// goals for 2006.prune_closet

o Like pretty much every middle class girl in the United States, I have way too many clothes. I don’t even like clothes shopping and usually only go when I need something occasion-specific. However, I’m a pack rat. I would anticipate that I wear less than half of what’s in my closet at this moment. I keep some of it because certain pieces have sentimental value (the shirt I bought in New Zealand, for instance). Some of it I keep because I love the clothes, but they don’t fit me; I’m hoping they soon will. Some items stay because I’m a notorious recycler of cloth for use in other projects or pieces of clothing; I don’t like shopping, but I do like to maintain my own style in a small way (real-life example of this: I fell on the ice the other day and ripped a giant hole in a pair of cheap-but-pretty black nylons with white swirl patterns; instead of throwing them away, I patched them with a black-and-white polka dot fabric).

o However, this is ridiculous. I have 274 items of clothing, shown below. I believe I can cut one-third of this and ship it off to Salvation Army. I believe that one-third is only still in there because I’ve been too lazy to weed out the things I know I will never wear or use again. So here’s the break down: out of 274 pieces, I will have removed 91 by the end of the year. The first column shows the break down of what I have, the second what I intend to keep, and the third the number I intend to throw away.

Type What I Have What I'll Keep What I'll Toss Tossed So Far Difference
Belts 3 3 0 0 0
Bras 22 10 12 10 2
Corset 1 1 0 -1 1
Dresses 9 9 0 -1 1
Hats 4 4 0 -1 1
Hosiery 8 4 4 0 4
Jeans 14 8 6 3 3
Night Shirts 3 2 1 0 1
Panties 28 22 6 8 -2
Pants 7 5 2 2 0
PJ Pants 3 2 1 2 -1
Scarves 13 13 0 0 0
Shirts 32 20 12 3 9
Shoes 10 8 2 -1 3
Shorts 3 2 1 1 0
Skirts 18 14 4 0 4
Slacks 3 3 0 0 0
Socks 22 12 10 2 8
Sweaters 17 10 7 4 3
Sweatshirts 1 1 0 1 -1
Swimsuits 3 2 1 0 1
T-Shirts 33 16 17 4 13
Tank Tops 13 8 5 2 3
Ties 1 1 0 0 0
Workout Shorts 3 3 0 0 0
Total 274 183 91 38 53

o While I will remove 91 items in total, they will not necessarily come from the exact groups I have here. I am merely anticipating what groups I will be able to prune (for instance, my dresses and scarves take up little space and are worn often, so I don’t believe I’ll toss any of those; bras, however, will probably suffer large, as I probably only wear five of them on a regular basis).

o So, by December 31, 2006, I will have reduced my closet size by one-third.

04.01.06
Clothes removed: -4 Wedding-related setback. I restrained myself from buying a new dress for the wedding, because, after all, I have a perfectly good indie-girl-gets-dressed-up outfit right at hand for free. Unfortunately, I needed some shoes to go with it, because I can't push myself to wear tennis shoes to a wedding. However, because I made the mistake of gandering for the perfect dress, just in case, I found a massive sale with a shirt and jacket I couldn't resist. (Come on! It was $4 for a freaking coat! And it doesn't count anyway, because for some reason I didn't count coats...) I also of necessity of being fat, I was forced to admit the necessity of some minor corset action.
03.25.06
Clothes removed: 18 The second Salvy haul was less profitable than the first, though that is to be expected as I get to the harder-to-part-with clothes. I'm not going to figure it mathematically (because I'm tired and busy watching Good Eats, but as I'm over one-third of the way to the goal at slightly less than one-third of the year past, I think I'm doing fairly well with this one, well enough that I will hopefully warrant a shopping spree at the outset of the next year ^^; Itemized count: 3 pairs of underwear, 1 pair of shorts, 2 shirts, 2 sweaters, 2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of khakis, 2 tank tops, 2 pairs of socks, 1 sweatshirt, 1 tshirt, and 1 pair of pj pants.
03.14.06
Clothes removed: 0 Nothing much to update, really--just conforming to my update regimen. All in all, I'm glad that I got through a weekend with my mom without buying any unnecessary clothes. I instead put my focus upon books, a much healthier material obsession in my opinion. But it's an extremely forward move for me to have that number remain at zero after how much shopping I did, so yay me.
02.12.06
Clothes removed: -4 I had a bit of a setback this weekend on this whole affair. I went shopping with my brother and his girlfriend and found some awesome items at Salvation Army and Target. Bad news is, I have now added four more items which will have to be removed in matching quantities from the rest of my closet. I ended up with: 1 hat, 1 t-shirt, 1 dress and 1 sweater. A small setback, but still a setback.
02.04.06
Clothes removed: 27 I got my first round of Salvy out with my first trip to Hillsboro for the year. It was a meager haul other than underwear, but the coat alone (which, sadly, doesn't count) took up half the trash bag I dropped there. Itemized count: 3 sweaters, 2 shirts, 4 t-shirts, 1 pair of pj pants, 1 pair of pants, 5 pairs of panties, 10 bras and 1 pair of jeans.

// return to the main page

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

	o	Like pretty much every middle class girl in the United States, I have way too many clothes. I don’t even like clothes shopping and usually only go when I need something occasion-specific. However, I’m a pack rat. I would anticipate that I wear less than half of what’s in my closet at this moment. I keep some of it because certain pieces have sentimental value (the shirt I bought in New Zealand, for instance). Some of it I keep because I love the clothes, but they don’t fit me; I’m hoping they soon will. Some items stay because I’m a notorious recycler of cloth for use in other projects or pieces of clothing; I don’t like shopping, but I do like to maintain my own style in a small way (real-life example of this: I fell on the ice the other day and ripped a giant hole in a pair of cheap-but-pretty black nylons with white swirl patterns; instead of throwing them away, I patched them with a black-and-white polka dot fabric).
	o	However, this is ridiculous. I have 274 items of clothing, shown below. I believe I can cut one-third of this and ship it off to Salvation Army. I believe that one-third is only still in there because I’ve been too lazy to weed out the things I know I will never wear or use again. So here’s the break down: out of 274 pieces, I will have removed 91 by the end of the year. The first column shows the break down of what I have, the second what I intend to keep, and the third the number I intend to throw away.

	o	While I will remove 91 items in total, they will not necessarily come from the exact groups I have here. I am merely anticipating what groups I will be able to prune (for instance, my dresses and scarves take up little space and are worn often, so I don’t believe I’ll toss any of those; bras, however, will probably suffer large, as I probably only wear five of them on a regular basis).
	o	So, by December 31, 2006, I will have reduced my closet size by one-third.