Clothes & Shoes and Living in a Tiny House

I don’t remember having to think so much about clothes and shoes before I moved into a tiny house. I did the annual closet purge when I ran out of hangers or shoes wouldn’t fit on the shelves. I used to think that I didn’t really shop much. I found my clothes shopping experiences were frustrating because I had to find clothes for my large size. I thought about things like: Is the top long enough to cover my stomach that I’m self-conscious about? Does it have a nice neckline? Does it cover my upper arms? Is it fitted without being too tight or baggy?

Now that I live in a tiny house, I have other things I have to think about. Can I wear it to work? Can I wear it to travel? Can I dress it up? Can I dress it down? Can I lounge in it? Does it match with anything I already have? How many different ways can I wear it? Where will I put it?

I used to have some sets of neutrals: brown, black, grey and blue jean. Last weekend I noticed that over the last year my brown neutrals are being phased out. Now you might be thinking, They’re neutral! I can wear them with anything! Technically that is true, but I don’t like wearing brown and black or brown and grey together. While it looks great on other people, I don’t think it looks good on me.

The result of my paired down wardrobe is that the brown boots and sandals were rarely worn this past year. Also my rustic brown skirt has not been worn since I bought it and my white skirt was worn once. These were added with other items to my get-rid-of pile on Sunday.

• Brown Anhu Calf Lace-up boots (3 years old and holey)
• Brown Naturalizer Sandles (6 years old and coming apart)
• White A Line Skirt
• Brown A Line Skirt
• Black Fluted Skirt
• Thin/sheer button down plaid shirts (2)
• White graphic t-shirt
• Grey graphic t-shirt
• Red Wool Coat

What sparked this realization about my clothes is the upcoming trip to Washington D.C. and next year’s trip to New York City. I need clothes that are stylish, I can wear to work, be comfortable running errands in, and travels well compactly packed in a backpack (i.e. none to minimal ironing)! This mean I needed to take stock of my clothes in order to create a shopping list.

Shoes:

• Black Teva Sandals (5 years old and starting to give me blisters if I wear too long or walk too much and will need to be replaced.)

  

  IKEA floating shelves in the bathroom hold shoes, purses, etc.

• Silver Naturalizer Wedge dress shoes (1 year old)
• Silver Wedge Evening shoes (8 years old – LOVE!!)
• Red Oboz Hiking Boots (4 months old)
• Black & Turquoise Saucency Trail Shoes (4 months old)

Slim Open Closet in Bathroom
Using IKEA Shelves & Kitchen
Rod to create the closet space.

Pants/Shorts/Skirts:

• Black A Line Skirt
• Boot Cut Blue Jeans
• Capri Blue Jeans
• Black Yoga Tights
• Grey Yoga Tights
• Grey sleep pants
• White Shorts
• Black Walking/Hiking Shorts (2)

My Uncle Jim's Footlocker
I use it with EagleCreek Packers
to hold the bulk of my clothes.

Shirts/Tops:

• White Graphic T-Shirts for Work & Leisure (6)
• Grey StarWars Graphic T-Shirts (2)
• White Bird Print Art Shirt (1)
• Black Cami
• White Cami
• Grey Sparkly Evening Wear top (Summer weight)
• Grey Sweater
• Aqua Sweater
• Grey Long sleeve Shirt
• White Long Sleeve Shirt
• Black & White Long Sleeve adjustable waist Tunic Blouse
• Denim Long Sleeve Button Up Shirt
• Black Puffer Jacket

It feels weird to know that I have 33 items of clothing. What is the average number of clothes and shoes a person has? Being a woman, I focused my answer on women’s closets. Glamour Magazine reported last year that 37% of women owned between “25 and 49 blouses” and that 32% owned “more than 25 pairs of heels, flats, boots, etc.” I own 5 pairs of shoes.

I reviewed a few other blogs and websites and found that the minimum amount of clothes an average person (male or female) owns is approximately 30 outfits. Basically enough clothes to wear a different outfit every day for a month. Though 30 outfits doesn’t sound extreme, if you break it down to 30 tops, 30 bottoms and 30 shoes, that means a person owns about 90 to 100 different items of clothes at minimum. Most people actually own more with an average owning 100+ in tops alone. I think I may have been one of those people before I pared down my wardrobe to fit in my tiny house.

The weekend inventory helped me figure out what I have and what I need or can add to my wardrobe. For instance, I know I have predominately black, grey and blue jeans with some aqua and turquoise for color (which goes well with my blue-black hair). Therefore, when I buy clothes I’m going to stick to that and try to add a blue/green/purple color pallet.  Last Sunday I put it to the test and bought the below items:

• Black Tunic Top
• Black Sleeveless Tunic Top
• Grey Sleeveless Tunic Top
• Navy Blue Tunic Top
• Black & White Plaid Top
• Black/Blue/White/Purple Long Sleeve Plaid Top
• Berry Pin-tucked Top
• Black & White Satin Tunic Long Sleeve Evening Wear Top (Winter weight)

I also plan on buying the below items to finish out my wardrobe:

• Black Booties
• Black Kneehigh Boots
• Grey A Line Skirt or Blue/Turquoise color
• Fun Yoga Tights in Blues/Greens/Purples
• 1 more tops preferably in jeweled color

This will bring my wardrobe total to a whopping 46 items of clothes. How many items of clothes do you own?