I FINALLY TRIED STITCH FIX

Links to Stitch Fix are referral links.  Amazon links are affiliate.  

Trying Stitch Fix has been on my someday list for a long time.  I'm glad I finally took the plunge. I scheduled my first "Fix" to arrive on April 5th.  

After filling out the style and sizing profiles, I requested tops and specifically asked for a pair of shorts because my favorite pair ripped toward the end of last summer.  I also said that I didn't want a dress, jewelry or outerwear.  So, I knew I would get at least one top and one pair of shorts and then would be surprised for the other three items.  

I received three tops, a pair of denim shorts and a pair of TOMS flats.  Two of the tops were date night or church appropriate.  The third was a bit more casual - something that I would wear on a regular day at home.  

The morning I was to receive my clothing in the mail, I was putting on my TOMS flats (you can see them in the image above) and literally thought to myself, "I wish I had a pair of these in a nude or grey color."  These TOMS flats in taupe were the first thing I pulled out of the Stitch Fix box and I was like, "Whoa!  How did they know?"  

Besides the shoe miracle, I was also very pleasantly surprised at just how well everything fit.  The sizes are just right and they chose good shirts that don't hug my tummy, but also aren't too baggy.  (I'm guessing that they style for a lot of women with this same "problem area" and have a plethora of appropriate shirts at the ready.)

I had an aha moment when I realized how great it was to receive this box of clothing in the mail that didn't require even a minute of my time for shopping.  I mean, I realize this is the entire point of Stitch Fix, but it didn't really hit me until then.  It was fabulous. 

My one initial concern was the price.  I chose Stitch Fix's "the cheaper, the better" option but every item in the box was still out of the price range I would look at in a typical shopping trip.  I am willing to spend more for the occasional item, but the majority of my clothing is from places like Target or Old Navy.  Since I liked everything in the box, I decided to keep it all and take advantage of the 25% discount for buying everything.  My total bill, after the discount, was right at $200 - not crazy high, but a lot more than I am used to spending in one "shopping trip."  

I am finishing this post a month after receiving my Fix and would now say that the money was well spent.  I have probably worn those shoes 15 of the last 30 days.  I have worn one shirt once and the other shirts each twice.  I have already worn my shorts four or five times. 

It really didn't take me more than a minute or two to decide that I would keep everything.  I wondered if I was being impulsive, but now that I've found myself reaching for the clothes from my Fix over and over again, I am so glad that I kept them. 

My big takeaway: this was great!  My next "Fix" is scheduled for the beginning of July and I'm anxious to see if it will be as successful as this first one. 

Also, I found the episode of How I Built This about Stitch Fix fascinating and would recommend a listen. 

About the referral links: If you sign up for a Fix after following the link, you will get a "free Fix" (meaning the $20 styling fee would be waived) and I will get a $25 credit to use on a future Fix.  

SPRING CAPSULE WARDROBE 2015

With each seasonal capsule wardrobe, I aim to have just 33 items in my closet.  That number came from here and, although 33 is an arbitrary number, I've found that it works for me.  

For my spring wardrobe, I ended up with 29.  

I have no shopping trips planned, but there are a few specific things that I think would be nice additions.  I would like a new pair of ballet flats, a pair of shorter denim shorts, and perhaps another tank or tshirt.  So, I'm calling this wardrobe complete, but if I find a few more things to buy in the next month or two, I will do so.  

My final counts look like this:

4 pairs of shoes, 3 dresses, 5 tanks, 2 t's, 2 long sleeve t's, 2 long sleeve (but light weight) button ups, 2 sweatshirts, 2 pairs (of identical) jeans, 1 pair of leggings, 2 pairs of athletic shorts, 3 pairs of casual shorts, 1 pair of dressy shorts.

Spring weather in Nebraska is unpredictable.  The ten day forecast includes highs that range from low fifties to high seventies.  Varying weather means that I need a variety of clothing types.  I tried to keep things fairly well balanced between warm weather and cool weather options.  I ended up leaning slightly heavily in favor of warm weather options.  This is my optimistic and warm-weather-loving self shining through.  

The chambray and the buffalo plaid buttoned shirts were the only new purchases for this wardrobe.  Nine pieces are carry-overs from my winter wardrobe and the rest were purchased for previous spring and summer seasons and were pulled from storage.  

