Quick Tip for Looking Great

Coming from a women’s perspective in this day and age one of the most looked at thing as far as outfits go is matching. For instance say you’re at the mall or even just a clothing store and you see someone with a light pink shirt with blue socks and neon green shoes, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? “WOW that outfit is phenomenal!” No. The most likely thought in your mind is “What were they thinking when they woke up and got dressed this morning?!”

In this decade your most judged by your peers on appearance sadly, it’s true. Plus most of us women want to look decent, even if you didn’t get all dolled up. For instance say you want to wear your favorite distressed jeans with a couple patches that have a white background and green floral design, most of us are not going to wear a bright yellow t-shirt. Most likely you are going to match that green floral design with maybe a white, or even brown cute v-neck shirt and showing underneath is a green tank top or even spaghetti strap.

There are two reasons you would do that. One being that green undershirt is going to match that adorable floral design on your favorite distressed pants, and two the white v-neck is going to match the background of the floral patch. Also the v-neck with the spaghetti strap or tank layering underneath is going to give you a more conservative look in the case the v-neck it may be a little too low-cut. With matching you could even go further than just layering, or picking out other colors that go with your main color. You could add a cute belt, headband, bracelet, necklace, or even a stylish flower to pin into your hair.

Written by Cassie Leimbach. Style Coordinator for CarefreeCasuals.com

Don't Throw Away Your Kids Clothes

Do you still have clothes that are hanging around that your kids outgrew months or even years ago and you realize that it’s time to get rid of them? This is often the case with many parents, including myself, and it is hard to let go of those items because usually your child only got to use them for a few months. In my home grandma loves to buy the girls clothes and sometimes they may only get to wear something once or twice before they grow out of it.

So what do you do with those clothes that you cannot bring yourself to throw out because they are still almost new? Here are just a couple of suggestions that have worked great for me either by putting a little cash in my pocket or giving a sense of satisfaction that I did a good thing.

The first thing your going to have to do is separate the items that are truly almost new from the ones that may have stains, wear spots, rips, or even dead batteries. The best of the best can either be sold at a garage sale or at a consignment shop. Often times I’ll do the garage sale first then take them to a consignment shop. This way I get double the chance of selling them and often times I get a better price in a garage sale anyhow. Also many consignment shops will donate whatever doesn’t sell.

The best stuff is pretty easy to sell but what do you do with all the less than perfect items? Well I will usually sort this into two piles. One I call trash and the other I call wearable. I figure that if I wouldn’t want my kid wearing it then it’s time to donate it to a thrift store like goodwill. If an item is bad enough that they cannot sell in there store they have people who buy those items to recycle into a whole bunch of new products from rags to insulation. So even if it is a total piece of junk they are still going to make some money off of it. Now the items that I still consider wearable I personally like to donate to organizations that support foster care. Being a foster parent myself I have had children dropped off at my house at 2 am with a dirty diaper and pair of shorts 3 sizes to small and nothing else. More than once I have made a 6 am run to one of these places just so a child can have some clothes to put on until I have time to do some actual shopping. I couldn’t imagine getting pulled from my home dropped off in a strange place and just to make things worse have no clothes.

There are a million other things that you can do with old kids clothes that you either don’t want or need but don’t just throw them out. There is already enough good stuff flowing into landfills today lets work together to see if we can keep some out.

Save the world and a few dollars

With the current global warming trend and the recession any way we can find to save is a good thing. In this article I would like to impart a few tips about how to save a few bucks with your clothes dryer and at the same time conserve energy.

The optimal thing to do is to hang your clothes on a clothesline and let the sun take care of the job for you but urban dwellers often don’t have that option either due to space constraints, HOA rules or a whole assortment of other reasons. This means that millions of dryers must be used every single day and we need them to work better instead of harder.

Lets first look at how a dryer works. It’s a pretty simple process in that all it does is suck in surrounding air and heat it up. It then blows all this heated air through a spinning drum, which your clothes are in, and forces the warm damp air through a pipe to be vented outside. The process is actually really simple and while there are factors that you cannot control but there is a lot, which you can that will pay off in putting money back into your pocket.

The air that your dryer is sucking in should be as dry as possible and while you have no control over the humidity try not to use your dryer when the humidity spikes. Usually during or directly after a rainfall are the worst times. Another thing is often times the washer dryer combinations are in a small confined area. If you’re using the washer at the same time then it raises the humidity of your laundry area. So if your using your washer and dryer at the same time then keep it ventilated so that the damp air can escape which will help your dryer.

Next you’re going to want to look at the clothes that you’re drying. If you just pull them out of the washer and throw them into the dryer you are making the dryer work a lot harder because the final rinse cycle tends to make your clothes into little balls that the dryer has to get opened up to dry them. If you give each item a quick shake to open it up before you put it in the dryer it improves the airflow throughout the entire garment allowing it to dry faster. Another trick is to throw a clean dry towel in with each load to dry. This will pull the moisture out of the wet clothing and since the towel is already dry whatever moisture it does pick up will evaporate much more quickly.

