How to create a Minimalist Wardrobe (& why you'd want to!)

Thank you so much for watching!! You can find the full Minimalism Back to Basics Playlist here: cli.re/BASICS OTHER THINGS SHOWN: The white and colored tops shown are all from Marshall's this season! My Favorite Shoes: amzn.to/3qUvmOR My Earrings: rstyle.me/+s1YtxZy-_Nig6k_yRPmxnw My Black Shirt: amzn.to/42ETWkx Hope you have a great day!!! - Dawn

When my father passed away last January, I had to bring all of his clothes home with me. I could not bring myself to get rid of them. My sweet friend asked me if she could take them home with her. I was so numb, that I didn't even think it was weird. But out of Daddy's shirts and jeans, she made 13 throw quilts and a pillow. One for each child, grandchild, great grand child, 2 sisters and 1 brother. When I am missing him, I wrap up in a quilt and remember him wearing the shirts and pants. This is a great idea for sentimental clothing.

I work 3 jobs and I'm a single mom. I definitely live the "uniform". I get grief from people for always being dressed that way, but I have so much on my plate I just don't need another thing occupying my brain. Thank you for the validation 🙏 ❤

Can I just say, that when Dawn says “I love you” at the end of her videos, it make me feel SO happy!! Like I will never end a video early because I really look forward to how genuinely it is said 🥰

Im not sure of i would consider myself a minimalist, but i do believe that thinking of our belongings as items we must maintain and care for, it drastically shifts perspective on all future purchases as well as how things are viewed that are already in our possession. It has changed my life!!!

I work at a thrift store and we accept worn out clothing because we sell it to a company that shreds the clothing and makes insulation from it. Ask around if stores in your areas do that , too!

EVERYTHING that we have will oneday be passed to our children's hands and they will throw it away because its too much to manage. Sometimes our stuff is only a memory but we can trust our memories with God and not hoarding. Thanks for your videos Dawn!!!

One of the biggest blessings in disguise is losing 80% of our storage space when we moved into our now-"forever" house. I had already been thinking about why I allowed our prior home, which happened to have a massive amount of built-in storage for its size, to become a warehouse. It was because it was so easy to just amass stuff, I never felt like I had to think about whether it had a good purpose. Everything "sparked joy" and that means that all we did was just fill up those storage spaces with inventory that did not enhance our life. It weighed it down. So since we have basically no built in space in our "forever" house, we had to get real, and the container concept meant that we simply could not keep drowning in stuff. Once we recognized this, it was like a light switch flipped and we suddenly could not WAIT to shed excess stuff. I donated what had to be over 100 pairs of shoes, 29 black trash bags filled to the brim with clothing (so much with tags) and seriously 100 boxes of books and felt lighter and lighter and lighter with each Goodwill run. I do not miss any of it and am somewhat dumbstruck by how ridiculously easy it was to keep accumulating and never considering it. And the extrapolation to today is that I now look at anything I own with a new stinkeye because I no longer assume I will love it the same way over time as when I first got it. Example: I went to Marshall's in 2021 mid-pandemic and found a totally adorable lavender blouse with ruffled sleeves and a lavender t-shirt to line it. I felt so cute in it and thought it would always be in my top 5. It has been over a year since I last put it on and when I tried it on just a week ago, I suddenly felt like it was imparting a young style that does not suit me anymore. No judgment - it just turns out that the season of life is a real thing and while I would still love to wear this color, I feel almost silly wearing this style, like I am trying too hard to be younger than I am. I absolutely did not expect that reaction and now I am going to honor it and recognize that I am allowed to change, and my environment is allowed to change alongside me. There is something graceful about making room for less.

Once i admitted to myself that i only wear 10% of what i own, i was able to let go, over time my wardrobe has gotten much much simpler. I love it.

Another perk to a minimalist closet is how easy it is to pack for trips. I just packed for a trip that includes three days of dressy clothes and I’m wearing the same pair of shoes that look great with all outfits and they are super comfy. The old me would have thought “the same shoes for all three?” and the new me says “Absolutely!” The casual outfits were easy to chose because it’s stuff I wear all the time, like, know look good together and so I’m done packing. Love it.

When i worked in a nursing home some of the residents had really mismatched clothes. But this one lady, her family coordinated her wardrobe grey lilac cream and navy...it disnt matter what she was drsssed in she looked great x

I donated 3 SUVs full of stuff to one of my favorite thrift stores. And, i still have a long way to go. Someone is going to find some real vintage treasures in what i donated & I hope they will enjoy them as much as i did. Thank you for inspiring me to unload this burdensome stuff.

My wardrobe is entirely black. I love it! So much easier getting ready because everything goes together. I have recently started buying more pants because I haven't been enjoying owning just leggings. For me all my clothes being able to fit into just one suitcase is my container limit.

I still find myself thinking I need to have black denim, a Jean jacket, white button down, little black dress etc. But I have four young kids, work from home with two of them here with me and don’t have to dress up for hardly anything including date nights since my husband and I usually do those in house to save money. I have enough basic pieces and jeans that fit me properly and shoes that can work for several different occasions. I don’t have a lot of the “staple pieces” that you see in other videos or on Pinterest, but what I have works great for what season of life I’m in now. And it feels SO GOOD!! 😊

You didn't end by saying, "I love you." I appreciate so much that you say those three words because no one else tells me that. Thank you for making a difference by simply saying, "I love you."

Thank you for such quality content always, Dawn! I would add, when I'm decluttering an item of clothing with tags, or that I've barely worn, I like to ask myself, "what did I learn from this item?" it helps me remember that it is not a total waste if I learned from it that maybe I don't like that type of top, or that it really wasn't a good color on me, etc. We're human, we make mistakes; the best thing to do at that point is learn from them. 😊

It’s definitely possible. 🙂 I love wearing dressy bright colors. Used to think I had to get rid of all my fun clothes because that wasn’t being “minimalist”. Now realize I just have to be extremely intentional about what i keep. I can’t stand black, grey, beige colors. makes me feel depressed when I wear them. Love your system Dawn!

It's amazing how wonderful it felt the first time I looked in my closet and saw only things I truly like and feel comfortable in! Clutter clearing rocks! ; - D ❤

I actually like wearing a lot of white T-shirts. Lol. I find them versatile and convenient and better in our hot climate and it happens to look good on me. It’s very simple to add color via layering in colder weather. I have lot of the same basic staple pieces for all seasons. Usually regular tees work well down here for about 3/4 of the year, as it’s only really cold for a few months out of the year (and even then I have a few long sleeved white tees for that lol). Plus to me, it’s such a nice look. White tee. Darker pants. White canvas tennies. Imo can’t beat that look for day to day. Then just dress it up with a cute necklace or watch and cute sandals when I’m feeling ”fancy.” Lol. (I also have a couple of more “blousy” looking white tees…but in essence they’re still just tees). You can also easily change your look for fun with super simple things like tucking in, half front tuck or no tuck. Def don’t need more clothes for more variety. Just need to play with what you have a little bit. I find the best mindset is just that tho. Don’t work to fit your wardrobe. Make your wardrobe work to fit you. Someone recently told me that I always look so cute and “put together.” I guess I’m doing something right by now with it. Lol. But more importantly, it’s easy and low stress for me to maintain.

I've always been so in love with black anyway, and I'm so glad I don't have to feel bad about it anymore! I was trying to create lots of colour, because I felt "boring", but I realised it was just so overwhelming for me. Too much going on! I'm happy to go back to my natural tendency. I've finally created my capsule wardrobe with all your tips, and I love how simple it all is now. Blacks, whites, blues, dark reds are my fave!