Simple Suggestion #144... Clear out your seasonal clothes closet

That's what I did yesterday. I keep my small personal closet space well managed, but in the corner of our basement rec room is a little closet where we hang seasonal clothes. Summer coats in the winter, and winter coats in the summer. The problem is those items that get hung there and never looked at again because they've been outgrown or abandoned. With winter's heavy duty arrival in the form of a major snowstorm that snarled traffic for hours yesterday, I made the most of my time at home by going through that closet and removing winter wear that hasn't been worn for a while.

It's only too easy to forget about what's in the back of our closets, but it's kind of silly to keep those things that have been ignored for more than a full circle of seasons, especially when my homeless friends who visit the clothing room looking for gently-used, clean, dry winter wear can use them. As a result of yesterday's efforts, I have a couple of bags full of coats, snowpants, scarves and boots that I'll send to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul's clothing room. Why store perfectly good clothing that I don't need when I can give it to people who will gladly reuse it?

Today's Simple Suggestion has two benefits, the first being the most important: my homeless friends have good things to keep them warm, and the empty space in the closet gives my clutter-hating psyche more room to breathe.

There, that's better!

Do you have some winter clothes you can give away?

P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Try here.