10x10 Challenge

Capsule Woes

May 21, 2018

For the past couple years, I've really been craving a capsule wardrobe.

I heard about capsule wardrobes through one YouTuber or another  (or another) and through the blog Un-Fancy, which had always been my guide when trying to put on together. You can find her thorough and extremely helpful guide here, with step-by-step instructions to get you to the capsule of your dreams. She now has veered off from a strict capsule (as most people have who made them so trendy), but she is a huge advocate of the 10x10 Challenge, where you wear 10 items of clothing for 10 days. Expect woes about that in the near future.

I mention all this because I have finally created a capsule wardrobe of my own, and I've actually been sticking to it! For the most part. But nonetheless, I have created a 37 item wardrobe that I have been wearing, along with some clothes out of my "Fancy Attire" and the t-shirts that I usually save for bedtime but do sneak out into the public more often than not. You can say that this is a very loose capsule wardrobe, but I think that works best for me. 

I think that's where I've failed in the past with capsules. I thought I had to be completely strict with a number and only wear what I had in it instead of branching out and letting myself wear things that weren't in the capsule. I know, I know. 

Isn't it just a closet then?

Not really. I do try to wear only what's in my capsule but why it's been so easy this time is because it's summer and I really don't have many warm weather clothes. Partly because I've gained some weight so a lot of my old clothes don't fit and partly because I'm not a huge fan of dressing for the summer months. So, I have fewer clothes to pick through than for my fall and winter capsules I've tried in the past. I've been dressing with this capsule for a couple weeks now and I wanted to talk about my woes with the beloved and feared capsule wardrobe.

1) It's hard.

This is not a surprise for anyone who has tried one before, but trying to dress with only a certain amount of clothes when your closet has other items squealing out to be worn can be daunting. I have been cheating to get around this, but I think that's a part of learning how to do one! You can't jump in headfirst into a capsule, confident that you won't wear anything besides your 37 items. In a culture where the bigger the closet, the better, it can be a shock wearing the same things over and over and not be self-conscious if people will notice. But to tell the truth, they won't. People really only notice if you're smelly and wearing the same clothes day after day. And with 37 pieces of clothing, you have lots of wiggle room to make several outfits a week. 

2) You get bored.

I have always been that girl who had enough clothes to go a while without wearing the same outfit twice. I know, privilege alert. But even with dressing with a full wardrobe, I got bored! And I had a plethora of clothes to choose from! So to have a lot less clothes to pick from, I get a little tired of wearing the same mom jeans, Beach Boys shirt, and Birkenstocks. I feel like I need to go shopping to fill in "the gaps" in my wardrobe, but truth be told, I don't really have any gaps. I have all the clothes I need, plus some. Most of us do. We're just programmed to want more, to need more. And that's a problem in itself.

3) You feel silly talking about the woes of a capsule wardrobe. 

Writing all this out, I'm realizing that these "woes" of a capsule wardrobe are all so...first-world. I thought about including the woe of feeling guilty about all the clothes you have, but it didn't seem to fit. It's more like a plus side of a capsule in my opinion (soon to come) and I hate that I even have complaints about an idea where one just dwindles down their wardrobe, shops less and with more intention, and just wears what they absolutely love. What's so wrong about that?

So in conclusion, this was a hot mess of a post. But I hope you understood what I was trying to get at.

Capsule wardrobes are meant to teach you how to spend your money, love your clothes, and be happy with what you have.

Not think that clothes have to be thrown out with the changing fads or that you need that sixth white sweater. Clothes seem so frivolous, but we can change that mindset. I did with creating a capsule wardrobe, and I really suggest doing the same, even if it's just the 10x10 Challenge with Un-Fancy. 

Here's my challenge for you. Go through your closet and see how much of it that you really love. Pull out all your clothes (hanging up or folded in drawers) and lay them on your bed or floor. Then pick out those pieces that make you giddy to see, the ones that you'd wear right then and there. If you find that there's half your closet left after doing this, you may need to try a capsule. It's free, it's fun, and you'll learn a lot about yourself.

Until next time,

Kaylin 

addicted to social media

Social Media Overload

March 02, 2018

I wrote this in a notes app on my phone while I was at my grandparents' house last weekend...

