Church Chronicles: Ep 6: Holy Chic: Mastering Church Wardrobe Organization and Care

0:00 Hello and welcome to Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host Connie Morris and today we're continuing our series on Holy Chic, the ultimate church attire handbook. This episode we're going to focus on how to maintain and organize our church wardrobe. It is important to organize it and also to ensure proper maintenance for longevity and readiness. So let's get started. How do we store and organize our church attire? Now, we wear our church attire maybe like maybe a Sunday, special occasion Sunday.

0:40 So I don't know how your closet is organized. You might have your Sunday stuff. Then you have your workday stuff. And your workday stuff, usually you can wear your workday stuff like on your Wednesdays or Thursday Bible study. So that pretty much those intermingle. But your church stuff and your special occasion stuff is usually pretty much in the same section of your wardrobe. And so let's just kind of go over tips on how to keep your clothes fresh and ready to wear. I hope you're enjoying this series because as I go over this, I'm like, this is some good information. This is really good information. Some things that I learned through my years of being part of ministry and also now just I'm doing usher stuff.

1:29 So I got my blazers and pants for usher in a different closet than my church attire stuff, which I don't get to wear that much because I'm ushering a lot. But let's just go over how to keep our church attire nice and fresh. So number one, using garment bags for delicate items like dresses and suits to protect them from dust and damage. Hanging organizers can help keep accessories like scarves and ties in good conditions. So if you have a lot of scarves and ties. If you have special dresses, especially those white or any of those spring dresses that we wear, and you're moving your clothes around a lot, it's always good to keep those dresses in a garment bag.

2:16 And usually you want to find a place a little off to the side where you keep your special. I keep my furs in this original, like in those garment bags, so I'm not touching them, getting my oily hands on them. But also my special dresses that I don't want to always touch when I need to move them, even though I don't move them a lot. So you want to put your special dresses and any special scarves, hang them out of the way so you're not constantly touching them. And so you can keep them in good conditions. You also want to keep your wardrobe organized by season. And so right now it is, we're in November, December, and so it's winter season.

2:59 So you want to rotate your clothes based on the weather. Some people have summer all day and all the time, but it can be a chance where you get to rotate your clothes. A chance too, where you can go shopping in your closet. A lot of times that we don't rotate our clothing, we don't really know what we have in our closet, ladies. We have so many items in our closet, we can actually, instead of running out shopping, we can actually rotate our wardrobe and have a whole new wardrobe going on. And so you want to be able to rotate your clothes based on the weather, storing out-of-season items in a cool, dry place. And this prevents overcrowding and make it easier to find what you need.

3:43 And also the opportunity to shop in your closet, to try on items that you haven't seen in a while, to give away some items to charity, to take some things even to consignment. And so if you pick a season, you might have a spring, winter, summer. Where I live, we have all seasons. So if you only have two seasons that's cold and hot, then you pick the season and you just try on the clothes. And pretty much, I haven't worn this in a while. I think I'm aware of this this season. It's an opportunity to go through your wardrobe and to rotate it, to see what you want to wear, what you don't want to wear. Gifts weigh some things, see what fits. That's a good opportunity to organize your closet.

4:29 I do that probably, I think once, it depends on when I rotate. Sometimes women, it takes, we'll start rotating it and then you end up with a lot of things on the floor and you're giving stuff away. So sometimes I'm rotating it. It won't be a quick thing to do. And so kind of plan ahead for that because like me, I go up, done with that. I haven't wore that in a while. Things you haven't wore in about six months to a year. Try that. Try on that dress. Try on that blouse. You know, look at that scarf. Why haven't you wore it in a year? Try on those shoes. Try on those boots. Just see why you haven't put that outfit on in a year.

5:12 If there's a reason for it, then put it in the pile and find a way to give it away, to give it to charity. Cleaning and caring for delicate fabrics. How to properly care for delicate fabrics and materials to make them last. Make them last. I don't know why my tongue has got lips like I can't say certain words, but I'm fine. Always read the care labels on your clothing. For delicate fabrics like silk, wool, and lace, consider hand washing or using gentle cycle on your washing machine. So sometimes it will tell you to dry clean only, but then you flip over that tag.

