Hi,

I've almost completed week 20 (5 months) on the challenge. Current wardrobe totals are near the end. I tried to underline some subtopics in case you have a specific one in mind.

To read more about the challenge, including the rules, click here.

For a recap of week 18, click here.

Reflections for Week 20

Crunching numbers or How much of my total wardrobe am I using?

I was inspired by the number crunching that Debbie does so I ran some statistics on my wardrobe. Since I am in the middle of DH’s closet challenge, my fall/winter wardrobe is the only portion ‘set’ at the moment. If spring ever comes, I can start working on the size of my spring/summer wardrobe. I have 52 items for my fall/winter wardrobe. And I have 188 total items when I add everything in the boutique. (I am not including shoes, handbags, outerwear, or loungewear in these numbers, however, my gear is in the numbers.) That means I am only using 28% of my total wardrobe right now. And this number is even smaller when I consider that a portion of my fall/winter wardrobe is either gear/workout outfits or thermals. If I subtract those items (12 pieces), I’m at 21%. The usual number I see for how much women wear of their current wardrobe.

Now looking ahead, let’s say I add the same amount of pieces for the spring/summer wardrobe (52 again). This would mean I still will have 84 items sitting unworn in the ’boutique.’ And it means I will end the year with 45% of my clothing in the boutique. I’ll be wearing about 55% of my clothes, which isn’t a bad number, but it would be nicer if that number was a bit higher.

Why the 'boutique' is still in business

Of course one reason is because, I haven't yet done this challenge for a full year, and I still have two seasons worth of clothing to put into my working closet. However, there may be another very good reason why the boutique is still open. Looking at the estimates from above (52 items for fall/winter and 52 items for spring/summer) this would put my working closet at 104 items. With 84 potential unworn items after the working closet is built, I have almost enough items in the 'boutique' to replace my ENTIRE working closet, yikes! While this number should go down a little at the end of the year (as items wear out, I purge pieces, and if I do NOT add anymore new pieces) it's probably still fairly accurate.

It's no wonder why I have been struggling with purging. I've been asking myself to purge, almost an entire wardrobe! I am not yet ready for such a large shock to the system. But this also means, I really shouldn't need to purchase anything new for a long time, after all, I have almost an entire wardrobe to pick from when I shop the 'boutique.'

I’ve added 7 items for spring/summer since the last check in.

Completing week 20, I had 17 items for spring/summer

4 bottoms (added 1 bootcut jean)

0 hoodies (no change)

7 toppers (this includes: pullover sweaters, blazers and cardigans; added one striped cardigan]

0 knits (3/4 or LS, for layering; no change)

0 gear items (no change, not warm enough to add yet)

0 shirt (no change)

2 SS T’s/Tops (added 1 top)

1 tank (added one tank, for layering now and stand alone with shorts later)

3 scarves (added two scarves)

0 workout outfits (top and bottom; no change, not warm enough to add yet)

And here is the current spring/summer closet, I’ll try to post outfits soon.

Thanks for reading!