"I'm over at my grandma and grandpa's and I'm having cell phone withdrawals. I don't have any service so none of my apps are working. Not Instagram, Bloglovin', nothin'. And I feel so foolish. Here I am, home for the first time in a month and a half and I'm "visiting" with my parents and grandparents while writing this out on my app so I can have my phone in my hand and that they'll have something to do. "

 I've been reading a lot of articles about social media and phone addiction recently. It seems to be a hot topic due to the health problems it's linked to and the increases of depression and anxiety when we're on our phones too much.

As a young woman with such problems, the amount of time I spend on my phone and laptop is... troublesome.

I never thought I'd be one to admit it, but here goes.

I have a social media addiction. 

 And a YouTube addiction. And why not throw email in with the mix? Basically anything electronic and promising to connect you with a better life or for you to look at the "beautiful, perfect" lives of others, I'm there. And here's the thing: I rarely ever create any content. I post on Instagram some, SOMETIMES write on this blog, and have submitted the occasional article to have it declined but besides that, I'm just a media sucker.

I feel like I don't have anything important to say, anything new or exciting for the world to see or read so that stops me in my tracks to even create in the first place. And that's bullcrap!

 Everyone has something important to say, no matter if it's been said a thousand times or never before. I can't let myself use that excuse when it comes to creation. Of course a story has been told before; there are only a few plot lines out there, really. And how many articles have you read about the same topic, only to keep reaching out for more? It's not a bad thing to be inspired by other people's works or have your own opinion on the matter and then send it out to the world wide web. That's what we're here for!

But back to the overload...

 Yeah, I spend way too much time on apps and YouTube, watching the lives of people I admire or strive to be like and just soaking in their aesthetics (embarrasing, I know). I've been an avid watcher for years and though I don't think it's a bad thing to watch a lot of YouTube, I do believe it's bad to watch them to escape your own life, which I do often. I am displeased with my life a good portion of the time, to be honest. So, I think that if I just watch some Alli Cherry  or CatCreature, whatever they're doing I'll be doing too.

And that's just not healthy, man.

I should be out living my own life and creating my own content, not living vicariously through others. I know, it's hard to not be sucked down the rabbit hole of closet clear out videos, but we must resist!

People on social media are not living perfect lives, I know that. But what I do struggle with at times in understanding that just because I'm seeing them having adventures, that doesn't mean I am too. Whoa. 

 Well, those are my thoughts on that. I hope you are all doing well and are enjoying what you're reading. If you want, you can click on over to my Bloglovin' and follow me there, where you'll be informed when I post.

Until next time.

The Successes and Failures of Creating a Budget

January 10, 2018



Back in September, I started to realize I had accumulated a lot of plain ol' stuff over the past few months since getting my first real job as a waitress. I was making good money during one of the busiest restaurant seasons and saving a good chunk of it, but also spending way more than I'd like to admit. 


 I had tried apps like Mint to budget my spending in the past before I got my job, but it always glitched on me, lost my data, and I wouldn't keep up with my cash flow. It just didn't work and I didn't trust other money apps to do the job (if you have suggestions on some I could try, I'd love to hear what you use). So I decided to go the old-fashioned route and do a budget with pen and paper, my usual go-to for organizing and planning. 

 I made my first budget last October with specific goals like no spend days and a no spend weekend (they kinda worked out) and putting away around $100 into saving, which I didn't know at the time would be so easy to do. Each category such as Eating Out, Clothes, Coffee had a different set budget and for the most part, I stayed at or under my budgets. 

 But Clothes and Eating Out? Oh Lordy. It took the month of October to realize just how much I was spending on such frivolous things. 

 I documented everything I spent or made in October as well as kept track of my tips, checks, and what I was putting into savings. I was really proud of myself and it felt like a game to me, never becoming a hassle to go through my receipts and bank statements. I learned a lot and reflected on it in my November budget plan.

 November's Budget was a reflecting period that really helped me focus on my spending and my abundance of it. I listed what I needed to improve on (less eating out, more cooking at home), what roadblocks I kept coming to (made shopping a hobby, had a bad case of Fear of Missing Out), and what advantages I was working with in November (pick up in business at the restaurant and more free time to cook and spend time at home). 

