It’s springtime!
The changing of the seasons is a wonderful time of new adventure and growth. As the weather changes, the flowers grow, the trees leaf out–and suddenly we stop wearing sweaters, winter coats and turtlenecks. This year, we pulled out shorts and tee shirts in April!
The Pros advise not to rush into packing away all your cold weather items all at once. When you feel the weather taking a turn towards the bright side start putting your stuff away slowly. Take your time to carefully sort through and organize what will go where.
Lavender is a natural alternative to keeping your storage items fresh over the next six months.
The idea of course is to make sure you don’t waste space storing stuff that’s out of fashion, doesn’t fit right, or never suited your personal style. We’re talking about maximizing your storage space, and taking care of your clothing and other cold weather items – and those things need some TLC if you want to get good use out of them again next year.
1) Protect your clothes naturally – with lavender!
Moth balls are stinky, and toxic too. If you really want an effective way to keep your clothing over the off-season you can pick up lavender-scented sachets to place in with the clothes that you’re storing away. You could also use dried lavender with the clothes that you’re packing away. Either way, the lavender is a natural insect deterrent & will keep your clothes from smelling musty next season.
2) Find off-season shoe storage – basement or second bedroom?
You don’t want to look at boots in the summer (or sandals in the winter)–they take up prime closet space. And who wants to look at Fleece boots when you’re picking out a sundress? The Pros recommend to avoid using cardboard boxes for storage – the cardboard is acidic and the glue tends to attract insects and pests. You’re better off with storage specifically designed to store your shoes or boots, like plastic boxes or a protective boot bag.
Use a boot butler to hang your off-season boots and don’t forget the shapers to keep the material looking its best.
3) Tall boots need support
Those beautiful tall boots shouldn’t flop over all summer–it’ll cause the leather to crease & crack. Invest in a set of boot shapers.
4) Dry clean
Make sure to dry clean sweaters and other dry-clean-only items even if only worn once (the moths will know)–and take the dry cleaner bags off! Otherwise your clothing can get stained from the chemical BHT in the plastic itself.
5) Hangers (a two-fer Tip)
Invest in the Huggable Hangers–they’ll actually create more space in the closet. A great organizer tip, when you hang your clothing for the season, turn all the hangers away from you–when you wear something, turn the hanger toward you. You’ll know what you wore & what you never wore all season!
