Striped Cardi Party

One great thing about wearing a versatile piece like a little black dress is that you can easily improvise new looks without even trying. I’ve had this cardigan for years and NEVER thought of pairing it with a dress. I’ve always worn it with a t-shirt and jeans. I guess sometimes we limit the roles for certain items in our closets, but if you want to maximize the potential (why am I starting to sound like a finance seminar? lol) of your wardrobe, you’ve gotta think outside the box and wear your clothes differently!

What I’m Wearing

Dress with belt:  City Triangle
Sweater: Wet Seal
Shoes: Mossimo
Purse: Lulu

Have you ever found a new use for an old clothing item and loved it?
.

.

.

If you want to see more ways that I wear this very same little black dress, click here. Also make sure you check back next Monday for a new one 🙂 Have a great Monday! -Tyler

FACEBOOK  | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST

Building a Better Closet Step 3: Acquire the Basics

So you’ve already done all your minimizing and revamping, but you’re still not quite satisfied with your wardrobe yet. Guess what, guys? It’s time to go shopping! 😀

Now before you get too excited, remember to be smart about this. Buying just any random thing you liked is what got you dissatisfied with your closet in the first place, remember? The solution is intentionally buy basic, versatile pieces that can be worn several times in a number of ways.

Here are some suggestions for essentials that you might want in your closet:

1. One little black dress
2. One white dress
3. One black blazer
4. One professional looking black skirt
5. At least one pair of professional looking pants
6. One black belt
7. One black cardigan
8. One or two plain t-shirts in white, black, and grey
9.  Solid colored professional blouses
10. A pair of jeans in dark blue, light blue, and black
11.A denim jacket
12. A leather jacket
13. A hoodie
14. A winter coat
15. A trench coat
16. Solid colored turtlenecks
17. Black flats
18. Neutral-colored sneakers
19. Black or brown sandals
20. Fun sandals
21. Pumps in black, white, red, and nude
22. Black and nude colored tights
23. A couple/few summer dresses
24. One swimsuit
25. A medium-sized purse

That’s just an example of my ideal. It will be different for everyone.

Once you have an idea of what basic pieces you want in your closet, make a list of the top 5 things you need soon. Limit yourself to just 5 to gain some focus.

My Top 5:
1. Black skinny jeans
2. Black flats
3. A colorful cardigan
4. A pullover sweater (no hood)
5. This hat (Ok, this one isn’t necessarily a basic essential, but it’s still pretty versatile, and I know that I want it 😛 )

Once you start acquiring basic, versatile pieces, you’ll start to find more and more outfit options, and getting dressed will be a breeze.

Hope these tips helped, guys. If you want to the final step in the process, make sure you follow me and check back next Thursday! – Tyler 🙂

FACEBOOK  | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST

What’s in My Bag? How I Keep My Bag Junk Free

I love reading “What’s In My Bag?” posts! They’re such a great way to get to know someone 🙂

I used to have a really messy purse and was always losing things in it, but a few months ago I purchased a nice little organizer and everything stays pretty neat and clean now. Anyway, let’s get started. This is my bag:

This is what my bag looks when you peek inside:

Pretty clean, huh? Here’s what’s inside:

Most of the items in my purse are kept inside my Grid It organizer. Here I have:
1. Some uni-ball pens
2. Altoids
3. Lotion
4. Aleve
5. Scissors (I always seem to need them for some reason.)
6. Glasses cleaner
7. Pocket knife
8. hand sanitizer

Anything that doesn’t fit in the organizer goes behind it

1. A little notebook for doodling and ideas
2. A bottle of water. I always have a little bottle, even when I’m carrying just a clutch. The one I have now is a mini Fiji water bottle.
3. Here’s a little trick I learned. I use an empty vitamin bottle as a purse trash can to hold any gum wrappers, bits of paper, etc.

I’ve also got a few skin and hygiene products

1. Deodorant (I know this one is for men, but it’s hard to find one that’s aluminum-free!)
2. EOS Lip Balm  (my favorite lip balm! 🙂 )
3. A little compact mirror
4. One emergency feminine napkin
5. Yes To Cucumber face wipes. Not so much for my face, but for situations when I have sticky food on my fingers.

My wallet is a little phone case that hold a couple of credit cards and has a zipper when you can hold cash. If I’m just running somewhere and back really quickly, I leave my purse and take just this with my phone in it.

So here are my quick tips for keeping your purse neat and clean:
1.) Use an organizer
2.) Use an old pill bottle as a purse trash can
3.) Periodically check for strays. Any items in my bag that aren’t in my purse organizer stick out like a sore thumb, so items that don’t belong get removed quickly.

What’s your best tip for an organized purse? Comment and let me know 🙂
.

