How to Get Rid of Old Clothes
Is your closet completely packed but you still feel like you have nothing to wear? Let’s solve that problem by getting rid of your old clothes!
You: Getting rid of old clothes to have more outfits? That doesn’t sound like it will work.
Me: Trust me, it will!
How to Get Rid of Clothes
In this article, I’ll show you how to get rid of old clothes and actually discover clothes that make you feel good when you wear them. We’ll cover how to clear out your wardrobe, decide what to keep, throw away old clothes, and even how to make money from selling your clothes.
Why Get Rid of Old Clothes
Did you ever hear the phrase “less is more”? Well it follows Pareto’s Principle - we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time.
So if you think about that concept, 80% of the clothes in your closet are taking up space and they don’t deserve to be there.
Here’s how to get rid of clothes clutter and be ruthless and be ruthless when decluttering clothes. The result will be a closet filled with only clothes you love to wear.
How Do I Clear My Wardrobe
It might seem like a daunting task but cleaning out your closet is much easier than you think. It takes just a few steps and it will help you get rid of clothes clutter that is taking over your space.
In fact, if you need a fast fix read this closet clean up article I wrote, How to Clean Your Closet in 15 Minutes.
A Few Tips Before You Get Started
If you have a hard time getting rid of things, it’s a good idea to ask a friend for help - plus, it makes the job go faster.
Also put on some of your favorite music.
This is a fun task that has a really good reward at the end - a closet full of your favorite things.
We’re going to break the cleaning and organizing process into just three easy steps.
Sort
Reorganize
Remove
Let’s get started!
How to Sort Your Clothes
Here’s how to decide what clothes to keep. You’ll be sorting your clothes into four piles: keep, care, donate, trash.
Keep. In order for something to make it into this pile, you need to say YES to all of the following questions.
Is it in good condition?
Does it fit me today?
Do I like how it looks on me?
Have I worn this in the past year?
Does this go with anything else in my closet?
Does it fit my current lifestyle?
If you don’t say YES to all of these questions, the item needs to be sorted into one of the following three piles.
Note: We women are notorious for filling a closet with clothes that don’t fit. Period clothes, feeling fat clothes, goal clothes for when I lose weight…if the clothes don’t fit you today, remove them from your closet. Letting go of clothes that are too small isn’t easy but worth it. Who wants to open a closet everyday filled with clothes you don’t fit or can’t wear?
What do you do with clothes that don’t fit? Put them in the donate/sell pile!
Care. This pile is for clothes that you can say YES to everything EXCEPT good condition. Perhaps the hem is coming out, it has a missing button, or needs to be tailored. Don’t put any of these items back in your closet until they are fixed.
Donate. These are clothes that are in decent condition but they didn’t make YOUR yes checklist. Donate or sell them to someone else who can love them. We’ll get into selling and donating later in this article. For now, just make a pile.
Trash. We all have clothes that are just beyond wear. Torn, stained, broken, or just worn out can go in the trash. In addition to those items you should also dispose of old undergarments, socks, and worn out shoes.
Reorganize Your Closet
Now it’s time to put all of your clothes back in the closet.
Don’t just throw them back in the closet - make you closet a shopping experience every time you go in there buy organizing it properly.
Rather than organizing by outfit, sort clothes by category. For example, put all the t-shirt together, all blouses together, all jeans together, etc.
Then organize them by color from light to dark.
The benefit of organizing by classification and then color is that it allows you think about your clothes as individual pieces that can be mixed and matched with other clothes in your wardrobe.
Pick up a shirt and see how many different skirts or pants you can wear it with. You’ll be surprised how many outfits you can come up with. Take photos of the outfits so you can remember them when you are in a rush.
Want to learn more about making your clothes work together? Check out this article, How to Make Cute Outfits with What You Already Have.
Remove the Clothes You Don’t Wear
Parting with clothes can be hard but if they aren’t benefiting you anymore it’s time to get rid of them.
We created a several piles of unwanted clothes.
You should have two piles left. Donate and Trash.
Let’s take care of the easiest task first. Want to know how to throw away old clothes? Get some trash bags and throw away all of those clothes and accessories that can’t be sold or donated.
Now we’ll talk about the donate pile.
You can choose to donate OR sell those clothes.
Donating Old Clothes
There are many ways to donate your unwanted clothes.
Project G.L.A.M. for old prom dresses
Local churches, missions, homeless shelters, and second hand stores in your area
Selling Old Clothes
Are you wondering how to get rid of old clothes for money? Is used to be, the only way to sell your clothes was by taking them to a local consignment store. You can still do that.
In addition, there are a number of websites and apps you can use to make a little extra cash by selling your clothes.
Local consignment store
