Spring Forward

Check out these new spring covers with SJP, Michelle Obama, Grace Jones, Gwyneth Paltrow and Freida Pinto styling on Vogue India. These ladies are fierce and the covers represent great art.

I love Spring. It represents the natural evolution from darkness to light. How refreshing! And  as a woman whose lived on the East Coast her whole life, it is so nice to move away from the frigid cold! This Spring is going to be big for me. I will finally  graduate from Drexel University (96 days and counting), I hopefully will be starting a new job, I get to work with a new round of rambunctious teenagers, and I will be launching an official Miss New Money promotional campaign!

With the turning of a new season I look forward to shedding the old and welcoming in the new. I’ll paint a wall in my cozy flat in Philly to breathe in new life and reflect the glowing sun. Rearranging the furniture always resuscitates my living quarters and how I feel about them. I get bored with arrangments quickly and by simply moving the couch and lighting lamps, I feel like I’m in a whole new place.

Digging the Color Scheme - I think I'll try to recreate this for my place

I also like to give my whole house a good, thorough, scrub down. I wash from base board to ceiling fan, vacuum and sweep every crevice.

What I save for the last is the closet. I like to look for things were it’s apparent that I no longer need to to hold on to them. Maybe when I packed them up last year, I was a little nostalgic about all the good times had over the season, but will the love still be the same for the season coming up?

If the answer is no, it can go into one of three piles:

$ Salvation Army

$ Buffalo Exchange

$ Ebay

Now the first one, I am simply donating to a long standing org that benefits many people. I also must not forget to ask for a receipt. Donations are tax deductible and that’s money I get to keep in my purse. SO MONEY!

At Buffalo Exchange I can sell my items to the store. They in turn give you cash or store credit for future purchases. Once again, that’s money in my purse. SO MONEY!

And the ultimate barter exchange, Ebay, where, need I say it ?

While it’s not hard packing away winter sweaters and, dare I say it, long janes, the tough decisions come when you have to decide what to do with all of last year’s Spring and Summer items.  You will be surprised what you find, what you don’t need, and how much you can make off of it from Ebay. Sites such as Amazon are great for selling old books.

To sell her old designer clothes this finanshionista in hiding made her Manhattan studio apartment feel like a plush boutique

Some savvy ladies around the countries have actually been turning their closets into mini boutiques. An article in the Wall Street Journal highlighted females who once relished in their designer duds and now scrambled to sell them for cash. “$5 Ann Taylor pants to $30 Miu Miu sweaters and $100 studded 7 For All Mankind jeans” are just a taste of what one women was offering. Another made it an experience worth paying for by proving wine and champagne and tasty treats.

If you find that you can’t part with some of your favorite items how about breathing new life into them for less. Revamping old shoes and old clothes is easier than one may think. Need a new night slip? Take a pair of scissors to a stained shirt or re-use your fitted work shirts as a sexy alternative. New pair of shoes? If you wanted to be funky, you could re-sole your shoes in a flashy, bright color. Louie V ain’t the only one with that privilege!

Ask your local shoe maker to make your shoes new again

Try a new style. Vintage will always be in. The best way to tailor your closet is to look for inspiration from current runways or past Even art books detailing the looks of the past can be great tools and will help you decide what to keep and what to dump.

Cleaning out your closet can be a spiritual cleansing. In 2009 the goal is to remove any excess and to get back to our core values of your life.