Swap, Don't Shop

I just had my second clothing swap with friends last week.  It is a lot of fun and a great way to recycle things you no longer want.  It is also pretty satisfying to be able to "shop" for new (to you) clothes for free.  I have been asked a lot how I do the shop and I thought I would share the details here.

Things you need:
Clothing racks to hang clothes on
Extra hangers
A place to lay out purses, jewelry, etc...
A place for people to try on clothes (a full length mirror is nice if you have one).
Dessert!
Drinks!

I start out by coordinating the date and putting it on the calendar.  It is good to give about one months notice for the swap since everyone will have to make time to go through their closets and possibly bring you the items before had.  I use email to invite everyone.  Evite would also work well.  On the invite I include the date, time, location, and all of the details (rules of the shop).  You can make the rules however you want them but here is an example of what we did for ours:

Bring nice clothing, shoes, jewelry or accessories that you no longer

want or wear. Bring clothing on hangers if at all possible. If you need

the hangers back put your name somewhere on them (masking tape and a sharpie works well). Clothing left over will

be donated to charity.

Please make sure the clothing is in good condition and it is something

that someone else would still be able to wear. If you are able to

bring things earlier than the swap that would be great! Each person will

be assigned a shopping number according to when they bring their stuff, so

the sooner the better. We will start "shopping" at 7:30 that evening. So

make sure to arrive right at 7 if you haven't brought your items before

then. Each person will be able to pick out 5 things and then, after

everyone has had a chance to shop, we will let everyone shop again.

I like having as many of the ladies that can drop off their items before hand so that I can sort out sizes and arrange everything before the event.  If everyone brings their stuff all at once on the night of the swap it can get a little chaotic.  As the ladies drop off their items in the weeks before the swap keep track of their names and assign them a number to shop.  On the night of the event also keep track of who arrives with items and give them their number. 

The more women you have show up the better the swap will be.  So be sure to tell everyone to bring a friend and that you need ALL sizes.  I have found that some women won't come if they don't think their size will be there and that makes perfect sense.  So the bigger the invite list the better.   That is unless all ten of your closest friends are all the same size. 

I ask for volunteers to bring a drink or dessert and the ladies enjoy those while waiting for their turn to shop. The food can be as simple or elaborate as you choose.

Another idea I have thought about trying next time is to contact a makeup consultant (think Mary K., Arbonne, or Avon) and have them come and do make up application.  Also, a massage therapist or nail artist to do quick massages or a nail treatment would be nice.  You wouldn't have to pay them but it would be a great way for them to promote their services to a group of women all at once and I think the ladies would enjoy it.

A clothing swap is a great way to get together with friends and make some new ones in the process.  It is lots of fun and a blessing at the same time. It is really worth the time and effort to put it together. Happy swapping!

 

Kids Rooms and Messes

I love to clean and organize.  Okay, well maybe only once it is done but I love the satisfaction that comes afterwords.

I especially love it when it is a kids room that I have tackled because, for some strange reason, they don't clean them as well as I can myself.  Usually at least a few times a year I will go through the kids rooms with them and sort out the broken and unused toys and clothing they have outgrown.  Now, I have seen Toy Story 1, 2, and 3 and I do have a heart but I also have 6 kids and 6 kids times lots of toys each equals, well, you get my point.  I thought I would share how we stay on top of our toys and kid clutter. 

My kids are responsible for cleaning their rooms but when the rooms need a thorough cleaning I will have them help me.  It is a good time for me to teach them how to do it properly and remind the younger ones where things should go so that they remember when they have the task on their own.

Having as many kids as I do, I have learned that there are all different types of personalities when it comes to cleaning and organizing.  I myself am a bit of a neat freak.  I like it clean, neat and well organized (no one told me 6 kids makes that VERY challenging!  I should have known though!).  A couple of my kids are the type that save EVERYthing and I mean everything!  It must be hard for them to deal with me because I am not very sentimental.  Sure there are a few (very few) things that I hold on to because I consider them very special but overall I am a tosser.  For my kids I have given them each boxes that they can store their keepsakes in and they must go in the box and not all over the room.  That way we don't find ticket stubs and friendship bracelets in every corner of the room.  These are their own boxes (sized according to their need to save things) and they control what goes in and what stays in.  I won't go through or toss anything in them.  Everything else in the room is fair game though.  We go through it all and I ask questions like "When was the last time you played with this?"  "Do you love it?"  "Would another kids get more use out of it?"  "Seriously? You want to keep that? It is a half eaten goldfish!"  Just kidding.  Although we do find those and other miscellaneous edible items in strange places.

Years ago, when my older three children were just little and starting to rake in the toys, I would put similar toys together in plastic bins and keep some of the bins up on a shelf in their closets.  This has worked really well for me for a few reasons.  First of all, some of the toys are up out of reach and that helps to keep the clutter down.  Having one small set of toys to pick up at a time makes it easier to teach kids to pick up when they are finished playing.  I have found it is much easier for a child to stay on top of cleaning up a small mess than trying to sort through lots of items.  The bigger the mess the more overwhelming it is to them (and us).  Second, it is exciting to the kids to rotate through the toys and "find" things they haven't played with in a little while when we bring a new bin down. Third, like things stay together and I don't know about you but I cannot figure out how there could possibly be a Lego in at least one corner of every room of the house?!  I love Legos but I prefer them all to be in the box and ready for play when we desire to bring them out.
I got away from this system for a while but I realize that it really does work well for us and I have gone back to it. It is a little bit more effort on my part when the kids want to play with a specific thing and I have to get it down for them but it is also a good way for me to check and make sure that they have cleaned up other messes and if they haven't then they have to finish cleaning or they don't get the desired toy(s) down.

Another trick I have learned is to label bins, boxes, buckets or whatever you use to hold toys.  Can you tell I am not a fan of a toy box that everything is thrown in?  It's just my preference.  Anyways, before my kids could read I would draw a picture of the item (cars, dolls, legos, etc...) on a 3x5 card and write the word of the item and tape these to toy bins so that they would know where things go. It is also a great thing to do to get them used to seeing words and recognizing them. I would even label the bed, a book, a doll, a car, etc... It works well for short word items.  Once they get older and don't need the picture anymore I use a label maker (one of a mom's best friends) and label shelves, and boxes and bins.  It is my defense should a child ever say to me "I didn't put it away because I didn't know where it goes." 

We talk to our kids often about how we are a family and we help each other out.  Part of helping out includes cleaning up.  We also talk about how showing someone you love them, whether it be mom, or a sibling, could be as simple as picking up something for them.  Not that they do this all of the time but I think they get it that we are a family unit and everyone needs to help eachother and not doing something because "It's not my mess" Is not a great attitude. 

Teaching kids to clean up after themselves is a process.  For us, we take major steps forward and then a couple steps back and then repeat the process.  It is more about training their heart than training their actions which makes it a long term task.  This is especially true for those children who are not naturally organized and neat.  As a mom in the midst of a messy house it is sometimes hard to keep that in perspective but it really is worth it in the long run. I try to remember that it is the attitudes and laziness I would rather address more than them just them doing the work.  The good news is that you really do see fruit from your labor (although, it may take years) and keep in mind that how you train your children to take care of their belongings and surroundings is very likely how they will take care of their own home one day.