Is your closet giving you a major headache. This worksheet will walk you through the steps for setting up your capsule wardrobe. Including... Steps to take before you startThe rule of 3Link to a Free Capsule Wardrobe webinar Quick grab my Capsule Wardrobe PDF? Signup below and start simplifying your life today! Send me the PDF! Loading... Thank you! You have successfully joined our subscriber list. Head back to the site Traveling Wallet
I first started my capsule wardrobe experiment back in July 2015. I had no idea it would last this long. Today I wrap up 2 years of living with capsule wardrobes. All just 3 months at a time. When I started I didn't commit myself to doing it forever, but it has been such a good experience that I have kept going. Spring 2017 was the final chapter of year 2. My 8th capsule. Here is what I picked out and wore. (more…)
The mini retirement is just around the corner, so for year 2 of capsule wardrobes, my goal is to get all my clothes to fit into 1 bin and 1 backpack. Fitting our entire life into 2 cars means No space for superfluous rarely used items. Here were my pick for my 7th capsule wardrobe Winter 2016. You can compare it to last Winter's Capsule 3 wardrobe picks and looks. My last winter capsule I had 40 items. This year only 36, I'm slowly learning to do more with less. (more…)
The mini retirement is just around the corner, so for year 2 of capsule wardrobes, my goal is to get all my clothes to fit into 1 bin and 1 backpack. Fitting our entire life into 2 cars means No space for superfluous rarely used items. Here are my pick for my 6th capsule wardrobe Fall 2016.You can compare it to last Fall's Capsule 2 wardrobe picks and looks. (more…)
Welcome Its spring of 2017 and I am currently living in capsule number 8 and getting ready to close up year 2 of dressing with a capsule. I am 3 capsule wardrobes behind. Here is capsule number 5. I am planning to keep these updates short and simple. This isn't a fashion blog so I don't want to have 3 capsule posts in 3 weeks. I am rolling out 1 a month and in June we should be all up to date. My goal in year 2 ( capsule 5-8) was to get all my clothes to fit into 1 bin and 1 back pack. When I just started out, my goal for year one of my capsule was to test out the majority of my wardrobe. I had lots of clothes I…
The traveling wallet is our journey through many of life's facets. That's why I like to cover a few main topics here on the blog: travel, money, family and minimalism. This post is for those interested in minimalism. In this case creating a minimalist wardrobe and purging the items that just hung around. This year I completed a whole year of living with capsule wardrobes. If you don't know what they are, it's when you remove everything from your closet and pick only some of your clothes to live with for 3 months. In my case I choose to hover around 38 items. It included: tops, bottoms, and shoes. In the end I created 4 capsules to cover the whole year. After the experiment I can say its a great gate…
It's not a new story to open up your closet and find nothing to wear. I hate to admit it, but I was just like that. I was so frustrated once I even posted it on Facebook. I received a flood of comments, full of sympathy, so many of my female friends could relate. Had they been standing next to me I'm sure I would have seen their heads nodding up and down. Woe is us. Last year after connecting with the minimalist movement I learned about something else. Capsule wardrobes. When I first started my journey into capsule wardrobes all I knew was that it promised I wouldn't open up my closet and feel like I had nothing to wear. It was going to solve that problem. So I…
Its November and I am in the last month of my 2nd capsule wardrobe. But before we can talk about the 2nd go I want to share a recap. In September I completed my first capsule wardrobe challenge. This year I've really enjoyed taking on these monthly challenges. It's an organized way to try something new, and usually it's really fun too. So what's the benefit of a capsule wardrobe? How many items do you get? Is it going to benefit you financially? and most importantly what did you wear these past 3 months? 1st capsule outfits, Summer 2015 I'm so glad you asked. Well start with the easy one. Below you'll find a collage of my outfits. At work I wear a uniform (self imposed) which falls outside of my main…
