Tag: statistics

the statistic in the wardrobe

~ Gillie ~ 10 Comments

When I was at university (back in the Dark Ages) I had to take a statistics course.  I knew it wouldn’t go well and it didn’t.  I had a book by Derek Rowntree called Statistics without Tears.  I remember throwing it across the room and crying “You lied!” You can still get the book, it is actually very good and as I had a  maths A-level under my belt you would have thought I would be have been fine with stats.

I now realise it wasn’t the stats that were the problem but the subject matter.  If there was less talk of X and Y and more of skirts and dresses, or curly kale and sprouting broccoli I would have been top of the class.  So today I bring you wardrobe statistics where SD stands for Silk Dress not Standard Deviation and Chance Variation refers to the oppotune discovery that the pink scarf looks fantastic with the lime green jacket 🙂

You may remember that I took up the challenge of Project 333 last summer.  This year I have decided to reverse the project.  I am keeping a tally of the clothes I wear over a three  month period and then restricting myself to those clothes only for the rest of the summer (I am optomistic that it will be a blazing hot day on St Swithun’s day).

At the end of month one there is a definite trend appearing.  I am wearing almost entirely jersey (bamboo and cotton) and the colours are generally muted with bright accessories.  I am wearing more earrings (I used to just put a pair in and leave them) and have discovered I rather like big dangley ones.  I rarely wear trousers other than leggings with tunics and I almost  never wear a coat.  I am usually barefoot or wear Toms or Fitflops.  This a big reveal as although I have culled my shoe collection quite severely I still  never wear many of them.  Regardless of the weather I tend to wear summery light clothes and just layer up if it gets cold.  I haven’t worn socks or tights all month.

For those of you who would like the figures they are as follows.

  • Tops:  I have worn 10 different tops 16 times in total
  • Bottoms: I have worn 6 bottoms a total of 15 times.
  • Dresses: I have worn 7 dresses a total of 15 times
  • Cardigans:  I have worn 6 cardianas a total of 16 times
  • Scarves:  I have worn 5 scarves a total of 15 times
  • Shoes:  I have worn 6 shoes a total of 30 times, the fitflops 18 times!
  • Coats/Jackets:  I have worn one coat twice and one jacket once.

Colours are very blue heavy.

  • Blues: 27
  • Pinks: 12
  • Grey: 11
  • Neutrals: 9
  • Teal: 8
  • Purple: 7
  • Black: 2
  • Green: 1

I recently had my colours done and I think I am pretty okay with the ones I am wearing but apparently should be wearing more yellow and orange.  I hate both of them on me so I can’t see that happening soon.

In the meantime it has been an interesting look at how I use my wardrobe and you will be delighted to know you will be getting another update at the end of May.  Bet you can’t wait 🙂

 

gaussian decluttering

~ Gillie ~ 5 Comments

S to M declutter will be coming soon.  I can’t believe I just typed that 🙂

In the meantime a quick wardrobe update.  The wardrobe has been my main focus of attention since the big stuff went off to auction/charity/skip earlier this month.  The Gin Gan is wonderfully empty and I am really beginning to feel the day to day difference.  I think psychologically even though I had removed so so so much from our house the fact that it was still on site was a big issue for me and I am glad it’s gone.

Living out of one medium sized suitcase for a month focuses the mind and on my return from Australia I was able to take a look at my much depleted wardrobe and  cull another 30%.  This afternoon I had an urge to do a bit more.  It is interesting that once you really get going it is much, much easier to keep going and become more purposeful.

This is what was left after the Singers and Dancer had picked out the few items that they wanted.

IMG_1317[1]

I now have three full bags of clothes in the back of my car ready to be taken to The British Heart Foundation shop in town.  I was talking to a friend today who is at the beginning of her declutttering process.  She is at the overwhelmed stage.  Remember the Gaussian normal distribution bell curve?  It looks like this.

images

Ignoring the statistical use of the bell curve and just looking at the shape for a moment and I think it represents our approach to decluttering.  We start with high hopes and approach the issue head on.  Then we realise just how big the job is, how overwhelming it can feel and we are tempted to give up.  Assuming we keeping going then we plough through the really hard times.  The times when we have got rid of the things that were easy to get rid of because we didn’t really want them.  Now we are faced with the things that we don’t need but somehow we still want.  Finally we get to the top and like the helter skelter rider we come racing down because now it is easy, we “get it”, we want to be unburdened.

So wherever you are on the curve, remember there is a helter skelter ride at the end and it is worth it.