The New York City weather has been confusing lately – 50’s one day, 70’s the next – but have no doubt, it will be cold before you know it. Although we would like to continue going out in shirtsleeves, those days are numbered.
Get Your Winter Gear Ready
Now is the time to remind yourself what your winter outerwear looks like! Did you clean your winter coat at the end of the season? If not, take care of that now. Make any necessary repairs, such as reattaching buttons or fixing torn pockets.
Gather up all of your hats, gloves, and scarves. Make sure that every family member has at least one pair of matching gloves or mittens, and discard any singletons. Check the knits to make sure there are no moth holes – if so, repair or discard. Launder everything now before that first cold snap sneaks up on us.
If you’ve got kids, have them try on all of their coats and jackets to make sure the sleeves are still long enough. If they’ve outgrown something, pass it on to your younger children or bag it up for donation.
Dig out your sweaters, turtlenecks, and winter pants, and put them through the moth check mentioned above. Give a hearty “welcome back” to all these clothes that you haven’t seen in six months or more, and pull out your favorites. Then look at the rest of them. If they are not your favorites, do you still want to devote precious closet and drawer space to them for another year? Or are you ready to get rid of them to make way for some new favorites?
Say Goodbye to Your Summer Gear
You’ll be ignoring your shorts and bathing suits for the next eight months or so. While the summer is still fresh in your mind, review your clothes and identify anything you didn’t wear all season. Add those to the charity donation bag.
If anything is stained, take care of that now, as it will be much harder to remove those stains later.
Don’t forget to stock up on hot chocolate!