5:56 It can say gentle cycle only, cold water. If you heard a wood light or any gentle detergent that you can wash it and then you can let it hang dry. It's just like dry cleaning almost. Especially real silk, you can do that. That you got silk with something else in it, it might require dry cleaning if you don't like irony. Because sometimes you'll watch something that says, if you don't read the label, it'll wrinkle up and it'll never be the same. I think wool is the same way. Use appropriate detergent for different types of fabric. For instance, use a wool detergent for woolen and a silk detergent for silk garments.

6:40 Avoid using too much detergent as this can damage delicate fibers. So make sure you read the labels on your blouses, your clothing, and also make sure you read the labels on the detergent you use. If you wear glasses, go to the go spend that time. Like sometimes when you're at the grocery store, we're always in a rush throwing things in our basket. But that could be a special day where you say, I'm going to clean out my closet and I'm going to wash some things I haven't washed in a while. Go to the grocery store where you buy your detergent and look on the back of those containers and see what you need and just be ready to do the closet cleaning thing and also do the washing.

7:25 And also find a place, one of those temporary hanging things that you can hang in your dryer or around the house so they can dry. So updating your wardrobe with seasonal trends. Staying current without breaking the bank. So how to refresh your wardrobe seasonally. And you do that, you don't need to buy a whole new wardrobe every season. Instead, focus on updating a few key items. For example, a new scarf or a belt and refresh an outfit. New nylons can refresh an outfit. New shoes can refresh an outfit.

8:07 New earrings can refresh an outfit. I even think when people update their glasses, they refresh their outfit. You can even refresh your hairstyle and that gives you a new look. You can have the same dress on, but you didn't change your hair and your glasses and you've got a whole new look. So stay mindful of current trends, but choose pieces that align with your personal style and dress code of the church. This ensure that your wardrobe remains both fashionable and appropriate and that powerful. So when you cleaning out your closet, organizing your closet, it is an event, ladies. We know that we know it is event.

8:48 And I remember, yeah, I clean out my closet and I remember bags and bags of stuff that I'll give away. And I'll know where I want to give it away to, to who is going to be the most benefit. You know, this is a funny joke. I had a coat rack in my downstairs closet and it fell and I had it filled with coats. Well, I love coats, but how many coats can you wear in a day? You only can't wear that many coats. And so I went through my coats and I hung them up in the garage for a moment. Remember, sometimes you're forced to organize your closet because the coat rack fell.

9:33 So you got to figure out which coats am I going to keep? And so I went through my coat racks. I tried on, I mean, I had them. I moved from Michigan to Nebraska, still the same weather. And so I'm like trying on coats. I'm like, oh, I had trench coats. I had all kinds of coats and I realized that it was, it's a good time to give away some coats. Why, why, why give coats away in the summer? No one's buying coats in the summer, but these are still good coats. So I tried on the ones and say, uh, nope, nope, nope, nope. Started a pile and some coats I had for years, but are still good coats. Why? Because I take good care of my stuff.

10:14 And I had like two bags of coats. They're two bags because coats are big and fixed my closet rack in my closet and kept the coats that I would truly wear. Some of the coats that I gave away still had tags on them. Because I like coats that much. And so that one incident became a coat cleaning, organization, closet time. Come on now, because I was collecting too many coats. I think God has a way of saying, hey, hey, over here, you got too many coats. It's a good time to give away stuff. And while I did that, I got rid of some boots in my closet.

10:58 I like boots too. Boots, coats, and books are my thing. I got rid of a lot of books the other day. Most of those books were dated and I threw those in the garbage because some of the pastors have kind of flopped on me. So got rid of those books. Maybe that's a good thing. Get rid of some books that you've been holding on to. Books, boots, and coat. All right, let's keep going. I'm going to give you some scriptures and we're going to close this one out. First Corinthians 10 31. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. So I don't give away junk for one. So if I look at the coat and it's junk, I throw it in a garbage can.

11:44 Anything that's wearable, I give it away to charity. I really don't give a lot of stuff away to consignment because I bought it from consignment. So I'm not going to give it back to them because they always say they wanted to three to five years old. So the stuff is still good, but I'll give it away to who would need it the most. And it's a good season to give away coats. And so whatever you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. So if I'm not going to wear it, I'm going to give it away to someone who will wear it, but I'm not going to give away junk. Give me a second while I take a drink of water. All righty. I decree that everything I do will be for the glory of God.

