I have not much to wear. If you remember, I dumped 3/4ths of my closet and sent it to Goodwill. I think I dumped too much. Then again, I grew tired of all that I donated.
Well now, out of the 1/4 left – the weekend wear is great with blue jeans and t-shirts. But work wear – I have nothing left. Or so I decided to find out – do I have nothing to wear or is it I don’t want to wear anything I have.
Here are the four steps I took to find my conclusion:
Step 1:
Pen and Paper, I scribbled down all that I own (except the socks and underwear). Closet – done, shoes – done, drawers – done.
Step 2:
I listed everything in spreadsheet. The categories listed: Miscellaneous, Pants, Skirts, Shirts, Shoes, and Dresses. Added checkmark next to everything I wear.
Step 3:
Then, I color coded:
- White – don’t wear
- Yellow – wear
- Green – wear to work
(Click on pic to enlarge) Looks like I have much more to rid of – if its in ‘white’, chances are I haven’t worn it in over a year.
Step 4:
Copy and pasted the work clothes, that I actually don’t mind wearing (green coded), together at bottom of spreadsheet. Then, again I separated the categories in other multicolors.
Um ya, I don’t have anything to wear, I am not wearing what I should be wearing (tennis at the office?), and I don’t like what is on the list (I put a check next to those I like – 7 items). *SIGH*
Conclusion: What a boring gal I am and totally not put together. No wonder I feel like I have nothing to wear to work, because I really don’t!
So hear is what I plan to do:
- Donate those clothes I don’t wear
- Mend any buttons/hems that need be (peacoat to name)
- Go buy me 3-4 pairs of new pants (for work), 3-4 new long sleeve button up blouses, and 1 pair of black shoes (I like) on my 30% off coupon (plus the pants I want are on sale, too). I think I can pull this off for less than $200. I think buying quality pieces is suitable for pieces I would be wearing often.
- Be happy that I have a full line of clothes to wear to work without feeling like a bum and confidently revamp my lead status at work, too.
So, have you organized your closet lately?
I love thrifting to get new clothes. It makes me feel good- like I’m recycling when I donate and then buy more. 🙂 It’s nice to get new to you clothes every once in awhile. I would love to go shop with you!
I love thrifting, too. But I decided to buy new this time. A bit of a splurge. I came out with great results and was right on the price amount. Will share update soon. 🙂
Hey, I like that idea of categorizing clothes and color coding. This is a great idea since I’m planning to declutter my closet. Thanks for the idea!
I don’t know what made me think of it, but it worked really for me. I hope it works as well for you, too. And today, being a row,row, row your boat day would make a great declutter day. 🙂
How are you surviving the weather? I heard some SD people are drowning. I know I am drowning here in the I.E. (that is why I took today off) 😀
How can you think that you’re not put together? You made a color coded spreadsheet of your closet!
I have been slowly weeding things out of my wardrobe, but I need to get on it and really sort things through. The problem is I have a bunch of different sizes and I don’t want to get rid of the too-small clothes in the hopes that someday I will wear them again.
LOL. The spreadsheets I have together. My wardrobe… not so. I don’t really like to shop and don’t know much about ‘fashion’.
I also had that issue in hoping I will squeeze back into particular outfits, but I figured if I haven’t worn it within the last 6 months +, I was not going to wear it anytime soon. So out they went and I haven’t missed them since. 🙂
Good luck weeding out the closet. The spreadsheet actually was quite efficient to use in the process. Might give it a try. I think it saved a whole bunch of time, plus I felt organized.
Good for you for donating so many clothes! I color code my closet too… It’s easy for me to say, “I want to wear a purple shirt today” and actually find it in the closet! Be sure, when you buy new stuff, that they’re things that are more “classic” than “trendy.” It’s fun to buy trendy things, but I always get tired of them so quickly. If I have a closet full of classic clothes, I’ll rarely need to buy new things! 🙂
Oh this is my husband’s area. i color code the spreadsheet and he color codes my closet. To which I am thankful. It does make it simple to choose when they are all bunched in the same color category. And I believe in buying classic pieces too. Once in a while I will buy trendy to splurge. But you’re right, they don’t last long in my closet. 🙂
Last year when I lost weight I got rid of nearly 90% of my wardrobe. I also purchased nearly $1500.00 worth of fall, spring, and summer clothes. Winter is sorely missing in my wardrobe….and because I don’t have a job now, it’s okay. But if I get another job, well…it looks like I’ll be shopping Marshalls and TJ Maxx! 🙂 Can’t wait to hear about all your new duds!! 🙂
Congrats on the weightloss and keeping it off. You look great! And that is a well deserved accomplishment.
