9 Reasons Why a Capsule Wardrobe is Awesome

This month marks 1 year since I’ve been dressing from a capsule wardrobe. And I couldn’t imagine ever going back to having a closet full of clothes again. Simplifying my wardrobe has been one of my favourite minimalism projects so far. Today I want to share with you my favourite reasons why I love dressing from a capsule wardrobe. And why I think a capsule wardrobe is awesome!

I can’t believe the weight I felt lifted off my shoulders when I created my first capsule wardrobe. I didn’t realize the burden having so many clothes added to my life…until I let most of them go. I instantly felt lighter, freer and happier. Letting go of my excess clothing got rid of a heavy burden I didn’t even realize was weighing on me so heavily until it was gone.

If you’re new to the idea of a capsule wardrobe, let me explain. A capsule wardrobe is a small collection of clothes you LOVE, that look and feel great on, and you can mix and match to make many outfit combinations. For more info about what a capsule wardrobe is, check out this post.

If you’re on the fence about decluttering your wardrobe, I highly recommend it! At the very least, try getting rid of some of the clothes you never wear or don’t love and see how good it feels.

Many people worry a capsule wardrobe will feel restrictive. But what I love about it is how much freedom it gives you. In my experience, dressing from a capsule wardrobe is awesome. And I want to share why having a capsule wardrobe has been so great with you today!

If you want to create your own capsule wardrobe, start here:

Before I get into the reasons why I love a capsule wardrobe, check out these posts if you want to declutter your wardrobe and/or create a capsule wardrobe:

• 12 Reasons We Keep Clothes We Don’t Wear and How to Move Past Them
• Best Trick to Purge Your Closet + 6 Questions to Help You Purge
• How to Make a Capsule: A Simple Guide to Dressing Better with Less
• 10 Ways to Make Your Own Capsule Wardrobe Rules

9 reasons why a capsule wardrobe is awesome

1. Deciding what to wear is easier

When you have a capsule wardrobe, you only keep clothes you look and feel great in. You edit your clothes down until you only have your favourite items in your closet. When you only have your favourite clothes to choose from, it makes deciding what to wear really easy!

No more trying things on only to take them off a few minutes later. No more searching past clothes you don’t really love wearing to find your favourites. Everything hanging in your closet is something you love to wear, looks good and feels good. That makes deciding what to wear a breeze!

2. Saves time

Again, because you only keep your favourite clothes, you already know everything you own looks and feels great. You don’t waste time weeding through clothes you don’t love, don’t fit, don’t look great on or don’t feel great. You don’t waste time trying on multiple outfits every morning trying to find something that looks and feels good.

Because you have fewer clothing options, you have fewer items to decide between, making deciding what to wear faster. Plus, when you only have your favourites to choose from, deciding what to wear doesn’t take much time or effort.

Researchers found the average woman spends 287 days over the course of her lifetime deciding what to wear! That’s a lot of time spent thinking about and deciding what to wear. Time I would personally spend on something more important or enjoyable than picking out my clothes.

3. Reduces decision fatigue

Our lives are full of decisions. Some are small insignificant decisions, others are bigger, more important decisions. But all day long we make decisions. What to wear, what to eat, what tasks to do, which route to take, how to respond to a problem at work, etc.

Decision fatigue refers to the decreasing quality of your decisions the more decisions you make. Basically, your brain gets tired from making so many decisions throughout the day, and the quality of your decisions tends to decrease the more decisions you make.

Studies have shown that we have a limited amount of decision-making power each day before we are mentally exhausted. A capsule wardrobe makes deciding what to wear easier. First of all, with fewer items to choose from, you have fewer items to decide between when choosing clothes. Also, because you love everything in your wardrobe, making a decision is easier because you’d be happy in any item. This allows you to save your limited decision-making capacity for more important decisions throughout your day.

Some very powerful people, such as Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg, have said dressing from a limited wardrobe helps them focus their attention and decision-making power on more important issues.

4. Less stress in general about clothes

A capsule wardrobe causes you to feel less stress in general about your clothes. A capsule wardrobe helps you weed out the items you don’t love, don’t look great in, or don’t feel great in. You’re left with a wardrobe of clothes you look and feel your best in.

It’s easy to decide what to wear. You spend less time deciding what to wear. Your closet isn’t bursting at the seams with clothes you rarely or never wear anyways. A capsule wardrobe transforms your closet from something that can be a stressful, overwhelming burden on your life and turns it into something simplified and perfectly suited to you.

Even laundry is easier with a capsule wardrobe. Owning fewer clothes means you can’t let laundry pile up for weeks like you can when you have a closet full of clothes. You may do laundry slightly more frequently (or not, once a week is still totally realistic with a capsule wardrobe). But the loads of laundry are more manageable because you own fewer clothes. It’s easier to get laundry washed, dried, folded and put away because the loads can’t get that big before you need those clothes back in your wardrobe!

5. Reduces negative feelings and guilt about clothes

Clothes can hold a lot of emotional significance. The problem is when the clothes in your closet hold negative emotions or guilt. You might feel guilty about buying something you rarely wear. Or guilty for spending so much money on clothes. Maybe your weight has changed and seeing a closet full of clothes that no longer fit makes you feel bad.

