Tammyb, Since you’ve got everything organized in Excel, I think it would be great to create a “report” where you are sorting by total number of wears. Then for all of the “meh” clothing with a low frequency of wear, search for commonalities. They might be obvious commonalities of clothing properties such as size, fabric, color etc. Or it might be more subtle like finding that they were mostly bought in the evening when you’ve had a long tough day. Or trying too get free shipping with a larger online order. I have no idea. I’m guessing that the cause is not recorded in your spreadsheet per se, but that if you see them as a group you will gain some insight.
Also I’m a big believer in holding zones for clothing. I think it’s much easier to get questionable stuff out of your wardrobe if the decision doesn’t have to be finalized immediately. Just this weekend I went through a medium sized laundry hamper’s worth of stuff. I kept six items from the holding zone because I felt that they were occasionally important for their function, but not important enough to spend fresh money to replace. For example, I tend to prefer cotton or linen summer cardigans but decided to keep my only polyester spandex one because it fits better over some new tops than do some of my other cardigans. I’m often wearing some other category of clothing over these tops. For example I like to wear a vest or a denim jacket or a giant scarf or a windbreaker jacket over these tops. I like to have the synthetic option for ease of on and off and tying around my waist and non wrinkled appearance. However, since I have a variety of alternative options, I don’t feel the need to spend more on synthetic cardigans.
This particular cardigan was a going out of business super sale item before Coldwater Creek filed for bankruptcy. I knew that the pattern was a bit outside my comfort zone, but decided to try it for just a few dollars. My conclusion is that this type of pattern is busy enough that I only want to wear it with neutral clothing. The cardigan colors are black and white, so in theory it could go with nearly everything. In practice, I only like it with white or denim.
So I think (as others have already mentioned) that the correct way to think about sunk costs is in terms of wardrobe holes. Does this item do something unique which I find to be occasionally important?
Some people prefer a more minimalist closet without the less versatile options, and some people like more options. I think a lot of that has to do with how much you layer in the winter and how many different types activities you are doing. I tend to run cold and can easily end up wearing five layers on top in the winter, not including my coat. So I have fairly relaxed standards for items which get buried under three or four other layers.
