Data Confessions

I'd originally planned on updating you all on what was actually left in my closet after the "great moving purge of 2013" but as I found my mind wandering in class Monday (don't judge, it was accounting), I realized that before I delve back into analyzing my closet, I needed to take a step back and talk about some of the things I've been doing wrong.

Mistake Number 1: Conflating my rating system
Remember the five point rating scale that I came up with at the beginning of this project? Well, it turns out, that I mighta-kinda-sorta made a mistake in coming up with those categories (that's what I get for trying to be all fancy).

It took me a while to realize that numbers 1, 2, 3, and 5 were all based on an emotion--how I feel about my clothes.  But number 4 "Wardrobe Staple" was a description of an item's function.  What did this mean for my project?  Well . . . other than making me feeling slightly stupid, it made "4" a meaningless rating.  It quickly became a catch-all for any item that I felt was slightly higher than a "3" but not quite amazing enough to warrant a "5".  BUT (and this is where it started causing more problems), I was also using it to it to categorize things that were legitimate wardrobe staples--like my favorite white t-shirts.

You can see the issue . .  . not only did the category not fit within my scale, but it was also being used as a measure for two different things.  Rookie Data Mistake 101

So, what's the solution?  honestly, I'm not sure yet.  I'm thinking about just getting rid of the "4" category all together.  I'm not sure it really adds anything and it's kind of become a way for me to be indecisive about my clothes, which leads to my next point.

Mistake Number 2: Not being completely honest with myself about what I do and do not wear

As I realized when I started packing my clothes up in D.C., there were a lot of items in my wardrobe that I hadn't really been honest with myself about when I initially rated them.  I think a lot of conversations in my head went like this: "If I rate these pants as a 4, then I don't really have to think about getting rid of them . . . 4, it is!"

As I've mentioned in the past, I get waaaay to emotionally attached to my stuff and I need to be a little more brutal.  Either I look good in something or I don't. Either I wear it or I hide it in my closet pretending I'll use it someday.

Mistake Number 3: Not spending enough time refining my "model" closet

I haven't really spent much time refining the original model that I came up with back in February. Probably because it's the hardest part of my project (or, in my opinion any data project) and I have a tendency to put off difficult things. (Note, I also do this with other things I find unpleasant/difficult, like going to the dentist or calling Ikea)

One reason it's been difficult is that my entire lifestyle has changed over the last few months.  But, the other, bigger reason is that it really means defining what an ideal closet/wardrobe looks like for me.  And, it requires determining not just what I need in terms of my lifestyle, but also my personal style (which, being me, somehow also involves some soul searching).

But, figuring out what this model is (or at least the next iteration of it) is really critical.  Data analytics 101: without a good model, you have no idea what you're measuring.

So look for some posts on this over the next few weeks (and give me a hard time about it if I don't live up to that!)

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Thank you for sticking with me through my data analytics naval-gazing soul searching.  Hopefully, I can use this to develop some better metrics for figuring out what I need in time for some fall/winter shopping . . .