‘Mom, did you get my T-Rex shirt washed?’ Luke yells from his room. I think back to last night and if I did indeed transfer the laundry from the washer to the dryer…crisis averted, I did. I walk to our master bedroom closet which also doubles as a laundry room and there sits his beloved shirt. I tell him it is in his laundry basket as he says, ‘Oh good’ and comes to put it on.
Luke recently went on a date with his Daddy and they picked up that T-Rex shirt in honor of his love for dinosaurs. He has worn it almost every day since. If your kids are anything like my kids, they know what they like. They have favorite shirts, favorite pants, favorite shoes, favorite underwear. They wear what they love as often as they can and that’s why a kid capsule wardrobe just makes sense, at least it does for our family.
About a year ago I started creating capsule wardrobes for my kids and ever since it has been a sanity saver. My big ‘aha’ moment was when I realized my three year old didn’t need 15 pairs of pants or 20 tops for one 3-4 month season. I don’t own 15 pairs of pants, so I’m pretty sure my three year old doesn’t need to have an entire drawer dedicated to the things that cover her legs.
Since then, I have pared down each child’s wardrobe so it is manageable with just enough pieces for variety, but not to the point of being overwhelming. Each kid’s closet has only what they can wear at the moment which means clothes that don’t fit or are out of season are in tubs put away rather than in their closets. With three littles, it has helped me to manage our laundry situation (there is always a laundry situation) and has allowed my older babes to dress themselves easily. Here is the process I used to create each child’s capsule wardrobe for this winter…
Decide what you need
Think through what your kids need, what they really need. Some questions to ask yourself:
How many outfits do they need clean at all times?
How often do I do laundry?
What type of clothes do they need for this current season? (Do they need clothes for play? daycare? church? special events? playing outside in the snow?)
After you have answered the above questions, make a list of the items you need including tops, bottoms, dresses, socks, underwear, shoes, outerwear.
See what you have
Now it’s time to sort. Chances are, you have more than enough. Sort through the clothes your child has and choose the items needed for your list you just created. If you have an older child (around 4-5), you might ask for their help here. There might be a few things you do need to purchase, so make a note to start looking for those pieces online, on swap pages, or when you’re shopping.
You could find you have pieces you can donate or sell. If so, put them in a garbage sack or tub and put it on your calendar to get to your donation site sometime in the next week or post on a swap page.
A good friend just told me about a local organization that picks up donations, so if that is a struggle for you, find an organization in your community that will pick up your donations right from your home.
Put together the capsule
When I am putting together a capsule for my kids, I have a few rules. My first rule is I make sure a pair of pants will go with 2-3 tops and a top will go with at least 2 pairs of pants or a skirt. This makes it easier for my kids to choose an outfit to wear without me hovering over them. Another rule is all the clothes get worn. If I know my daughter never wears a certain long sleeve shirt, I might decide to let it go to someone who will wear it. I want all the clothes in the capsule to get worn.
For our family and our lifestyle, our two boys need far fewer clothes than our daughter. Let’s just say the boys are more minimalist (read: they don’t care about clothes) and she is well, a Fancy Nancy (read: she cares about clothes).
Here it an example of what is in our six year old son’s winter capsule wardrobe:
3 pairs of jogger pants
2 pairs of jeans
4 long sleeve t-shirts
2 button down shirts
1 sweater
3 pairs of pajamas
1 jacket (He has snow gear as well.)
1 pair of boots
1 pair of high top sneakers
Here is what is in our daughter’s capsule wardrobe for this winter:
4 dresses
5 tunics
2 skirts
3 long sleeve t-shirts
4 pairs of leggings
5 pairs of pajamas
2 jackets (She has snow gear, too.)
2 pairs of boots
2 pairs of high top sneakers
(5 dress up dresses that might as well be considered part of her capsule because she wears them almost daily.)
18 pieces for Luke as opposed to 34 pieces for Lily. And I’m absolutely okay with it. Some people get hung up on numbers when it comes to capsule wardrobes, but I think it’s more about having what you need than a number.
Make the clothes accessible
Maybe you have been binge watching Marie Kondo on Netflix and are currently folding your clothes standing up. Good for you! Or maybe you are like me and are just happy if clothes get sorted by category. Whatever your method, make your clothes easily accessible for you and if you have kids who dress themselves, make sure your littles are able to get them. This means they can reach the clothes both in the closet and in their dressers.
Enjoy your kids’ simplified wardrobes
Your kids should be able to find and dress themselves painlessly without too much fuss thanks to their capsule wardrobes. And you can rest easy knowing your kids have exactly what they need, which usually means less laundry for you. It’s a win-win.
If you’re looking to create a capsule wardrobe for yourself, check out this post.
Tell me, have you curated capsule wardrobes for you or your kids this winter?