Spreadsheeting new purchases - YouLookFab Forum

In Angie's latest post, a commentor named Thistle mentioned that she is spreadsheeting her wardobe. Last December I started keeping a spreadsheet of clothing purchases, to help me cut down on excesses.

It turns out I have two parallel worlds of acquisitions. I have very reasoned and deliberate new purchases, mostly for work, and whimsical thrifting. Reasoned new purchases are items like Clarks booties, gray trousers, and business shirts/blouses. Whimsical thrifting recorded on the spreadsheet includes a transparent silk dress, out-there prints, and truly crazy jackets [covered in rhinestones, 80s leather with huge sleeves].

I have columns for:

Date of purchase
Purchase location
Item cost
Item's undiscounted/new cost
Any shipping costs
"How's that working out for me?" which includes alteration notes

This is already proving worthwhile in helping me manage purchases and identify wardrobe issues. For example, with my short arms, I really need to stick with petites or 3/4 sleeves on my upper half, or budget more for alterations. And, surprisingly, truly crazy jackets fit well into my weekend wardrobe, enough to justify an under-$15 thrifting cost. I found the Vila jacket below in a thrift store and shortened the sleeves myself - it looks a lot better in person.

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10 years ago

deb

Veteran

I started tracking my purchases on a spreadsheet about 20 months ago. 2014 was my first full year and it was very revealing. I track my purchases by month, cost, and item type (multiple columns for item types) I also grand total the monthly amounts for the year. It is an eye opener. Not only to the amount spent by the number of items in each classification purchased.

Ann in New England

Active Member

I'm using the Stylebook app to track, and I'm learning a lot, even in the 5 weeks I've been using it.
For one thing, it made me feel so much better about buying snow boots this year. I actually bought them for my daughter but when she found a pair she liked better, I decided to keep them for myself instead of returning them. But it turns out that they have been my most-worn item in the month of February, and my cost per wear is around $2.
This exercise is also causing me to reach for my more expensive items more often in order to get the CPW into a reasonable range.
My hope is that it will also give me a clearer idea on where to spend money in the future and where to go with the less expensive option. I cringed at my first pair of <$100 jeans, but I realize that I wear them so much that they were a great value.

Greyscale

I have a spreadsheet clothing inventory and a text document of all purchases including cost. I'm better about updating the text doc (mostly because I need it to keep track of what I need to return!). I should look more closely at the money side of it. I just started trying to track times I've worn each thing but I doubt I'll keep it up.

Alassë

Great write-up!

Anonymous

I have a spreadsheet as well. I track cost per wear. This has proven to be exceptionally helpful in understanding what garments I can spend a lot on (e.g., purses) because I use them so much. It also shows what types of clothing are not worth spending a lot of money on because I will never achieve a decent cost per wear (e.g., party dresses). Now I never feel guilt when I buy an expensive purse because it always pays off.

Gigi

I like doing spreadsheets too. Some people find them onerous, but I think they're part of having fun with fashion.

I too had some interesting discoveries since I started tracking a year ago. I learned, like you, that I had to stick with petites' for tops, because the misses' ones almost always got purged for fit issues. I also discovered that expensive items, even if good purchases, require a LOT of wears to get down to an acceptable-for-me cost per wear. So that made me realize that expensive purchases might not be all they're cracked up to be for me, even if they seem to be perfect.

Caro in Oz

I use Stylebook too, it has really changed the way I shop. It was a pain to take photos of everything but well worth it imo. I like planning travel capsules & new season capsules with it too.

rachylou

That's a great jacket. Very interesting what the spreadsheeting revealed. Out of curiosity - do you ever make purchases in both categories the same day?

Carole

Wow, you must be quite the seamstress! That seem hard to do but how wonderful yo custom fit for your body. That jackets a beauty!

annabelle

I don't track purchases, but my new mission / challenge is to document the items I've purchased *and returned* and the particular aspects of each garment that didn't fit well. I have made too many repurchases from the same brand - in some cases the exact same item - because i couldn't recall what about it made it a Return. I am my own worst frustration

Meredith

Another spreadsheet user here. I just use it in a basic way to track my purchases for budget reasons and keep track of needs, but I find it to be so helpful.

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