12:27 I decree that my actions, words, and choices will reflect God's glory. I decree that I will honor God in all aspects of my life, including how I dress and present myself. I decree that my lifestyle will be a living testimony of God's grace and love. And so even the little things we do honor God, whether someone's watching or not, you know, we're cleaning out our closet and we're honoring him by keeping the stuff that he blessed us with organized and clean. That's an honor to God. And that makes room for more, right? Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. and all your ways submit to him and he will make your path straight.

13:15 I like that because it just came to me now is that a lot of times we don't trust that God will give us anything else. So we become what you call hoarders. We hoard onto things. I mean, I had probably about, I don't know, 50 or 60 coats. How many coats do a girl need? Honestly. And I could hoard onto that thinking that one day I want to need one of these coats, one of these coats, right? And so a hoarder is a person who can't let nothing go because you are so afraid that nothing's going to come back. That little rack held on to all those coats. And I thank you, Lord, for doing that. But when it was time to give some stuff away, that rack gave in.

13:58 And I looked at that rack and I was like, okay. And to me, different things happen for different reasons, right? And so if the coat rack dropped to the ground, that means it was too many coats on the rack. Okay. So I'm thinking like, what coats, Lord, do you want me to give away? And so I just kind of went through the coat rack. Like this one, Lord, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, boom, boom, boom. And then what you have to do is you got to do it right away. If you hold on thinking, I'm going to do it tomorrow, guess what? You're going to go back through that bag because everything you have in your mind is good stuff, right? But you want to trust in the Lord according to Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding because it fell for a reason. So now you need to figure out, Lord, the reason is what?

14:50 Give some of this stuff away. Check. I got you. And so you begin to do it. I put it in my car on my way to work. I did a drop. Did I look back like lost wife? No, I did not. I just drove off and said, Lord, I'm good. I'm going to give away. And I love with joy because I just love when I see somebody in your stuff and they're wearing it with joy because they're like, I found this at the consignment. How happy are you when you find something at the consignment or at the mall, wherever you shop? You're happy. I'm happy. I'm going to consignment shopping today because I'm just all stirred up because I'm talking about this wardrobe.

15:37 Let's see what the, I can't talk. I can't talk. We're going to talk to these decrees because we're trusting in God. So if you are a hoarder and you too afraid to give stuff away, then there's nothing else going to come in. You're just going to keep hoarding stuff. So trust in the Lord and clean out your closet and give some stuff away that you know you need to give away. And then God will bless you with more. Amen. So let's do this. I decree that I will trust in the Lord with my heart. I decree I will trust in the Lord with my heart. I decree that I will not rely on my own understanding, but I will seek God's guidance.

16:19 And sometimes his guidance comes by a broken something. If your closet is all cluttered, you can't find head from tail, maybe that's a sign. I decree that I will submit all my ways to the Lord, trusting him to direct my path. And number four, I decree that my life will reflect the steadfast trust in God's wisdom and his plan. The key takeaways will be proper storage and organization to keep your wardrobe in shape. I'm going to add this other one. If you feel like you're a hoarder, you might be a hoarder. So check yourself. Caring for delicate fabric ensures they last longer.

17:00 And then updating your seasonal trends, keep your wardrobe fresh and stylish. And you know, another thing you can do is you can add one of those nice little, those moth things in there or air fresheners so that your clothes smell fresh. Another thing I found out, which is interesting, is don't spray perfume directly on your fabric. Spray it on your body so that that perfume doesn't like fade your clothes or also just kind of deteriorate your clothes. There's alcohol in it, right? And so begin to take care of your fabric, not to spray it all. People spray their perfume or men, their cologne all over their clothes.

17:41 Just spray it on your body. Remember the warmth of your body radiates the smell of your perfume or cologne. That's some good information. Let's keep going. I think that's it. So thank you for joining me on this journey. Stay tuned for the next episode. I think we got one more episode or I think so, maybe two more. Stay tuned for each episode as we bring Holy back to our attire, our church attire. This is your host, Connie Morris with Diary of a Black Woman podcast. And at the end of this series, I think it's available now on the webpage, Diary of a Black Woman, LLC.com.

18:22 The book, Holy Chic, the ultimate church attire handbook will be available as a free download. And so until next time, God bless you. Take care of your stuff. And hey, word to the hoarders, give some stuff away. Jesus name, amen.