So far, I shared a lot of information about curating your closet and creating your capsule wardrobe for different seasons.
So now it’s time to show you everything that I own in my activewear and loungewear collection, and my best tips on how to create your curated collection that is perfect for your needs.
I used to have special clothes for around the house, clothes for training, messy clothes, pyjamas and so on… basically, a lot.
But since minimising my wardrobe, I started to rethink how much stuff do I need, and if all these different categories even make sense. So here is what I learned.
TIP 1: Do you really need pyjamas?
The first thing that I decluttered was my pyjamas. But I didn’t declutter just a couple of pieces, I decluttered the whole category!
Funny thing is, I realised I prefer sleeping in my underwear by accident. When we’re living in the UK, we went away for a week, and we stayed in a lovely old house, which had no air conditioning. This is very normal for English houses since the summers there are not that hot.
But we just happened to experience a heatwave that lasted for three days straight and it was hard to fall asleep at night. So struggling to cool down, I decided to ditch my sleeping tee, and I never looked back.
Yes, I felt a bit weird at first, like something was missing, but at the same time, I noticed there was no tugging or pulling whenever I turned around, my body cooled down quicker, which makes you fall asleep faster and I loved the touch of the soft bedding on my skin.
As soon as I realised that I love how this feels, a minimalist inside me was thrilled to get back home and declutter the whole category! I felt like I discovered a new secret to better sleep, owning fewer clothes and doing less laundry. And as a special bonus; this saves a lot of space when travelling. Just take your undies and you’re good to go 😉
It may be silly that I’m talking about this, but if you want to, give it a go for a week and see how you like it. Maybe you’ll experience the same thing, and it will help you simplify your life even more.
TIP 2: Super versatility
The second thing that I learned is that I don’t need to split my leisure clothes into all these different categories. Instead, I created one super category from which I can dress for training, lounging around the house, cleaning, cooking etc. So my tip is to combine your activewear with your loungewear.
When we have multiple categories, we allow ourselves to fill them up and we justify it, by saying: “Oh, these leggings are for yoga, but these leggings are for lounging around the house. And then we have leggings that we wear outside and so on.”
I used to do that and I didn’t like it. My drawers were too full and I hated overthinking about what to wear at home.
If you want to downsize and create your own little collection, pick the most versatile pieces, that can be used for more than one purpose.
Of course, we can keep some things that are specifically for training or lounging around, but I still believe that majority should be super versatile to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
And whenever you want to add something new, always ask yourself if it does all the different things you want it to do 😉
TIP 3: Practicality, practicality, practicality
With our main closet, we can have a little more room on what we keep because our activities and weather keep changing from day to day. But with our leisurewear, we usually use items in a similar way, so it only makes sense to think in advance of the practicality of everything that we own.
To do that I recommend you take a piece of paper and write down how many things per week do you need:
- How many times a week do you train and what do you need? Think about leggings, tops, bras and hoodies.
- How many times a week are in your loungewear and what do you like to wear? If you normally spend Sundays in your loungewear only, write down which one do you like the most? And if you change your clothes after you come home from work, what do you normally wear?
- Are there any unique items you need, and how frequently do you need them? Do you wear a bathrobe every morning or sweatpants for dirty housework?
Now think about how often will you realistically wash them so you can find your final number.
Let’s say you’re training three times a week, which means you need three different tops, and because you wash your leisure stuff every two weeks, having six pieces makes the most sense.
Once you have this review, it will be much easier to declutter and organise your stuff. And it will also help you see if there are any gaps you need to fill or if you need to stop adding certain items. Of course, it can happen that you want to keep a bit more than your paper says, and that is fine, as long the amount of stuff doesn’t make you feel overwhelmed or stressed.
TIP 4: Think about the colours
One thing to think about is your colour palette. If you do it right, this can simplify your laundry routine immensely, because you won’t need to sort your items by colour and then wash them separately.
It’s also very enjoyable to stick to your favourite colours, plus it will help you when shopping.
Two colours that I chose are black and pink. Black is a universal, versatile colour, but I love it mostly because I can be less careful when wearing it; I can cook, clean and do other things without worrying about getting things dirty. And pinky tones are there to make the whole thing fun. I feel feminine and cute when I wear it, so it’s a staple in my activewear collection.
TIP 5: Rotate your stuff if necessary
If you live in a country with four seasons, then it might be worth thinking about rotating your stuff.
For example, I own two bathrobes: one is made from cotton which is perfect for hotter days, and I have a warmer fluffier one for colder months. So as I would do in my main capsule wardrobe, I put the one I’m not using in my storage drawer to avoid chaos. I also have a pair of sweatpants that I use only when walking my dog in winter only, which means I put them away for the rest of the year.
You can use the same principle with hoodies: if you’re training outside a lot, then changing this up can be a great little hack, to keeping your closet nice and tidy.
But only do this, when absolutely necessary! Don’t put lots of stuff away because that can make you feel like you don’t have enough, which can lead to more purchases. Only put away things you’re absolutely sure you won’t need in the coming season.
TIP 6: Keep everything in one place
The last piece of advice is about the organisation and it’s pretty simple: instead of keeping things separate, if you can, store them in one place.
This will give you a better overview of what you own, which will prevent you from buying unnecessary items.
I hope this helps you with organising your leisurewear collection.
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