Happy Labor Day everyone. I hope you all get to celebrate how you see fit. Make sure though you keep and eye on the dollar. I read a post that said most people spend more then what they are getting paid to have the day off. Say what?! So yeah have fun but make sure your asking yourself what the value proposition is? Don't just follow the crowd... if you think it has valued then go right ahead. Just taking the time to ask yourself the question and making sure your actions are in line with your values is where its at. Okay now for this past weeks update. Pain This past week I'd been anxiously awaiting the weekend so I could get to work on switching out my capsule.…
Weekly columns are a nice quick way to give you all some updates on whats happening here at the Traveling Wallet HQ. This is specially useful if I can't seem to get a full post out on specific idea topic. I have seen lots of bloggers take part in a weekly update sort of post so I am going to give it a shot myself. I actually have been wanting to do one since tax season where I was going to talk about the awesome refund and whine about an unexpected charge but that one never made out into the public. I want to end on the happy note so I will discuss our pains and then our gains. Also since I am currently in the midst of a 3…
Challenges really seem to put a smile on my face and I'm excited to try something new, taking a 3 month capsule wardrobe challenge but blending multiple ideas and inspirations. In case you don't know a capsule wardrobe is a limited number of items that you mix and match to make multiple outfits. How to Start the Process for a Capsule Wardrobe So clearly we are going to need to pick our items, but it isn't as simple as picking some items out of our closets. Most of us have items in multiple places and maybe even in storage(bins). Well at least I did. So I used some of my knowledge of 5S principles to get me started. The first step is... Take all the clothes out of everywhere you store…
Did you accomplishing anything last year? Did your 2020 Goals see any change? People lost jobs, became default teachers, had the opportunity to spend more time with kids. Canceled travel. Finally had time to dedicate to a hobby or new interest. Pretty much, results may vary, should be the slogan of 2020. Making Goals for next year is an act of courage. While we all lived through the rollercoaster of 2020 . We all had a different ride, didn't we? Results may vary. We traveled to California in the end of 2019 and into 2020 January, so happy for that. We got to see family right before everything fell apart. 2020 YEAR REVIEW My 2020 goals. I set them before I knew what would happen. We had just moved to…
What do you do when you get stuck on a project? How do you better connect with people? Hey Changemakers in this episode of Her EnterpRISE podcast we are masterminding Melissa's challenges. You have probably been there too. You are so close to the finish line then suddenly everything is challenging. Everything becomes a mountain to climb. In todays episode Melissa asks for help in overcoming these challenges. Listen in to learn along with her. Listen Powered by RedCircle Apple - Google podcasts - Spotify - YouTube or your favorite player. What is a Mastermind? A mastermind is a group of people who are all striving to get to where you are going, or are already there. Where challenges are revealed openly, experiences are shared and feedback is given honestly. For us that…
What is a Mastermind meeting anyway? How does a mastermind meeting help you? Today's episode of Her EnterpRISE podcast we chat with Raina Willick who shares with us exactly the changes that happened in her business after participating in a mastermind. Listen Powered by RedCircle Apple - Google podcasts - Spotify - YouTube or your favorite player. What is a Mastermind? A mastermind is a group of people who are all working to get to where you are going, or are already there. Where challenges are revealed openly, experiences are shared, and feedback is given honestly. For us that means we are women building business and living purposeful lives. With this lens we look to help each other conquer fears, brainstorm new possibilities and stay focused and accountable. “To reach the top of…
2020 has kind of been a crapshoot. Hopefully you've had some good mixed in with all the chaos of the last year. Making goals for next year perhaps feels a bit odd given the last year. We want to talk about it anyways. Even if its just looking at that first quarter of the year. In this episode of Her EnterpRISE podcast we are going to talk about the tools that helped us continue to move forward this last year. No matter how miniscule it felt. They helped us and we hope they help you too. Listen Powered by RedCircle Apple - Google podcasts - Spotify - YouTube or your favorite player. (more…)
