Make outfits from clothes you already wear
Check the nine cold-weather outfits in the example before buying more clothes. You have eight top-and-bottom pairs and one dress. The rust linen top stays out until warm weather. You can pair neutrals with any colour here, but two other colours must match. Add combinations such as blue and rust yourself if you wear them. Each outfit uses the first matching shoes, so you’ll see trainers throughout. You can wear the brown boots instead; changing shoes doesn’t increase the count.
| Change | Effect on the example |
|---|---|
| Add one neutral top | +2 outfits, and one more day of fresh tops |
| Add olive chinos | +2, not +4: only the white shirt and grey t-shirt pair with them |
| Add a second pair of shoes | +0 outfits; a rainy-day option |
| Remove the black dress | −1 outfit, −2 days of fresh tops |
Why the wash day matters
You can run out of fresh tops while still having outfit combinations left. If you’re short by one day, try washing a day earlier before buying more.
Buy for the gap you actually have
It does not know which tops you reach for. A top you dislike counts the same as one you wear all the time, so a list of the clothes you own is not a list of the clothes you wear. Enter the ones you wore this month and the count gets honest. If the gap is real, write the purchase down from it: the category, the colour that goes with the most things, the season, and how many wears it needs to last between washes. From the example list we would buy a neutral top before the rest, because it is the one change in the table above that raises both the outfit count and the days between washes.