So I was inspired by the many posts on closet organization, especially Queen Mum's post from a few weeks ago, to do some reorganizing in my closet, too. Bought the slimline hangers (still buying more, since I like how they prevent shirts and tanks from slipping off and falling to the floor). The closet looks much more manageable now, and I hope to be able to maintain one item per hanger organization.

In the process I also weeded out some not-so-great items. Some pieces I probably need to photograph and decide whether they should stay or go - it is amazing how some items that look OK in the mirror look just awful in photos. I even found some old threads on "photos vs. mirrors" to figure out whether using pictures to make the final decisions in the best way to judge. After removing things that were definitely worn-out or unflattering, I made an Excel spreadsheet to count what I have for the fall/winter season. I was surprised by how few current/good items I actually have (not counting numerous "so-so" things). It's actually a good thing since one of my goals is to maintain a "small, functional wardrobe" but I was still caught by surprise.

For the fall/winter wear I counted 10 bottoms (pants and jeans), 4 skirts, 4 sleeveless layering tops and 11 long-sleeved tops (mostly shirts), 8 items in the cardigan/vest category, and one blazer. I am not counting t-shirts, even dressier ones, since I am finding that most of them don't really flatter me (seem to show off every bit of tummy bulge, even when worn under cardis), so I think I will try to replace most t-shirts with woven tops.

This was a very useful exercise. It looks like I have enough "good stuff" to take me through the season, if needed, but it also looks like I have "permission" to buy occasional nice pieces to add to this (such as some more blazers, perhaps). The reason I was surprised is because I have bought quite a few items in the past 3-4 months and thought that it might be time to do a SYC to avoid closet overflowing. But it looks like I have mostly replaced some not so great things with better quality ones, while keeping the size of my wardrobe the same.

Anyway, just thought I would share. Has anyone else found that their wardrobe has actually "shrunk" when they started applying YLF criteria to their outfits and taking pictures?