Powered by RedCircle Listen here or at Apple, Google podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite player. In this episode of Her EnterpRISE podcast, Melissa, Kelly and Nicole talk about the extra mental load women often have to carry. Family activities that drain you, extra obligations, and second guessing. They answer the following questions: What decisions are you choosing to just not make? How are you cutting them out?What is the 5-3-1 rule?What it helps you decided?How does second guessing add to the struggle? Quick peek at whats in the episode: Melissa kids are 7 & 12 , Her 12 year old can cook oatmeal. So she delegated cooking breakfast on oatmeal day to her kids. Kelly has 2 different lists to feed greater goals: "One for when I'm brain dead, other is for creative…
Sites that have featured me or my writing Click to listen Podcast Interviews 128: Using Minimalism and Personal Finance tools to create your Unique Family journey| CasaDeConfidence (casadeconfidencepod.com) Where Is My Energy (and Money) Going? by Fine Isn't Good Enough (anchor.fm) HTL 073: Minimalism 101-The Capsule Wardrobe: The NO-fear way to downsize your closet, with Melissa Neacato - How To Life Taking a Mini Retirement Between Jobs | (jillianjohnsrud.com) Episode 130: Backpacking and Slow Travel in Ecuador and El Salvador (Part 2) » Learn Spanish Con Salsa Episode 129: Backpacking and Slow Travel in Ecuador and El Salvador (Part 1) » Learn Spanish Con Salsa Should I Invest in Cryptocurrency? 13 Personal Finance Experts Weigh In (marriagekidsandmoney.com) Do you even blog podcast: Lessons Learned From Joining Toastmasters International: Melissa Neacato…
Start seeing the Money possibilities Big Savings & Happiness, Can you have both? What we don't spend on, and how it maximizes our Saving Potential Net Worth Update : Our growth in 2016 Getting Laid..OFF Surprise! Why me? Dealing with bad surprises Read more about these way to apply minimalism 5S : Continuously Improving your living space Our California Road Trip and 4 must see views Surviving 1 year of colorful capsule wardrobes, and cutting my wardrobe by 47% A Wedding or A Marriage? Part 1 Capsule 8: Spring; 2 years of capsule wardrobes
Hey there, if you’re new I am going to be publishing a monthly series where I document our journey to this years One Goal. The goal: to take a Mini Retirement. Take 4 months off of work to travel internationally to Ecuador and El Salvador and permanently move to a new state, Michigan. The launch date of this adventure is October 1, 2017. This is our first time going through the process of planning a mini retirement. By the end of this series I hope to have a tried and true checklist to go by for all our future mini retirements. Wish us luck and follow along on the journey. As of today the count down clock say 11 weeks and 3 days. Only 3 months left!!! June to do list:…
Hey there, if you’re new I am going to be publishing a monthly series where I document our journey to this years One Goal. The goal: to take a Mini Retirement. Take 4 months off of work to travel internationally to Ecuador and El Salvador and permanently move to a new state, Michigan. The launch date of this adventure is October 1, 2017. This is our first time going through the process of planning a mini retirement. By the end of this series I hope to have a tried and true checklist to go by for all our future mini retirements. Wish us luck and follow along on the journey. As of today the count down clock say 14 weeks and 4 days. May to do list: There are some rolled over…
After that amazing feature on Rockstar Finance and all the eyes that viewed my post about Big Savings and Happiness. I thought I should shed some more light on the details. You can get a general idea by looking at our yearly spend but I'm getting really detailed here. Maybe your a Californian and your jaw dropped by last years numbers. Its California! it's super expensive! Or maybe you live in the Midwest and still are spending more then us. How do we do it? Well, we do a lot of things the common American does. Like watch movies, and more movies. But we have a few areas where we are very different. Here's the list of things we don't spend money on. This doesn't mean we never, ever, ever…
We've been living in our new apartment for 3 months now and moving can have many benefits. For us it was a great excuse to purge mercilessly any items we could so that we wouldn't have to move them. As I spoke about during the great moving purge. As I work towards minimalism, I am also trying to do it without waste. As I removed the excess I want to do so with this quote in mind. Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or do without. (more…)
While I don't think I had ever heard the term minimalism growing up the word hoarding I was familiar with. There were shows about it after all, and while our home never looked like that. There was enough clutter to make me feel anxious. (more…)
