November 23, 2007

Great use for clothes you dont use

There are many different reasons why we get rid some clothes, to mention a few: create space in the closet, clothes wont fit, cannot wear it because its not your style, and any other reasons that you may come up with. But deciding HOW to get rid of some clothes is just as emotional and mind-buggling as deciding WHICH clothes to let go.

Most of my clothes when I was young are all gone now, some were given away to my relatives and some were given to some people who asked my mother and my grandmother for some hand-me-down clothings for children because their parents cannot afford to buy new ones at that time.

Few days earlier, I wrote an article Solving your closet nightmares which talked about how to convince yourself to get rid unwanted clothes, and be willing to reclaim valuable closet space. But once you have decided WHICH clothes you are willing to let go, the next question is, HOW? Im sure if you have a hard time letting go with these clothes, there must be a value in them, and things with value, you cannot just throw away, right?

Here are some suggestions that you can do to get rid of clothes that you are willing to let go:

Sell them locally. There are several ways that you can sell your used clothings but dont expect to get the same amount as you paid for it, remember it is a used one, and that will cause price depreciation. Check for your local stores to see if there are used clothings consignment in your area, where you can drop off your clothes and the consignment store will sell them for you in their brick and mortar store, and when it will sell you get paid, or other times you have to pay store space where you can display your clothes for selling.

Sell them online. One of the favorite place to sell used clothing is eBay. But eBay have rules and regulations with regards to selling used clothings and which is allowed and not allowed to sell. But selling used clothings online take some works, patience, and money. You need to clean and wash your item to make them useable and sanitized. You need to take photographs of the actual item and also pinpoint the flaws specially that used clothings are imperfect and bounds to have damages and holes and fading. And you need to be willing to spend some money for listing them online, which may or may not sell, most listing cost is non-refundable, so selling used clothing online is a gamble as well, you have to pay for listing fee that could possibly wont sell. And with the millions of inventories listed online, selling your used clothings might be a challenge to sell.

Donate them. Most areas have non-profit organization that are willing to take your usable used clothings as donations so that they can hand it to the less fortunate and the needy. Other times, these non-profit organizations will run a rammage sale or thrift store to house all the domated clothings and they will sell these clothings at low prices and the proceeds of the sales will be donated to the needy, the poor, people who can definitely benefit and need it. If you donate, expect not to get any money payment, because as the word implies, you donate, you give it to help others. But the good thing about donating is that you know that your used clothings will have a purpose somehow instead of just throwing them away. And at the time of donation, you can also asked for receipt from the non-profit organization so that you can use it as tax right-off. Not all might be qualified as tax right-off, but you can read more about that in IRS form...

Hand-me down. If you have brothers or sisters, cousins, relative or friends whom you think can use and may like the clothes that no longer fit you or not your style, ask them if they want it! Just make sure that you wont hand them a piece of crap, if you know what i mean, pants without zippers, blouses with missing buttons, over-stained ones, shredded pieces, because giving them a used crap might appear as an insult rather than a gesture of love and giving (i think).

Throw it away. For those used clothings that you plan to hand-me down, or donate like pants without zippers, blouses with missing buttons, over-stained ones, shredded pieces, the best way to dispose of them is just to throw them away or make them into rags/wipes in your household. If the main reasons why you are getting rid of these clothings is because it is stained, ruined, cutted, etc, then chances are nobody will like them as well. Only give to give people what you think they can truly wear and appreciate and the only reason while you are getting rid of them is because they wont fit you, they are not your style but it was given as gift to you, etc.

Related article: Solving your closet nightmares

11 comments:

waliz said...

hi jazebox..great article here..very useful info too....i usually use the hands down and donate to charity especially for the orphanange method...

have a nice sunday...

Jazevox said...

hi waliz, i mostly donate or hands down my clothes as well, although recently eeryone else seems bigger than me so there is not a lot of persons i know i can hands down my clothings anymore

on rare occassions, i sell some online, if its in great shape

S-V-H said...

Today, I'm giving my "old" clothes away to a Cuban family who travels almost every year to Cuba and there, they are more than happy to get almost new clothes for free!

I did the same when I was living in Europe. I have collected them over a certain time and drove with my car to Hungary. I knew there some very poor families with a lot of kids. They never had money to buy new clothes for themself and for the kids. And those people were so thankful every time I had my car full with clothes and toys and so much more stuff. :-)

So, I never drown clothes away.

This is indeed a nice post, Jazevox!

Jazevox said...

hi Susanne, its very inspiring and moving the things you do for them. Some clothes i have is also due for some sorting and i been thinking of donating them to a local thrift store in our area that sell it at cheap prices so that they can pursue with their huminatarian goal of helping and providing comfort for the sick people

Anonymous said...

jazevox...another great posting, thank you!!!....my wardrobe state is still a nightmare!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jazevox, thanks for passing by my blog, much appreciated :D !

Well as for clothes or other stuffs I usually give them out ! I hate throwing things except if things are worn out already ! These are helpful tips, thanks for sharing. Have a nice day there!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jazevox, thanks for passing by my blog, much appreciated :D !

Well as for clothes or other stuffs I usually give them out ! I hate throwing things except if things are worn out already ! These are helpful tips, thanks for sharing. Have a nice day there!

Jazevox said...

hi AZRA, thanks for coming back here, truly appreciate your visit.

mine too, ill try to do my wardrobe thingy before the end of the year, to have a great start by 2008

Jazevox said...

hello haze, thank you for visiting here too, glad to know that you like this post, have a nice day as well

Anonymous said...

this is so helpful...Me,myself is going to send some of my summer clothes to PI...

Jazevox said...

hi gwapa84, thanks for dropping by! thats great, im sure the recipients will be delighted

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