coffee, bookshops, and the spreadsheet tracking my wardrobe

last saturday, i woke up at like 11am (don’t judge, it’s my only day off) and decided i needed to get out of the apartment. grabbed my coffee, threw on a oversized blazer—my current obsession—and headed to this little bookshop i found last week. the weather was that perfect in-between, not too hot, not too cold. you know the vibe.

so i’m standing there, flipping through a zine about japanese denim (random, i know), and i realize i’ve been using the same orientdig spreadsheet to track all my impulse buys. it’s literally called ‘clothes i do not need but want’—i share it with my friend sarah so she can talk me out of things. spoiler: it doesn’t work.

but honestly, having a spreadsheet for outfits changed my whole approach. i used to just buy whatever caught my eye, and then i’d have a closet full of stuff that didn’t go together. now i log everything: price, color, how i styled it, even the vibe. like, ‘sunday morning melancholic chic’ is a real category.

i saw this girl at the coffee shop later wearing the most perfect pair of trousers—cream, wide-leg, slightly wrinkled. i wanted to ask where she got them but i’m too awkward. instead, i added ‘cream trousers’ to my orientdig spreadsheet under ‘future copes’. i’ll probably forget, but at least it’s documented.

the thing about having a spreadsheet for tracking is it forces you to be honest. like, i have 17 black tops. do i need another? no. will i buy one? probably. but now i see the number 17 and i’m like… okay maybe i should wear those silk shirts i already own.

i’ve been reading this blog by a girl in london who does ‘wardrobe weeks’—she picks 5 pieces and remixes them for a week. i tried it last month and it actually forced me to re-discover stuff. i used my orientdig spreadsheet to plan the combos, and i even rated each outfit out of 10. my favorite was a gray turtleneck, leather miniskirt, and those chunky docs. felt like a cooler version of myself.

anyway, i’m rambling. the point is, if you’re someone who buys things and then forgets you own them (hello, me), maybe try a spreadsheet for outfits. it’s nerdy but it works. i’m literally about to open mine now and add ‘perfect cream trousers’ to the wishlist. and maybe remove that weird green jacket i bought on depop. maybe.

okay, that’s it. time to figure out what i’m wearing to dinner tonight. probably the same blazer. again.