I'm new, I've only been lurking then posting beginning this year - so probably not who this thread is aimed at in hindsight. I just did my spreadsheet for the first time.
I was in a situation where I had very few clothes that weren't either 'special occasion' or 'good for rolling in mud' (the later is my work wear due to the nature of my job). I also didn't have many of the above clothes either, having recently done a pretty complete purge of worn out/very dated looking items. I also hadn't bought more than a handful of things a year in the previous 7 years, most of those gear.
So I started January through April with a binge. I created my style descriptors, limited my palette, shopped frugally/always on clearance, but bought A LOT of clothes (around 100 items including tights, shoes, coats and belts). I also knew that I had a limited window of time this winter/spring to focus on wardrobe, due to my work responsibilities heating up later in the year, so I didn't 'save' much budget for later in the year. We'll see if that's a mistake in hindsight, so far so good.
I also wanted to stick as closely as possible to my yearly budgets for clothing for the previous years (even though they were years when I really was buying very little - I didn't do monthly budgets because in these years I normal just did 2x a year clothes shops). I also wanted to reincorporate as many orphaned but loved clothes I already had as possible. Luckily this so far is on track. (As a buffer, I was able to cut my grocery budget dramatically by couponing, so I do have some flexibility to increase the clothing budget if I need to in upcoming months).
So far what I've learned is -- many of the trends I tried I ended up returning, or colors that strayed outside my main neutrals or two accent color families (teal/turquoise and purple/pink). I also returned clothes that filled a wardrobe hole but didn't excite me.
I bought way too many shirts. They will all get worn, they are all comfortable/work well in capsules/inexpensive. But seriously, no more shirts/sweaters needed. Of my yet unworn new clothes (about 30% of the total purchases) most of these are tops.
Tracking my CPW was reassuring. The most expensive items I bought have been workhorses and are down to CPW of 3$ and below. However, again -- too many 15$ shirts/sweaters haven't yet been worn, so I'll see how that ends up in a few more months. Some of them are definitely more summer weight.
My goal is a CPW of under 2$ per item at the end of the year.
My other goal is to wear or purge the remainder of my few 'legacy' clothes by the end of the year (only exception being a wedding dress, and one fancy cocktail dress - they can hang around indefinitely since they have already earned their cost.)
I also learned that I really don't dress intentionally every day, especially when working at home, so items like a purse I carry 'all the time' in reality is 15 or so wears per month, rather than 30.
I also learned I like to dress in silhouette cycles. So for a few days I might be wearing a similar skirt/legging grouping, and a few days later, it might be a skinny jeans trio of looks. It usually corresponds to weather, but also simplifies the washing and choosing outfits process. It also means my 'wears' for items are often grouped rather than spread out.
I have five recently bought items that are more expensive than my usual (so around 25$ per item for these) they fill the role of lighter weight toppers and all season shoes and I need to decide by looking at my current patterns of wear whether they are worth keeping or returning. If I keep them, they take the place of something I could buy in the future, as they use up the budget.
Sorry this was long. It was very helpful to me to think through, thanks for starting the thread!
