If your #Halloween #decorating goal is more stylish than scary, try a few of Good Housekeeping’s 75 DIY ideas. Leave bottles of magic potions around or make your chairs into tombstones. Weave a wreath of rubber snakes or create a pumpkin diorama. Make a gallery wall of haunted black-and white photos or create a bubbling witch’s cauldron out of a beverage tub and some dry ice. Look for inspiration and supplies at the thrift stores supplied by your generous #donations to ClothingDonations.org, and you can #help a #veteran while you celebrate or pass out candy. #HalloweenDecorating
Tag: clothing donation pickup
Thrift-Shop to Save on Halloween Costumes
Stuck for a scary-good #Halloween #costume for your kids or yourself? You could buy a ready-made, no-fuss costume if you’re strapped for time, but that’s never as fun as creating your own, one-of-a-kind take on a monster, superhero or ghoul.
Nor is it cheap! Prepackaged costumes can easily cost $50, $100 or more — and you’ll need that money for candy and decorations. So instead of purchasing a costume, assemble one from the unique #clothing and finds at the #thrift or #secondhand store.
You can quickly create classic characters such as vampire, rock star, witch, ghost, scarecrow, burglar or hippie by shopping the local thrift for clothing and accessories, Unexpectedly Domestic says. If pop culture is your thing, the Golden Girls makes a great group costume.
This year’s most up-to-the-minute pop culture costumes borrow looks from Clueless, The Addams Family, Stranger Things, and Top Gun: Maverick, says Refinery29. But you can’t go wrong with longtime favorites such as Harry Potter, Where’s Waldo and Dora the Explorer.
For best results, brainstorm a few costumes before thrifting, says Open Door. Keep an open mind, however, because you might find something that sparks new ideas. Don’t just look for clothing, either — the thrift might have accessories and props that will make your look stand out.
Don’t forget that thrifts are a great source of foundational materials such as sheets that can be repurposed, as well as Halloween decorations. What you come up with is limited only by your creativity, so start #thrifting now. You’ll be able to shop sustainably and save money.
An added bonus? Thrift stores supplied by ClothingDonations.org help fund valuable veterans programs. When you #donate clothing, #household goods and other lightly used #stuff, it gets resold to fund housing, health care and other veteran needs.
Remember to contact ClothingDonations.org any time of year you wish to schedule a #free, #contactless #donation #pickup, too! Think of your donation as pay your Happy Halloween forward. Hope yours is spook-tacular!
Streamline Your Wardrobe as the Seasons Change
Fall begins on Thursday, Sept. 22, and most areas of the country will soon enjoy cooler, crisper weather. As the seasons change, one’s wardrobe has to change, too; shorts and T-shirts won’t be of much use as temperatures tumble from summery 70s and 80s to the 60s, 50s and below.
Without getting into the weeds on what the Vogue fashionistas say is and isn’t in style this season, The Organizing Blog would like to remind readers that this transitional time is a perfect opportunity to #edit your #wardrobe.
As you reintegrate cold-weather garb into the daily routine, take a look at the #summer clothes you did and didn’t wear this year. Sort out the items you wore back into a closet or a storage bin, and trash or #donate the rest. You didn’t need them this year, and you won’t in 2023.
Summer-only clothing that makes the cut but should definitely be packed and stored for next year includes short-sleeve tops, open-toed shoes, beachwear, summer shorts, tropical prints, and linens and other lightweight garments, says The Closet Edit.
Wash or dryclean these items and store them in tucked-away baskets, plastic bins or a closet that’s distinct from your main or go-to closet. Then you can begin to integrate all of the fall and winter clothing you stored last year into active rotation.
As you make room in your closets for those fall garments, you’ll find items that didn’t get worn and shouldn’t have been stored last year. #Trash or #donate these garments unless you have a compelling reason to keep them. Perhaps you lost a few pounds and those old pants fit again?
There will also be #transitional #clothing items that you wear year-round and #accessorize according to the weather. Since they are subject to heavy use, check to see what’s going to continue to serve you through the winter, and what’s come to the end of its useful life.
As always, bag up any lightly used garments that you don’t need or want and contact ClothingDonations.org to schedule a free, #contactless #donation #pickup. We’ll take those items off your hands and resell them to fund valuable #veterans programs.
Here’s to a fashionable, #streamlined and #organized fall and winter!
Making a Major Move More Manageable
About 27 million people changed primary residences last year in the United States, according to Move.org, and one-fifth of those #moves were out-of-state. With the job market still competitive and real estate activity starting to slow, more people will likely be on the move this season.
A move is rarely easy, and supply chain dirsruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic made things more difficult. But you can make a major move more manageable if you make a timeline and spread the work out over a period of days, weeks or months.
If you hire a moving company to transport your #stuff (as 80% of people do) there’s a financial incentive to #packing as little as possible. That’s why the first step in any move is to #declutter and #organize your possessions. “If you don’t love it, need it, [or] use it regularly, or if it’s broken, get rid of it!” says Living Well Spending Less. “There’s nothing worse than unpacking boxes of stuff later on only to realize you don’t really need any of it.”
Edit your stuff well ahead of time to give yourself time to sell some of it, or #purge as you #pack. Either way, you’ll have less to transport and integrate into your new home when the move is complete. Assuming you find lightly used items things that you won’t need in the new home, contact ClothingDonations.org to schedule a free, contactless #donation #pickup — or schedule multiple #pickups during your pre-move #packing period and another in your new location.
Moving long-distance is particularly challenging. While couple of friends with a UHaul may be able to handle small moves, that may not be sufficient for families with houses full of stuff. Architectural Digest offers a guide to the moving companies adept at facilitating relocation across the country or another part of the world.
Near or far, a major move is a great opportunity to reinvent your lifestyle and revisit the things you truly value, use and need. It may not be easy, simple or cheap, but you can start fresh in a new place — without the #clutter that weighed you down in the last one. #MovingTips
Celebrate National Give Something Away Day
July 15 is a day that makes an official acknowledgement that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure — National Give Something Away Day. Established in 2015 by Linda Eaton Hall-Fulcher to encourage generosity, the day promotes #giving selflessly, mindful consumerism and #sustainability.
It’s a great incentive to #declutter and redistribute anything that you no longer need or want. “The reward goes both ways,” National Today says. “We benefit from feeling good about giving and making someone’s day, and at the same time, we also let go of items that we no longer need and are just lying around.”
The sheer amount of stuff in the average American home is staggering — about 300,000 different things. One in 10 Americans rents offsite storage for their extra #junk, and 25% of people with two-car garages don’t have room to park a car inside. The average 10-year-old owns 238 toys, but plays with only about a dozen of them.
Check your closets: There are probably outfits in there that you not only don’t wear, but didn’t even know you had. Pack up any items that no longer fit or don’t get worn, and schedule a free #donation #pickup at ClothingDonations.org to do your part on National Give Something Away Day.
You can also #donate lightly used household items, appliances, books and other items. Whatever you decide to give, having less #clutter in your life to worry about makes everything simpler. And giving actually activates the brain’s pleasure centers, a 2007 study revealed.
Whether you give someone flowers, pay for the next person’s order at the coffee shop, or sort through your old things and donate them to ClothingDonations.org, observing National Give Something Away Day is good for the giver and the recipient. Give something — one thing or a whole truckload — away. You’ll be better off for it!
#NationalGiveSomethingAwayDay