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How much of your wardrobe are you actually wearing?

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Claire's post got me to wondering if I do truly wear just 20% of my stuff 80% of the time. Being the dork that I am, I counted

Abut 40 outfits (maybe a few uniforms for work but most not)

shoes - 20
shirts -12
jackets/coats - 10
pants - 11
dresses - 6
sweaters - 6
skirts - 4

Many of the sandals, skirts, and dresses were worn on vacation in New Orleans, but still I am surprised at the variety I am wearing. I sometimes feel I wear the same BF jeans with a drapey tee, but the reality is not so. Hmm. Guess I can feel good that I've worn 20 of my 30 shoes in the last few months! I would have thought tops would have been the category with most variety.

I will/did purge a good half a dozen items after wearing them and finding they weren't right anymore.

Will be curious to see how much more gets worn (or not) as the temps finally break 70 next month.

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Dressing

22 replies

Latest reply was from shedev

Adelfa

Veteran

Fun! I am wearing a lot of my wardrobe as I've consciously been working on a loose 33 for every season since last Fall. (Loose because tees and a few other things don't count.) Even within the short list, there are items I wear relatively seldom, but I'm still working on how to construct a really good 33 for my work/church needs.

rae

(website)

Veteran

Good job, mo! I haven't kept up with tracking like you, but I do know that I am wearing most of my work capsule, neglecting blazers And jackets because our store is very stuffy. I also have not gotten into my heatwave capsule, but I am bringing most of it on my trip. Neglecting graphic tees from there. Whenever I wear x and find myself thinking I wish I had worn y, I am trying to purge more, too.

I dunno, does it make more sense to say that I wear 80% of my stuff regularly, but at different times? Work vs. summer casual vs. winter casual vs. heatwave?

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

Wow, good job Mo!

Lemme pull out the iPad - I probably wear about 80% of my things - but they do get spaced out quite a bit. Some things go out with me almost daily, like my nude pumps and my little pink clutch and jean jacket!

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Lyn, Rae, me too. I don't wear the same things in too close a time period usually, besides my BF jeans that is

Caro in Oz

Veteran

I make a conscious effort to wear all my things in rotation. Dressy/evening items don't get a lot of wear but I do need them. The only things I'm not using are bags - since I splurged on my everyday bag this year I don't really want to use any of the others.

Agnes

I did a huge purge of stuff I wasnt wearing. I seem incabale of wearing any type of fitted dress. I think I look ok in them but I find them uncomfortable. Not sure why.
Good job on the analysis and tracking Mo. very organised.
I have been taking note of combinations that made me feel really good when I wore them. Seems to be working and also jotting down specific things not to buy, becasue I know I wont wear them.

harmonica

Veteran

Great Mo! I love your analyzing posts I think about 70-80% of my wardrobe is in rotation. I'm still editing constantly and trying to wear all the pieces, though at different times (work, 4 seasons, dressy, casual, gear). I havn't tracked every item like you, but I have a CPW list that I update regularly. It turns out that I'm a better shopper now, than pre YLF And my investment pieces are good worn a lot, though some may have to be worn for 2-3 season to reach the CPW number I find acceptable.

Ingunn

(website)

Veteran

Gret job, Mo! Like many others, I think I wear at least 80% of my seasonal wardrobe on a regular basis. Maybe being in this forum stimulate us to use more of out wardrobes than most? I think so. My wardrobe is fairly small, which helps too.

Astrid

Veteran

I don't keep track of my outfits so I can't say for sure, but I definitely think I'm only wearing a part of it frequently. Probably more than 20% though, because my wardrobe is so small. I think I could do with less pieces, but the idea of purging some more is a bit panic inducing because I feel like I don't have much left anyway.

Molly L-R

I wear nearly all of my wardrobe in the corresponding season. There are a few cardigans hanging in my wardrobe that I don't wear any more, but I'm hanging on to them 'til I can replace them - "just in case!" Just in case what, I don't know. Anyone else do this?

kkards

Veteran

you are so organized, i feel so inadequate. i have no idea what % of my wardrobe i actually wear, but after this, i feel like i should make an attempt to find out.
can we revisit this question again after the summer is over?

Molly L-R

Here's what my current autumn/winter wardrobe looks like (yes, I know it's 29th May, but tell that to the British weather! Damn this persistent cold and damp!)

- 10 tops for work (wear all of these in a 2 week rotation)
- 3 cardigans for work (see above)
- 3 skirts for work (see above. Also wear one of these on the weekends)
- 1 weekend skirt (wear about once every 3 weeks)
- 4 weekend shirts/blouses (wear in about a 2-3 week rotation)
- 1 waistcoat (wear about once every 3 weeks)
- 3 pairs of cords (wear when it's particularly cold or when I fancy a change from skirts)
- 1 rollneck jumper (about every 3 weeks)
- 1 shortsleeved jumper (about once a month, but I don't like it that much)
- 2 winter dresses (about every couple of months. Again, I'm not wild about either of these)
- 4 pairs of mid heels for work (cycle through one after the other)
- 1 pair ankle boots
- 1 pair knee boots (very warm but not in very good condition)
- 1 cord blazer
- 1 jacket with faux fur collar
- 1 winter coat that desperately needs replacing.

