What to do with Purged Clothes

So, what are you supposed to do with all of the clothes that you purge? You should probably donate them. I hate to tell you, but there's not much money to be found in selling used adult clothing. If you can store your purged clothing until spring, you can get a little bit of money for them by having a garage sale. The eBay and online auction market is flooded with used clothes, so forget about that unless it's a spectacular item: something brand new with tags still attached, a technical or specialty item, or a trendy, expensive brand that is like new.

By donating your clothes, you can see that your clothes get into the hands of someone who needs them more than you do. You can also get a receipt that can be used as a tax write-off.

Charities like Goodwill will accept your clothes that are at least in good condition. They have to be clean clothes that you would still wear yourself - no stains, tears, broken zippers or missing buttons. Goodwill is not a trash can. They receive SO many bags of clothes a day, and they don't have room to store all of them. If your clothes aren't suitable to sell, they will just go into a landfill, and we don't want that.

If you have any winter coats, gloves, hats, sweaters or scarves, I highly recommend donating those to a homeless shelter. Those clothes will be put to good use, and put directly into the hands of someone who needs them.

For clothes that can't be used by a thrift shop or charity, please keep those clothes out of the landfill - especially if you've accumulated nearly as much as I have. I hate to think about my ugly, 1980's-style pink blazer spending nearly an eternity in the ground, for all of the other plastic soda bottles and tin green bean cans to point and laugh at.

Recycling clothes is very easy. There are places that specialize in recycling clothes and/or hard-to recycle items. Check out U'SAgain and EcoCycle. These organizations reuse clothes, linens and textiles by sending them to Third World countries, and recycles the clothes that can't be reused by turning them into cloths, rags and insulative fiber.