The Seasons have Swapped, and So Should Your Closet!

I know it's December and Christmas is around the corner, but I'm pretty sure jack frost has awoken early in Virginia.  Being born and raised in southern California, I grew accustomed to warm weather and sunshine, and yea I have made Virginia my home for the last 6 years, but I'm still not used to these freezing cold temperatures.  Not to mention the fact that the weather is a constant roller coaster, yesterday was 74 degrees, today a whooping 37.  So what's a girl to do with her time?  Well swap out my clothes of course!

Yea, I made that sound way too fun.  This task for me is no hour job.  It involves lugging the tote out of my attic that currently houses all my winter clothes and swapping them out with all the summer clothes I'd freeze body parts off in this season.  

Step 1: Grab your tote (and if you don't have one, buy one, don't go cheap either, get a good tight snapping top to prevent bugs or critters from making your sweaters their new homes)

Step 2: Empty the Tote.  Don't just dump it either, you need to go piece by piece.  Are you going to wear that piece this winter?  If you just can't make up your mind, donate it. You typically know right away if you're going to wear something.  If you need to think twice, you won't wear it.  Does it fit you?  We all shift in weight throughout the year.  Make sure to keep in mind that we tend to gain a few extra pounds during the holidays.  So if it's tight now, you may not like the way it fits come January.  

Step 3: Swap it out.  Don't allow your summer clothes to clutter up your closet for winter.  In Virginia, there is no way I am wearing a summer dress during the winter.  I used to try to wear dresses for work with tights, but one, I can not stand tights and two, it doesn't matter how thick they are, it's still too cold for it.  There are certain tank tops that you can dress up with a cardigan, but you aren't going to be dressing up those shorts.  This step isn't limited to your clothes.  Swap out those shoes! Your flip flops have no place in the snow (if you have snow), and peep toes, that's your call, here it's a little too cold.  Bring out those boots!  Summer's way too hot to keep those piggies in those amazing boots, but winter demands the warmth of last year's awesome finds.  

Step 4: Load up the Summer Stuff.  At this point, I can attest to the lack of motivation to put all your summer items in the bin neatly.  You've tried things on, made a donate pile, and hung up all your winter stuff.  But this is the time to pull every last ounce of energy you have left and fold those clothes.  Believe me you'll be able to fit more in the bin, and when you need to pull all this out when the seasons change again, you'll appreciate all that hard work.  

Step 5:  Put that bin back where it belongs.  It's easy to do all this work and put that bin back "tomorrow" but tomorrow will come and go and you'll eventually start hanging laundry on it.  Save yourself the trouble of having to put it away later, after you've dug it out of the avalanche of purses, clothes, scarves and shoes.  

Happy Swapping Everyone!