Thank you to everyone who commented on my post where I asked about shoes. Last week I needed to run to the mall for some birthday gifts, decided to browse, and nearly came home with three pairs of shoes.
When I go to the mall I usually enter through Lord & Taylor, pass through their shoe department to get into the mall, then immediately pass a Payless. I get to experience both pricing extremes within 100 feet of each other. I’ve gotten shoes from both places but realized it had been a while since I’d bought shoes at all, which made me think about adding to my shoe wardrobe. But I remembered my stuff in/stuff out numbers, and so I resisted.
My current favorites
I read all the comments but didn’t do any averages as my math allergy is well-documented. But before counting my own shoes, I thought my number would come in around 12-13 pairs which also seemed to be the numbers coming up most often in the comments.
So far I counted 10: one pair of athletic sneakers (at the moment I feel a little guilty about using the word ‘athletic’ in even a loose reference to myself), one pair of fun sneakers, five pairs of work-appropriate loafers and flats, one pair of black heels, one pair of ugly but practical mom shoes to wear while doing mom-type errands and activities, and the ugliest black snow boots on the planet, which keep my feet warm and dry.
In case you’re curious about mom shoes…they go well with mom jeans and nothing else.
My sandals are still in a storage tote but if I remember correctly there are two pair of casual sandals and one pair of high-heeled dress sandals which would be thirteen.
My curiosity about what you have in your closets came from my wish to pare down even further, to my desire to have more shoes because I love shoes, but I also think I have enough to suit my current life. Should things change, though, I’ll be happy to add more.
Ready to shake up a bottle of Orange Crush and let it rip.
On the stuff in/stuff out front, I put twelve random things in a box for donations, the first things I’ve gotten rid of in a few days. Emma got off the bus today sporting these goggles, which I may or may not keep.
I don’t know if I like the plans she might hatch knowing she has eye protection. But they fit me so they might be worth keeping should I feel like doing some demolition.
Eye protection is always handy to have around if you do any do-it-yourself type stuff. I think we bought a pair for my son when he was 3 or 4 because he likes to watch, and join in when he can. (He also does his own little woodworking projects (real tools, just no power tools) at his own work bench, and we require him to wear safety glasses and shoes when he’s woodworking. I say keep them with your tools, especially if they fit you too.
I think I am going to keep them- I do have a pair of safety ‘glasses’ but they are more like regular glasses in that something could still get around them. These are good because they fully cover the eyes. I’m going to put the older pair in my donation box.
Well hello Tracey, your shoeventory really strikes a cord with me….I have the bottom of two closets stacked about 1/1/2 ft. deep with shoes, boots, sandals, houseslippers, etc. I was just thinking yesterday there is no way to organize them at all so I must throw all but “crucial” shoes in a bag and do a drive-by at the Goodwill. My question is…just how do you decide what is crucial? I just started reading your blog, but must go back and see what the stuff in/stuff out concept is (probably something that will cause me to have a panic attack…). By the way, I am Kerry’s (Year One Simple Year) mother…..and I am looking forward to good ideas from you.
Hi Kay, it’s nice to ‘meet’ you! I’m so happy Kerry set this up and passed it on to me because it’s been a great experience. I used to have more shoes when I was still teaching and I pared down by focusing on neutrals- I used to have pink flats, purple flats, and green plaid heels which I wore till they fell apart- shoes that didn’t go with much. I used to buy clothes to match my shoes which is not a great thing to have to do! So now my shoes are exclusively brown and black which is a bit boring but they go with everything. My leopard print flats are the most non-neutral pair I own but you’d be surprised at how nicely they coordinate with things.
Stuff in/stuff out is my focus for June- I am counting the number of things I donate and the number of things I purchase. Ideally the stuff out number will be much higher than the stuff in numbers. I will total both at the end of the month. Thanks for reading! 🙂