Do This When Time to Swap Out Your Summer Clothes

Changes of seasons are great times to have yard sales- especially at the close of winter and start of spring; and the close of summer and start of fall. I love having them at the end of summer. Mornings are a little cool, but not cold and midday is very warm, but not stifling hot. Spring isn’t bad either, but here in Maryland, it’s usually quite chilly, until mid-spring.

Clothes You Don’t Wear

Right now, it’s September. Soon, you’ll be putting away spring and summer clothes and pulling out fall and winter clothes. For the sake of conciseness, I’m going to group spring and summer together and call it summer and I’m going to group fall and winter together and call it winter. Chances are every year when it comes time to swap out your summer clothes you find summer clothes you never even pulled out of storage and summer clothes that you pulled out but never wore. Maybe you couldn’t fit them, so why bother pulling them out. Maybe, like me, you gained quite a few pounds during this 2020/2021 pandemic. So, at the start of the season, you asked yourself, “Why pull-out clothes that you know you can’t fit?” And so, you didn’t. Or you pulled out pieces you thought you could fit, until time to put them on. Yesterday, I steamed a blouse to wear and it never crossed my mind that I couldn’t fit it. I slipped it over my head, but it was tight around my stomach and wouldn’t drop past my derriere. It just laid there like on a shelf (shaking my head). So, I threw on old faithful and went about my business.

Or maybe your taste in clothing has changed and you feel more comfortable in your dresses that are a little longer, blouses a little looser, or more conservative patterns or prints.

A lot of those clothes, you may not have worn for three years or more. But you like them and keep telling yourself you’ll wear them next year or you’ll lose weight to get into them next year. Maybe you have clothes sizes 10-20 and you justify keeping them because your weight fluctuates.

Maybe, like me at one point, you have just too many clothes to wear; there simply wasn’t enough days in the season to wear all the pieces you have. You pulled out dozens of shorts and nickers; dozens of blouses; and maybe a dozen or more summer dresses. Pareto’s Principal tells us that 20% of your clothes you wear 80% of the time. That means you have a

couple dozen pieces that you wear a lot and then some other pieces you wear as the mood or occasion strikes you. The rest, you probably wear so that you can say you wore them- after all, you pulled them out to wear. But they aren’t your favorite. You wore them just because.

Your Options

You can justify keeping all those clothes another year. Any old excuse will do.

Or You could choose to do something different this year. You could seize this opportunity to declutter.  Free up space you’re wasting storing clothes you don’t wear. Save time and energy from moving clothes you aren’t going to wear, out of the way, so you can get to the clothes you are going to wear. Or packing and unpacking clothes you didn’t wear and know you probably aren’t going to wear next year, either. A good rule of thumb that I picked up from somewhere is that if you didn’t wear it last year or this year, get rid of it. Chances are you aren’t going to wear it in year three.

Times this by the number of people in your household. How much space, how many totes, boxes, and bags, and how many hours are you wasting on stuff you all can’t wear, don’t wear, or don’t want. Those unworn clothes go into basically two or three piles.

The first pile is trash. Some clothes may be tattered, have holes, may be dry rotting, or very dated. Just go ahead and throw them away.

The second pile is special give away. If you know someone who has always like that dress, blouse, skirt, or whatever; if they can fit it, bless them with it. In fact, pull a few comparable pieces together, fold them nicely, and put them in nice bag, and set a date to meet them or drop the items off to them.  Make sure they are clean and smell fresh.

The third pile is for general give away because. These clothes are still in good condition and somebody else can use them. I recommend having a yard sale. You get a chance to recoup some of your money and can throw that money towards bills, savings, or the upcoming holidays. People can buy your nice clothes for less than or about what they could buy them for at your local thrift store. Plus, your yard sale will have more than just clothes. They can shop your other unused items.  

Conclusion

Decluttering -especially by way of a yard sale, can be a blessing to you and to others. It can be a bit of work, but I find it rewarding and fun. Get the whole household involved. Encourage your parents and siblings to do the same and you can have one big family yard sale. This can prove to benefit you all and customers who love a yard sale with a wide selection of items to look at.