Tag Archives: wardrobe tracking

Jul10

Wear Everything in Your Closet!

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Debbie Roes

Many of us have far too many clothes in our closets! Contrary to what you might believe, having more clothing does not make it easier to get dressed. In fact, a preponderance of choices can be overwhelming and make the dressing process far more difficult than it needs to be.

If you love and wear everything you own, it can make sense to maintain a larger wardrobe. However, I’ve found that this isn’t the case for most people. Far more common is the situation in which there are a lot of unworn garments in a person’s closet. This can make it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were. Your “star players” can be obscured by a bunch of ho-hum garments that are merely occupying valuable space in an overly stuffed closet. That’s a situation we want to avoid!

A Simple Tip – Wear Everything!

The tip I’m about to offer is very simple and straightforward and is particularly useful when combined with my previous tips, “The Hanger Trick”” and “The Power of Tracking.” My suggestion is that you push yourself to wear items that haven’t been worn in a while. See, I told you it was simple!

If you’re like most people, when you go through your closet deciding what to wear, you pass over certain garments time and time again. I suggest that at least a few times per week, you actually challenge yourself to wear one of those frequently rejected pieces. Pull it out, create an outfit with it, and wear it!

Actually wear the item out of the house. It may be better to wear the questionable piece on a short errand or low-risk situation (a first date may not be an ideal situation for test-driving your clothing!). That way, if you find yourself hating it, you won’t have to keep it on for very long.

Wear It, Then Make a Decision

This is a two-part tip. The first part is to wear the item in question. The second part, and this is very important, is to make a decision about it! When you get undressed later that day, decide what you want to do with the garment. Did you find an unexpected “diamond in the rough” and wonder why you never wore such a great item of clothing? If so, great! Hang it up and vow to wear it again regularly.

If you couldn’t wait to get the garment off your body, you should know what to do. If it’s in good condition, add it to a donation bag for charity. After all, just because you don’t love something, it doesn’t mean someone else won’t. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, as the old saying goes.

Aim for All 8’s to 10’s in Your Closet

Some items will fall into more of a gray area, but I always tell people they should aim to have all of their clothes be “10s” or very close to that. If something is an 8 or a 9, it is a keeper. Below that, do you really want to wear something that doesn’t make you feel fabulous? None of us really needs a huge wardrobe and “8” to “10” pieces can be found at all price points, so why keep things that are just so-so?

Alterations can definitely take some garments from ho-hum to magnificent and many people forget about this valuable opportunity. If you really like a garment but it’s just not right, try taking it to a tailor to see what can be done. I’ve rescued many a garment by having my personal “miracle worker” (for those in the Point Loma area of San Diego, I highly recommend Tiffany’s Alterations) perform her magic on it.

A Personal Example…

FYI… I personally use all of the tips I recommend on this blog. As we’re now into the second half of 2012 and there are still items in my closet that haven’t been worn this year, I use this tip almost daily at this point.

Just yesterday, I wore a black lace top that hadn’t been worn since 2011. I discovered I still like the top, but it’s an odd length – too short for pants and too long for skirts. It’s also longer in the front than in the back. I’ve decided to shorten the top and even out the length all around. I feel confident I will then love this top and wear it regularly with skirts, However, I would have never figured this out if I had left it unworn in the closet for months – or even years – on end.

Goal – A More Streamlined Closet

I hope this tip will be helpful for you in better managing your wardrobe. Remember to wear those questionable items in your closet and then make a decision about what to do with them – keep (and wear!), alter, or donate. Over time, you will be rewarded with a more streamlined, functional, and pleasing closet.

Jun11

The Power of Tracking

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Debbie Roes

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How often do you wear your clothes? Do you have any idea? Most of us think we wear the items in our closet far more often than we actually do. It can be a useful practice to track what you’re wearing and how often. This article highlights an easy way to do that, as well as my personal experience with tracking and how it’s helped me become a smarter shopper.

A Simple Tracking Method

I started tracking how often I wear my clothes at the beginning of 2011. I decided to do this because I had an overly full closet, was shopping on a regular basis, and still found myself making purchasing mistakes. I reasoned that if I learned what I was wearing most often, I could them buy more of those types of pieces and fewer of the items which languished in my closet.

My clever engineer husband devised a simple tracking method. We purchased a box of tags on strings and hung a tag on each hanger in my closet. For those items that are not stored on hangers, such as jeans and shoes, I created a tracking spreadsheet that I kept on a clipboard in my closet:

Clothing Tracking Spreadsheet

Wardrobe “All-Stars” and “Benchwarmers”

Clothing Tracking Hanger Tag Each time I wore any item, I would mark an “X” either on the item’s hanging tag or on my spreadsheet. I also used the “hanger trick” that I wrote about in a previous article. My tracking only took a few seconds each day, but provided me with valuable data as the months went by. I was able to see that I was wearing my jackets, cardigans, and jeans frequently and my tops, dress pants, and dresses less often.

At the end of the year, I took inventory of my wardrobe “all-stars” and “benchwarmers.” All-stars were defined as clothes worn four or more times, but I actually wore a lot of them many more times than that. My biggest “all-star” was a casual jacket that I wore an amazing 116 times in 2011! Wardrobe “benchwarmers” were designated as things not worn at all or only worn one to two times over the course of the year. Sadly, I had quite a few of those…

I learned I had far more tops than I needed. All in all, only thirteen of my tops achieved all-star status! I had also accumulated a number of shoes that were so uncomfortable, I only wanted to wear them to walk in and out of a restaurant. Not surprisingly, such shoes aren’t very versatile and receive little wear.

Better Decisions & a More Manageable Closet

My shopping decisions have definitely improved since I started using my tracking system. I now buy more jackets and fewer tops, as one example. In combination with the regular closet purging I do (more on that on future articles…), my closet has become more manageable and a lot less cluttered.

I’m continuing to use my tracking system in 2012 and I have no plans of stopping this activity. It is so quick and easy to do and it’s extremely beneficial. Why don’t you try it for at least a few months to see how it works for you?

May21

The “Hanger Trick” Tames Your Closet

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Debbie Roes

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Have you ever heard of the Pareto Principle, otherwise known as the “80/20 Rule”? This principle holds that in most areas of life, the few (20%) are vital and the many (80%) are trivial. Simply stated, 20% of what we do produces 80% of our results.

The Pareto Principle and Our Closets

While the Pareto Principle initially referred to wealth distribution, it can also be applied to our wardrobes. In truth, most people only wear 20% of their clothing. The other 80% is simply over-crowding our closets and taking up valuable space, leading to the common phenomena of staring into a full closet and exclaiming, “I have nothing to wear!” Read the rest of this entry →