When I was pregnant with my son, I inadvertently set up my first capsule wardrobe. It came naturally, because obviously I couldn’t wear my regular clothes anymore. And for a period of just about 5 months – when you really need to accomodate your growing belly – it’s not necessary to go all out and buy a complete wardrobe. Unless you’re rich and that’s your thing, then rock on! Or you need to look a certain way for work and can’t be seen to wear the same outfit twice.
Neither of these two cases applied to me. I simply wanted:
- to look ‘put together’ for work
- to be comfortable
- to feel like I’ve always got something to wear
So I set out to create my pregnancy capsule on a limited budget but with very specific needs. It was a surprise to me how much fun it was and the wonderful impact it had on my life overall.
What changed when I owned less
I had less work!
There suddenly was a lot less washing, hanging and folding. Looking after my things, which is important to me, became so much easier. You might think you’d have to wash more and therefore it increases the workload, but that’s actually not true. Because you still wear the same amount of clothes in a day or week, you just take care of them more regularly. There are never piles and piles of washing to get on top of, because you simply don’t have piles and piles of clothes. Same for the hanging, ironing (if you’re so inclined) or folding and packing away. Everything is always a manageable amount.
It’s natural to put off work that you loathe or feel will take forever. Knowing that doing laundry was only half as work intensive than it used to be, made it so much more enjoyable and do-able! Well, as enjoyable as laundry can be I guess, but you get my point.
I felt happier!
Instantly I noticed that it made me feel stylish and happy about all the pieces I had in my wardrobe. I was able to mix and match without having to think about it too much. Having a limited amount of pieces, that I all loved and that fitted me well, meant that I didn’t need to agonize over what to wear. I hardly needed to think about it at all!
I had more time!
With a lot less work to do and less decisions to make about what to wear, I simply had more time for other things. Naps come to mind… 😉
I had more focus!
There is so much to say about dressing for your body shape and lifestyle. Somehow that is far easier in pregnancy, when you have to succumb to your body changing in an epic way. You have no other choice but to be honest about your situation and disregard clothes that you simply can’t wear at this point in time.
How this applies to the rest of the house
I’ve never been much of a hoarder but the experience of the pregnancy capsule wardrobe had a profound impact on me. Mainly because of how wonderful it made me feel.
After I had my son and slowly got my pre-baby body back, I realized how many of the clothes that I’d packed away during my pregnancy I really didn’t miss. And over time, I not only continued with a capsule wardrobe (an absolute life saver as a new mum, when you have a ton of other things on your mind) but also let go of more and more things around the house.
We were preparing to buy our first home and I used that momentum to go through all of our things and decide which ones we really loved and needed to hold on to, and which ones we could let go off before the big move. It wasn’t something that happened on one weekend, it was a slow process over a period of months.
Decluttering isn’t something that comes easy, even if you are not a hoarder, but it is definitely something that you can get better at, the more you practise it.
The impact it had on my life was exactly the same as it had been with my wardrobe:
I had less work, I felt happier, I had more time and more focus.
How owning less affects your life
These are other ways I really felt the benefits of owning less:
You have less stress. Within that period of time I was coping with a newborn, we were given a notice to vacate when he was three weeks old, we travelled from Australia to Europe three times, had to find a new rental, move house, find and buy our first home and move house again.
Owning less stuff literally freed my mind to cope better with what life threw at us.
There is less to clean and tidy up. This is such a big one for me! Imagine you could be done with cleaning and tidying in half the time, simply because you have to move less stuff around. It’s worth it just for that if you ask me :).
You have time for things that really matter. Anything from spending time with your family and friends to getting more rest and looking after yourself. You can be more productive with your time.
You spend less money. If you become in tune to what it is you really need, and what you don’t, it gets far easier to stay away from shopping sprees. Being happy with the things you already have means you don’t feel the constant desire to buy more.
You get to own higher quality things. If you are more selective with what you buy, it is much easier to buy quality over quantity. That goes for clothes, furniture, any homewares items and even food.
It’s so much better for the environment. Finding joy in owning less means that you are far less likely to buy things that will end up in landfill. You become a more conscious consumer overall.
You don’t have to look for things anymore. Owning less means less gets lost. You know where things are and can find them easily.
If you’d like to know even more about this topic, this site is wonderful and lists their own 21 benefits of becoming minimalist. I also love their article about 7 common problems solved by owning less.
The result: A Capsule Kitchen
All of the things above lead to a capsule kitchen. Apart from the food itself, the recipes and joy of cooking – which are all important to me – it is also vital to create a space that makes you feel all those wonderful things. Just as you open up your capsule wardrobe, you should walk into your kitchen and feel warm and fuzzy. Because it creates less work, makes you feel happy and stylish and gives you the focus you need to cook beautiful food.
This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be frugal or a minimalist. I have a cabinet full of crockery that is anything but. It just means to get really clear on what you love and create room and focus in your kitchen for the kind of meals you want to create.
Let’s get cooking!
Much love,
Katrine xx
