May is over! Time for another Project 333 review

Another month has come to an end… According to some people we are now halfway through the year (no we’re not, I say, slow down!) and summer has begun. Not quite, but we’re getting there. We’ve had a wet spring, but also a sunny and warm spring, somehow. It’s been quite lovely most of the time. Reviewing my wardrobe, it has been a month for short sleeves and lightweight layers.

I continued with the same method of tracking my wearings as last month, with a little jotted note in my planner, transferred to a printed spreadsheet with colored pens, and then tallied and saved into a spreadsheet in google docs. If you’d like to take a look at my (somewhat lame) spreadsheet you can access it here.

The results:

A lot of the numbers are pretty consistent with last month’s wearings – I wore my dresses 8 or 9 times, although one of my dresses worn 3 times last month didn’t get worn at all this month (the blue/purple floral maxi). The taupe (thrifted) dress that got 2 wearings last month got 1 this month, but I have set it in the donation pile. It’s not very flattering, and although I made some (half assed) efforts to line it, it didn’t really work out, so it can’t be worn without an underdress or slip. I decided that if it wasn’t worth the effort to line properly, it probably wasn’t a dress I valued very much. And looking in the mirror, all I could see was how much I wanted to like it, but all the ways it didn’t live up to its promises (however much I wish it was a color that looks good on me, it isn’t, plus it needs a lining, doesn’t fit my boobs, doesn’t flatter me very well, and is made from polyester knit so it can’t be dyed). So it’s probably gone. I will miss what it could have been.

My jeans got more wearings than I would have liked, 8 times last month, 9 times this month. I don’t really like wearing jeans, but they are convenient because they have pockets. And they are hardwearing for times when we take the dog on road trips, so my legs don’t get scratched every time hubby applies the brakes. My denim skirt only got 3 wearings vs 6 last month. I would wear it more often if it had pockets. But it’s still a workhorse in my wardrobe. My 2 pr of sweatpants still got about a dozen wearings, although many days they were only put on later in the day after the jeans came off.

I wore my tshirts about 14 times, just like last month, but I am moving away from the long sleeves and into the short sleeves. The pink striped tee that I bought new this year got a lot of wearings (5). I wore cardigans and sweatshirts less often (19 total wearings in May vs 32 wearings in April) and didn’t wear any of my sweaters at all. I wore both of my sweatshirts equally – favoring grey one week and pink the next for some reason. In April the pink one, which is far more flattering, was neglected. The grey is useful for low key days, often paired with a grey tank and a grey striped maxi skirt or jeans. Btw I wore my tank tops 6 times, about the same as last month. I count 4 tanks as one item because I don’t usually wear them solo except at home.

That grey striped maxi skirt was on the bubble last month, but I wore it 4 times this month. I think I will probably wear it more in the warmer months instead of sweatpants, although mostly as an at-home casual piece because it’s not especially flattering. I wore my black knit jersey skirt once and didn’t wear my long white and purple skirt at all. That’s OK – it’s perfect for a very specific mood, not an everyday piece. We’ll see if that’s enough to justify keeping it going forward. I get a ton of compliments when I do wear it and it works as a makeshift dress too, although I’m not sure that it’s particularly flattering worn that way.

Of my 3 “fancy” tops, I wore my lilac tank 3 times, my emerald polka dot tank 3 times, and I threw my aqua lace blouse into the donation pile without a second thought. I have 6 “fancy” tops in a shopping bag on H&M’s website right now, debating whether it’s worth trying them. Half of them are sleeveless polyester, plus one silk blouse and at least one rayon piece, and I have no idea if any of them will fit me, so I’m weighing the cost of having to send some or all of them back. The cost of postage is about the same as the ferry ride over to the store plus a little something to eat, so it might be worth it (especially because the pink silk blouse is online only, although I suspect it’s that same pale pink that looks like my skin, in which case I should pass…)

I barely wore jackets at all, but I will keep my lightweight rain jacket and denim jacket out year round. They’re essential basics. I didn’t wear that olive utility vest. I’m leaning towards the conclusion that I don’t need this piece, even if I like it. Although maybe I could have worn it with my denim skirt to provide myself with pockets instead of resorting to jeans. I retired my black lightweight trench coat and grey vest cardigan to storage because they felt too wintery. I see lots of people wearing dark sweaters and knee high boots, but I just find that odd. It’s 60-80F and the sun is out! It’s time for sandals or ballet flats, people!

I pulled a few things out from “emergency” storage when I put away those wintery things. I needed my navy short sleeved cardigan to go with a specific dress, and ended up wearing it 5 times, more than any other cardi. I also took out a striped tank dress that I found for a couple of bucks with Walmart tags on it at Value Village a few years ago. It’s extremely unflattering, but oh so comfy! So it’s more of a house dress (worn 2 times in May. I’m wearing it right now with sweatpants). I finished re-re-fashioning a cotton skirt, and wore it to work once to see if I should keep it or donate it. I’m on the fence about that. It was breezy and cool. But I don’t have a lot of options for tops to go with it. I also pulled out my “special occasion” Target dresses, one in black and white polka dots which I discussed here, and another purple and black print one that I’ve worn less (so it hasn’t torn yet). I think I will keep those in the closet in case of special dress needs, but not as part of my daily rotation.

So, long story short…

I have plenty of clothes and I’m wearing them less often than I think. I’m getting a pretty good idea of what I need to replace (my knee length shorts do not fit! but I wore them 3 times anyway. I need to find something similar for gardening, dog walking and so on. With pockets!)  I have the same small wishlist I had at the beginning of spring. I’m doing OK without those items though. I would like to find a few secondhand belts to play around with.

I took back the white cotton cardigan I bought last week after I tried it on with everything else in my closet – the no votes outweighed the yeses, and the specific outfits I planned to wear it with looked particularly bad, so it was a pretty easy choice. I would still like to find something similar that work better – a light open cotton knit cardigan.

I am using the same purse every day, and my accessories (sunhat, earrings) and shoes are pretty minimal. I do need to retire a few pairs of worn out shoes, and pick up a couple of different styles to fill in the gaps.

All in all, I feel like I’m doing just fine! I don’t really want more clothes. Sometimes I wish I had different clothes, but for the most part I’m happy with what I’ve got. One more month of spring, and then I can choose my summer wardrobe. I hope I’ll have some new shorts and a fancy top or two by then. And I’m going to put away the sweatpants! But at this point I think most of my spring things will transition into summer.

I hope this is of interest to some of you. I know we all have different wardrobes, and it’s a little bit more fun to read a post like this if there are outfit photos. Maybe I can make it a goal to figure out my dSLR remote and tripod and get you some pix for next time.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jo:)

 

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