Tackle it Tuesday: Switching Out Clothes
April 21, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under General Housekeeping and Homemaking, Organizing and Clutter Control
It’s that time of year. It’s time to swap out clothes. I’ve been working on this little by little. First I started taking out a few things that the kids didn’t wear very often or things the I knew wouldn’t fit them next year and adding a few short-sleeved shirts in their closets. Now it’s time to finish the big task . . . and what a huge task it is!!!!
We just returned from mom and dad’s house a few days ago. As usual, my friend had some clothes for my kids. We really enjoy hand-me-downs. The clothes are nice and most of them look new. I’m so thankful for this blessing that saves me money. I’ve been busy sorting through five trash bags of hand-me-downs. It is overwhelming!
The task would not be as great if we weren’t so limited for space. We brought a new blessing into our home a few months ago and now we are really cramped, especially with closet space. Today I finished pulling out all of the fall and winter clothing. As always, I kept a few long-sleeved t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts in the closets. In North Carolina, you just never know when you’ll need them. I kept most of the pants in their closets too.
I feel as though I’m constantly shuffling things around and trying to find better ways to store our clothing. Hopefully, I can find another great deal on a dresser for J’s room. Until our house sells we’ll just have to be cramped, make due, and be thankful that we are able to pay two payments.
Today I am washing clothes, sorting clothing to store and clothing to get rid of, and putting away this year’s spring and summer clothing. What are you tackling?
images by Karen Weideman
Oh a tackle I have yet to do!! Nice job!
I haven’t gotten that far either, but I have taken a few shirts out of ’storage’. I own 16 plastic sweater boxes that are about 2′x1′ and 6″ deep. I use some of them for storage of off-season clothing. They stack nicely, so I usually have a stack of 4 or five of them as an extra table in my dressing room. I use them for various storage since I have so many, but their main purpose is clothes. Changing clothes for the season is on my Autofocus list, so I’ll get there soonish.
When I married my husband we combined 2 families totaling 6 children, 5 of them girls. The two teenagers swapped clothes (including mine) and the smaller girls were stair stepped. When it came time to change out seasonal clothes, I would store them by size in cardboard boxes (now I use plastic totes) and write a description on the box of what was in it. This made it so much easier when I had to have something or when the seasons changed again and I knew what sizes to reach for.
I still do this with my granddaughters clothes. I can see at a glance just which container I want. And when she outgrows her clothes I take them to a re-sale clothing store and what I make there goes back toward her next wardrobe needs. What items they won’t take go to help the needy.