Planning for Our Winter Capsule Wardrobe

I know that it may be still technically summer time here in Minnesota but school is approaching fast. And, with that the birth of this little baby. The combination of those two things has me thinking about our fall and winter capsule wardrobes. I'm trying to get the kids the things they need now as I find them on sale and before I'm trying to hunt with a newborn. 

First, you may be asking "what is a capsule wardrobe?" It's basically a minimal wardrobe with a few coordinating and intentional pieces. For us, we started switching over to capsule about a year ago for Gus and now we have all moved in that direction. It helps keep us from having an overwhelming number of clothes for the children and ensures that everything we have is well loved and used. It's been brilliant on cutting back on the amount of laundry we have, and overall how much we are spending on clothes.

I've been sharing a little about this process on Instagram, but have gotten lots of requests for some more information on how I plan a capsule wardrobe and what I choose to get. So, I created a little planner to share with my ideal amount of clothes for winter! This is what works for my family in a fairly cold climate over the long winter. Sign up below to receive your own planner to help you organize a capsule wardrobe for your family.

Now, that you have your planner, let me walk you through the process that I use to create our capsule wardrobe: 

Step 1, Take an Inventory: Go through what we already have. Sometimes we have hand-me-downs, sometimes I find something at a good price off season, or sometimes my kids haven't grown much and have pieces that they wore last season. I ask my kids to try everything that might work on. If it fits (with enough room to make it through the season), I add it to my list for them. 

Step 2, Plan Ahead: Think about any upcoming events that we will need specific clothes for and then leave spots in the planner for those. For example, I know that every Christmas, I'm going to buy the kids new matching Christmas pajamas. That's a tradition we have had since Henry was born. So, I'm going to make sure to leave at least one spot blank on my planner (or write in Christmas pjs so my pregnant brain remembers) so we don't end up with too much.

Step 3, Create a Theme: Next, I look at the pieces I have and decide on a color scheme I want to stick to for that season. This comes with some input from my older kids who have their own preferences at ages 5 and 8. But, for Gus (age 2), I make the choice. I do make sure we are incorporating colors from any clothes we already have on our lists. We want to make choices that coordinate so that multiple outfit combinations can be made from the same small set of clothes. 

Step 4, Fill in the Gaps: Finally, I see where I have gaps where I need to purchase something. Then, I start to hunt! I try to buy the best quality clothes that I can without going over my budget. That will be different for each of us, but my current favorites are Target, Hanna Andersson, and Primary. I try to shop early to take advantage of sales and by buying a smaller amount, I do find I spend less my really being intentional. 

Step 5, Stop Buying: At last, once I have filled in my gaps, I stop! This is hard for me because I love cute baby and kid clothes. And, there will always be more cute clothes. But, the whole point is to really be intentional, so once my lists are filled, they are filled. If something happens mid-season to one of the outfits (we had a scissor incident, for example, last winter), then I will replace as necessary. But, otherwise, I really try not to add to the amount of clothes we have.

If you are looking to minimize your children's clothing, try a capsule wardrobe this season! If this planner was helpful for you, let me know, I can create a summer version too. And, stay tuned for more information about capsule wardrobe and babies! We're going to try it soon for the first time with baby Teddy! 

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