I tracked what I wore everyday this March.... Here's what I learned as well as my advice to YOU if you also want to do a closet audit.
Why A Closet Audit?
I LOVE spending money and have historically notttt been great with saving. My freshman year of college, I went on trips I couldn't afford and one late night used my stress as an excuse to spend $200+ on clothes and shoes online shopping. I love buying clothes.
Since then, I've worked hard to avoid impulse purchases and be more conscious about what I buy. A big part of this is my growing interest in sustainability and minimalism - I've been learning how bad fast fashion truly is.
While I've made a lot of progress when it comes to shopping for clothes, I wanted to get into the nitty gritty. I decided to see what clothes I actually wear on a daily basis and which of my clothes I just don't reach for. I wanted to use this as a guide to help me be realistic with myself when I'm buying clothes in the future.
The nice thing about a closet audit is it has a TON of benefits - you can have completely different motives than me and still get a lot out of it. Tracking what you wear can help you declutter and clean out your closet, define your style, reduce the amount you're spending on clothes, or just become more eco-conscious about clothing.
How to Do an Audit of Your Wardrobe:
I've seen several different approaches online to doing a closet audit, but my recommendation is to do it over the course of a month as opposed to in one sitting. One reason is my estimates of how often I wore certain clothing pieces before I did my audit were wrong. Tracking what you wear over the course of the month gives you real data to go off of. I've also seen people do the challenge for a whole year, but that is a big commitment. If you know you can keep up with it, that's amazing, but a month should be enough time to be effective.
If you're not a big data person, this may sound boring but you can pick and choose what parts you want to track (as a marketing person, I love data, but I know that's not everyone's cup of tea, so bear with me). I kept my audit pretty simple and just tracked what I wore and how many times I wore it. You can also track accessories, how many times a day you change, or even the number of clothing you buy/get rid of that month. You can track what colors you wear throughout the month if you are wanting to figure out your style. The things you track depend on your audit goals, so make sure you have that figured out.
The more nitty gritty you get, the more you'll learn. Maybe you track how many items you get second-hand or new if you're trying to be more eco. You could track how many times you go to the store and make an impulsive fashion purchases like buying a new pair of earrings or hair accessory.
Another thing that help you know what to track is taking this Fashion Footprint quiz by ThreadUp.
At the end of your closet audit, look at your data! Mine was was very informative and taught me a lot about myself, my style, and my shopping habits! I know you will get something out of it too. :)
What Did I Learn About Myself?
In case you were curious, these are a few of the things I've learned about myself because of my clothing closet audit:
I've wanted to have a 'color palette' for a while (for no other reason than feeling aesthetic and put together) and doing this project helped me realize what colors I normally gravitate towards. This will help me in the future to buy clothing that fits the aesthetic and matches well with what I already have.
The comfort of my clothes is SUPER important to me. If it isn't comfortable (ie. fabric texture or fit), I'm not wearing it - even if its the cutest thing in the world. This is another thing for me to keep in mind for future purchases and to make sure I try things on before I buy them. I also realized I wore my leggings a ton but they have been just a little too small for a while, so I went out and bought some leggings that fit better and got rid of the ones that were too tight!
I've got a pretty solid collection of pants (both colors/styles that I like) and I wear them all pretty consistently. I do tend to wear my comfy jeans and leggings the most though, so I might try and get a pair or two more of those and I also want to be super intentional and get shorts for this summer that are perfect instead of just dealing with shorts that are 'okay'.
I buy a lot of shirts and do not wear that many! I wore 18 different tops during the month and own 42 (that can be worn by themselves). That's 43%. A lot of these were crewnecks, and I'm going to go through my shirts once it's a little warmer and make sure I'm only keeping what I really love.
On the Fashion Footprint quiz, I scored lower than I was expecting, and I'm proud because a few years ago, even a year ago, I wouldn't have done that well. My main shift has instead of buying clothes impulsively, I buy them intentionally.
Learn More about Sustainable Fashion
Knowledge is POWER and I believe the more you know, the better purchases you'll be able to make for yourself and for your situation. If you want to learn more about sustainable fashion, here are some blogs I've written about different aspects of it and to help you with your closet audit:
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