Lessons From My Minimalist Stay at Home Mom Wardrobe Fail

I wrote about Building My 33-Item Stay at Home Mom Capsule Wardrobe a few months ago.

I followed Courtney Carver’s Project 333 Challenge guidelines and was excited to embrace a minimalist approach in my closet. 

I chose 33 items to wear for 3 months (excluding pajamas and workout clothes) and boxed up my remaining clothes to revisit later. I vowed not to buy any clothes for three months. 

How did I do with this minimalist capsule wardrobe project? Well… let’s just say it did not go as planned.

I bought a handful of new items, plus I pulled out some clothes that I had tucked away for the 333 Challenge. By the end of the three months, my closet was as much of an explosion, if not more, than it was before I started the challenge. 

That being said, I learned a lot from this challenge, just not what I expected to learn. 

A MODERATE Minimalist Wardrobe For Stay At Home Moms

The crux of what I learned is that it’s okay for my closet to reflect my multifaceted life as a stay at home mom.

Perhaps I have a few too many clothes in my closet, but I find it helpful having an overabundance rather than an underabundance as a stay at home mom. Here’s why.

SAHM life, especially with young kids, is all over the place. You’re up, you’re down, you’re outside, you’re inside, you’re hot, you’re cold, you’re covered in jam and peanut butter, and sometimes you feel like your body can morph into a million different shapes and sizes. 

Having a wardrobe that reflects that layered and multifaceted lifestyle is perfectly appropriate, imo. 

Stay At Home Mom Roles Change As Children Grow

I’ll be honest, I am still figuring out how to gracefully function as a stay at home mom. It’s an ongoing process. Therefore, my closet is figuring itself out as well.

Plus, my two and five-year-old kids are developing at such a rapid rate. Their needs are constantly changing, and thus my varied roles as a stay at home mom are constantly changing. The types of clothing I need to be functional and comfortable also change.

Being able to shop around in my closet because I have more clothes than I regularly wear is helpful in this sense. Maybe a certain pair of pants does not work for me when my toddler is two, but maybe they work great for me when she is a year older and I am performing different tasks as a mom or am mentally, socially, or physically in a different place.

Or, maybe that top I love but never wear is one I will wear when my husband and I finally hire a sitter and go out on a date.  

Sure, I could go shopping at any point, but that takes time, money, and effort. Sometimes I’d rather just shop in my own closet at 6 am on a Monday morning.

A Mom’s Changing Body

I do not know about other ladies, but my body seems to be in constant flux. Obviously pregnancy is a huge change, but postpartum can also be a time of significant physical changes. And not just those first few weeks postpartum.

I’m two years postpartum since my last child, and I still feel like my body is sorting itself out. Not to mention, the various maladies that moms do not always address in a timely manner when they’re busy with young kids, and that can significantly impact the feel, shape, and function of their bodies. 

So, a variety of clothes for a variety of stages and phases is just a part of mom life.  

Stay at Home Mom Self Care

A warm and comfortable coat to wear to the park or a comfortable pair of shoes for a tired mama can be an important form of self care.

If my only form of support throughout the day is my orthopedic Birkenstocks, then I’ll take it. In fact, I might just buy myself an extra pair! 

I’m not trying to promote overconsumption here, but I am saying that mamas need support, and when they’re struggling, sometimes quality shoes and clothes at least provide some comfort.

Obviously, they’re not a substitute for a supportive social network or medical care, but sometimes the little things can go a long way.  

Related: Essential Mom Self-Care: Simple Circadian Clock Reset Tips

Variety Is The Spice of SAHM Life

Additionally, I like having a little variety in my wardrobe every now and then as a stay at home mom. Many SAHMs are familiar with the buzzkill of monotony. So, putting on a sweater you haven’t seen in a while can feel surprisingly refreshing. Again, it’s the small things.

A Wardrobe To Complement Mom Life 

With all the trendy minimalist wardrobe reels that pop up on my Instagram feed, sometimes I need to take a step back and acknowledge that my life as an ever-evolving SAHM is layered and does not necessarily fit into that perfectly orchestrated minimalist closet.

Stay at home mom life is special. It’s unique, and sometimes us moms forget that we are not meant to fit the mold. We get to create our own molds.

Related: Fighting Stay at Home Mom Shame

So over the next couple of months, I’ll be figuring out ways to embrace my varied and slightly too full closet, while still reducing overwhelming clutter. I’ll share this next step along with my favorite everyday stay at home mom styles in my process mid-June 2025!

While I wanted a 33-item 3-month minimalist stay at home mom wardrobe to somehow change or level up my life, I should know at this point that true change happens from deep within, usually in a convoluted way, and slowly over time.

Plus, moms do not need to have a perfect capsule wardrobe to thrive. Keeping the big picture in mind and letting other things slide is always going to be more important than chasing after perfection.

So even though I failed the Project 333 challenge, I learned to appreciate and embrace flexibility in my life as a stay at home mom in a deeper way. I understand now that I need to be more patient with myself and more open to imperfection.

So let’s allow a stay at home mom wardrobe to reflect the beauty of our multifaceted lives as moms, individuals, and ever-evolving humans.