I’ve been recording my wears for nearly six months

JAileen

Summarizing the info might be a big pain. For those of you who have kept track, what did you do? Maybe I’ll just get a “feel” for what I wore. Hahaha!

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5 months ago

Dressing

20 replies

Latest reply was from Angie

Sloper

Veteran

I used Excel to track wears. Easy to filter, sort, count wears.

5 months ago

JAileen

Veteran

Sloper, I used notes. Okay, I guess I need to do another six months

5 months ago

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Mine has always been on paper, for 9 years now. The reason was mainly that I am on computer all day at work and didn’t want to do that even more. YLF reading and writing is on my phone. The biggest job was listing everything in sensible groupings, initially one list for summer and one for autumn/winter/spring, as I had far too much summer stuff. Drawn to bright colours and pretty sparkles, what can I say?
Over time with hard work I have balanced the numbers out so now I have one list for spring/summer and one for autumn/winter- and one for shoes of course! I just make tally marks and rewrite every month or two. It sounds a real faff but I find it fairly relaxing and it also means I have such a handle on what is in my wardrobe.
I think your way sounds fine for now? You can get a feel for what you are wearing or put more time in later.

5 months ago

Star (Lise)

Veteran

I seperate my items per type on a list, so skirts together, long sleeve tees together, heavy jackets medium jackets etc. Then I bracket the number of wears after each item. Not sure this is a clear explanation but I can always see at a glance the numbers.

5 months ago

AStyleofOne'sOwn

Active Member

I use the Indyx app (free version). It has a calendar feature that automatically tallies wears.

5 months ago

kkards

Veteran

Assuming when you said “notes’ you meant Apple notes, you maybe able to save your note into Apple numbers which you could then use to create/add formulas to track

5 months ago

JAileen

Veteran

Jenni, nine years! I thought this was an interesting exercise, with no plans of doing it forever, but who knows? I did this on my ipad. My phone is just so small. Your tracking must have been helpful in figuring out what you really wore.

Lise, your method and Jenni’s sound similar, but it sounds like you record your wears on your computer. Thank you for sharing your method.

AStyleofOne’sOwn, thank you for mentioning the app. I have never heard of it before and will definitely look into it.

kkards, yes, I used Apple Notes. I guess Apple Numbers is like Excel. I was thinking I might be able to import this into Excel and manipulate the info. Right now, if I want to look up something like a North Face Canyonlands hoodie, I have to do a search on it and it highlights the word in each document where it shows up. It brought up my lists of the National Parks! Okay, I just looked at all of the icons on my ipad and found Numbers. As an accountant, I used to be on Excel all day, everyday, so I could probably figure it out. Thank you for mentioning this.

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5 months ago

Jenni NZ

Veteran

I know Angie said tracking her wears would not be fun, and she didn’t want to do it. I do find an element of fun in it, or I wouldn’t have kept going so long. My wardrobe still brings me a huge amount of pleasure and I do get a lot of compliments, not only from work either, sometimes when just out and about.
I also think though that I like the control, and I have some OCD traits which making lists and keeping track play into.
Even my original inspiration for the tracking, Debbie Roes of Recovering Shopaholic, stopped tracking after 6 years!
I think it’s entirely personal as to whether people wish to do it or how long for.

5 months ago

JAileen

Veteran

Jenni, yes, I’ve enjoyed it, too, even if I don’t have a summary. I did count up North Face Canyonlands sweatshirts in May and June and got 15. I’m going to try to export my Notes documents to a spreadsheet where I can sort and summarize the info.

5 months ago

Lisa

Veteran

I use an excel spreadsheet. I find tracking CPW very helpful to see where my current style preferences lie and how good (or not good) a purchase has been.

5 months ago

JAileen

Veteran

Lisa, I should have asked people how best to record my wears, before I started. I’ve converted two weeks to Excel and it took a little while.

