 |
| this closet and dresser make up the majority of the bedroom clothing storage |
Last night, after browsing clothing inventories on several blogs, including An Exacting Life and Live to List, I immediately wanted to get up and start counting my clothes. I managed to wait until this morning to get started.
It turns out that I have 256 major items of clothing, including tops, bottoms, coats and shoes. This total doesn't include accessories, under clothes, or pajamas. I think I'd be fine with that total if I liked and wore everything, or even most of these things, but that number includes at least 60 (gulp) items in various sizes that I can't currently wear and yet am not ready to admit total defeat in ever wearing again (obviously mostly smaller clothes).
Clothing Inventory
Tops - 154
t-shirts: 42
long sleeve t-shirts: 19
works shirts & blouses: 30
tanks: 5
sweatshirts: 6
sweaters: 44
blazers: 6
work polos: 2
Bottoms - 73
jeans: 9
shorts: 19
dress pants: 32
exercise clothes: 8
skirts: 5
Misc. - 29
Coats: 5
Swimsuits: 3
shoes: 21
Total: 256
All of these clothes and too often I still feel like I have nothing to wear!
 |
| my side of the overflow closet is rather stuffed at the moment |
More than half of the items are stored in the tiny 1940s closet and two dressers that are in the bedroom. A little less than half--mainly out-of-season items and ones that don't fit--are stored in our largest closet, which is inconveniently located in the basement. Some extras are stored in two dressers in the attic. These are several suits I have, which were fairly expensive when I bought them long ago, that I will never wear again. I keep thinking I should sell them online and get something out of them rather than donating them, but I'm really not sure it's worth the hassle.
Out of these 256 items of clothing, six were purchased from thrift stores. And while that total is low, it's definitely the most items I've ever had from a thrift store. I find it challenging enough to find clothes I like at new clothing stores where there is a greater selection of styles and sizes, at thrift stores it's almost impossible for me.
While doing this inventory I found four items of clothing I am going to donate, plus one for the rag pile, so I'm downsizing already!
Where do I go from here?
I think my goal will be to keep my total under 250 items of clothing for now, so for anything new I buy something must go. I'm fine with having clothes that fit the storage space I have, but I want to work on only keeping items that make me feel good to wear, plus some size cushions since I fluctuate a fair bit.
Have you ever done an inventory of your clothing? How much is too much for you?
I love to do clothing inventories! For me, I keep a certain amount of hangers. When I have no free hangers, I can have no more clothes :)
ReplyDeleteThat's a smart idea!
DeleteI do that too! I take it a step further and match dress shirts with waistcoats so when I want a dapper combination, it's all on one hanger.
DeleteThank you for the link! In just over 18 months I am down from 264 items to 165. It was a little easier for me because I decided not to keep any back-up/just-in-case sizes! That keeps me motivated to stay the same size. I am curious how many duplicates you have, for example, how many pairs of similar black dress pants? I still have too many t-shirts and hoodies but I like them and wear them. I also downsized enough for my spouse to share my sweater organizer shelves!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Dar. From 264 to 165 is impressive!
ReplyDeleteI don't have many exact duplicates in the same size, especially in pants. For dress pants for instance I currently wear about 12 pairs, which includes:
-Two khakis, same style, different colors
-Two pair black pants (different fabric, style, colors)
-One pair grey stripe
-Two pairs dark grey (different fabric, style, colors)
-one pair black and white
-two pairs tan (different fabric, style, colors)
-one pair navy blue stripe
Even when I didn't keep a range of sizes I still fluctuated sizes, so it just resulted in more buying. Since I'm picky and need size long in pants, once I find something I like I tend to keep them until they fall apart. :)
When it comes to tops and sweaters I have a smaller range of sizes and more variety.
I also tend to hang on to things for awhile because even when something starts to look to worn for general wear, I demote it to gardening/project/sleepwear.
Hey! Get outta my closet!
ReplyDeleteWe seem to have the same clothes:
136 tops
70 bottoms
8 coats/jackets
34 shoes
Yikes! That's 248, not counting underwear, socks, scarves, gloves or sleepwear. It's still a lot of stuff.
Of the clothes, I bought 49 new. The rest were thrifted, hand-me-down or gifts.
For the shoes, 28 were bought new. So approx. 20% of the clothes and 80% of the shoes were bought new. Which is part of my problem. Many of the thrifted or hand-me-downs are fine but don't necessarily coordinate with others. So I always feel like I'm searching for outfits that play nicely with one another. I am constantly going through and getting rid of clothes, trying to find a wardrobe that looks nice and is suitable for the occasion/season.
Other thing is that although I wear nicer casual type things most days, I also dress up regularly, do sports, and need gardening/working around the house stuff. I would like to get down to less than 200 items.
I also turn my hangers backward at the start of the year so I can see what doesn't get worn.
~skye (who wrote much more than necessary...)
I'm not so wrapped up in having a low number just for the sake of having a low number, you know? In fact I kinda hate that "my number of stuff is lower than yours" competition that goes on on some blogs (none of the ones mentioned above). If you use your stuff, like it, and it fits well in your space by your definition, great. Unfortunately I'm failing at even my definition of enough right now....
DeleteOh and long comments are always welcome here! Long, short, we like em all. :-) Sorry it takes me forever to respond back sometimes...I do read and appreciate every comment right away!
DeleteThanks for the link - I have already forgotten how many items I listed, but I added a top and a dress and a pair of skinny jens, and got rid of at least two pairs of pants and one pair of jeans. Oh that's right (I looked it up) 343, including something like 45 pairs of knickers!!
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, I have a much bigger wardrobe now, but it's not as easy for me to use (the sliding doors are always in the way), so I feel like I want less, to make it easier to pick stuff. That being said, I sometimes get annoyed that I don't have the 'type' of outfit I'd like, for a certain type of event, or silhouette I see in my mind's eye.
Me too....all these clothes and nothing I want to wear.... *sigh*
DeleteI don't have much to inventory, LOL I have mostly a rule of 2 and already keep a minimalist wardrobe. 2 pants ( 1 jeans , 1 corduroy) 2 sweat pants, 2 t-shirts, 2 flannel shirts, 2 shorts, 2 winter dressy sweaters, 2 sweat shirts and 2 shoes.) so 16 items if you include shoes.........I do have 1 pair of pjs and keep 7 socks and 7 underwear so if you count those 31 article of clothes! :) Just found your blog and look forward to reading more!
ReplyDeleteWelcome and thanks for the comment! I'm impressed with your rule of two, not sure I could stick to that...
Delete