I know that all of us struggle sometimes with wondering whether we should keep item X or return it. I thought I would go through my wardrobe spreadsheet and look at the items from this past year to see which of the "uncertain" items fared well and which of them were purged, and why. The items ran the gamut from tanks and tops to pants and shoes.

I looked at 15 "unsure" purchases. What I found was that out of the 15, I wore and got good use out of only 5 of them; the rest were purged because I was not wearing them.

I purged items for three reasons: bad fit (9 items), not my style (5), and uncomfortable (1; a pair of shoes).

As for the 5 items that I kept and got good use out of, either the item was practical, doing a particular job that not many other items could do (4 items), or the item was very distinctive and unusual in its design (1 item; this was an Anthro skirt). I still had reservations about these items, however. The reservations I had were improper style (4 items) and not-quite-right fit (though very close; 1 item).

Interpreting the results, I see that fit must be pretty close to perfect for me to keep the item and wear it, since bad fit was by far the most frequent reason I wasn't wearing the items in question. Most of those items were misses' tops and not petites', or if they were petites', they were still too big. So no more trying to make misses' tops work or trying to make do with the smallest size even when it's too big.

I was surprised to see how much the wrong style factored into my not wearing an item, even if the fit was good.

Of the items that I kept despite their flaws, I see that I generally have to have a real practical need for the item in order to get a lot of wear out of it. Maybe the item pairs well with other items that would otherwise be orphans, or maybe the item works particularly well for some use or climate. For example, out of what items worked well for me, two tops pair with bottoms that would otherwise be close to orphans; one pair of jeans, although frumpy, are very comfortable and good for days when I don't feel like smashing into one of my other pairs of jeans and I don't feel like being dressy; and one pair of pants is very heavy material and great for winter. The final item I wore a lot, the Anthro skirt, is a very unusual, eye-catching design, so that outweighs the fact that the maxi skirt is a little fuller at the bottom than works well with my short frame.

Has anyone else thought of analyzing their "unsure" purchases from the past year? Did you discover anything that you thought would help you make better purchases going forward?