5 months ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I used Finds last time I tracked! I just put a little tic in the "notes" section of each Find every time I wore the item and then totalled them up after 4 or 5 months (or whatever counted as a season). I only did it for about 7 months last time I did it. It did provide some useful information or at least affirmed some things for me about what it makes sense to spend on and what i should try to spend less on or what I need less of.

I like doing it whenever I have a significant style shift. I don't need to do it in between times.

5 months ago

JAileen

Veteran

Suz, that’s a great idea! But…I never did finds. And the reason was I couldn’t do them on my ipad. I wonder if that has changed.

5 months ago

Runcarla

Veteran

Pencil and paper gal. Each month I write down what I wear for a top and what I wear for a bottom. If/when I repeat wear an item, I just make a hash mark. At the end of the month I tally the wears and add them to a 12 months chart that lists all tops and bottoms. This gives me a seasonal perspective as well as wear numbers.

I’m trying to understand what a normal number of wears might be for a garment before it breaks down, or becomes too shabby (for whatever reason) to wear. To learn what hold up well. To learn about cost-per-wear. To hold myself accountable and do some analysis, when I edit something out, that hasn’t been worn a lot.

I don’t count everything, but I do document when they were purchased (month/year.)

5 months ago

Lisa

Veteran

JAileen - I can sympathize with the time it takes to set up a tracking document. When I first started it took me months to fill out the excel file and upload my wardrobe into finds. It was definitely a downside to owning a larger wardrobe. Good luck with setting up your system!

5 months ago

Anonymous

I have written down everything daily all
That I wear for months on a piece of paper.

5 months ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

JAileen, I don't track wears. Happy it's a meaningful process for you and others, of course! Please carry on!

We can't do Finds on iPads and phones, I'm afraid.

What I do do:

I track what I buy, keep, and return in a spreadsheet. Have for almost two decades. Keeps the budget sane!

My wardrobe is meticulously documented in Finds and accurately kept up to date (excluding underwear, sleepwear and yoga wear). I can't imagine not having a visual digital representation of my wardrobe. It's invaluable to me. I encourage everyone to do that!

Have fun tracking your wears

5 months ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I have always found this kinda interesting but have never attempted it. Even though I am a compulsive liar-maker, somehow adding one more tracking thing to my life feels like one too many, LOL. Like Suz, though, sometimes I feel like I should do this when I’m feeling a shift. Right now would be good, except this year will include a lot of traveling, pushing me into limited capsule wear, so it would not truly be helpful in a big picture way.

5 months ago

JAileen

Veteran

Carla, interesting goal, to find out how long things last. I have had those Columbia hiking pants which seemingly lasted forever, until they didn’t. Most of my grey ones wore out. The fabric was weaker, and the thread broke down, the waist starting to separate from the body. I always say my cost per wear was approaching zero, but I don’t really know. Which is one reason why this is so interesting to me.

Lisa, I had my laptop on my lap last night, fixing up the first month of my records. It took quite awhile to do one month. I was watching a murder mystery on TV, and realized how heavy it is compared to my ipad. It seems like AI ought to be able to do this…

Joy, I’m impressed with those of you who keep track for ages and ages. Well done!

Angie, I get why someone wouldn’t want to do this. This editing after the fact isn’t that fun. Keeping track of your purchases is smart, though. One year I went through my purchases and calculated how much I had spent. It wasn’t as bad as I thought, actually. It makes sense your wardrobe is well documented, it’s your business! It’s like a company having their list of Fixed Assets (former accountant here).

Janet, I just did this out of curiosity. I’ve gotten even more casual in my day to day life (if that’s even possible). I still like to dress nicely for events (church, concerts, plays), but my day to day life is mostly gear. When I did a search on Canyonlands, I discovered I wore these North Face hoodies 15 times in May/June. I was glad to see how much I’d worn them since I have several, and they’re not cheap. I found them perfect for layering on our trips, and I like wearing them casually at home, too.

5 months ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

JAilleen, you make me smile! Thank you

5 months ago

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