Friday, May 28, 2010

Cleaning out the Closet

Do you ever look into your closet or wardrobe and think to yourself when the last time was that you wore a particular article of clothing? If a date from this century doesn’t pop into your head, it may be time for a trip to Goodwill.

After we installed a new closet system, one that allowed for our clothes to all fit into the closet that is, we probably tossed out a good third of our clothes that we no longer wore into two piles; donate and garbage. If it was in fair condition it went into the donate pile and if there were holes and tattered edges it went into the toss pile… except for a couple of my old button up shirts that I really liked the fabrics and plan on cutting them up to make a quilt out of.

Don’t underestimate a second life for some of your clothes. If it is still wearable then donate it or have a garage sale for someone else to get some use out of. However, for the holey jeans, khakis and even screen tees there is room for upcycling. I don’t know why but just writing that last sentence made me finally think of a good use for the many, many, many old screen tees I have. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it work and put them in my Etsy shop assuming I can find the courage to let them go.

When Cory was in Closetland
“Let my screen tees go!”

Okay, so you’ve gone through and cleaned out your closet and yet another six months or a year has gone by and that means it is time to rethink what you kept. I like to clean out our closet's old clothing in June and January for the simple reason that in June if there were any winter clothes not worn they can be tossed, and January the same for summer garments. I will freely admit that this is much easier said than done. Ever since I was a young warthog I’ve loved screen tees and probably have never intentionally thrown any of them away. I’m still trying to figure out what happened to my Prince concert T-shirt my stepmom brought back for me when she saw him in concert back in 1989 in Atlanta, Georgia, but I have a feeling that if it isn’t in my box of school stuff (freely admitting my pack-rattiness here by stating that I have every piece of homework from sixth grade up in a box, along with that year’s binder or… gasp… Trapper Keeper) then it must have gotten tossed. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but had we gone to the 80s prom a couple weeks ago this would have been a perfect shirt to wear.

Screen tees are the only exception I’ve allowed myself and sadly since I didn’t wear any of my plaid flannel shirts this last winter they will have to go. Considering they would now be considered “VINTAGE” and early representations of the “Grunge Rock Era” that so defined my middle and high school days it’ll be sad to let them go. But alas, they are taking up space and unless I suddenly get the urge to wear plaid flannel again… uh oh, I think my brain is telling me it is time for a revival. Hmmm, maybe I could keep a few around, you know, just in case.

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