I am down to four medium-sized totes of clothing storage.  Two totes are my general "other season" clothing that I am saving for potential use later in the year.  One tote is full of shoes and boots.  The last one has maternity clothes.  Getting rid of the unused clothes gets a bit easier with each go around and paring things down leaves me with just the clothes that I really like and wear fairly often.  It has been a while since I've gone through my extra shoe collection.  For some reason, I have a hard time parting with shoes even if they haven't been worn for a long time.  The maternity box is staying for a hopeful third round of use sometime in the future. 

If you haven't tried a capsule wardrobe, I'm here to tell you that it's great and that I definitely recommend giving it a try.  If my magic 33 number scares you, ignore it.  There is no need to pare down to a certain number.  The big idea is just to keep the items that you love, that can work together and that are appropriate for the season in your closet.   

Having fewer items in my closet makes my mornings easier.  Fewer choices make for easier "what to wear" decision making.  Building my wardrobes seasonally makes it pretty easy to just turn off the part of my brain that would otherwise be looking for a new shirt every time I went to Target.  This is also beneficial to the budget.  And, perhaps the biggest benefit, I really only have to think about my clothing four times a year and can otherwise direct my energy to the rest of life.  I'm all for that.    

WINTER CAPSULE WARDROBE

Capsule wardrobe #4 - here we go.  

I follow Courtney Carver's Project333 Plan, which means that each wardrobe is limited to 33 items with a plan to exclusively wear those items for three months before creating a new 33 piece wardrobe for the next three months.  

In the past, I have only pared down to 33 items once or twice a year.  For 2015, I'm going to try following the plan more diligently.  

Here's what my wardrobe consists of for January through March:

1-12: shirts shown above

13-18 : shoes (boots x 2, tennis shoes x 2, boat shoes, silver flats)

19-24: pants (skinny jeans x 2, boot cut jeans X 2, dress pants, black leggings)

25-28: shirts (grey v-neck t-shirt, navy t-shirt, black sweater, navy long-sleeve burnout)  

29: winter coat

30: zip up hooded sweatshirt (need to purchase)

31-33: yet to be determined

I came up a few items short, but I'm okay with that.  Our clothing budget is tapped out for the month and I'm really not sure what I need to round out this wardrobe.  Over the next few weeks I will try to get a feel for what is "missing" from the list and will probably do some shopping in early February.  If possible, I would love for those items to be transitional pieces that could also fit into the spring wardrobe.  

It is both amusing and amazing to me that I wasn't able to fill this wardrobe with the full 33 pieces.  It seems like I should have 50 plus pieces that I want to include and difficulty paring it down to only 33.  Instead, reaching 30 required some shopping and still left me unsure of what else to add.

While the number 33 is totally arbitrary, I fully appreciate having that number.  Obviously, it is the spirit of the project - having a limited number of clothing that I really like and actually wear in my closet - that I am ultimately interested in.  But, having a set number is very helpful in keeping me in line with that spirit.  Without a given number, I can imagine that I would be spend unnecessary time trying to decide exactly what number of items would constitute a capsule wardrobe.  

PS: If you love the idea of creating a capsule wardrobe, but would like some guidance in getting started, I would love to recommend the Dress With Less Microcourse by Courtney Carver.  

Have you tried a capsule wardrobe?  Do you love it?  Do you miss living with a closet full of clothing choices?

FALL AND WINTER CAPSULE WARDROBE

This is my third go-around for a capsule wardrobe. 

The particular program that was my initial inspiration for this project is called Project 333.  The idea is to have only 33 items in your closet for three months - roughly one "season" of the year. 

Despite the three month guideline, I have only managed to do a formal count and sort once per year for the past three years.  Part of that has been due to my changing sizes as I've been losing and gaining weight / changing shapes through pregnancies and postpartum life. 

Even without following the official guidelines, I have found this project to be incredibly helpful in my daily life.  It makes getting ready incredibly quick and easy.  It means that I love all of the clothes in my closet.  And, thanks to a bit of planning, it means that most everything in my closet goes with most everything else. 

Here's what they look like in the closet (minus my coat, which lives on the tree stand in the entryway):

I purchased five new items to fill in blank spots in my wardrobe and the rest of the items were already in my wardrobe.  I have a very casual lifestyle.  My daily "uniform" consists of jeans, a tshirt and a cardigan or jeans and a solid-colored long sleeve t.  We do attend church each weekend, but it isn't very formal and I feel comfortable wearing jeans and a sweater with an occasional  "dress up" day to include dress pants or a skirt. 

