I recently started to pare down on the photos clogging up the memory on my computer. Going through the early shots here on the property got me thinking. As I made the tough decision on what to keep and what to tuck into an external hardrive I took a trip down memory lane. Seeing the progress here and the places we have visited and all the outfits my daughter has worn.
While I was pregnant, unlike a lot of moms planning for the baby room, I was planning for our eventual trip back to the jungle highlands of Peru. We left the country, to guarantee a natural birth (but that is another story indeed!) One thing that need careful thought was baby clothes and diapers. I needed to find the minimum needed to be able to fit it into our luggage. Not to have to do laundry every hour was pretty important too. We do the washing by hand at the river, so extra stuff means a lot of unnecessary work. Sitting in front of the computer researching “what a baby needs” was daunting for this first time mom! I sure wish at that point I was familiar with terms like “capsule wardrobe”!
One of the best parts of being back in Switzerland and Canada were the thrift shops! Here in Peru there are some but it is hit or miss. Not only that, but the majority of the shops, in our jungle town, are filled with synthetic low-quality junk (in my opinion). I loaded up on a selection for the first year; with some too good to pass up items up to age 3. Crazy right?
What I ended up with was suitcase stuffed with solid second hand pieces; with top quality new clothes to fill in the gaps. For diapering I choose a cloth diapering system that was amazing for us. It had snaps that allowed us to use them from newbie to 2 years. Being a fan of lists and drawing I came up with a visual list.
I still use this list and I expand upon it every year. This allows me to be selective during rare shopping trips. I also know exactly what to ask for from both sets of grand-parents. We try to be as minimal as possible in our tiny house. Being able to ask for cotton quality clothes is amazing. I am both grateful and lucky to have our family’s suport!
This is pretty much the minimum that works for us. My daughter has begun adding a few extra items that I would place in the dress-up category. Although in her mind dresses are for everyday. There have also been the odd extra piece that was irresistibly cute like the unicorn tutu outfit I got her for her birthday and ballet! Not included in the master list are the hair accessories. Bathing suit and rubber boots are 2 that are a given for our muddy riverside location!
Our climate and lifestyle is such that we don’t change with the seasons. We have two occasions: country wear and town clothes. I keep, in a separate bin, a set of 4-5 days of clothes for travelling. The more rugged and eventually the stained clothes are for our muddy jungle trekking! This gets us through a week to 10 days without having to do laundry. I am a total stickler for natural materials and quality. I think that if I had access to better thrift shops I would scoop up more than we really need. With my system I never felt there was too much or too little. Although I do long for the rows upon rows in Village des Valeurs/Value Village *sigh*💜
Esencia Adaptivore 