HANG ON TO YOUR HEIRLOOMS
Heirlooms are worth storing, junk is not
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Start the year with a clean slate--or at least a clean closet.
Surely there are items from 2008, or perhaps even years earlier, that you'll never wear again. Some of them should go straight to a local charity or Goodwill, but some might be worth boxing up with care and putting into storage for the next generation to enjoy.
 Often, your best bets for heirlooms are the classics, the items that would be hard to date simply by looking at them, says Melanie Charlton Fascitelli, author of "Shop Your Closet" (HarperCollins).
"Think of things that repeat themselves over time--your favorite Lilly Pulitzer dress. I kept one that my mom wore when she was pregnant with me. It was yellow with a cape; I've worn it to a Halloween party and a cocktail party."
Pucci also holds up its value because people collect the prints, she says.
 Other designer items can be trickier, though. A high price tag doesn't mean an item is an heirloom, explains Fascitelli, who also has a closet organizing business called Closette. It's worth keeping if it's a piece that helped define either the design house or the look of an era: For example, a Tom Ford Gucci piece is likely more valuable, both monetarily and as a keepsake, than a garment by his short-lived successor Alessandra Facchinetti.
Things that other people are clamoring for might be the ones you hold on to.
Constance White, style director for eBay, says that old European brands such as Chanel and Louis Vuitton never lose their cache, and right now Balenciaga and Lanvin are equally hot.
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