.

.

.

If you liked this post and want to see more like it in the future make sure you follow me here on WordPress or sign up for email updates (button on the right). Also, follow me on my social media! All of my links are under “About Me.” Have a great day everyone! 🙂 -Tyler

FACEBOOK  | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST

Building a Better Closet Step 2: Revamp

Cleaning out your closet is a great opportunity to breathe new life into old clothes. This is a time when you should gather up everything that has an holes or missing buttons and decide if you want to repair or donate them. If you want to repair them, do it right away so that the clothes can quickly go from being closet clutter to functional pieces of clothing again. If you find yourself waiting too long to get an item fixed, that may be a sign that you just need to let it go.

Another great thing you can do with items in your closet is turn them into something totally new. There are plenty of fun projects that you can do with your clothes such as

1. Turn a t-shirt into a tote bag
(Pro Tip: if you want an even faster and easier way to do this.,
just tie up the bottom of the shirt with a hair elastic.  It’s temporary
and takes just a few seconds)
2. Turn an old sweater into a hat (no-sew video tutorial)
3. DIY high-low skirt
4. Spray painted T-shirt

You could even try just wearing your clothes in different creative ways, like wearing a skirt as a dress.

The point is, if you’re bored with your clothes. Try having some fun with them. For me, building a better closet not only lifts a burden, but opens up the window for new projects as well.

If you missed Step 1, click here to read all about it. Step 3 is coming next Thursday. So make sure you Follow or subscribe by email (button is on the right) so that you don’t miss it!

What’s your best tip for building a better closet? Leave me a comment !(I love comments! 🙂 ) If you can’t find the comment box, try clicking the little talk bubble next to the title at the top of the page 😛 Thanks for reading, everyone!

FACEBOOK  | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST

Building a Better Closet Step 1: Minimize

No one likes the feeling of having a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. Many people think that the way to solve this problem is to simply go out and buy more clothes, picking up whatever looks cute when you go out. I actually don’t think that solves the problem, I think that causes the problem. If you want to open a closet and see plenty of options for things to wear, you have to be very intentional about it. The first step is to minimize.

So here a few things to remove from your closet to get started:

1. The items that don’t fit. When we lose or gain weight we tend to hold onto our old clothes “just in case.” Do yourself a favor and remove these items. They’re just taking up precious space.
2. The items you no longer like. We all seem to hold onto several clothing items that we know we don’t like. Maybe your style changed over time, or maybe you picked up something that you didn’t like just because it was on sale. I used to do that a lot too. We do we do this to ourselves? If you feel bad that you’re “wasting” clothes that you spent money on by not wearing them, don’t worry about it. Life is too short to wear clothes you don’t like.
3. Items that don’t flatter your body. It might be the shape, it might print, it might be the size. Whatever the reason, if a piece of clothing doesn’t flatter your body, get rid of it.
4. Items that just don’t match anything. Every now and then I’ll buy a skirt or a pair of shoes and never wear them because I can’t find anything in my closet to pair them with. If this goes on for too longer, it’s probably time to let go.
5. Remove any broken or unwanted hangers. I actually stumbled onto this tip while reading Living Well Spending Less. It made me realize that one thing that I really hate about my closet is all of the extra hangers, the dry cleaners hangers, the plastic hangers from the store, etc. It just make everything look so disorganized. So I’m going to follow her advice and invest in a nice set of hangers when I get the chance. I think some nice wooden hangers would improve the feel of my closet drastically 🙂

“But if I get rid of all of these things, I won’t have anything left!”

I know that feeling. If you get rid of all these items on impulse, you may regret it later, right? Let me just tell you this almost never happens, and even if you end up with just a few items left in your closet, you’ll be surprised to find that no one will really notice. Even if you wore say, the same 8 items over and over again for a month, it’s unlikely that anyone will notice. People really just aren’t that observant.

One thing that can help you get started is to fill a bag with all of the items mentioned above, and just put the item out of sight somewhere in the house. If you decide that you need something in the bag, you can always get it, but chances are that you’ll just forget about it after a while. When you finally do see and remember the bag again and you never missed it, that’s your cue to donate it.

TIP: Hold on to a few comfy tees and sweats even if they aren’t your favorite (as long as they’re comfortable). This way, on the days you stay in, you can wear your less-loved clothes and you can save your favorite pieces for days you’re out and about. If you hate seeing these items in your closet, try finding a drawer for them to live in.
.

.

.

.

I hope you found these tips helpful! 🙂 If you liked it and want to read about Step 2 next Thursday, just follow me here on WordPress, or sign up with the email subscription button on the right and you’ll automatically be notified every time I make a post 🙂 Have a great day! -Tyler