Changing over your wardrobe.

It's that time of year!  If you haven't started already, it's time to move your winter wardrobe to the back of your closet, to storage or to another closet and bring out the spring/summer clothing.  I have piles of clothing on my bed, in the guest room, and winter shoes stacked on the floor as I pull out my t-shirts, white pants, and sandals.  But, before I put them 'away' (which in my house, means the guest room closet), there are a few things I recommend doing:

Bring your less-than-fresh boots & shoes to a cobbler.

Image from shopbop.com.

Time to take the boots, booties and winter heels to the shoemaker and get them cleaned up before they go 'away'.  I just dropped off 2 pairs of boots in need of new heels and a pair of riding boots needing a shine at the cobbler.  Trust me; there is nothing better than pulling out your refreshed boots on the first cool fall day.  Pop them on and you are ready to go!

Put winter clothes in storage.

Image from classiccleanerssc.com.

Find a dry cleaner to store your heavier winter garments.  Have tight storage space in your house?!  Some drycleaners will store, for free, your winter clothing.  My dry cleaner will - here's how it works:  I take all of my sweaters, winter pants and coats that require drycleaning and bring them in for storage.  The dry cleaner will usually clean them first and then store them over the summer.  In the early fall, I call a week ahead of when I need the clothes to tell them when I would like to pick them up.  They will retrieve them from storage, press them, and have them ready for you.    All for the cost of normal dry cleaning.  Brilliant!

Put your accessories in those cute storage bags and box up your shoes.

Your purse came with the little soft storage bag for a reason - to keep it dust free when it's unused.  My winter clutches are tucked away, and I loved this image I saw on Pinterest for storing clutches, in their little bags, of course.  

Image from pinterest.com.

Same for your shoes - all of my boot boxes are under my bed, and the guest closet has 'off season' shoe boxes stacked high.  You can get fancy, like this:

Image from pinterest.com.

Or, you can simply be realistic and store your shoes in the boxes in which they came.  I'd rather save my money for the next pair of shoes, rather than spend it on cardboard or plastic boxes.  Just saying.  Isn't that green of me? :-)

Off to move around some piles.  ~ JH