Maximal January (long) - YouLookFab Forum

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Dressing

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Maximal January (long)

MuseumGal

Veteran

This unusually cold weather means I've been wearing lots of layers and just a lot of clothes in general for January. The grand total is 45 items of clothing, plus 10 items of outwear and 12 pair of shoes/boots, plus 15 scarves, 37 pieces of jewelry, and 4 bags for a grand total of 123 items just for January.

The specifics if anyone is crazy enough to read:

3 dresses
1 skirt
9 pants/trousers/jeans
3 layering camis
1 SS top
13 LS tops/blouses
8 sweaters/pullovers/jumpers
7 cardigans
12 shoes/boots (cowboy boots worn
11 times)
1 blazer
2 coats
2 leather jackets
5 short jackets
11 large scarves (around the
neck)
4 small scarves (hair)
17 necklaces
20 pair of earrings
2 briefcases
1 purse
1 wristlet

I was surprised to see that I wore the burgundy pants so much (6 times) and that I only wore the 4 wool pullovers a total of 12 times – it felt like I was wearing them every day. Also that I only wore a hair scarf 4 times in January.

Given my current state of nonpaycheckgettingness, all I bought in January are 3 new bras (much needed) and a silk paisley hair scarf bought at Goodwill for 99c. I did buy a few tops at Kohl’s on the 31st, but I’m going to count them in my Feb totals b/c I haven’t yet decided if I’m keeping them.

It's really becoming clear to me how important variety is to me - especially jewelry and scarves. Since I do like so much variety, I’m not sure that it’s a good idea for me to sink large sums into “investment” pieces. OTOH, now that
I’ve got a good foundational wardrobe, perhaps everything that comes in should be an excellent quality upgrade? Lots to ponder for sure.

Anyone else track what they wear?

Dressing

18 replies

Latest reply was from Alassë

Jewell

Veteran

I track what I wear, but never with this much detail. Interesting breakdown. I can see how this would be helpful for thinking about how many items you need in rotation in a given month. Am I wrong to assume that you did not repeat any outfits? I get a lot of my variety from accessories, too- namely scarves and handbags. Thankfully, scarves are an inexpensive way to get the variety I crave. Handbags are another story. If you've identified some workhorse items, I think those would be prime candidates for quality upgrades.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Interesting! There have been a lot of tracking posts but I don't recall any that counted items used in a month. If you love accessories and changing things up a solid basis of high quality reliable pieces to decorate with less expensive scarves, etc. might make sense.

Gigi

Veteran

Neat analysis! I decided to do this for 2014...unfortunately, I don't have my spreadsheet up and running yet. Everything is on hard copy for now, and I'm too tired to count by hand! I'm curious to see if I have any findings like yours--that the frequency with which you think you wear a particular item doesn't always match reality.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Very interesting. When I did Mo's No Repeat November challenge I tracked the items worn, but I didn't include stuff like jewellery. Then again, I basically don't wear any, so in a way that's moot!

I didn't repeat entire outfits, but I repeated items many, many times. My wardrobe is still relatively small. I did feel a bit bored, but I'm not entirely sure that I was bored by having too few items. I'm still working out what I mean by that, but I almost think I was bored by too much. That I'd have been happier with fewer choices and without the demand not to repeat. It's certainly an interesting and enlightening process to take the photos and track, at any rate. You never know what you'll learn.

Anonymous

I've not exactly tracked what I wore in January, but I can tell that we differ greatly in some types of items. You have only 9 jeans/pants/ trousers. Off the top of my head can count 15 and I'm sure there are many I forgot. I also wore more skirts...so more bottoms in general. On the other hand I didn't wear nearly as many sweaters, cardigans, LS tops or short jackets because I don't have near that many in my current closet. I did wear many more layering cami tops. For February my numbers will be abnormally large because I will switch out the midwinter clothes for early spring in the middle of the month. I will try for 45 items in the closet.

carter

Veteran

I tracked tops and bottoms for the first time in January. I wore 21 tops and 10 bottoms. It made me wonder if I could do a Project 33, at least for a month. In the end, maybe not since work is usually slow in Jan so I needed more casual outfits than usual. Plus we had temps from high 60s to 5 degrees. No way would I have had the variety I needed if I had pre-planned. Still...wondering what valuable info may lurk in my tracking. Planning to keep tracking until it reveals something I can use. I'm guessing that at the very least, there will be items that don't get as much wear as I thnk they do...maybe areas to stop buying or start purging? Looking forward to seeing what you learn this month!

Dee

Veteran

I've never tracked what I wear, but I'm considering doing so after seeing the great results all over the forum. I'm still trying to hit the right stride between enough variety and overwhelmed by choices. I especially love that you included all the accessories. Since variety is so important to you, maybe you could make scarves or jewelry your goal in terms of investment pieces rather than clothes?

MuseumGal

Veteran

Thanks for your thoughts all.

Jewell, another jewelry scarf person, yay! Although I wore some very similar outfits, I did not repeat an entire outfit. I’m upgrading my scarves – only silk ones are allowed to come into the house now, but I’ve got so much jewelry, not sure what to do about it all…

Shevia, this summer I’m going to try and upgrade my basics to largely linen and silk (although I intend to make them) and see how that goes …

Gigi, I hope you do it and share the results!

