CREATING A PERSONAL UNIFORM

WHY A PERSONAL UNIFORM?

“A personal uniform allows you to embrace the clothes you readily reach for and allows you to streamline your closet” – author unknown. I have recently been semi-creating a personal uniform and was having a difficult time trying to explain what it is that I really love about it, and why I want to try to continue to work at it.  When I read that statement, I felt like the words “allows you to embrace the clothes you readily reach for” described it perfectly.

When you have a larger variety of clothes to choose from, each day when it’s time to pick out what clothes you are going to wear you have to make a decision to wear your favorite things again or pick something else because you might feel guilty about not getting used out of the other clothes you have.  You are not allowing yourself to “embrace the clothes you readily reach for”. If you can allow yourself to always put on what you really love to wear, you eliminate the daily decision-making of having to choose from your few favorites. The idea is to simplify this aspect of your life by reducing the decision-making involved in what clothes you wear each day.

YOU CAN TAKE THIS AS LITTLE OR AS FAR AS YOU WOULD LIKE TO GO

You can pick something small to simply such as your socks, or take it as far as applying it to everything you wear each day, even including pajamas! There is no right or wrong way to do it. Using the socks as an example – you can do something as simple as eliminating all socks except for your favorite kind and buy only that kind. When you go to grab a pair of socks, there is no decision-making needed.  You just grab a pair and you’re done! Even if you need different types of socks for different types of shoes, each of those types can be the same kind, which should be your favorite brand/material.

Maybe for boots, you have several pairs of the same kind of tall black socks, and for sneakers, you have several pairs of white athletic-type socks. The idea is that the socks for a particular purpose are all the same, but they are ones that you love, so you are always wearing what you like and eliminating the need for decisions.

WHAT IF YOU AREN’T SURE ABOUT WHAT CLOTHES YOU LOVE?

Start to pay more attention to what it is that you always grab for. Take your time and start to really think about what you really love to wear and feel most comfortable in for whatever your daily activities are. I started to realize that I always reached for a particular type of black pants. They were comfortable enough to wear at home, and still feel like I was wearing something decent, and also nice enough to wear to work with a nice shirt or sweater.

As it occurred to me that for the most part I just wanted to wear those pants, and when they were in the hamper I had to choose from the other clothes that were OK, but not my favorite, I decided to buy a couple more pairs so that they were always available. Trust me, you can wear the same type of black pants pretty much every day and no one is going to ever notice! And depending on the type of work you do, you can probably wear them twice before washing them.

SAVE MONEY ON CLOTHES

As you start to understand the types of clothes that you really love, you will be much less likely to purchase clothes that don’t fit that standard. For example, I have learned that I am really comfortable in shirts that are a certain fit and material.  So, that is what I am looking for if I need a new shirt.  I am much less likely to take a chance on something that I might not like how it feels and not want to wear it.

I am also less accepting of things that are not just right. For example, I bought a shirt recently at TJ Maxx that looked and felt exactly like what I really love.  But, when I tried it on at home, there was just something about it that didn’t feel right.  In the past, I would have probably said, it’s OK, I’ll wear it sometimes.  Now, I immediately decided I needed to return it.

SOME TIPS FOR CREATING YOUR PERSONAL UNIFORM

Try to stick with a particular color palette so that things can be mixed and matched more easily. Again back to the socks, it occurred to me the other day that as I have a need for new socks, I want to try to replace them with white with black, or white with gray.  I like to wear this sock that is white with some color on it.  I usually pick the one with a variety of colors.  But, then I have to find one that matches what I wear.  This might not bother you!  But, I like everything to match.

So, since I’m pretty much always wearing black leggings or jeans, and I have white socks with black or gray, they will most like match most of what I’m wearing regardless of the color of my shirt. Instead of a color palette, if one aspect of your clothes is pretty neutral, the color of the items won’t matter as much.  For example, if you are always wearing black pants, then you can have a variety of color tops that go with black pants.

MAKE SURE THE CLOTHES YOU PICK ARE COMFORTABLE

If you can narrow it down to clothes that look nice and are comfortable, it will make you feel so much better during the day. Comfortable can look nice!  I used to always feel kind of crappy in “comfortable” clothes. This is not just for home, this can be for if you work in an office too.  You aren’t only allowed to be comfortable when you are at home!  Of course, if you have a job that requires an actual uniform you are out of luck.

START SMALL

If you love to wear jeans, look at the jeans you have, are there certain ones you always choose to wear and others that stay at the bottom of the pile?  What is it about them that you love?  Can you get one or two more of those, and donate the ones you aren’t wearing?

IF YOU LIKE IT, EXPAND A LITTLE OVER TIME

I realize that some people are much more into fashion than I am, and this will not be for them. But if you are just looking for something to look nice in and feel comfortable in what you are wearing each day, give this a try and expand over time as you start to see what it is that you really feel good in. Try to really simplify down to a style if you can. Do you feel better in jeans and a t-shirt, or leggings and an oversized sweatshirt? Just think about it and start there!

Thanks so much for checking in! If you would like to hear the podcast version of this topic to check out Lola’s Frugal Life Podcast! Also, be sure to check out my other blog posts on this site!

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