January Purchases

I almost forgot to write this post as I have purchased no clothing this month! I am nearing the end of my pregnancy and decided to stretch what I already had rather than buy new items.

When Minimalism is forced upon you

I am so close to the end of the pregnancy now! A couple of weeks left (unless baby extends her stay). In any case I’ve found I have fewer and fewer items of clothing that still fit me, even amongst my ‘maternity’ items. I’ve been packing away items as they no longer fit and my cupboard is looking pretty bare right now!

Here is the run-down:

2 x Long pants (black and grey)

3 x ¾ pants (navy, grey, black and white patterned)

4 x loose work shirts (white, light blue, cobalt blue and black with grey polka dots)

4 x other tops (white, grey, navy and black). Of these the navy and black are ok to wear to work.

1 x black dress which I am wearing more and more around the house as it’s very comfy and cool

2 x shoes. My flip flops around the house and my navy loafers for everywhere else.

I’ve excluded jerseys from my list as I haven’t actually worn on in ages; it is super-hot in CT right now!

So that’s 16 items! Even when I started out on minimalism and was super motivated to cut back I never thought I’d get down to such a limited wardrobe! Being pregnant has forced me to this state and with so little time remaining Ive been determined not to go out and buy more clothing so it has been like a mini minimalist experiment. 

What have been my thoughts?

1. 1Getting dressed is very quick and requires almost no thought. Especially as at any given moment about a third of my wardrobe is in the laundry hamper
2.  I also find I quickly miss items – as in – Damn where’s that shirt – oh no it’s probably in the wash! Skipping laundry for a week is no longer really an option
3. My clothing all seems very neutral, I have no bright colours so at least everything matches everything else more or less (I have yet to brave wearing my polka dot shirt with my patterned palazzo pants)
4. I find I am wearing more jewellery and larger statement pieces. I use these pieces to make-up for some of the monotony I find in my outfits. I look ok every day and most people probably don’t notice that I wear mostly the same clothing but I feel like I am wearing the same stuff all the time and it feels boring without some added bling.
5. The 4 work shirts I bought are exactly the same style (only the colour varies). I found it difficult to find cheap maternity shirts ok for work so when I did find one I bought it in 4 colours. They are all in heavy rotation now as I wear almost exclusively these to work. Maybe a different cut would make them feel a bit more varied.

So basically while I can do such a limited wardrobe it doesn’t really make me happy. I must admit though that it wasn’t a very well thought out capsule. I was very limited in my clothing options as most maternity wear here seemed very ugly and/or expensive. I might have been happier if I had a bit more variety in the cuts/types of tops I had. To ensure maximum mix and match ability I was also very limited in colours – basically black, grey, white and blues. I am craving some more colour!