7 Ways to Keep Clothes in Good Condition

We have to meet our basic necessities if we want to live as humanely as possible. And one basic need is to be clothed decently. As we meet this need, there are times when we do it a little bit over the top, purchasing or needing to purchase clothes more than what we need.

So to stop the cycle, we need to take care of what we do have in our closet, giving both our impulses and our wallets a break. Here are some tips you can consider in keeping your clothes in good condition:

1. Choose and store by color. If you’re out for coffee with a friend, make sure you’re wearing a colored top or dress to ward off any stains you seem to magnet to yourself. Admit it or not, it’s easier to camouflage stains than your clumsiness. Also, store clothes according to color. Keep those blues with the blues to avoid running over the color with your whites and beiges. It should be a reflex for you to coordinate your threads by hue so they can last long.

2. Anticipate your clothing behavior and preferences. If you need dress shirts for work, then don’t binge buy cotton shirts. If you don’t like ironing, stop reaching for those iron-hungry type of clothes that need heat before wearing them. Anticipate the events before purchasing those clothes and you’ll give breathing room for those functional outfits in your closet.

3. Store according to material. For sweaters, you have to keep in mind that they sag if hung for too long. So keep them neatly folded and stacked inside your closet or chest drawer. As for dress shirts, they crease easily so make sure you keep them hung inside your closet.

4. Dress up or down. When you know you’re up for long hours in front of a canvass, give your dress shirt a huge favor and change into grubby paint clothes instead. It’s a surefire way to ruin your clothes if you wear them to just about any activity you engage in. Be reminded that clothes also have purposes too, aside from keeping your back warm. So make sure they serve their purpose as long as they can, without you cutting short their lifespan just because of a stain that just won’t come off.

5. Don’t launder often. Clothes are basically made of thread and sad to say the wear easily if you keep subjecting them to frequent laundry. Keep a generous portion of clothes options so you won’t have to use that same dress over and over again, making it age way before its time.

6. Zip up. Before tossing jeans and hoodies inside the washer, make sure they’re zipped up. Open zips can damage other clothes or even the jeans and hoodies themselves. So keep their teeth well-zipped and tucked safely away.

7. Patch immediately and frequently. If you discover a tear or two in your clothing, patch them immediately. Spare yourself of the heartbreak of finding an even bigger hole just because you procrastinated patching it up before tossing it the washer.