Hello! Happy March. Today marks the beginning of the month but most importantly the beginning of a new 30 day challenge. 30 day challenges are a big thing here in the blogosphere. They are easy content fodder. Throw down a challenge invite the readers and let the competition begin. I've seen some really good ones and some that don't quite make sense. Of course the best ones for me are the ones that rile me up enough to join the group. It doesn't really matter whether it's home, food or personal almost anything seems to be able to be boiled down to a good ol' 30 day challenge. (more…)
Kids can't live with them can't live without them. Seriously this week wasn't so bad but this weekend. Sheesh. I was an emotional wreck. Pain You know as the week progresses I like to make notes about what would be my gain and pain... So that I have some ideas to work with. My pain this week was going to be all financial. See I messed up and miss calculated my IRA numbers, which negates last weeks gain :( . I really thought I was going to be able to max it out... But I accidentally had one extra space, I was counting contributions for January as well... Hmm. So anyways that was going to be my pain for the week but then Sunday happen. We, (I?) Had a big…
Pain Lots of waste this week. We didn't really follow our food menu and we ended up with lots of spoiled food. I know this is something most American households struggle with and I guess we aren't the exception. It's really disappointing to me. I know some weeks we do really well and other are so bad. It's something I am trying to improve by buying less food. We are still learning but its still chafes me to throw food out. Some people say its better to be safe then sorry and I agree but the question shouldn't be well what's more costly a doctors appointment or a head of lettuce. It just shouldn't get to that point period. Gain This past week we hosted my mother in-law at our…
Well it was a really good idea to start this weekly column. I can see now why so many bloggers do it. It forces you to write and that in turn motivates you to write more. At least that is how it worked for me. This will be the 6th installment of my weekly updates. Pain Most of us can relate to making poor financial decisions because of external factors. Usually due to being caused some sort of discomfort. I think people like to call it emotional spending. I had just that experience this week. I was having a bad day this week. I was mad and stressing. Dammit , I'm going out to eat for my break. I'm going to go out cause I deserve to unwind, and relax. But…
So much good this week, but don't worry I still have a pain to complain about. Pain Minnie Roamer is not resting during her standard nap time. She does once in a while but is now predominantly taking her siesta during our drive to work and to see papa Roamer. So instead of resting at 1 pm at home. She is resting at 3 in the car. This is a real pain because that time was usually used to spend 1 on 1 time with Jr. Roamer while he's in summer vacation. But during his school time. I could use the time to rest, work on ZTL hw., a blog post, and even read. But that only works if I'm not behind the wheel of a car. She is only…
Rollercoaster weeks seems to be the thing right now. We accomplished a lot but we also faced some difficult challenges. Pain My goals for this blog are to discuss traveling, parenting, and finances all how they relate to me. I realize I haven't really been touching on parenting too much and that's because that is my biggest challenge. This week, actually probably more like over a month, parenting has proved quite challenging. We have good days and then we have terrible days. But this week was really exposing as some of my poor parenting decision came full circle to bite me in the butt. I keep thinking I should probably take a break from reading all these finance articles and instead focus on parenting ones. Or at the very least…
That was almost me the crazy crane lady. Pain Last Monday I shared with you the unexpected turn of events with my Craigslist ad. People wanted to put in orders. Well that wasn't exactly what I had planned but I decided that yes I would venture into this world of pre-order items. It was for a wedding and I decided I would not gouge them for using the "W" word. But the Short lead time could not be ignored. Not only that there were lots of special requests and no time. After hearing the order request I ran a few number and determined that yes I could do that, but it would be tight. I was being optimistic. However, after 17 messages back and forth and still no solid commitment…