 I also made November a No Spend month for clothes, which was quite intimidating at first, but by the second week, it turned into a breeze. Sadly, I had stopped documenting my spending and money flow since the holidays and school were picking up and getting more consuming. I didn't even bother making a budget for December, something I regret now seeing that I have little money left after the holidays.

 But here we are in January! And with my surplus of time before school starts and with the scent of new beginnings in the air, I've already created my January Budget and have saved my receipts to document. I'll share it in my next post to keep this from being a novella. 

 ooh, the suspense!

 What I wanted to say with this post, however, is that it's always okay to fail at keeping up with a habit, hobby, or budget. Yes, it would have helped me financially to have kept up the budget, but I was just plain busy these past few months, as was everyone. So I'm not beating myself up about it, I'm just restarting! And you can restart at any time, that's the beauty of living. Every breath is a new beginning. 

 So just breathe and the rest will follow.

mindfulness

What Inspired This?

November 14, 2017

I've always wanted a blog since the first time I found blogger through some YouTuber around 2007. I wish I had more details to make this a better story, but that's honestly all I can remember. I can't tell you who or what blog it was, but the idea of people reading an online journal of sorts was fascinating to me. It wouldn't be until 2015/2016 that I would become interested in self-care.

As someone who has had depression all her life, it would have been helpful to be practicing mindful breathing, yoga, and clean eating for a while before I finally realized what powers these things had. And I'm still ignorant about the holistic game.

I have the bad habit of reading a lot but then not retaining anything that I had just learned. I drown myself in YouTube videos, blogs, books, podcasts, and magazines all about healing and helping oneself. Rarely do I put this "knowledge" into action, though.

I try writing it down in my "Self Help" spiral notebook (more on that later) and reading it whenever I'm feeling inspired...yet I remain in the oh-so-familiar slump.



Yes, I am getting into better habits again (I was a pretty well-oiled machine this summer), but with the stress of my senior year of college pressing down on me, it makes nearly everything unenjoyable and my drive to do things, things I love, diminish into nothing. That's why it took so long for this post #2.

There are some habits I've been sticking too recently, however. I'm dry brushing my trobles away before each shower, trying to do a quick morning yoga, and recently switched to natural deodorant which can surprise you with how much good it does for this girl.



Yeah. I bet I'll make it.

fresh starts

How It Begins

October 27, 2017





Hello everybody,

And welcome to The Mindful Tenderfoot.

 With this blog, I plan to document my journey into mindfulness, slow and intentional living, and self-care through simple ideas that I pick up around the web or through the several magazines I read. It'll be a lot of trial and error, but I feel like that part of the journey gets overlooked too often with "lifestyle blogs" and that's not good for one's self-esteem. I know it's definitely not for me as someone who feels like she has to do everything perfectly, first try. If I fail, I'm a failure. If I succeed, it's not good enough, I could have done better. Sound familiar?

 As a young woman in her final year of college, I am constantly in a state of comparison. The girl across the room has better skin than me, the boy next to me in class speaks up more and has better ideas, that model who I follow in Instagram has my ideal body I'll never get to. Everything and everyone are 
better, better, better.

To address the elephant in the room, I suffer from major depression and anxiety disorder. I've been treating it with medicine and counseling for years now and have dabbled in self-care practices I read about on blogs or see in YouTube videos but have never really stuck to them. I know they'll do me good, I've seen the effects they have on others, on myself when I stick to it for a week or two. But there never comes a third week. I have a bad habit of giving up when the going gets tough and honestly, that may be the case with this blog. 

But here's how I'm trying to look at it: I read, watch, and listen to so much self-help material that I feel like I should be a mini pro at something like dry-brushing my worries and dead-skin away or doing my morning yoga while listening to the wind-chimes on my incense and crystal covered porch. And that's just not the case. I could keep beating myself up about not getting around to creating this ideal life for myself and going back to the self-harm that's been plaguing me for years 
or
I could change it. My life. My routine. My well-being, the thing that I've been ignoring for 21 years and counting. 

So this is my way to motivate myself. I've been relying on my boyfriend and my "Self-Help" journal I always keep on me to inspire me to change my life but it's not healthy to put that on someone you love so much and a journal can only do so much. 

This is accountability. This is commitment. This is the next step to healing thyself.

I hope you stick around with me on this journey. I know it won't be a smooth, breezy ride; there will definitely be some bumps along the way. But that's life, you know?


-kaylin 

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