Suz, I’m definitely learning a lot about my habits … for the most part, I thought that I repeated more than I did.

You know what Joy, I think having more bottoms would really give me a lot more options. I’ve worn the heck out of the olive and maroon trousers that I bought in November!

Carter, I know what you mean about pre-planning – in addition to the ridiculous cold, we had some ridiculous warm days too – short sleeve kind of days. How could I have planned that in a January 333?!

Dee, do try it - you’ll be surprised what you learn! I’m definitely upgrading the scarves, not sure about the jewelry yet.

Lisa

Veteran

I'm a wardrobe tracker. I've been hovering at 53 items the past 2 months. This does not include bags (I've been using the same one everyday for a while now), or jewelry.

AnnieMouse

Veteran

I do this too! EEEE! I love knowing I'm not alone.

My numbers were (I do not track scarves, tights, socks, or jewelry):
22 different bottoms
** repeaters
- my beloved 505s, 5x
- destroyed BF jeans, 2x
- black baby boots, 2x
- coral layered skirt, 2x
leopard print skinnies, 2x

43 tops (including jackets, vests, cardis, but NOT coats)
** repeaters
- grey open-knit sweater, 3x
- coral t-neck, 2x
- hot pink leopard welted sweater, 2x
- pink leopard print thermal tee, 2x

20 pairs of shoes
** repeaters
- mocc-style fur-lined boot,6x
- Merrill Captiva insulated boots, 2x

Not as impressive as MuseumGal, but thank you for prompting me to crunch the numbers - I felt like I was constantly repeating, but this shows me I'm still mixing it up more than I realised!

Alexandra

(website)

Veteran

Very interesting! You do have a lot of variety and I like that you tracked things like jewelry and scarves. I took pictures and tracked my outfits for the first month of Project 333 but once I realized I was repeating complete outfits, I didn't feel any need to keep taking pictures. Small wardrobe works for me but it's definitely not for those who like more variety.

E

Veteran

Look at all those accessories! Very cool.

I'm the opposite: I'm happy to wear the same accessories over and over (I love brooches and wear them often, but before Christmas-which saw me get a few as gifts-I had 5 that I wore regularly in my collection and no desire to buy more and I prefer neutral shoes because they go with everything), but enjoy a lot of clothing variety. I don't track specifics though!

MuseumGal

Veteran

Yay Lisa and AnnieMouse! More trackers! Lisa, I think 53 actually sounds pretty reasonable for 2 months. And AnnieMouse, 22 bottoms! Wow! Clearly I need more of those!

Alexandra, in my head I have a minimal but lovely and beautifully fitting handmade wardrobe just like your yours. Unfortunately, that's not what's in my closet(s).

E, in another 20 years I bet you will have nearly as many brooches as I have earrings. I've been collecting them since I was 13, after all, which makes um, 33 years(!!!).

Susie

Veteran

Oh I love stuff like this!

I have been tracking what I wear, by work days/weeks, for almost a year now. But I've never done a monthly total so thank you for prompting me to do so!

I track just the main pieces of an outfit- basically just top, bottom and shoes. For the last couple weeks of January, I also included handbags; not sure why I didn't before, maybe because they get repeated more frequently. And, again, I just include M-F (22 work days) so some pieces I wore on weekends weren't included in the count and some pieces got worn more often than I tracked.

So here are my numbers:

15 bottoms- 1 skirt, 5 jeans, 9 pants
10 Single tops- 7 sweaters, 1 knit top, 2 tunic blouses
6 Layer tops- 5 tees, 1 silk tank
4 toppers- 1 poncho sweater, 1 zip jacket, 1 blazer, 1 knit jacket
13 Shoes/boots- 9 boots, 3 shooties, 1 shoe
7 bags- 4 satchel, 1 tote, 2 clutches

That's a total of 55 items. I'm not sure where that falls on the minimal/maximal scale but it does seem like a lot of variety. Many had a single wearing with a few worn twice and only 3 worn 3 times (not counting bags since I didn't track for the full month.)

For accessories, I probably wore 3 or 4 belts, 1 scarf, 2 or 3 pairs of earrings, a variety of rings and 1 or 2 watches, so approx an additional 15 things.

It doesn't look like I am a candidate for a strict Project 33!

AnnieMouse

Veteran

*giggles at Susie*

Maximals, unite!

What's interesting is that my OUTFITS themselves are generally pretty minimal - I'm not super into visible layers. But like others here, our January weather was a bit... erratic: 70 on day, 25 the next, and then 50 for a few days (this seems like and exaggeration, I know, but it's not), and I did a bit of traveling in the month to Asheville and Portland, OR, which changed things up a bit.

E

Veteran

Touche MG! In fact, after I typed that, it occurred to me it might be fun to buy myself a little vintage brooch to celebrate my birthday each year. And then I started musing about what other brooches I'd love to have...and that led to etsy searching... Pride cometh before a fall? What? (No purchasing done yet! But several saved in my 'shopping' folder.)

cheryl

Veteran

Oh, these are my favorite type of posts. I have a spreadsheet and track my usage although I occasionally miss a day or two. I used to do a breakdown like this but haven't in a very long time. Maybe I will try this month or next. I'm not sure if I got all my items logged so far for February. I don't track jewelry or bags but I would like to lol. Thanks for sharing, so fun to read.

Alassë

Veteran

Yes, I do. It's fun.