When you get rid of the clothes that don’t hold positive feelings for you and create a capsule wardrobe made up of only things you love, you get rid of the negative feelings and guilt too. You aren’t forced to look at the clothes that make you feel bad every time you open your closet. Instead, your closet and the clothes in it make you feel happy and positive because you love everything and look and feel great in your clothes.

6. Your closet is neat and organized and easy to keep that way!

Owning fewer clothes means you have more space and room to breathe in your closet. Rods, drawers, and shelves aren’t crammed and stuffed full. Putting away clean clothes is easy because there is space. Finding what you’re looking for is easy. Clothes don’t get lost in the depths of your closet or tumble down on you when you try to pull out one sweater.

Your closet and drawers are tidy and organized because you have fewer items of clothing filling them. And it’s easy to maintain your tidy closet. A simplified wardrobe means you can simplify your closet as well. You don’t need fancy closet organization systems to maximize every inch of closet space. A smaller wardrobe means a simple closet works just fine.

Because you need less space to store clothes, you might be able to use your closet to store other items. Or maybe owning fewer clothes means you can get rid of other pieces of clothing storage furniture. Which frees up space in your bedroom and your home.

7. Boosts confidence

Having a smaller wardrobe makes it easy to see what your style preferences are. When you have fewer clothes you wear them all more frequently. When you come across something that’s not working for you, whether it’s the style, the fit, the colour, the feel, etc. it’s easy to see that it’s not working and weed it out of your wardrobe.

A capsule wardrobe makes it easier to notice your style preferences and what you look and feel best in. As you weed out the things that don’t work, you’re left with clothes you love that look and feel great. You are better able to figure out your style and what clothes work best for you. And when you are clear and confident in your style, it boosts your confidence.

When everything in your wardrobe makes you look and feel great, you feel more confident in yourself and your style. A capsule wardrobe lets you be selective about the clothing you own, only keeping things that make you look and feel your best. Every day you get to wear one of your favourite outfits because you only own your favourite items of clothing. We all feel our best when we’re in an outfit we love that makes us look and feel great. A capsule wardrobe means every day you can feel that way!

8. Increases contentment and gratitude

A capsule wardrobe teaches you to feel content with your wardrobe. After carefully curating your clothes, leaving only things you love that look and feel great on, you are less tempted to shop and add more to your wardrobe without careful consideration.

You realize more clothes don’t necessarily make a “better” wardrobe if it includes items you don’t absolutely love. A smaller wardrobe, filled with pieces you love, still gives you plenty of options that make you feel great. As you realize fewer clothes still give you plenty of options, make you look great and let you love your wardrobe, you feel more content with what you have.

In addition, you appreciate your clothes more and feel more gratitude for them. You have carefully and thoughtfully built your capsule wardrobe and every piece you’ve included is something you love. You also appreciate and value your clothes more because they work well for you and make your life easier. The more gratitude you feel for your clothes, the more content you become with what you have.

As with most things, the less you have the more you appreciate and value what you have. Excess dilutes contentment and feelings of gratitude, making you feel like you are always looking for more and better. But committing to a smaller wardrobe allows you to feel content with and grateful for what you already have.

9. Saves money

A capsule wardrobe helps curb excessive or mindless shopping. Once you’ve committed to, and experienced the benefits of, a small, carefully selected wardrobe, you are more intentional and thoughtful about what you add to it.

Although you may buy higher quality clothing items for your capsule, you tend to buy fewer clothes in general, simply because you intentionally keep your wardrobe small. When you only have 35 – 40 items in your wardrobe, it’s rare that you would go on a shopping spree and buy 10 new things. You may replace or add new items to your capsule occasionally. But overall you buy less clothing and usually save money.

When you do purchase new items, you try to make more intentional and thoughtful decisions. You stop buying things impulsively because they’re on sale or you feel like boosting your mood with something new. In a smaller wardrobe, things have to earn their place in your closet, not just end up there because they were on sale!

A capsule wardrobe lets you get clear about what clothes work for your body, your life and your style. It helps you avoid buying clothes that don’t look or feel good, aren’t your style or don’t work for your lifestyle. It also helps you avoid buying more clothes than you need because you realize you don’t need a bunch of clothes to have a great wardrobe. Once you are clear about what types of clothes work for you, it’s easier to avoid impulse purchases or purchasing items that won’t work for your body, lifestyle or style preferences.

Also, because everything in your capsule is something you love to wear, you value your clothes more and take better care of them. Instead of seeing your clothes as disposable or replaceable, you take good care of your clothes to make them last. Simply because you love them!

A capsule wardrobe is awesome!

Overall, a capsule wardrobe is awesome because it simplifies your life in so many ways. Not only is it easy and quick to decide what to wear, but when you aren’t overwhelmed with choices you have less decision fatigue. A capsule wardrobe means you simply stress less about your clothes in general.

Your closet is neat and organized, and you can keep it that way with little effort. You might even save money because you’re shopping for clothes less often. Instead, feeling more content with and grateful for what you already have.

You feel confident in your clothes because they all look and feel great on you. A capsule wardrobe helps you feel good when you see your clothes. Instead of feeling guilty or bad about yourself when you open your closet doors.

The simplicity of your capsule wardrobe makes starting your day and getting dressed something you look forward to!

If you haven’t tried a capsule wardrobe before, I hope this post will inspire you to think about trying it. If you already have a capsule wardrobe, what is your favourite thing about your capsule? Leave a comment below and let me know!