Raising three children; two under two and a four year old is a big undertaking. And while keeping the children alive is obviously the end goal of every day, I would also like to make some fun memories, and not live in a pigsty.
I’m not sure there is really a secret to doing this, but from what I’ve read a good start is to simplify your things. And I have purged a number of items from our home, but still feel like laundry is a huge chore.
My solution for myself and my three children- capsule wardrobes! Currently I’m still in the throes of pregnancy. I own two pairs of shorts that fit, and one of them I all but refuse to wear. I realized if I can stay disciplined enough to wash the same pair of shorts to wear six days out of the week, I can get by with a lot smaller wardrobe. (Let me repeat I am washing these shorts between wears, I feel that needs clarified because not washing them sounds so icky.)
My oldest sort of created his own capsule wardrobe- Spiderman shirts and Cars shorts. They look crazy together, but hey- you only get to wear Lightning McQueen shorts so much of your life! The reds do go together. During the winter he almost exclusively wears “soft pants”, he is not a fan of jeans whatsoever. My younger son is still too little to care what he wears. Little sister, who isn’t here yet, has the most clothes of the four of us. Something about little girls makes everyone think they need frilly pink things. I always planned to be a #boymom so this is still uncharted territory for me. However I’ve tried to be minimal in my preparing for her.
Our ideal capsules
Jensen (will be 4 the end of September)
⁃ 8 short sleeve tees
⁃ 6 long sleeve tees
⁃ 4 tank tops
⁃ 2 button downs
⁃ 5 shorts
⁃ 5 soft pants
⁃ 3 jeans
⁃ 1 Carhartt coat
⁃ 2 light jackets
His wardrobe is pictured minus pants/shorts as they are in a drawer and not hung up.
Cody (turned 1 in June)
⁃ 10 short sleeve shirts
⁃ 6 long sleeve shirts
⁃ 3 tank tops
⁃ 3 rompers
⁃ 5 shorts
⁃ 7 pants/jeans
⁃ 1 Carhartt coat
⁃ 2 jackets
His wardrobe has more because he is still very much teething, and we don’t always wear a bib so it’s not uncommon to need a few outfit changes throughout the day.
Ellia (Due in November)
For sister I have 12 Newborn sleepers, and 5 onesie/pant sets. I imagine newborn will be when we need the most; because it will likely be the hardest transition. But I have collected a variety of items through size 12 month that I will go through and donate down once I get a better feel of how many outfits we go through in a day.
For us I use the container method for socks, undies, winter hats, and Ellia’s bows. That means I don’t have an exact number that we keep, the idea is all of the like items must fit into their specified place. We have a box for bows, a basket for each child’s socks, and a big basket for winter hats.
For my wardrobe, once my body adjusts back down after pregnant I will work to reach my ideal capsule wardrobe which will be somewhere around 40 pieces as follows
⁃ 8 short sleeve shirts
⁃ 6 long sleeve shirts
⁃ 3 under shirts
⁃ 4 cardigans
⁃ 2 flannels
⁃ 1 romper
⁃ 2 dresses
⁃ 7 bottoms (2 sweats, 2 shorts, 3 leggings)
⁃ 4 jeans
⁃ 1 Carhartt coat
⁃ 1 Hoodie
⁃ 1 Nice jacket
I am a stay at home mom. I want to use the same 40 (or so) wardrobe pieces year round. Of course anyone can modify a capsule wardrobe to fit their needs, but my needs are comfy with a couple outfits for church/wearing outside of the house. But I do like to look like not a slob at home in case I need to run a quick errand.
When having a capsule wardrobe quality is very important. For us, Carhartt coats work very well and keep us warm. Each of the kids have one, and I plan to replace mine that is about eight years old this year. My zipper is broken, but otherwise the coat is still plenty warm; after eight years of use every winter! That is worth it to me! We own several that were preowned before us and have been or will be passed down from Jensen to Cody Dean and then to Ellia.
Jensen isn’t tough on clothes, thankfully, so even cheap clothes hold up for us and can be passed down to Cody Dean. The really nice thing about capsule wardrobes is even if I am starting from scratch for one of the children it’s not a huge number of staple pieces. I would be able to shop sales or preowned items and still come out on the thrifty side. Not to mention I now have less laundry to maintain, which will hopefully help me get it back put up quicker.
