The chirping of birds and blossoming of flowers indicates that the air is filled with spring and it’s time to bid farewell to winter season. With the weather warming up a little, it means it’s about time to put the winter woollies away, to be used next winters. But, one has to be very conscious and careful while packing away winter clothes. The first step is cleaning and sorting warm clothes, so that they are all clean and ready to be worn next season.
Jackets, warm pants, and other clothes having pockets should be checked first. Sometimes, you may find items like tissues, chewing gums or luckily even some balance or change. When wrapping away your kiddies’ clothes, check for pencils, crayons and sweets. See if there is any missing button or some tiny hole which needs an urgent stitch. Incase, your children are in their growing age and you feel that some clothes won’t be able to fit them he next season, it is best to give them away to someone needy or at the orphanage.
Make sure that you wash away the garments, as per their requirement some clothes require dry cleaning, a hand wash while many others can be washed in machines. Follow the instructions scribbled on the tags, in order to avoid any damage. Your clothes should be immaculate and all clean. Lamb’s wool clothes usually require a hand wash and dried out in the sun. Flannels can be washed in the machines without a worry, but mostly woollies require dry cleaning. Don’t experiment on them and try newer ways for washing.
Once cleaned and sorted out, gather all your items and stack them in one place for packing. For packing you may use, brown paper, plastic sheaths or even old dupattas or some old bed sheets which isn’t of much use. Be sure not to use printed papers as it might leave ink smudges on the clothes. Normally, people use moth balls or Naphthalene balls to keep the clothes safe from silver fish or other cloth-munching insects which may ruin the clothes. Instead, it is better to use a handful of neem leaves. Not only is it effective in protecting your clothes from the ugly insect bites but also keeps them odor free. Try it, it is an environment friendly tip.
Prior to stacking them neatly in your suitcase, spread a long neat cloth in the bottom of it, leaving most of its length hanging out of the suitcase. Start placing the clothes and shawls in long folds, sprinkle neem leaves. When the suitcase is full, wrap the edges of the long sheet around the clothes and tuck it in the sides, to keep them tied up in a bundle.
Also, it is seen that some people use cloves wrapped up in tissues or cotton wool as a precautionary measure to avoid insect damage. Make sure the cloves are wrapped up protectively, as otherwise it is likely that they might leaves stains on your clothes.
Here is another method. Make a pouch of cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks and green cardamom and place them between your clothes. This too is a very effective method to keep your clothes protected and sweet smelling until they are used again in coming winters.
