Remember almost 30 days ago, when I made you look at all those pictures of my clothes?

Well. The 30 in 30 Remix is just about over and it turned out to be so easy, I kinda forgot I was doing it.

Which means I forgot to update y’all on my progress. Whoops! I do hope my radio silence on that topic hasn’t worried you, because I stayed on the wagon. I was the picture of 30 in 30 sobriety and only wore my designated 30 items.

And I didn’t shop until last week, when I did take advantage of some ridic sales and stock up on utterly practical things like t-shirts. Seriously. 30 days without impulse purchasing, and the first thing I buy are basic white and gray t-shirts that go with everything in my closet and mean I can stop wearing the one with the big hole in the elbow. Everybody wins!

Okay, maybe I also bought another pair of cords. In a pinky-purple color this time, happy sigh. Because I love J. Crew cords and they were on clearance for $14.

And… right. On Friday, I used an Anthropologie gift card on a top to wear in a photo shoot. Which was for work. Which meant the top was both free and tax-deductible.

Those hardly even count as an impulse purchases in my world. They’re just good common sense. So, I dare say, two months of wardrobe experimentation has reformed me.

I’m spending less time obsessing (in a self-destructive way) over what I wear, because having a less overwhelming amount of choice means that I’ve identified a couple of good go-to outfits that work in a variety of situations. Which lessens the “I have nothing to wear!” panic attack stuff. If it’s a situation where I’m likely to be nervous about my ensemble, I decide a few days ahead of time what it will be — no last-minute switcheroos allowed.

I’m also having more fun playing dress-up again. I rediscovered a lot of accessories that had been sitting neglected, and oh so pretty!

And, I seem to be less prone to bad decision impulse purchases — probably because I have a much better sense of what I have and what holes I could actually stand to fill. Non-hole-y t-shirts for example. I also want one of those big drape-y cardigans that don’t button, because it would go with at least 25 of my 30 items.

Looking back, I think the Six Items or Less challenge proved too taxing for a lot of the same reasons that diets generally fail: It was really hard and restrictive, I felt cranky all the time and prone to cheating, and then guilty for said cheating. Vicious. Cycle.

In contrast, the 30 in 30 plan was more of a “healthy lifestyle change.” A real one. Not the women’s magazine version, where “healthy lifestyle change” is code for “totally impractical and restrictive diet advice that will make you hate us and yourself.” It gave my wardrobe decisions a little more structure and purpose, without taking all of the fun out of the whole getting dressed experience. In fact, it put quite a bit of the fun back in, since I had plenty of choices about what to wear and can now shop without the requisite post-shopping guilt attack.

As for what comes next? I think I’ll just keep on 30-ing. I’m going to do a quick edit — swap some of the current 30 out for things in the reject pile, because I ended up not wearing them as much as I thought I would. And there are one or two things in the reject pile that I’d like back, though not nearly as many as I expected. I also want to bring in some spring-ier options, because hello, it’s March! (I’m just not on speaking terms with the snow flurries we had this morning.)

Going forward, I could see myself instituting a Quick 30 Edit at the beginning of each month or two, to keep things fresh/interesting/seasonally appropriate. Not saying that would be everyone’s cup of tea, of course! But since I do enjoy recreational shopping and have no interest in giving that up altogether, being more aware of what I’m actually wearing would definitely help make the occasional splurge less guilt-inducing.

Thoughts? Do you employ any kind of regular wardrobe editing to keep closet anxiety at bay? Do you suffer frequent shopper’s remorse, or do you have a good sense of what you need/want/can afford to buy?