You know you may have a problem when you have to organize your "holding zone".
Trying not to view it that way, though.
When I realized that wearing things that didn't fit as well as I liked, and also "meh" outfits, created its own cycle of discontent that was making things worse, not better, I became more aggressive in moving things out of the main closet so I would not end up in said items.
Along with that, as the seasons shifted, I would move items out that were "done" for the season, mostly things not warm enough for what is now our coldest few months.
So, my spare closet space has become a sort of archeological dig as I put things in available sections, and some items are almost in goups of seasonal capsules but also there are meh items and drat-you-are-too-tight pants and so on, and since some of the fit/meh items are not clearly discards, I did not put them in a separate section that way.
Also along with all of this I had contemplated the 4-season wardrobe plan and thought it might be okay to be moving a group of say, fall items--I'd just go there and say, hmm, what's here for fall.
But, what I figured out is that my brain organization for my clothing is very item-oriented, and so my synapses are arranged by, hmm, top! and then color/fabric/store-brand. Top !--" AT chambray shirt". Jacket --" RL gray silk blazer. " I understand an item may have been purchased as spring-ish or fall-ish, but that's not how I log them in mental inventory.
So when I might want to go search or SYC or re-try on something, I currently can't find things because of these sections and layers by season or "state of mind"! And then of course, "seasons" is relative so at the same time I've learned it's not going to be that helpful to have a "spring" section and fall and so on.
Plus, it prevents me from seeing at a glance what item types are over-or underrepresented.
So my current plan is to overhaul the holding zone by item type, and then taking a cue from my current wardrobe, I will attach a card to the item if there were fit/meh issues (that were not sufficient to qualify for tossing).
I think this will help me with both finding items, SYC when there is a brief weather shift (sudden warm spell, for example) and to compare/contrast, e.g., hello, do I need to keep these anymore if I have this many of this or that?
Plus, even though the items I rotated out include ones I still "love" at the time I moved them out, I'm not always sure that means that will still be true 3 months from now, so I think it's more useful to look at an entire group of tops or skirts or something, and also may be easier to see "versatility" emerge.
If any of you recall file folder days there was always advice about trying to name your files based on how you think, even if it's not a typical file system. Of course, item types is not at all an unusual system, it's just that I had been grouping more by "weight" --summer skirts vs winter, etc.
Over to you...do you think organizing the holding zone is just more churning, or might lead to the goal of winnowing and clarity?