Closets

5 Charities That’ll Take Your Stuff

September 21, 2015 by XOXOblog in Closets, General Organizing

Want to donate some things that are cluttering up your life? If you pick a charity that’s close to your heart, it will make it easier to donate things. In case you don’t have a charity that’s close to your heart, take a look at these ideas.

Once you’ve donated to your favorite charities, be sure to document your donations on the XOXO Donation Records. Then file with your tax records.

1. Operation Blankets of Love: Provides items to homeless animals. http://www.operationblanketsoflove.org

2. Get Well Gamers: Brings video game systems and games to children’s hospitals. http://www.getwellgamers.org

3. Brides Across America: Donates wedding dresses to military brides. http://www.bridesacrossamerica.com

4. Newborns In Need: Delivers handmade and store-bought items to newborns in every community. http://newbornsinneed.org

5. CD Sweep: Supports the Autism Science Foundation. http://cdsweep.com

5 Steps to Closet Organization

September 14, 2015 by XOXOblog in Closets, General Organizing, Self Organization

STEP 1: Sort through your closet and decide what you’ll never wear again. These items include the pieces that are outdated, torn, stained and those pieces that haven’t fit properly in quite some time (and you don’t plan on tailoring them to fit). Take these items out of your closet immediately. Decide if you’re going to donate the pieces you don’t want. Choosing a charity close to your heart helps you be fearless about your decision to donate.

STEP 2: Have a few pieces that need to be tailored? Take them to your tailor this week. Don’t delay-these are the pieces that haven’t been worn in a while. It’s time to make use of them again! if you wait much longer, you might lose interest in wearing them altogether.

STEP 3: Keep like-items together. (This is the step that will transform your closet) Move things around so they’re with their friends. Accessories together, sweaters together, shorts together, belts together, etc.

STEP 4: Use a drawer organizer to separate socks, underwear and other delicates.

STEP 5: This is extra credit- If your hangers aren’t the same type, switch them out for ones that are. Once you do, make sure all your hangers are facing the same direction.

Want to keep your closet looking sexy all year long? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Only put clothes away if they’re ready-to-wear. A wrinkly shirt in your closet isn’t a real option when you’re getting dressed in the morning.

2. Make sure to donate things along the way. Once you know something’s out,it should be out. Try to do this once each year.

3. Don’t allow “non-closet” things to enter your closet- ever. Pet toys, old birthday cards, extra office supplies- they live elsewhere.

4. Do a load of laundry the minute your hamper is full.

5. Pinky swear that you’ll hang up your clothes when you get home from work.

Organizing a Capsule Wardrobe

September 7, 2015 by XOXOblog in Closets, Self Organization, Taking Care of YOU

If you haven’t heard of a capsule wardrobe, don’t fret. I only heard about it about a month ago and now I’m in love.

My friend introduced me to the capsule wardrobe via Unfancy- a super cute blog which describes a capsule as… “…a mini wardrobe made up of really versatile pieces that you totally LOVE to wear.” I asked her and another friend to help me since they had capsuled their wardrobes before and I trusted them to tell me what was what. We all got together, drank wine, played fashion show and laughed- a ton. Hahaha!

As organized as my closet was before I capsuled- my wardrobe was kind of a mess. I had a closet full of clothes, but felt like I had nothing to wear. I kept wearing the same pieces over and over (my husband even complained about it)! I felt the need to go shopping often to hopefully breathe a little life into my wardrobe. I figured the clothes I was buying were boring- and dare I wonder- was I boring? I panicked at the thought of being boring and tried to buy more interesting pieces-printed tops, wild colored pants and embellished hats. I thought my wardrobe needed to be more interesting. What I found interesting was that I hardly ever wore the new clothes either. My new clothes were too crazy and it was difficult to find an outfit to piece together since a lot of the pieces were printed or colorful-hahaha. In fact, I kinda didn’t even feel comfortable in the new clothes I was buying. I didn’t feel like myself.

After a 4-hour capsule wardrobe session with the girls- we went through EVERY piece of clothing and accessory I owned, we came up with a selection of pieces I LOVED to wear and felt comfortable in. We made a list of things that I needed to add to my wardrobe and I was surprised at how helpful it was to shop with a list. I don’t have a hard time getting ready in the mornings now. I have less clothes and more options. I didn’t realize how stressful it was getting ready with my old wardrobe until I created my capsule wardrobe!

Here are 3 samples of pictures I took to show my friends that I could get ready in 5 minutes or less:

If you want to try a capsule wardrobe- you have my full support! Find all the information you need here: http://www.un-fancy.com/capsule-wardrobe-101/how-to-build-a-capsule-wardrobe/

[ TIP ] 3 Tips for Organizing Your Craft Closet

August 17, 2015 by XOXOblog in Closets, General Organizing, Tips

1. Keep school supplies separate from craft supplies.

It’s better to keep these two categories separate. Your kids should be able to go into the school-supply cabinet and get what they need without being distracted by “cool” things they find.

2. Put supplies away between projects.

With all the embellishments, ribbons, buttons and paper that are in our craft areas, it’s better to put as much away at the end of the day as possible. If you’re working with specific tools and craft supplies, there’s no harm in keeping a few things out, but try to keep things as tidy as possible so you don’t have a bigger mess the next day. Use containers to store the small pieces for each project you have out.

3. Encourage your children to help clean up after crafting time.

Get the kids involved so they’ll learn responsibility and organizing skills. Supervise them the first few times until you’re confident they can do it themselves. Labeling your drawers/containers could come in handy when the kids are responsible for putting away crafts.

A fun incentive to get the kids motivated to organize and clean up is our XOXO Daddy Dollars and XOXO Mommy Money. Use with our XOXO Chore Chart.