So, 38 items and I wear them all. I'd like to add a couple more pieces for variety (perhaps two more pairs of boots and a couple more rollnecks) and to swap out the stuff I'm not wild about (the short sleeved jumper and the dresses).

Molly L-R

Oh, and I forgot a stripy purple, green, orange and burgundy skirt that's going in the donate pile as it makes me look like a crazy bag lady

shedev

Veteran

Wow, you guys are really organized. I think I'm up to around 50%. I used to wear the same few favorite things, so it's an improvement. Our temps went from sweater to tank top so most of my in between clothes haven't seen much action. Now that the season is over, I'm gonna take a look at my winter stuff to see what should go. No sense hanging on till next winter.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I need to go investigate this, but I think I wear almost everything that is in my closet. But definitely to a varying degree. The dressy stuff far less than the more casual stuff. Yet, as Caro said, I still need it. I have pretty much given up worrying about footwear because I've realized that I wear it all. I don't have a ton of shoes, mind you -- but I could safely add more and still get a lot of use from them.

Aziraphale

Veteran

I didn't read Claire's post, but I've heard of the 80/20 rule before, and apparently it applies to other things besides clothes (for instance apparently 80% of the time we listen to 20% of our music collections). I have no stats to back it up, but the statement does have the ring of truth.

As far as my own wardrobe goes...gee, I don't know. I feel like I wear more than 20% of my clothes on a regular basis -- at least the ones that are seasonally appropriate -- but now I'll have to check. One thing that is true is that I have doubles, triples and quadruples of certain items that get worn a lot. For example, I have three identical gray tee shirts. Do I count them as one tee shirt? I need a gray tee shirt often, but it's never the star player in an outfit.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I'm not nearly as organized as you all think! I just started counting the pieces in the outfits as I viewed them and tallied on the back of a junk mail catalog as I spied them lol.
I do like to actually quantify once in a while though, as a reality check. For instance I (and Lyn*) believed we needed more tops than anything else, when my reality showed I wore almost twice the number of different shoes than I did tops! If I hadn't actually counted I might continue with my false assumption and continue looking to buy more tops, that I'm not really wearing [lightbulb].
Suz, you are absolutely right that some things are special occasion but still necessary. I have a good dozen items that fit into this 'not everyday' category of mine. And I'm happy to have and keep them. It's the ones that just don't ever seem to come up to bat that I have to start questioning. My trench coat falls into this category. I'm debating purging and sending on to another YLFer.

Elizabeth, I'm sure I'd just count the multiples as one. I don't have any exact copies of clothing but if it functions as the same item I'd probably think of it that way. (I didn't count under layering camis or leggings )

T-Rex

Veteran

I have a feeling that the percentage of my wardrobe that I actually wear is embarrassingly low. I have too much stuff to get a good handle on what I actually have. Which bums me out.

However, I love to put things into spreadsheets. Now I'm feeling like I may have to start keeping track of what I wear everyday...so yay! I'm such a dork.

Diana

Veteran

Timely post, since I've been massively purging for the impending move. Nothing like having to pack up and move my clothes to realize that I really shouldn't keep those 5 year old too short tank tops! I tried to apply the "have I worn this in the last year?" rule (I know some people say 6 months, but this doesn't make sense to me here with four seasons), with some exceptions (like formal wear and things I have alteration plans for). Now I would say probably 70-80% of what is left (still a lot of items!) gets worn regularly in season at least.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Oh, yes, Diana, I know the pack up purge well! You're right, it can be a big motivator Ditch those poor short tanks.
Good luck with the move.

rachylou

Veteran

A good question. I have quite a few shoes that don't get much wear. Mostly in the sandals category. Haven't decided whether or not to purge. It's fun to have options on my free-dress day when I can wear sandals.

Then there are the dressier outfits I have which almost never get worn, but you have to have the funeral dress ready to go, etc. etc. Also things in the "mend pile" with which I am carefully avoiding eye contact...

But I do I feel I'm getting decent use out of most everything else. In the olden days, I have to tell you, I could go a whole year without repeating an outfit. It made clearing out the closet by that rule - "if you haven't worn it in the last year, toss it" - very difficult. Because I'd wear everything once but not more that once.

My satisfaction with my closet has really hit an all time high after being here on YLF for awhile now and adopting Angie's rule of really wearing the clothes you have. The Great Purge goes on...

shedev

Veteran

went thru tho the sweaters and I wore almost all of them at least a couple times. Purged a few I didn't. Added 2 to my wishlist.