How to Read that Laundry Tag (and not lose your mind)

Am I the only one that looks at the care tag on a piece of clothing and thinks HUH?! I know as a fashion girl I should have all of those symbols memorized but I don't. Confessional time...usually I just wing it. Because of this I have ruined a few items of clothing in my life. You'd think I'd learn. I started thinking that I can't be the only one. I did a little research and found some great info. There is an American Cleaning Institute! Living in the DC area, which is home to many associations and institutes, I should have guessed that something like this exists. I found some handy info on their site.

I decided to guess what these symbols meant before looking at the chart. I have to say, I was correct on only three of them. This scarf should be hand washed, with only non-chlorine bleach. It should be dried flat. It should not be put in the dryer, ironed or dry cleaned.

If you know the basics, then you can decipher all of the codes.

I like this guide, so I don't have to memorize anything. I printed out this beauty to hang in our laundry room. For more info on laundry care, you can access the Laundry section of ACI's website. Check out the left navigation of their page for lots of additional links. I am sure this section on Holiday Stains will come in handy soon.

Stay or Go?

Cleaning out my closet and drawers has never been an easy task for me. Parting with worn or stained clothing or shoes is never hard. It's those items that I like and think I may wear again that cause the issue. Just recently, I had to drastically reduce the clothing that I had stored in our basement. A friend was moving in to rent the space and I needed to make room. A few items were hard to part with. They were items I thought I might come back to, eventually. I donated tons of items that I hadn't worn in ages and didn't think I'd wear again.  About a month after this big donation, I started noticing tops like these popping up online.

In my big purge, I had donated two similar tops because they were left over from my 90's club days and frankly I didn't know why I still had them.  When I saw these tops online, for a split second I regretted donating them. Then I did a rewind and reminded myself why I'd gotten rid of them. I'm not 25 anymore. I don't spend Friday and Saturday night in a club anymore. I don't want to look like a throw back to Melrose Place (the original not the remake). I did this trend once already and it wasn't even that great the first time. In this case, my regret passed quickly.  Other times I've really regretted getting rid of an item and actually purchased another similar item to replace it. The "if you haven't worn it in 6 months or a year" rule has never worked for me. I have a few great pieces that I've owned since college. Now you see my dilemma.

My closet purge this time will be thoughtful and calculated. As I decide which items to store and which items to toss or donate, I will be taking a little inventory. Once I pack items away for storage, I'll make a list of those items. Then I will know exactly what I have that could be worn again.  If an item doesn't fit, no matter how great it is, I will either give it to someone, swap it or donate it. I found a great decision tree. It's definitely one of the best I've seen. I'll keep you posted on my closet purge journey.

 

How do you decide what to purge and what to keep?