You all know the mornings: You wake up, you’re getting ready for your day, and you absolutely HATE everything you own?!
So you try one one outfit and you try on another. You text your S.O. or a trusted vina if they like your outfit. But even if they love it, you still feel uncertain or uncomfortable.
That’s how I am. What makes it even worse? Later that day, you find out your vina (you know the one with the very cute clothes that are exactly your size that you’re always jealous of? That one) has just did a big clean out of her HUGE closet and she got rid of all those clothes she just “never wears anymore.” You just want to scream at her, “HEY, WHAT ABOUT ME! I WANT YOUR CLOTHES!” I know you felt it, because I always do!
Sure, it may be selfish. Maybe your vina donated her clothes to a good cause, and if so, more power to her! But that nagging feeling that you could have just boosted your wardrobe doesn’t go away for a while, especially on those days where you’re feeling crummy about your closet.
OR! Perhaps you’re on the other end of situation: Your closet is overflowing with clothes (because we all have overflowing closets even when we have nothing to wear) and you think it’s time to kick out some of those tops you bought three years ago because “they were on sale!!” And sure, you could log on to Poshmark or the LetGo App perhaps to “make some bank” but let’s face it: a majority of us are not all that successful using these services, so we end up donating the clothes anyways and making zip. What are you going to do when you want new clothes? You made no money!
Your vina from scenario numero uno wants to scream at you because she wanted your clothes, and if you are being perfectly honest with yourself: you want her clothes too!
What an awful dilemma to have: two vinas who want each other’s clothes and want to get rid of a bucketload of the clothes they already have.
SOLUTION: CLOTHES SWAP
Step one: call your vina.
A short phone call: “Hey girl. Come over. Also, bring some vino and ALL THE CLOTHES YOU ARE NEVER WEARING AGAIN!!”
Step two: call the rest of your vinas.
Two friends participating in a clothes swap is easy and quick. While it may get everything straight and to the point, you should probably invite more than one vina to the occasion. First off, this will add to the diversity of options for you to choose from. Instead of having one vina’s closet, you could have five! It sounds messy—having all that clothes in one space. However, you’ll thank me later for reminding you to call all your friends that have good clothes. Trust me.
Step three: lay out the clothes.
OK, this step takes some organization so let’s hope you invited that one vina that is super organized and cannot deal with her messy friends. You want to be as organized as possible because you’ll all want to lay out the clothes so (a) you can fully assess them and (b) so you don’t end up with a mountain of clothing that no one wants to deal with later. The organization will be a plus because none of you are going to remember that Ashley’s really cute sun dress ended up at the bottom of the pile.
Step 4: commence swapping!
This part is simple. Simply go through all the clothes and have everyone grab what they want from all the collection. Let’s hope everyone is civil because we have all seen those movie scenes where heels have been broken due to fights over cute stilettos. Remember that if one of your vina’s grabs a top, she’s your vina and will most likely share. If four girls can mail pants across the world to share without getting in a tissy, then we can all do it.
Step five: donate to left overs.
Truthfully, you probably will not have wanted everything that your vinas are swapping and there are going to be some leftovers. This is when you should head over to the clothes drives or other places you can donate your clothes to the people who definitely need them. Prior to the clothes swap, put out one of those large crates you can get from Target or something similar. Consider bringing two if you there are a lot of people at the clothes swap. Mark the crates as “Donation” and put all the unwanted clothes in the crate.
Talk about a fun vina night. Want to find new vinas to have a clothing swap with? Start swiping!
VINAZINE 