It’s the inevitable.  You’ve run out of room in your closet.  You’ve bought enough stuff & it’s time to give some away.  We’re living in this day & age of buying lots & lots of clothes that we don’t always necessarily wear.  So what to do with it?

-First, go shopping in your closet.  Go through all of it & try things on that you haven’t worn in ages, & think about whether or not it’s worth keeping.  What women don’t notice is that quite often we end up buying something similar we already have. And it doesn’t only have to be your clothes.  Go through your shoes, bags, jewelry, makeup & other accessories.  You will eventually run into the question, “Why did I buy this??”

-Prioritize.  Keep the things that you always wear, love, or need.  You need to start pulling things out of your closet that you’ve never/rarely have worn, outgrown, too big, dont like anymore or are unraveling in some way.  This is the key to making more room in your closet.  Why are you hanging onto things you don’t need or wear?

What you can do:

-Invite your friends over & have a swap party.  Chances are they have things too that they don’t want.  And it doesn’t have to be just clothes.  I’ve given away samples of makeup, perfume, kitchen supplies; I could’ve given away bottles of wine.  You can give away gifts you got (from people not coming to this party) that you didn’t like / want.  Imagine what you could give away.  Even better!  Imagine what you could get!

-Bring them in & get a discount at H&M.  H&M, at the moment has started a program where they will take your old clothes (even rags!) and then give you 15% off your purchase!  Apparently they’re trying promote that they’re also environment friendly.  Love H&M?  Bring in your old t-shirt and get 15% off whatever you want!  Their stipulation is that they don’t collect shoes / accessories.

-Sell them.  And it’s not just ebay.com anymore.  You can sell things on craigslist.org, etsy.com, and tradesy.com.  Etsy is known for selling handmade things, & they do sell some clothes on there.  Tradesy.com is a website that’s popped up recently geared towards selling & buying of used clothes.  And you can get the profits directly sent to your paypal account!  Feeling lazy?  There’s also thredup.com, where you can just send them your clothes & they will sell it for you!!  For more websites where you can sell your clothes click on 15 websites that’ll make you money on your used clothes!  And you can pick & choose from there where you want to sell them!

-Sell them to consignment stores: What are they?  They are thrift stores that buy used clothes.  Don’t be discouraged by the word ‘used’, some of them sell very high end designer things.  There are many across the US, and the one that is the widespread would be The Second Time Around, which has stores across 12 states.  Here I can provide links for consignment stores in NY, & LA, otherwise you would have to google ‘consignment stores’ in the city closest to you.  Consignment stores in NY, and Consignment stores in LA.  

-Donate your clothes to the Salvation Army.  They are a valid non profit organization, and the proceeds usually go to disaster relief.  You can also donate to freecycle.org, a site meant to lower the amount of garbage in the world, by allowing a forum for people to donate & get things for free.  You can go on there are list things to donate, or “want”.  One is to help other people, the other is to help the planet.  And why do things for the betterment of others?

I’ve just given you some ideas of how to get organized.  It’s always fascinating to look into someone else’s closet; every woman’s closet could be a treasure trove of hidden valuables.  Why is it important to get rid of things you’re not using?  You could be making a profit, or helping someone just from a dress that’s hanging in your closet for months (if not years).  And what is also becoming more common is that people are becoming hoarders.  Which you don’t want to be.  The more organized you are, the more efficient you will be.

My mother once had a saying, “The organization of your house, represents the organization of your heart & of your mind.”  And I think she might be right.