Is there a closet tracking site/program that ISN'T an app? - YouLookFab Forum

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Is there a closet tracking site/program that ISN'T an app?

rabbit

Veteran

All the tracking conversation has made me want to get a little more fancy than my Excel sheet, which does the job in tracking CPW but is hard to resort and recategorize without messing up calculations (my Excel skills are limited). I am a relic in that I don't have a smart phone, and don't have an "i" anything (nothing Apple or tablet), but use a PC laptop. So Stylebook, Stylistics and the like seem to be no gos.

I know someone was building an Access(?) database at one point but I can't find them now.

Any recs? Should I just throw myself on the mercy of someone who can set up the Excel worksheets more flexibly?

Dressing

28 replies

Latest reply was from

Anonymous

I have not come across one. All of the tracking tools I have come across are apps. I developed my own spreadsheet. Not elegant, but it works very well.

rabbit

Veteran

Sterling is it doing any calculations besides CPW? Do you have wardrobe items broken down and sorted into different categories (tops, bottoms, or F/W vs. SS ?) Maybe I just need to re-arrange my data...

Anonymous

Yes … to all of the above. I have a touch of OCD and I relax by playing with numbers. I arrange things by item type (work slack, work skirt, casual bottom). All the bottoms for work and casual are color coded a single color. I do the same exact thing for tops.

Then using Numbers I hide those rows that are not used during a particular season. Right now, I can only see my spring/summer wardrobe. Come fall/winter, I'll unhide all the rows and then hid the spring/summer items. It sounds like a lot of work, but I promise once you develop the master spreadsheet, everything else is just playing.

Oh, I also insert pictures whenever appropriate.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

I think it was Jenava who was playing around with a database. Maybe ping her.

Anonymous

If you think the hide/unhide feature is too cumbersome, you can create a new table based on your master table for seasons. That might appeal to some people more.

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

There was a website-based option out there - I'm thinking lyn was using it?

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

Nope, I use StyleBook, Laura which is definitely an iBased thing ... hmm; I find that keeping a notebook works the best for me

carter

Veteran

Pam did a database in Access. I've been using it but I'm a bit behind. She has left the forum because after spending all day on the computer for work, she was spending evenings and weekends on the forum. She is very happy to share the db though. PM me if you're interested, and I will give you her email address as she asked me to do last week with another member.

gardenchick

Veteran

There was a woman named Pam who posted about her database...I had replied to her about 2 weeks ago requesting a copy. Nw looks like she has deleted her account since it's listed as anonymous, I unfortunately didn't follow up. Whoops!

carter

Veteran

Gardenchick, we cross-posted. PM me if you would like Pam's email. She is happy to share the db.

rabbit

Veteran

Thanks carter, I will PM you about Pam's database, although might take a crack and updating the old Excel sheet as well using some of Sterling's strategies.

I use color-coding not for item type, but for CPW. So anything that is over 10$ CPW is 'code red', orange is over 5$, yellow is over 2$, white (my goal) is 2$ and under, and pale green is 1$ and under.

I can quickly scan my spreadsheet looking for the danger zone colors and preplan an outfit for the next day around what needs to be worn more.

My favorite thing to do is downgrade the color rating, and it really helps me avoid buying more of something if I still have similar items that are still orange and yellow.

I do something similar with legacy clothes from last year (before I started tracking prices), but just color coding by wears.

carter

Veteran

Kate also sent me her excel file last night. I didn't have time to get to it today as I had hoped, but you might PM her as well.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Rabbit, are you using the Wardrobe feature in Finds? We're working on that, so if you have more ideas on how to embellish the feature - please let us know.

Greg

Hi all, Angie pointed me to this thread. As she says, we have this sort of thing in mind for the Finds feature. Currently you can move items into a wardrobe folder, but we have in mind features like wear tracking, calculating CPW and so on. I will read this thread to get ideas, but if you have any specific requests, please let us know (here or using PM).

Also, if you would like to share a spreadsheet you use for this sort of tracking, that would be great. Please send it to in email: greg[at]youlookfab.com

rabbit

Veteran

Angie, very little of my wardrobe is bought retail, so the finds are more of a aspirational or 'look for something like this' thing for me.

Sometimes I can collect things I'm actually considering on Amazon or UO or TJ Maxx or Rack online, and if Ebay was included I could probably match my wardrobe more closely, but now there seems to be very little overlap of what can be collected and what I purchased this year.

