Wardrobe Makeover

So I picked up a bit of fascinating news during a seminar I attended last weekend. One of the facilitators of a workshop there shared that roughly 80 percent of people only wear 20 percent of their wardrobes.

Huh?

Of course I had to research this "stat" myself. While I couldn't find any hard facts from a recent clinical study, it unfortunately appears to be true.


My closet does NOT look like this.

I guess I shouldn't be totally surprised since I am well aware of how most of us are overconsumers but that info still made me pause. Seriously. It made me think about the roughly 20 purses I have hanging behind my closet door and about 7 or 8 clutch bags on a nearby shelf that I cherish but rarely ever see the light of day. And then there's the tote bags...The huge grey satchel that fits everything from my change of shoes to my lunch to my magazines however? It is in constant rotation and although I just purchased it last December, I've carried it a gazillion times more than most of the bags I've have for years.

So I get it. We're creatures of habit and some of us like me are pack rats. (Mr. TK recently informed me with a straight face that I have a clutter problem when I told him that my email inbox was full...again.) But still, why so much stuff? Don't we know that stuff can't make us happy? The latest designer jeans can't spoon with you at night, right? We've all read the self-help books, the service articles in women's magazines...right? One of the best dressed women I know is in her 50s, far from rich and has a mere fraction of the clothes that I have. But she looks great in everything she wears and rarely impulse shops. She shops like a man -- typically only buying something when she needs it. Shopping isn't receation for her. Why though, after all I just typed, do I still feel like I need another purse (a LV speedy) at this very moment? (I'm being honest.)

What's your take? Are you part of the 80 percent? Do you, like me, regularly donate clothes, sometimes unworn, to charity and rarely ever pay full price for anything but still occassionally feel guilty about having so much stuff, especially knowing what you're NOT a trust fund kid? If so, what are you doing about it? I wanna know, what percentage of your wardrobe do you wear on a regular basis? Leave me an (honest) comment.