I plan to ask for one shirt (this one!) for Christmas, but otherwise don't have any intentions of changing up the list below.  If I do acquire any other new items I will follow the one-in, one-out rule. 

Here's the final line up:

Tops

1 Orange sweater

2 Black sweater

3 Cream/Tan sweater

4 Black long sleeve t

5 Blue long sleeve t

6 Aqua long sleeve t

7 Blue long sleeve t

8 Grey long sleeve t

9 Coral/cream stripe long sleeve t

10 Teal graphic t

11 Grey v neck t

12 Purple graphic t

13 Grey crew neck t

14 Black athletic zip up

15 Green/cream stripe cardigan

16 Fuschia cardigan

17 Navy cardigan

18 Yellow cardigan

Bottoms

19 Green jeans

20 Bootcut jeans

21 Skinny jeans (medium blue)

22 Skinny jeans (dark blue)

23 Dress pants

24 Houndstooth pencil skirt

Shoes

25 Grey Roxy boat shoes

26 Pink Converse

27 Orange Merril tennies

28 Grey Mudd boots

29 Silver ballet flats

Outerwear/Accessories

30 Burton coat

31 Grey/navy striped infinity scarf

32 Grey infinity scarf

33 Yellow/white patterned scarf

  

PS: My original limited wardobe inspiration came from Courtney Carver, but lately I have seen "capsule wardrobes" popping up all over the place. 

CAPSULE WARDROBE - MATERNITY EDITION

A year ago, I participated in Project 333.  It is a wardrobe (and lifestyle) simplifying project created by Courtney Carver. The idea behind the project is to choose 33 clothing and accessory items to wear exclusively for a three month period.

I lo-oved this project. It motivated me to take the time to really dig through my closet and choose the items that I loved the most and those that worked best together. It allowed me to buy some new clothing without feeling guilty about the money I was spending. I found it liberating to have a limited number of clothing choices. It was also nice to feel like each day’s outfit was at least somewhat “put together.”

I stuck with my 33 items for four or five months, instead of the prescribed three. And then, random items started finding their way into my closet and the state of my closet slowly went from organized and curated to (pretty much) out of control.

******

One of my 101 goals is to create a new 33 piece wardrobe in 2013. My quickly expanding waistline tells me that the need for maternity clothes is here.  So, I've been working on putting together a wardrobe to last me from now until mid-April (or thereabouts.)  

As of today, my closet has officially been paired down to this:

1 – orange maxi

2 – tan maxi with gold dots

3 – teal and white striped maxi

4 – skinny polka dotted jeans

5 – skinny jeans

6 – boot cut jeans

7 – dress pants

8 – aqua cowl pullover

9 – black zip up hoodie

10 – black v neck t

11 – black crew neck t

12 – grey v neck t

13 – navy long sleeve t

14 – teal scoop neck long sleeve

15 – green/white striped cardigan

16 – navy cardigan

17 – fuchsia cardigan

18 – navy ribbed tank

19 – minty scoop neck long sleeve

20 – tan/white stripe t

21 – grey dress

22 – pink scarf

23 – yellow scarf

24 – orange knit cowl scarf

25 – pink converse

26 – grey boots

27 – black flip flops

28 – silver ballet flats

29 – orange tennies

30 – grey loafers

31 – black converse

32 – work uniform - scrubs/work tennies

33 – winter coat

The only planned purchase I see on the horizon is another pair of boots.  I also remember that with my last pregnancy, I ended up with stains on the belly portion of several of my shirts, so I anticipate that I may need to replace a few of the shirts on my list.  For anything of the sort, I plan to just stick with the one in, one out rule and keep my number of items at 33. 

I have a few lounge/exercise type clothes in my dresser, but I sorted through the drawer and paired it down to those that I actually use on a regular basis.  I also (of course) have things like underwear, socks and tank tops that I wear under my shirts, that I did not count.  

The hardest part for me was pairing down my shoe collection.  I hadn't realized how much it had grown until I tried to fit my favorites into the list and had difficulty deciding which ones to put into storage.

I am excited to have, once again, a closet full of clothes that all fit and all work so nicely together.  I am looking forward to stress-free mornings of deciding what to wear.