<< 93. By recycling your clothes, you can continue to wear them and not have to discard them because they are out-of-style, are stained, have shrunk, have stretched, are torn, are too big or too tight because you have lost or gained weight, or are overly worn in some places. Make the needed changes, repairs, etc. By wearing your clothes longer, you can postpone the expense of purchasing other clothing.
94. Go shopping in some of the “high-class” stores and check out the new styles. Then, go home and see what you can do with the clothes you already own to achieve a similar look. For example, if large, lace collars are “in,” you could buy or make a detachable one to wear with some of your dresses and blouses. If wide belts are “the rage,” you could update some of your garments by adding belts.
If scarves and large chunky jewelry are popular, you could buy a scarf and a piece of costume jewelry to perk up your wardrobe. If textured hose are being worn this season, could a pair or two give a lift to your last season’s clothes? Would a new tie and handkerchief bring new life to one of your old business suits? Would new fashion buttons improve the look of a garment? Update and perk up your wardrobe with the latest “trendy” inexpensive accessories and cut the costs of being “in style.”
95. Update your clothes by adding a new shirt, blouse, jacket, vest, or other item of clothing.
96. If the lapels on a coat or jacket are too wide to be “in style,” cut them or have them cut down to an acceptable size. The cost will be much less than that for a new coat or jacket.
97. Detach the skirt portion of a dress at the waist and make the dress into a skirt. Use part of the bodice to make a waistband for the “new” skirt.
98. Remove and reverse overly-worn or frayed collars. If you don’t sew, consult a seamster and compare the cost of reversing such collars with the cost of new garments. The difference could be substantial. By reversing the collars, you could get additional wear from the garments.
99. When the cuffs of shirts and blouses have become overly worn or a hole has been worn in the elbow area, cut off the sleeves and make short-sleeved or sleeveless garments.
100. When sweaters have stretched at the bottom of the sleeves, put elastic in these areas to restore a proper fit. This is cheaper than buying new sweaters.
101. When the elbow or other sleeve areas of long-sleeved sweaters have become overly worn or have developed holes, cut off the sleeves and make short-sleeved sweaters.
102.. Use decorative patches and appliqués to cover rips, stains, and worn places in garments to extend their lives.
103. Use appliqués, decals, and decorative stitching to modernize garments.
104. If you lose or gain weight, adjust the size of as many of your clothes as possible by taking them up or letting them out, rather than buy new clothes. A complete new wardrobe can be quite expensive.
105. When children outgrow their clothes, make them wearable again by letting down hems, adding ruffles to the hems, and letting out seams.
106. If slacks or jeans have shrunk too much in the length, shorten them to a stylish length.
107. When holes wear in the knees of trousers, cut off the legs and make them into shorts or put “patches” over the holes.
108. If skirts are too “full’ for the present styles, take out some of the fullness or take the skirt fabric and cut out a new skirt from a pattern.
109. If there is too much fullness in the sleeves of shirts, blouses, dresses, or jackets to be stylish, take out some of the fullness.
110. If the legs of slacks are too wide, cut them down to fit the current style.
111. If collars are too wide, cut them down or remove them and go “collarless.”
112. If ties are too wide, alter them or have them altered to the proper width. A few years ago when the styles changed from wide to narrow ties, my husband had about a dozen of his favorite ties altered. The cost was $3.00 per tie, or about one fifth of the cost of a comparable new tie.
113. Hand clothes down from the largest child to the next largest child and so on, if the clothes are still in suitable condition. Of course, don’t neglect buying some new clothes for the smaller children who always get the hand-me-downs.
Also, you might want to change the handed-down clothes in some ways to make them look a little different and “new, ‘ such as making knee pants or shorts from slacks, cutting the bodice off the dress and making a skirt, making short sleeves from long sleeves, adding a different belt, adding a lace collar to a blouse or dress, adding decorative appliqués, or embroidering a design on a garment. Handing down clothing could save a tremendous amount of money on clothing the children.
114. If you have a two or three-piece outfit, and one or two pieces can no longer be worn, try to salvage the remaining one or two pieces and save money on your clothing expenditures. For example, you may have gained weight in the hips, and the slacks are too tight and cannot be let out; but the matching jacket fits fine and will go with several pairs of other slacks you have. You ripped the blouse beyond repair, but the matching skirt can be worn with several other blouses you have. Your denim jeans are worn out, but the matching denim jacket has several years of wear left in it.
115. Before you discard any item of clothing, ask yourself, “Is there anything I can do to this garment so that I (or family members) can continue to wear it?” An answer of yes’ will help you save money on your clothing expenses.
WAYS TO SAVE THROUGH USE OF DISCARDED CLOTHING
116. Use the fabric from good, out-of-style and outgrown clothes for making other clothes. For example, you could make small children’s clothes from some of the fabric. A woman’s dress could be made from a very full skirt. An apron could be made from the fabric of most any item of clothing. Scarves, ties, purses, belts, and handkerchiefs could be made from small pieces of used fabric. Patchwork clothing and quilt tops could be made from scraps. Some bodices could be converted to blouses. By utilizing previously-used fabric, you save yourself the expense of buying the fabric.
117. Cut up badly worn garments and use them as cleaning and dusting rags. For example, a 100 percent cotton, knitted man’s undershirt makes an excellent dusting rag. Utilizing the worn garments saves you the cost of buying cleaning and dusting cloths.
118. Salvage all usable parts of worn-out garments such as buttons, zippers, elastic, hem tape, seam binding, trimming, decals, belts, hooks and eyes, snaps, appliqués, and shoulder pads. Having these on hand decreases the need for buying such items.
119. Donate discarded clothes to charity. (You could let this replace some of your cash charitable contributions, thus decreasing the amount of cash paid out of your pocket.)
120. Have a garage sale and sell discarded clothes. Garage sales are growing in popularity and have become regular weekend outings and forms of recreation for many people. You could make extra money from the sale.
121. Swap good discarded children’s and adults’ clothing, maternity clothes, and other items of clothing with friends. By swapping for items you need, you can save the money you would have spent to purchase these items.
122. Sell good, discarded clothing to privately-owned thrift shops. Not only do you get the clothes out of your way, but you make money by doing so.
123. Put an advertisement in the newspaper to sell good, discarded clothing. What you have to sell may be just what others want. Your advertisement might be worded similar to this: ‘Four good, used men’s suits for sale. Size 40 regular with slacks 34 inches in waist, 33 inches long. Call
124. Put your nicest and most stylish discarded clothes in a consignment shop. The clothes should be clean and in good shape. (You get a percentage of the money from the sales, if and when the clothes sell. Items unsold after a specified length of time are returned to the owner.)
125. If your clothes qualify, sell them to a “Vintage” clothing store. These stores sell "antique" clothes which are 20, 30, and 40 years old. (These clothes usually demand a higher price than newer, used clothes.)
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