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Tracking outfits and number of wears

Sisi

Veteran

I track my outfits only on working days. On weekends I do not - it would be a bit complicated, I can change my outfit three times during a day. But then, when I look at my reports (quarterly, yearly) I feel that they are not accurate. There are items that show a low number of wears, whereas I "feel" that I have worn them a lot more.

Suggestions?

General

16 replies

Latest reply was from Sisi

Anonymous

How are you tracking?

I use a spreadsheet. I track every single day and I change my outfit at least twice per day (work and then leisure). On weekends, I can change three times, I just track as I change. It literally takes seconds per day and the data is more accurate. For this to work for you, it has to be easy and take moments a day .... otherwise you might get frustrated and/or abandon it.

I do want to comment on "feeling like you have worn an item lots more than your numbers suggest." I too felt that I wore some some items nonstop but when Jenn challenged me to report how many were worn more than 30 times I found that few reached that mark. So I discovered that I can "feel" like I am wearing it every day but more likely I am wearing it every week.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Well my sheets are handwritten, not a spreadsheet. I made columns for item, date ( just the year), number of wears, cost, and cost-per-wear. I count any day clothes I wear around the house eg for a weekend morning, or for a trip out during the day, or for an evening out. I make a tally mark. It is surprisingly hard to get to 30 wears as I have a lot of clothes. Only the real workhorses are more than that, like my ponte/leatherette pants which are worn to work more than half the days, with different tops and boots. I have enjoyed doing it and it is creative to see how I can wear less worn items. It has also helped to stop my shopping addiction as I am having fun shopping my closet! Still on 11 items this calendar year after nearly 9 months. Feel proud! And culled a few.

Staysfit

Veteran

I'm writing what I wear down in a calendar and then going to a spread sheet once a week.

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

I really love the Closetspace app for tracking, but, like all systems, it requires a bit of advance setup. Once it's set up, though, it only takes seconds to log an outfit. I track everything but loungewear and Sterling is right. "Feelings" often aren't correct. I'd try logging your weekends for a month or so to see if it's really as daunting as you think it will be.

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

Hmm, I'm not great at tracking wears in any formal way but I do keep sort of a mental note on anything I feel is being neglected and I either make an effort to wear it more often or realize what it is about the item that is keeping me from wearing it. Can you guesstimate on the weekend wear items at the end of the week or by looking at your laundry, etc. and then tally it as well?

anchie

Veteran

Second Jenn about Closetspace. It took some effort to have everything set up, but now it takes just few seconds daily to record wears. I used to track only outfits that I wore outside the home, but recently I started tracking at home wear too. This is helping me with my weekly challenges - I try to wear items that don't have lot of wear or that I did not wear for a while. If I fail the challenge - it goes to donate bin.

River Raine

Newbie question, sort of off topic, but I'm wondering what the purpose of tracking is? Is it a way to know what you can donate/sell? Is there some other purpose?

Thanks!

rachylou

Veteran

The other thing is, if you learn you're not wearing something... it may be it's not really working for you. The question is then 'why.'

I'd go ahead and mark something as worn, even if it isn't for the whole day. Covering different activities is important...

plonkee

I feel like I wear certain dresses all the time, but I know that I don't wear them more often than once a week, maybe not even once a fortnight.

Do you have a wardrobe within a wardrobe? Perhaps you have a core of clothes you choose from most of the time and that's making you feel like you wear each piece within the core more often.

Or do you do uniform dressing so that you wear the uniform a lot but individual pieces much less?

I agree that it's surprisingly hard to reach say 30 wears unless you have a fairly minimalist wardrobe, or perhaps a moderate wardrobe in a one season climate.

Laura G

Veteran

River Raine -- You'll probably hear a lot of different answer to this one. For me (non-minimal wardrobe), it serves as a memory jogger. In the morning I pick out one piece I'd like to wear and then look through the pictures of all the outfits I've made with it in the past. For this purpose I think photos work better than spreadsheets.

But the spreadsheet allows you to corral information that you couldn't possibly keep in your head (at least I can't). How much each item cost. Calculating the cost per wear tells you which items are earning their keep by being worn frequently. What size works for you in each store/designer. Which brands/fabrics/etc. fall apart long before they can earn their keep. What items absolutely don't work. I bought something last spring (in two colors!) that I ended up getting rid of after the first wear. If not for tracking, it would be easy for me to forget and make the same mistake again.

And some of us are just nerds who like doing this stuff!

River Raine

Laura G - Thanks for the explanation!

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Hi River Raine, I think I'm a nerd! It all started for me because of buying more stuff than I could really fit in our house. And I love psychology and I really wondered why I was doing that. Tracking has been a way to understand myself and my habits and it is helping me to do that and to very slowly bring the size of my wardrobe down, which is what I want. I am also not good at culling so it helps me see what is not being worn and whether I can bear to let go. As I liked things when I bought them I find it hard to ditch them.

Anonymous

Sisi --I think you should track your weekend wears, even if you only wear them for a few hours.

Gigi

Veteran

I agree that it is worth tracking every outfit that you wear, even if you wear three different outfits in one day. On Sundays, for example, I wear one outfit to church and then a different outfit the rest of the day. It's important for me to have a church capsule as well as a casual capsule, so both outfits are equally important and get recorded.

Anonymous

River Raine -- Tracking helps me understand what categories of clothing I buy obsessively (e.g., lounge wear). When I see the numbers start to climb (more than 10), I can rationalize that I no longer need to be buying that particular category (at least for a while). It really helped me understand my buying habits and allowed me to rewire my brain.

Tracking also helps me understand what categories of clothing I buy that I achieve a low cost per wear. For example, I found that I can buy expensive bags and belts because I use them daily. The cost per wear goes down really rapidly. It made sense to buy better items that would last me a long time and look really good.

In contrast, I just don't get a good cost per wear from shoes. I have too many shoes and I spread the wears across a large number. Buying expensive shoes does not make sense for my lifestyle. I will never achieve a reasonable cost per wear for shoes.

It also allowed me to set maximum allowable prices for certain categories based on cost per wear.

So there are many, many benefits from tracking the number of wears. I use my spreadsheets to make unemotional buying decisions.

Sisi

Veteran

I will follow your suggestions and from now on I will track everything and see what happens. I will check whether my feelings are correct.

To answer your questions: I use an Excel spreadsheet. I understand an app would be easier and faster, but at the moment good old excel is what I have.

Laura G. and Sterling, thank you for explaining the purpose and utility of tracking oufits. At the beginning I was bored to do it, but now I suspect it has become addictive! It is such an enlightening exercise!

About the 30 wears: living in a 4-seasons climate, I consider a minimum of 10 wears a good number. In fact: 1 Season = 12 weeks. 10 or more wears means I have been wearing a certain item at least once a week.

Thanks to the all of you for your comments!