Tag: donate clothing

Make Your Home Into a Hygge Haven

Posted on by Jordank

As readers may recall from previous wintertime posts, hygge (pronounced “HOO-guh”) is the Scandinavian concept of creating warmth, comfort and conviviality in spite of the frigid outdoor temperatures. With temperatures dropping into the single digits, we at The Organizing Blog thought it was time to offer a hygge update.

With the pandemic entering its third year, it’s worth noting that hygge jibes well with the stay-at-home ethic. It doesn’t require dressing up — just the opposite, in fact. Your most comfortable loungewear, flannels and woolen socks will be the height of hygge style.

A hygge home always includes flickering lights, according to Self magazine. Whether it’s a crackling fire in the fireplace, an arrangement of candles or holiday string lights, lighting should be muted, soothing and romantic.

You’ll also need a warm blanket to hygge-fy your home. Quiet pursuits such as a good book or jigsaw puzzle are extremely hygge, but practitioners are also welcome to binge-watch their favorite television programs. Calm relaxation is the key.

Eating in a hygge household should also be geared toward warmth: Coffee, tea and hot chocolate; hearty roasts and stews; and home-baked breads, pastries and cakes are definitely on the menu. Indulgent but fortifying, hygge foods might be called hearth-healthy.

Practiced most assiduously in the world’s happiest country, Denmark, hygge espouses #simplicity over #clutter. Too much #stuff, and hygge becomes difficult to achieve. After all, a #cluttered atmosphere is a hectic and stressful atmosphere.

“Hygge and #decluttering are a match made in heaven,” says Do You. “While hygge by itself offers moments of comfort, you might be distracted or stressed by feeling that you are in an environment that is #untidy, cluttered or reminds you of things pending.”

If you’re stuck in a cluttered home, start by setting aside a small hygge haven; a single room can be your #sanctuary. Remove anything that doesn’t contribute to calm and cozy feelings, and #donate the things you won’t need again to  ClothingDonations.org.

Then, curl up with a good book, a cup of hot chocolate or whatever best warms your bones against the winter chill. You may just find that hygge is the #simplified lifestyle you’ve been missing!

Resolve to Cut the Clutter Consistently

Posted on by Jordank

As the new year begins, many among us will take a hard look at our lives and lifestyles, making resolutions to lose weight, cut the #clutter and so on. The trouble is that sudden, sweeping moves don’t pay off as often as gradual and consistent efforts. To ensure your #decluttering effort succeeds, set more reasonable goals, says the Economic Times. If you can’t clean a whole closet at once, start with a single shelf. Or take 10 minutes each day to sort through a box or drawer, keeping a bin handy for those things you no longer want but can #donate to ClothingDonations.org.

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Keep Your Fall Fashions Clutter-Free

Posted on by Jordank

Saturated colors, logos and head-to-toe cable knits made a big splash on fashion’s runways this fall. But for those among us who aren’t ready to drop thousands of dollars on a single outfit, there’s another concern: how to refresh one’s wardrobe and look good for the fall season without creating more #clutter?

You may get the urge to shop as fall begins, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The temperatures are falling, and you might need new flannels, sweaters, jackets and other cool-weather clothing to wear, even if you’re working from home during the #pandemic. Specific items may need replacing after shrinking or wearing out.

As you shop, however, be mindful of the fact that every new item you buy will need to find a place in your closet or dresser. Ask yourself: Is this purchase truly necessary? Will it fuel a Marie Kondo-style sense of joy? Will I use that garment often enough to merit a spot in my limited space?

If the answer to each of these questions is yes, consider the storage space you have and what’s already in it. If you have are happy with your clothing storage and want to add a few new items to the mix, eliminate one item that you no longer use or just couldn’t work into the routine for each new item you buy.

If — as is more commonly the case — your closet and drawers are stuffed with things that you no longer like, no longer fit into or no longer use, #purge those unwanted items when you start shopping. Keep only a few essentials that you love, says Minimalism Made Simple, and your closet and mind will quickly become less #cluttered.

If you don’t have time for a complete purge, consider getting rid of two or three items for every new item you buy. That way, the overall numbers of garments owned will steadily decrease until your closet contains only successful new purchases and other items you cherish and love to wear.

As for the #stuff that doesn’t make the cut, bag up any garments that are in good enough shape to be worn again and contact ClothingDonations.org for a #donation pickup. You’ll feel good knowing that you look great and have an #uncluttered, #organized closet space while at the same time helping #veterans. That’s the way to kick off the fall season!

Have Your First Post-Pandemic Garage Sale

Posted on by Jordank

Did you order and accumulate lot of extra #stuff during the COVID-19 shutdowns last year? Now that the pandemic is on the wane, you can finally have a #garage sale safely and make some money from that extra #junk. Sort through some your clothing, books and household goods and set aside whatever you don’t need that’s still in decent shape. Don’t overwhelm potential patrons with huge quantities of used clothing and books, Wholefully says; display and price only the best items in those categories and donate the rest.

Celebrate Earth Day This Week and Every Week

Posted on by Jordank

Earth Day 2021 is not just a day — it’s a three-day event. Arranged around the theme “Restore Our Earth,” the observance will offer thousands of affiliated events worldwide to increase awareness of climate change and other environmental issues.

Scheduled this week are a global youth and education summits, a virtual “We Shall Breathe” summit from the Hip Hop Caucus, and a live event with workshops, panel discussions and performances on official Earth Day itself, Thursday, April 22.

Global summits will be held virtually, making it easy to join even if pandemic restrictions are in place. Fans of the planet are invited to participate in cleanups, tree plantings, teach-ins and other activities nearby; locate one near you on this map.

You can make every day Earth Day by volunteering with, donating to and advocating on behalf of environmentally friendly organizations. But perhaps the best way to help the earth is to modify your behavior in order to shrink your impact on the environment.

If you can’t go totally vegan to reduce factory farming, for example, you could at least observe Meatless Mondays. You can pick up litter when you’re out for a walk. You can calculate your own carbon footprint and take steps to reduce and offset it.

Reusable shopping bags and bottles can cut your use of single-use plastics. Plastic waste has infiltrated every part of the earth’s ecosphere, and humans and animals are suffering ill effects from ingesting the chemicals they release.

The more that can be reused without going into landfills, streams and oceans, the better. That’s another good reason to #donate your used clothing (a major source of plastics in the water supply, by the way) and household items to ClothingDonations.org.

#Donated items can have a second life with new owners, not only saving on waste, but also eliminating an equivalent amount of new goods needing to be manufactured. Plus, the proceeds from resale go toward helping veterans nationwide.

The Organizing Blog encourages you to get involved in efforts to clean up and protect the environment in ways large and small this Earth Day and every other day of the year. The saying may be hackneyed, but it’s true: We only have one earth — let’s protect it.