did. It was hard for me to get ride of any of my clothes because what if I had a stroke of genius and needed that top I never wore for a new outfit? I’d pack way more than I needed for trips that would only last a couple days. My mom would point it out and I’d say, “I’d rather bring it and never wear it, than actually need it and realize I left it at home.” Even with all the clothes I had, I’d always buy something cute as soon as I saw it. What if I needed it later? I’d always justify my impulses by thinking that. When I was packing for college, I had two huge suitcases and two boxes full of nothing but clothes. I think that was the majority of what I brought. Yet morning after morning I would be standing in front of my closet wondering what to wear before just giving up and putting on some shorts and my Chacos.
Why? I had so many clothes, surely I could pick something nice to wear. Then I saw something called “capsule wardrobes” on Pinterest. Apparently, you could have only a couple pairs of tops and bottoms and use those to create tons of outfits without even having to think about it. It worked because everything was the same color palette, so it didn’t matter what you picked because everything matched. I thought it was stupid, that it would never work. Everyone would notice that you were wearing the same clothes over and over again. I think one day I was sick of always trying to look nice and then giving up. So I took everything out of my dorm wardrobe. Everything. I took out the suitcase that held all the clothes that hadn’t made it onto the hangers yet because their wasn’t room. I took everything out of my drawers and did all of my laundry. Then, I called my sister. She apparently has dibs on all the clothes I get rid of, just in case she wants them. So I took pictures of the things I thought she would want and she told me as she got the text whether or not they made the cut. Those went into a pile. Everything that she didn’t want went into another pile. Then, I picked out my favorite dress. It’s a gray sweater dress, it even has pockets! I decided that this was what I was going to organize my wardrobe around. Black, white, and gray (and maybe some navy so I could keep my cute romper). Clothing that didn’t fit that rule, or didn’t look completely amazing on me went into another pile.
Here’s a list of what I was left with:
- One pair of blue jeans
- One pair of black jeans
- Two tank tops – one white and one gray
- One long black dress
- One little black dress
- One gray sweater dress
- Three sweaters – two gray and one white
- One blue suede romper
- Two pairs of shorts, one gray and one black
- One black pencil skirt
- One black skater skirt
- One pair of overalls
And that’s it. I kept some sentimental items; all of my Sonlight shirts, a shirt my sister made me, and my “It’s a Higgins Thing” shirt. I’m sending the “I Survived Helms Deep” shirt back to my sister. You’re welcome Lindsey. I stole it from her anyway. Next, I sorted through all the clothes that didn’t make the cut and took out the cream of the crop. Those I put in four different bags to take to Buffalo Exchange, and the rest I put in the Clothing Donation bin in my dorm. Buffalo Exchange is no joke, seriously they gave me $115 for all the clothes I took them. I’m not saying it’ll work out that way for you, I had a ton of clothes, but whatever they don’t take they donate so why not? I still have some things I need to get, like a couple of V neck shirts and some dress pants, but my wardrobe will never be the same size as it was. It’s really freeing, I go to get dressed, grab a top and a bottom piece and I’m done. It’s that simple. Besides, they’re just clothes. There are more important things to worry about than what I’m going to wear.