4 Quick and Easy Steps to Create a Capsule Wardrobe

Have you heard of a capsule wardrobe before? Well, it’s a really cool way to organize your clothes, and it helps you save money! If you struggle with figuring out what to wear each morning, creating a capsule wardrobe can help! I am going to show you how to create a capsule wardrobe and explain how it can make getting dressed in the morning a whole lot easier! Don’t forget to download the FREE checklist to help you get started.

capsule wardrobe

Basically, building a capsule wardrobe is a process where you declutter your clothes, select a few key pieces, and then use those pieces to create multiple outfits. You can create over 100 outfits using this FREE capsule wardrobe checklist!

Creating a capsule wardrobe will ensure that you don’t overspend each season on clothing and eliminates the “I Have Nothing To Wear!” panic we feel quite often. This is how I save money when shopping for clothes to help my budget stretch further!

4 Steps to Create a Capsule Wardrobe

  1. Decide on the type of clothing and how many you will need.  Be sure to include the following items: dress pants, little black dress, jeans, t-shirts, sandals, flats, heels, boots, purses, blazers, sweaters, shorts, skirts, button-down shirts, regular shirts, jackets, scarves, coats, and tanks. (Of course, you will eliminate items if you know you don’t need them or add items if you don’t have them on the list)
  2. Next, decide on a color scheme. Select 2 colors for items like pants, skirts, purses, and shoes. These colors should be able to mix and match with most other colors. Black, gray, and navy are usually good picks.
  3. Now select two other colors to act as accents to your wardrobe. They will be the colors for your tops, shirts, sweaters, etc.
  4. When purchasing items, stay within your preselected color choices, and all of your clothes will be able to play nicely together, and you will always have an outfit for any occasion! 😉

How Does It Work?

Ideally, you should have about 30 items, and you can carry them over from season to season if needed. Remember that we only wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. That means we reach for the same clothes over and over because they are comfortable or we think they look good on us. If we eliminate the clothes we will never wear and create a capsule with what’s left, getting dressed in the morning will be a breeze.

A capsule wardrobe provides a blueprint and removes the stress of making the decision of what to wear each day.

Some people like to create a capsule wardrobe for each season; I prefer to create a spring/summer and a fall/winter capsule wardrobe.

You can also create multiple capsules if one doesn’t cover all of your needs. Some examples are work capsule, church capsule, stay-at-home mom capsule, vacation capsule, and the list goes on. If you decide to create multiple capsules, try to use pieces from other capsules to reduce the amount of clothes in your closet.

After creating your capsule, begin to put outfits together, try them on, take photos, and store them in an album in your phone. When you are flustered and in a hurry to get dressed, you can refer to the photos for inspiration. 

I always suggest that my clients use their capsule to create outfits for the upcoming week and hang them together in their closet, so they don’t have to think about what to wear in the morning. The image below shows how a few key pieces can be used to create multiple outfits.

Capsule Wardrobe Inspiration


Be Sure to Declutter Your Clothes First

It is important to declutter your clothes before creating your capsule. This will ensure that you only have clothes in your closet you intend to wear. This is the method I always use to decluttIer my clothes before I create my capsule wardbrobe. Decluttering my closet first allows me to see that I have clothes that I don’t wear often enough, and I also notice that I gravitate towards specific pieces and colors each season.

After decluttering my clothes, I can see which items I need to purchase to complete my capsule, and then I don’t have to worry about shopping until I create the next capsule. 

Have you heard of the capsule wardrobe before? If not, I highly suggest you give it a try! If you already declutter your clothes this way, what tips do you have to share? 🙂

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26 thoughts on “4 Quick and Easy Steps to Create a Capsule Wardrobe + FREE Checklist!”

  1. Have heard of this but your post made it seem much more doable then it seemed before. Great post. With a change in my job is totally need to work this into my new wardrobe needs

  2. I have heard of a capsule wardrobe, it sounds intriguing, I seriously have considered, but….. I’ve yet to embrace it.
    Thanks for sharing with us at Mommy Monday!
    XOXO

  3. Why am I just now hearing about this?! Like others have mentioned I have been doing this in my head for years but as a visual person this will come in handy, thank you!

  4. This is a great idea. I’ve seen the term capsule wardrobe floating around but never really took the time to explore. It’s built on the idea of the basic wardrobe but regardless, I like the capsule more.
    I probably should go through and pare down my wardrobe – at least my non-formal clothes – into this arrangement.
    Thanks for sharing this. Ill be pinning this post.
    http://Runwright. Net

  5. Hi. Yes, I have heard of that but not dubbed capsule wardrobe . It is a great idea and avoids unnecessary purchases to because you can mix and match all your clothes and create many more outfits this way.

    1. So good to know I’m not alone! I love it because it is supposed to be a minimalist approach to fashion due to the fact that you’re only working with a certain number of items. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

  6. Subconsciously I’ve been doing this for years. I hadn’t heard of Capsule Wardrobe before either. I thought it was called buying Classical pieces that you can add and subtract to with the seasons. Thank you for updating me on the latest phrase.

    1. Whew! It’s good to know that I’m not the only one! I’ve also been doing something similar but using this technique really helped me focus more on the type of clothing I have and what I still need. Thanks for commenting!

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