You must clean your lint trap after every load. This will allow the damp air to escape so that fresh dry air can continue to pick up and remove more water from your clothing. Dryer lint is blamed for thousands of home fires every year because if it does come into contact with the heating element on your dryer is can burst into flames with relative ease. Also make sure that your dryer screen doesn’t become clogged and impede airflow. The lint screens can be easily cleaned with toothbrush and warm water.

Finally check your dryer hose that attaches to the outside vent. The first thing is to make sure that it is firmly attached to your dryer and the outside vent so your not blowing damp air into back into your laundry area. Another major mistake that is often made it the hose itself is way to long. You can tell if you look behind your dryer and the vent hose is snaking around back there. When you purchase the hoses they usually come in lengths about six feet long but the connection from the dryer to the vent is often less than a foot. You should cut the hose to make the connection as direct as possible but make sure that you leave a little extra so it won’t come off if your dryer shifts a little. This will increase the airflow out of your dryer and also eliminate a good place for lint to build up.

Massive Clearance

We decided to clean out the warehouse and we found so many items that we just need to get rid of that it's ridiculous. All of these items are going up on the clearance section of UMIdirect.com with markdowns of up to 80%. We have polo shirts under $5 and so much more that it's not even funny. Items are going to be added on an ongoing basis and I wouldn't be surprised if it took months to get everything listed. Take a look at some of the great deals that we're offering just to clean out the warehouse.





Black and White Prisoner Uniform Set
These are made for actual prisons so if you want the real deal for a costume or are a little homesick these are cheap at only $14.99 for the set













Mens Medium Weight Polo
This is a great polo at a price so low that you can't pass it up. The 79% discount makes these only $3.99










Carhartt Heavyweight Crewneck sweatshirt
These are some of the nicest sweatshirts I have ever seen and since there made by Carhartt there is no doubt that they are top quality. These should last for years and keep you warm in some of the coldest weather. At only $10 ea you can't pass this up.





There are many more items being added every day all items are on a first come first serve basis and are limited to stock on hand.

Top 10 Ways To Tell You Need Bigger Clothes

Hi Everybody,

I'm a big guy and I hate have to get new clothes. I tend to wear everything until I have to go shopping and sometimes I have to go because stuff is just getting a little small on me. I thought I would help everyone out and create the "Top 10 Ways To Tell You Need Bigger Clothes" guide to save you some of the trouble I have been through.

10. You can't clap without ripping the back of your shirt

9. You look like the increadable hulk.... just rounder

8. The waistband on your pants stop blood going to your feet

7. You have less than 1" to tuck in

6. You have to open a button to breath

5. It takes longer to put your pants on than to drive to work

4. You have to use a zip tie (or two) to make the ends of your belt to meet

3. Everyone thinks your t shirt is a tube top

2. Your boxer shorts fit more like a thong

1. Your buttons pop off your shirt hard enough to kill someone

I hope this helps. Good luck

Why Men Hate Shopping

It's no secret that most men don't like to go shopping. For us the mall is a place of tedium. When I have been dragged into yet another store standing there in the clothing section I often wonder why this shirt won't work or what's wrong with this skirt.

Clothes shopping should be fast and easy. Walk in, see it, buy it and done.

My wife sees it another way. Look at every possible item available and make notes of where every possible keeper is. Then go back and compare all the keepers. Try them on. See how it looks on. Eliminate some items. Try them on again. Compare them together. Look a little more as she contemplates possibilities. If possible include new clothes as possibilities. Try those on. Make a decision. Buy them.

I try to be a good husband and understand that this IS important to her but by then end of the experience I am as inclined to jump from the top of the mall as walk out the front door. Every attempt I have made to facilitate (and speed up) the process has proven fruitless. For instance I thought I had a pretty good idea on the types of clothes that she likes to wear so I decided to find the possibilities on a large rack for her. After a few moments of searching I triumphantly held up a blouse that looked like they made it to suit her style and taste. "What do you think of this honey?", I proudly remarked showing her the treasure that I had pulled from the rack. "Oh, It's nice", she replied flatly and obviously unimpressed. I made the the mistake of deciding to push the issue. "What's wrong with it?", I asked knowing that I was crossing a line. I don't really remember the answer but something about a button and colors and I realized that I had committed a major mistake by messing with the special karma of the mall.

From that point on I did what I usually do when clothes shopping. I followed, carried and kept my mouth shut. When she needed to try stuff on I waited patiently. When she resumed searching I followed quietly so as not to cause any more damage to the great balance. On occasion we would pass another couple and in almost every case I could see that the dynamics of their shopping relationship was the same. Both women would be so engrossed in the almost religious experience that they were oblivious that anyone was anywhere near them. I would try to make a quick nod to the other man who was also trapped to say I know your pain, I am in the same hell, just hold on they close in 4 more hours.