The count, counted - YouLookFab Forum

There's nothing more soothing (for me) than sorting through my wardrobe on a sunny Sunday, so I took a few minutes to check my goal numbers against what I actually have in my wardrobe. I'm not far off in most respects, which is not surprising since I picked them to be reasonable compared to what I own. I suspect that I'm missing a few things since I didn't go systematically through the dirty laundry, just used my memory.

I was over (by more than one) in the following categories:
3-season woven shirts - yeah, I've got a lot of these
graphic tees - surprised me, and I'm only counting the 'cute' ones, not the ones I only work out in
summer dresses - I'm supposed to have 6 and I have 9, whoops
outerwear - I just did a quick count of the coat closet, since they're all packed away, but man I've got too many coats! I need to figure out a seasonal distribution and figure out which ones overlap in function
I culled some ancient shorts and a few more pieces of 'low-hanging fruit' but man, I've got a lot of clothes.

Here's where I was noticeably low:
flats that aren't sandals or ballet flats - I have none! I really need to diversify my shoes
sneakers - I should refresh both my gear and cute sneaks - I always say that and then end up spending my money elsewhere

I also realized that I probably need to count layering tanks, since I've got several cotton ribbed ones that I do wear alone, or alone most of the day, on hot summer days.

Nonetheless I'm pretty happy in general with this - I think I can continue to use these numbers to help me shop and cull. I don't plan on forcing myself to get rid of something that's still good and that I'm wearing just to match a precise number, but I definitely won't be buying anything new unless it fits in the scheme.

9 years ago

Alana in Canada

(website)

Veteran

Hey Laura, would you wear shoes that are not ballet flats or sandals? You say you have nine dresses but you are only "supposed" to have six. Why are you only supposed to have six? Do you wear all nine dresses? Or do you only wear six of them--and so you can easily let go of three?

It may be just the way you worded the post, but it sounds as if you are letting numbers determine how much you need rather than anything else--and I am not sure what you have based the numbers on.

One of the reasons I love following the precepts of a minimal or capsule wardrobe is that the numbers are designed to give me a maximim number of looks for the minimum number of pieces--so that's why I would say I "need" three toppers. In reality, I probably only "need" one --the other two are there because I want variety. But then, I am someone who lived with one pair of shorts for summer and one pair of jeans for winter for years. (On laundry day, I wore my pjs until my pants were dry.)

Gigi

Sounds like you are doing well! And it looks like you will mostly be looking for shoes, yes?

When you say you don't have any flats other than ballet flats and sandals, are you thinking of adding booties or oxfords or loafers?

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

Alana, I was thinking of it ala Mo: if I wear each summer dress once a week, for a 12-week summer season I'm only wearing each dress twice. If I wear one twice a week, that's still only repeating each dress every three weeks. That seems plenty, surely. In fact, when I think of it that way I should probably have even less, because I end up in separates most days for practical reasons.

Gigi, I've got a couple of pairs of ankle boots which I counted as boots, not shoes, but yes, I'd love to find a pair of oxfords or loafers. Especially during the cooler months it'd be nice to have a warmer pair of shoes that aren't boots. I've been keeping my eye out for a good pair of oxfords for nearly two years now and nothing has worked for me yet.

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