Closet purge weekend - YouLookFab Forum

I didn't have any plans this weekend so I spent some time in my closet. Since there is about 6 more weeks of winter, it seemed a good time to use some of the data I gathered recently. I keep track of what I wear and I took a look at what I wore- and didn't wear- from October through early February. If I haven't worn it by now, chances are it's time to let it go.

I also keep track of purchases. I made a point last year of making note- when something turned out to be less that an ideal purchase- of why it didn't work. I cut myself some slack with things bought earlier in the year, but I was disappointed to see that even later in the year I made a few mistakes.

But...moving on! It doesn't help to keep those mistakes in there. I would rather wear the things that I really like more frequently than to force myself to wear something I don't love.

So here are the number of things moving on to a new home:

5 Jeans
1 Pants
1 Skirt
3 Sweaters
5 Woven tops
1 cardigan
3 Jackets

1 bag (evening clutch)

3 Boots/booties
6 Shoes
2 Slippers

Oh and only a few of those were purchased in the last year! I didn't make THAT many mistakes!

11 years ago

MsMary

Veteran

Good for you, Susie! I did this last weekend while sort-of watching the Super Bowl. Today I dropped off five big bags at Goodwill! My closet seems so much more manageable without all those mistakes and moved-on-from items in there!

Suz

(website)

Good job, Susie!!

I get rid of things that aren't working really quickly. I usually know quite early on whether they will work or not.

As a result, I wear absolutely everything in my closet quite a lot -- except for special occasion stuff. But this year, some of my biggest "mistakes" were items I thought would be my biggest workhorses!! That would be my two pair of La Canadienne boots and most of my booties, which got worn from October through mid-November and haven't been usable since!

Helena

Awesome! They will be a great blessing to someone who needs them

Caro in Oz

Well done. I think this is the only way to deal with mistakes - give them to someone who will make them into workhorses I also find it helpful to jot down why they were mistakes - colour or fit or fabric or whatever; that way I can at least learn from them.

carter

Excellent job! I finally started tracking on Jan 1, so I'm looking forward to the results helping me make some decisions easier. I'm really trying to focus on wearing my favorite things right now, and I'm really liking it. So many items that I like get rejected every morning in favor of something I love. I purged a ton last Fall, but they were all items that didn't work for me or that I just didn't like anymore. Unfortunately, I still have all the things I like but don't wear very often. Hoping to have indisputable proof from tracking that it's time for them to go!

Susie

Carter, I was playing around with some numbers a while ago, trying to determine how many pieces I need to get the variety I want (repeating maybe once every 3 weeks). And I think I probably have at least twice that number. So there is still room to cull. I don't want to wear a favorite piece every week or two but I do want to wear it more than twice a season.

deb

Yeah! Good job!

lyn*

You're much braver than I, Susie - I think it would take a lot more coaching for me to prune my collection this much!

Susie, I've been trying to figure out general target numbers as well. I also think I have twice as much as I need to be happily dressed each day with plenty of variety. I still don't know what the ideal number is, but I am hoping that culling based on my tracking will help me get there. The cyclical nature of my job is also complicating matters for me. Mid Feb thru mid June, I'm primarily in work clothes 5-7 days/week and casual clothes 0-2. Mid June-early August is the reverse (5-7 days of casual and 0-2 days of work clothes). August-Thanksgiving is typically 4-6 days of work wear and 2-3 of casual. Thanksgiving thru mid Feb is the reverse of that...4-6 days of casual and 2-3 days of work wear. To make matters worse, many, many days I'm in both casual and work wear. Yeesh! 2014 is the year I figure this out...I hope.

Lisa

Sounds like a great closet clean out. I find almost end of season a great time for purging, because by now you do have a good idea of what you are and are not wearing. I recently purged quite a number of items from my "holding zone/boutique" because it felt like the 'right time' to do so. And now you have extra room for your keeper items to breathe a little easier because of the extra space! That's my favorite part of clearing out items, the leftover room!

Lisa, you have done a very thorough job in determining your needs. I've been very interested in reading about your closet experiment.

Carter, your needs are certainly more variable than mine. I work in an office, Mon-Fri, year round.

When I played around with some numbers, I based it on 2 6-month seasons to keep it simple. I was trying to take a fairly minimal approach but still have variety. I estimated that I would repeat pieces once every 3-4 weeks and wear each a total of approx 6 times during the 6 months. I came up with these numbers as my needs:

Pants 12-14
Jeans 4-6
Skirts 2-3
Dresses 2-4
Tops (worn solo) 12-18
Toppers 6-8
Layering tops 6-8

When I reviewed what I actually wore Oct - Jan, my numbers looked like this:
Pants 21
Jeans 6
Skirts 2
Dresses 3
Tops 32
Toppers 11
Layering tops 11

So my estimate of the number for jeans, skirts and dresses was spot on. But a lot of other pieces (tops/pants) had only 1-3 wearings, not the 6 I estimated for each. So now I have to determine if that is just because I have more than I need, or do I actually want/need more variety?

Thistle

Great job! It can be so hard to purge items, especially if you feel like you didn't wear them enough. Still, it is liberating to let go of items you aren't going to wear.

Better yet, it is ideal to learn form the process! I am still trying to figure out how to do this.

fuzzylogic

Well done, Susie! You are so organised! (Applause, applause) I find editing my wardrobe a big job. The mere thought of it is enough to send me into massive conniptions and extreme palpitations! Excuse me while I finish hyperventilating....

I have only just become comfortable allowing myself to experiment a little and to make occasional 'mistakes'. It's just fashion- it's fun!

MRL

Great job, Susie. I need to do this before I start buying for spring.

nancylee

Nice work, fellow closet purger!

You are much more on top of your inventory than I am, and knowing what is actually there in terms of numbers can be very helpful. If you have a whole lot of one item you know very well not to add more.

I'm very inspired by how carefully you've tracked your purchases and successes and mistakes. I think I'll give that a try.

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