If you take an active interest in garage sales, you can probably pick up some ready-made Halloween costumes or gather up arts and crafts supplies to make your own for kids and adults. You won’t need many supplies for a Scooby-Doo character, for example. And, all you need to represent a popcorn box is a red and white stripped skirt or pants and a white shirt. If you want something really simple, use a few green leaves to adorn your hair and a yellow shirt. Presto — you’re a pineapple!
Tag: cleaning closets
Looking for ideas for Halloween costumes?
Look no further than your closets and bookshelves. Many ideas are right in front of you and can be made fairly easily with a few things in your kitchen drawers or closets. For example, if you have youngsters, you likely have books about fairy tales or Disney picture books for inspiration. Without much of a creative streak, you can help your kids look like Shrek, Fiona, Luke Skywalker or Princess Leia. With some dark, round frames, you’ve got an instant Harry Potter. Pinterest is a great go-to spot to find eye-catching and simple costumes. And, if you do buy materials or some clothing you don’t foresee using again, be sure to donate to www.ClothingDonations.org.
Get Your Style On for Fall!
There’s a crispness in the air, leaves are beginning to change and the summer sky is giving way to fluffy fall clouds. What does all of this mean? It’s time to conduct the semi-annual closet shift—swapping out the summer wardrobe for warmer fall/winter clothes.
But don’t just trade one pile of clothes for another. Changing seasons can be a great time to purge those lightly-used or not-at-all used items from your closets. Face it, if you haven’t worn those coral printed crops or that Hawaiian shirt the entire season (and perhaps even for seasons before), it’s time to clear some space for clothing you will wear.
In Real Simple, Rebecca Daly offer six helpful tips to help you purge those items from your closet*:
- The old bag you used to love, but now just takes up space on your closet shelf! When cleaning closets it can be easy to focus on clothes alone, but don’t neglect to review the other items that take up space—like those bulky bags you no longer use.
- Old undergarments. Another closet item or dresser drawer item that tends to be overlooked is undergarments. If you’re not wearing them, throw them out—or, if there’s still useful life in them—add them to your donate pile.
- Stained clothing. So your favorite white beach cover-up somehow has become stained with unidentifiable spots. If you’ve washed and dried the item, those spots aren’t going away! It’s time to toss!
- Well-worn old sweaters. We all have them. Piles of sweaters that are full of pills, snags or stretched beyond recognition. Put them in the discard pile!
- Shoes that have taken their last steps. They may have been beloved at one time, but if the heels are worn off, the toes are scuffed or they simply don’t fit quite right and you rarely wear them, it’s time for them to go.
- Those old jeans that just don’t have the right look or fit anymore. If they’re baggy, holey, or following a style trend that has seen its day, it’s time to part with them, regardless of how well-loved they once were.
There! Doesn’t that feel better? Once you’ve gone through your closets and drawers to declutter and dismiss, you’ll have room to welcome the new fashions and trends that will keep your spirits up over the fall and winter months.
*Oh, and by the way, as you’re doing your fall closet clean-up, keep us in mind. We’ll come and pick up your gently-used items and find them new homes—benefiting our veterans in the process!
Declutter Your Closets
To help your children stay organized and reduce clutter in their closets, provide a canvas bag for clothing they have outgrown. Instruct the child to use the bag. Otherwise, these items end up on the floor, or take up precious space. In no time, you’ll have items to donate.
Share the Labor
If you have older school-aged children, you can create a plan and work together to clean out and organize their closets. Remember to create piles to keep, to donate and to repair. From there, you can create a list of what each child will need.