ETA: if there was a way to add Pinterest pins it would be easier to accurately reflect my 'real' wardrobe since there are more previous season items pictured online there, but I understand that muddies the online commerce waters.

Greg

Thanks rabbit. There are no "online commerce waters" to muddy here. The reason we collect from retail stores is that it makes it possible for us to extract information like the brand and the color, to represent the different colors of the same item accurately, and to represent each item uniquely (so when you collect an item and someone else collects that same item it is reflected in the collection count).

So what I'm reading in your response is that you need to put items in your wardrobe folder that can't be collected from an online store. That's something we can think about, and is the kind of input I'm looking for.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Yes, Kate had a spreadsheet a couple of years back she sent to those of us interested, and Pam more recently. Closet Couture was a laptop based style site but not sure they do CPW and I found it quite tiresome from a user view point.

rabbit

Veteran

Greg, good to know. These are the things that in an ideal world I would like to track someplace (and am tracking most already).

Each item would allow you to enter data as to:
color
material (?)
where purchased
date purchased

price

type of item (top, pants, skirt)
season
capsule (work, casual, dressy event, etc. - I don't really use this, but others do?)
number of wears
CPW
happiness factor (1-10 scale?)
on probation toggle (for items to consider retiring)
notes

dreaming big:

items could be combined into outfits with data entered as to:
happiness factor of outfit
CPW (calculated from aggregate items)
season
capsule
number of wears of outfit
notes

overall number crunching: total cost of wardrobe, average wears and average CPW per type of item, average price per item type, average CPW of whole wardrobe.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Rabbit, don't forget PRICE

rabbit

Veteran

doh! edited

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Ooh! This is so exciting. Greg and I had a little backchannel conversation about this earlier this weekend in relation to the "moderator" blog idea that I had.

I would love all the features rabbit mentions -- and also the ability to add items that aren't currently available at retail. Or some approximation of those items.

(At the moment I've started to do some collections and I'm just taking near approximations to what I actually own -- this wouldn't allow me to accurately calculate CPW -- although to be honest that is not as big a concern of mine, personally.)

I'll give some more thought to features I'd like. I will say that I have downloaded apps like Stylebook and even Evernote and not used them. Nor have I been able to bring myself to make up a spreadsheet. I would love to be able to do this kind of counting and calculating through YLF so it would all be concentrated in one place! And I find the FINDS and collections features a really easy way to organize capsules, outfits, shopping lists, inspirations, etc. now.

Thanks Greg and Angie, and rabbit, also, for raising this!

abc

Veteran

I use Stylitics. It has an app but I uset he web interface most often.

rabbit

Veteran

abc can you avoid the social networking aspects of Stylitics? Can you turn off making your closet public?

abc

Veteran

Yep! Mine is not public.

Gigi

Veteran

Rabbit, great ideas for a spreadsheet! I made an Excel one, but I too have problems sometimes with the formulas having to be freshened if I add a column or row, etc. I have rudimentary knowledge of Excel.

Greg, it would also be great if you could tally the number of items in a given category: how many tops, how many skirts, etc. Or even how many fall skirts (if you create a season designation), how many winter skirts, etc.

I too have some items that are not available at retail—older items that I am still enjoying, for instance. So a way to add such an item to the finds wardrobe would be great.

RB

I'd also love to be able to add items that are not available from an online store or as I live outside of North America being able to grab an online shot from a local online store.

So pleased that you are considering it.

Kate

Veteran

I use an excel spreadsheet and am happy to send it to anyone who is interested! Just PM me with your email address so that I can send it as an attachment.

If you aren't too familiar with Excel, Access won't be any simpler. The benefit of Access is that it makes it harder to accidentally mess something up, and can simplify the process of adding new rows to the spreadsheet by filling out a form instead of putting the data into the cells directly. The process of creating a database in Access is harder than doing the same in Excel. If this all sounds like gibberish, I wouldn't switch to using Access.

rabbit, I do almost the exact same thing with the color coding! My excel file includes just about all of the calculations you requested, so I think that seeing the formulas I used should make it easy for you to copy/paste them into your spreadsheet and modify as needed.

Anonymous

It never occurred to me to color code according to CPW. I copied your list of "wants" and am going to review your list later today to see if those are things I would like to add to my spreadsheet. I will probably attempt to incorporate most of them. Good list.