Plan Projects as You Celebrate Labor Day

At home or on the road, Labor Day weekend is nothing to squander. You might choose to host a #cookout or tailgate, Country Living suggests, now that football season has arrived, or you can find a swimming hole, rent a pool or simply turn on the sprinklers. Watching the local #parade and #picnicking are possibilities, as are bike rides, books, beer gardens and anything else you like to do for fun. If you’re handy, don’t wait to start your on any home improvement projects you want to get done this fall — or at least prioritize those projects, start gathering the necessary equipment and contacting any experts you’ll need to help. #LaborDay

Check the Thrift for Football Fan Gear

Football season is in full swing, and just six weeks in, it has been a roller-coaster ride for many fans. The early part of the season has been marked by an unusual number of huge upsets, shaking up the standings and causing some to question their longtime allegiances.

But for fans looking forward to having their favorite teams make the playoffs (or banking on their Fantasy Football picks), every week is a make-or-break viewing. And for true fans, nothing beats having a jersey or other souvenir announcing which team the support.

On game day, you want to be wearing a pro jersey from your favorite team with your favorite player’s name stitched on the back, or at least a T-shirt or cap with the team logo. Bears or Lions, Patriots or Jets, Saints or Seahawks, fans just have to have the merch.

The trouble is, that stuff is expensive. An “official” NFL Green Bay Packers jersey with Aaron Rogers’ name and number on it starts at $99.99. Add your own last name and another two-digit number, and the price shoots up to $149.99.

This isn’t limited to football only, of course; baseball, basketball and hockey fans have their own high-priced fan gear. Astros, Cardinals, Nationals and Yankees gear will see a surge in sales this week, as those teams vie to compete in Major League Baseball’s World Series.

There is a less costly answer, though, if you’re headed to a gameday event and need to show your sartorial support. The local thrift! Supplied by generous donations to ClothingDonations.org, they are an incredible resource of sports paraphernalia.

Think about it: Pro (and college) sports teams are something lots of people rally around. And a lot of those people — fans — buy themselves new stuff, gain or lose weight, and otherwise grow out of their gear. When they weed that extra stuff out, they often donate it.

That means that the local thrift has lots of jerseys, T-shirts and other stuff representing local and regional teams. It may even have stuff from out-of-town teams if a few of your neighbors have moved to the area and/or maintained their fandoms from afar.

Fan gear is in wide demand, and there is no shortage of it — so why pay more? Track it down at the thrift, and you’ll pay pennies on the dollar compared to buying new. And if you have outgrown some of your own fan gear, donate it to ClothingDonations.org; it will be resold to help fund valuable veterans programs. Yay team!

Kick off Decluttering in Time for Football

Even though the temperatures may still be muggy outside, the Labor Day holiday marks the symbolic end of summer break. Now complete, the kids are back in school throughout the country and the leaves will soon be starting to turn in the northern climes. Fall is on the way.

Also synonymous with fall is the start of the football season. When the players hit the gridiron in earnest, it’s time to hole up indoors in front of the TV — or bundle up at the stadium — and root for your favorite team. But you may still be ill-equipped to have people over for game day.

For one thing, your home may be too cluttered to entertain in, even in the most casual beer-and-chips kind of way. The answer is to gather up all of that extra stuff that’s lying around and contact ClothingDonations.org for a pickup. Once clear of clutter, you can have people over without having them trip over your old junk.

With summer nearing its end, you can get rid of the T-shirts and shorts that didn’t get worn, and store or toss those bathing suits and pool toys. And once you start to get those fall sweaters and coats out of storage, you may find a few things that you know you won’t be wearing in the seasons ahead. Get rid of them now, before they can take up valuable closet space.

You may need some fan gear to cheer on your favorite team or teams. Thrift stores supplied by donations to ClothingDonations.org can be a good source of lightly used jerseys advertising your team preference, as well as housewares to help you welcome gametime guests. Thrifts can also be a good source of cold-weather gear that you’ll start to need in the next few weeks.

Think of clutter as the opposing team — the immovable object that you must continuously advance against to score a “win” on the playing field of your home. Unless you are a football player yourself, outdoor activities will be less of an option as the weather gets cooler, so the time to start reclaiming your space — yard by yard — is now.