I don’t really care to shop. I got annoyed that I had to run to the dressing room 5 different times. LOL. But I wanted to make sure the pieces fit and looked great. I have to admit I really enjoyed doing my Christmas shopping online. If it wasn’t for clothes company’s varying their sizes from eachother, I would of definitely done it all online. 😉
That’s pretty impressive that you went to the effort to develop a spreadsheet.
If you really like organization you should also look into the concepts of 5S’
For an habitual slob, the 5S’ were the first thing that ever really worked for me. This approach is also used by corporations around the world to get their staff on the same page with organization and cleanliness.
Great concept. My biggest is Standardizing and Sustaining. In fact, just last night I cleaned out one of my craft baskets because it became so overwhelmed with ‘stuff’ that it was no longer serving it’s organizational purpose. Plus it makes my cupboard look cluttered. So, I am trying to sustain. 🙂
I can see the concepts working in many different areas of one life. Thank you for sharing.
BTW, spreadsheets are the answer for everything. LOL. At least to a PF blogger.
You are really organized. But I hear ya. I have a closet full of clothes, but will only wear a handful of items. I must be OCD or something because I have this fixation on certain items for a period of time: I’ll only wear maybe two or three pairs of pants and a few tops.
ha! Thank you.
Right, I have a handful of items that I wash, rinse, and repeat. 😉 It is the ones most comfortable, will serve a variety of purposes (running an errand, playing with the kids, and going to dinner). Oh wait, that sounds like my repeat closet of t-shirt and jeans. LOL.
I just did thrifting for the first time in years. OMG I came back with some great things. I got about 5 items For $11 aus that’s pretty amazing.
If I can get second hand clothes that area almost new, then I am so happy to do that…allows the money I save to invest in my own ideas.
Great job on the thrifting. I find that having adequate time to scour the racks without interruptions is key to thrift store shopping. I can always find some great things for my daughter for cheap. Especially clothes with all the celebrity adornments.
wow, sounds like a great and beneficial project! every year i do a major dump, at least twice. my process is not nearly as thorough as yours. me likey!
haha. I am not usually as thorough, but this time it seemed I needed to do as such. And happy with how quick it made the process -totally efficiency! 🙂
Wow! I don’t think I have the fortitude to put together a spreadsheet for my closet – and I love spreadsheets. I’m fairly ruthless when it comes to getting rid of clothes that either no longer fit or I no longer wear. As far as organizing the closet goes, I haven’t done that since I moved into my apartment 11 months ago. I’m currently in the process of organizing my kitchen pantry. After that, it’s on to the kitchen cabinets. I’m tackling one small area at a time. Any more than that and I’ll get frustrated, disgusted, then go back to living in a chaos.
LOL. I know the feeling. And if you declutter and stuff to donate or rid, make sure it makes it out of your house within the same day or it will find its way back into the drawers and cupboards (know from experience – that is why it is still sitting in the trunk of my car…for about a month now) 😉
I’m actually in the process of cleaning out my closet. I have several years worth of clothes that I don’t wear piling up. I already have a bag full of clothes going to Goodwill. I would have never of though of using a spreadsheet to aide in this. It gives a good overall picture, I might have to give it a shot. It will help me identify stuff I need like winter clothes. I’ve been freezing my butt of lately. Florida is supposed to be warm!
I would never have thought of using a spreadsheet for my closet… well, I did. LOL. It really made things a lot easier! May take some time to inventory, but once you have it logged then its a breeze from there. Since you already got rid of a bunch it should be easy to inventory the rest.
I heard Florida was cold right now. Then I guess I am glad that I am not going to Orlando this year for a work conference. 🙂