A Page From My Own Workbook

I sat down with my own Capsule Wardrobe Workbook recently, the Capsule Wardrobe Shopping Rules section specifically, and it made me actually think, properly, about something I’d been doing on autopilot for years.

The question it asks is simple. If you’re standing in a store right now, holding something, what are you actually thinking? Not what you’d like to be thinking, what’s really going through your mind.

For me, it forced out three real questions. Does this piece speak for who I am right now, not who I was, not who I’m trying to be? Is the quality actually worth what I’m paying? Will it survive more than one season? And am I buying this because I genuinely want it or because everyone else seems to have it?

That last one is the one that got me. We’ve been sold the idea that having something will make us happier, more successful, and more adored for so long that it stops feeling like marketing and starts feeling like instinct. This section strips that back.

If you’re curious about why I built this workbook, I wrote more about it in this post.

My own rules ended up fairly simple once I wrote them down. I only buy new if something’s worn out, broken, or genuinely needed, never just because. My max spend per item sits around R300, depending on what else I’m buying that day. And I prioritise PnP Clothing, Jet, and Traders, the three stores that have actually earned my trust, not the ones shouting the loudest.

It’s a small section, but it’s done more to change how I shop than I expected.

If any of this resonates, the workbook is here — the Shopping Rules section is on page 18 if you want to go straight to it.

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