How Many Items Should I Have in my Capsule Wardrobe?

by Pixie - April 27, 2019

Are you wondering how many items you should have in your capsule wardrobe? It is very hard to tell, isn't it?

How many items should I have in my capsule wardrobe?

Everyone says something different.

How do you know who to listen to?

One blogger says that the exact number you should have should be no more than 30 items, while another person says that you should have no less than 40 items in your capsule wardrobe.

So, of course, you are confused! I was too until I figured out the perfect strategy.

In this post am I going to tell you exactly how many items you should have in your capsule wardrobe?

Probably not.

But... I am going to tell you how you can figure out how many items you should have in your own capsule wardrobe.

...Because, let me tell you. There isn't any magical perfect number of items you should have in your own capsule wardrobe. It is different for everyone. You can figure out how many items work for your lifestyle though and that is what I aim to help you with today.

First, though let me tell you why the "perfect number capsule wardrobes" don't work for everyone. It is true that they may work for some people, but it won't work for everyone.

Why the "Perfect Number Capsule Wardrobes" Don't Work for Everyone

I could put the answer into one sentence...

Everyone has a different lifestyle. :)

...But I know that that won't satisfy everyone so I will give a more detailed explanation below.

I will start with a scenario. Let's say that you like traveling and swimming. So you read a post that says that you should have 35 items in your capsule wardrobe including accessories and everything.

You buy one travel coat and because you love swimming you buy three swimsuits. So far so good, but then you decide to buy the rest of your traveling clothes. You buy four pairs of pants, and ten shirts, almost all of them are casual dress.

Now you have eighteen items in your capsule wardrobe. You remember that you still have to add accessories, dresses, skirts, and formal work attire, and did you forget shoes... and a swim cover-up too?

So now you buy ten accessories: an assortment of earrings, a few handbags, hair accessories, and necklaces. After that, you buy three dresses, a sweater, five pairs of shoes, a swim cover-up, and two skirts.

Time to add up the numbers...

18 + 10 + 3 + 1 + 5 + 1 + 2 = 40 items?!?

You thought that you were buying the bare minimum, but now you have 40 items in your capsule wardrobe when you can only have 35! What are you going to do?

That is why I think that the "perfect number capsule wardrobes" don't work. If you had been trying to figure out the number of items that would work for your lifestyle, then you would think that 40 items is perfect for you.

Okay, so you have told me what not to do when creating my capsule wardrobe, but what do I do?

I am getting to that. Now I have a short list of things you can do when you are figuring out how many items you should have in your capsule wardrobe.

What to do When Figuring Out How Many Items You Should Have in Your Capsule Wardrobe

1. If you have a big wardrobe, and you are trying to start a capsule wardrobe, you can figure out how many items to get rid of by removing one or two items from your wardrobe and putting them in a box in your closet. Keep on doing this until you feel like your wardrobe is too small. Then add back in a few items each week until you feel like your wardrobe is just the right size.

2. If you have a small wardrobe, you can add a few pieces at a time, until you feel like you have enough pieces. When doing this though, do not go on a shopping spree or else you may end up with a wardrobe that is too big for you!

3. I would start with around 30 items in a wardrobe, and then I would add a few pieces at a time like described in tip #2. If a 27 piece wardrobe works for you, then go for it because your wardrobe should fit your lifestyle!

4. I would not go over 75 items in a wardrobe. Personally, I don't think anyone needs a wardrobe with over 75 pieces in it. I have around 40 pieces in my capsule wardrobe, and I can make over 500 outfits.

That means that I don't have to wear the same outfit twice in one year. :)

5. Take out the items which aren't really necessary in your capsule wardrobe. Do you really need three watches when you usually wear a smartwatch and why keep two pairs of tennis shoes when you always wear sneakers?

6. The biggest tip I can give you for figuring out how many items should be in your capsule wardrobe is to match it to your lifestyle. This is so important!

If you don't then you will feel like your capsule wardrobe isn't working for you, and you will go on shopping sprees to add more clothes to your closet because you have nothing to wear.

Summary

So to sum up this post, when asking, "How many items should I have in my capsule wardrobe?", I would start by thinking about your lifestyle first because what works for your best friend may not work for you.

If you have any questions, I am always here to help you with building your capsule wardrobe, so feel free to send me a question on my contact page. :)

I thought that this would be a short post, but when I started writing it, I found that I had so much more to say, so thanks for sticking with me and reading it all.

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Now I want to hear from you. Did I miss anything? How many items do you have in your capsule wardrobe?