New Year’s Resolution? How to Maintain Your Clothes!

Is your New Year’s resolution to maintain your clothes?  Do you have a pile of clothes with missing buttons, fallen hems, that don’t quite fit or otherwise need love?  A secret: sometimes we do too.  Here are a few ways to help you learn how to maintain your clothes so they look better, longer.

How to Maintain Your Clothes: Stains

I always keep a Tide to Go Pen, Eucalan Stain Wipes or a  Janie Stick in my purse because I tend to stain things a lot.  Even if you can’t get out the stain completely, using a wipe or pen makes sure the stain doesn’t set, and you can successfully wash it later. The Janie Stick is dry so you can apply it to that salad dressing that you just dripped on your shirt or blouse and in 5 minutes you can just brush the stain away. Your first resolution should be to make sure that one of these great items is in your purse or bag at all times.

If you’ve forgotten your to-go items, there’s still hope. You can use a stain pre-treater before you toss your clothing into the laundry.  Resolve Stain Stick is a good one to keep near your laundry for those overlooked stains.

How to Maintain Your Clothes: Mending

I like to keep a basket with the spare buttons I get from clothing. I like to have them all in one place, and  you never know when you might need them.  That way, I don’t forget to sew on buttons and mend small rips immediately, or else I end up pulling my favorite garment out of the closet and am disappointed that I need to fix the garment before I wear it. Not great on a busy morning, that’s for sure!  Having a Basic Sewing Kit in your bedroom or closet will help with this.  That way, you can immediately take care of any small issues before they are big ones.

How to Maintain your Clothes: Dry Cleaning

At home, I keep a laundry hamper with four bags: one for whites, one for darks, one for gym clothes (which I run sepa

rately with vinegar to eliminate any stink) and one for drycleaning.  Keeping your dry cleanables separate makes sure there are no mistakes!  If you don’t want to send out your dry cleaning (or just want to freshen up in between dry cleaning trips), we like Woolite Dry Cleaner’s Secret. You put your clothes in the dryer, add a premoistened sheet, and turn on the dryer. Your clothes come out fresh and clean (unfortunately, it doesn’t press them for you!).

What other tips and tricks do you have for maintaining your clothes?