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Taking Inventory

I spent some time today cutting out a few sewing projects--new lining for a jacket, a dress for my grand daughter, a silk blouse for her American Girl doll. I noticed that I am developing a stash of scraps that I'll have to deal with, but I also have some significant yardage of material I can use to make an outfit or two for myself. That got me wondering what I should make and that, in turn got me to wondering what I actually might need. So I stacked up the cut-outs for another day and started on an inventory of my wardrobe.
I consider myself to be a non-horder. I did a humungus purge after I retired--got rid of bags of shoes, dresses and jumpers and skirts and shirts--"teacher" clothes. Then I did another purge after I did a color and body styling workshop--all (well, some) of the things that are not flattering to my body type or coloring. Interestingly enough those were nearly new condition things because I really did not feel comfortable in them and rarely wore them. That really made me realize that I have wasted time and money on clothes and I want to do better.
I also consider myself to be relatively neat and organized. My closets and drawers are arranged by dress/casual/hack-around and then sorted by color. I think that holds up...it was easy to make an inventory. I did discover that I may have to adjust my "non-horder" self image, however. I now have five skirts and twenty pairs of trousers/slacks/jeans--not bad, really, considering the span of the seasons. I have thirty (THIRTY!) sweaters. Why? I had hot flashes for over ten years and close to never put a sweater on my body for more than two minutes. I head south in the winter. Why do I need, let alone have, thirty sweaters? There's a trip to Goodwill coming on.
So my plan now is to type up the inventory and carry it with me along with my color swatches when I go shopping. I'm thinking this will help keep me focused on what I have and, therfore don't need--yes, khaki shorts may be on sale, but I see I already have 7 pairs so pass them by.
Whether I buy or I sew, it's the "one in, one out" rule for me.
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