Week 27 - One Woman's Trash...

This past week I went through my daughters’ closets and drawers. They tried on clothes, passed down what didn’t fit, and I was left with one huge pile for Goodwill and one smaller (but still quite large) pile too worn to donate. I usually think this is a chore, but this time I was thinking two additional things. The first was in regard to the clothing that was being sent to the landfill. It was a lot of fabric. I felt bad throwing it away and outside of making a ton of dusting cloths, I was wondering what else could I do with it. The second thing I was thinking was how donating gently used clothing to Goodwill, The Salvation Army, your church etc. is the ultimate in recycling. As a matter of fact the whole process is a lesson in, reducing (getting rid of clothing no longer worn; seeing what you actually have, so you know what you actually need), reusing (hand-me downs), and recycling (donating clothes).

What I think we need are more options for where we can donate our used items. No offense to the old standbys (Goodwill etc), but we can opt for not-for-profits that are a little more exciting and spread our donations around.

Donating Clothing

The charities “Dress for Success” (dressforsuccess.org) and Careerwardrobe.org (a member of The Women’s Alliance) assist women in being dressed appropriately for interviews, so they may obtain better jobs and become self-sufficient. They accept new or gently used: contemporary suits, blouses, blazers, jackets, professional shoes, purses, briefcases, scarves and jewelry. They suggest you ask yourself “what would I be comfortable wearing to an interview” before making your donation. Visit their websites for details.

Glassslipperproject.org is a wonderful organization that made me think of my niece (now in the working world) and how many beautiful dresses she had for proms and homecomings. They accept donations of prom dresses to help underprivileged kids look great for their proms.

These are just a few of the countless organizations you can find online. Keep in mind homeless shelters and women’s shelters are often looking for clothing donations for all ages and both genders.

Making $$ With Your Clothing

Clothing is expensive so it’s nice to make a little bit of your money back from your gently used pieces. This is especially true when it comes to baby and toddler clothing since they grow so quickly their clothes can often look new. Find a knowledgeable and well patronized consignment shop in your area (take a look in the yellow pages) and recoup a portion of your costs.

Another way to make some of your money back is to include your clothing in a “dreaded” garage sale. It’s true, clothing can be hit or miss but it’s worth a try. Unfortunately what I find in my area is people expect you to have ridiculously low prices. I have felt that if I’m going to “give the clothes away” I would rather actually give the clothes away. Things may be different where you are, so try it!

You can also post your items on eBay.com, Craigslist.com, quikdrop.com, auctiondrop.com, or foundvalue.com. Visit each site to determine what they allow to be posted and on how to actually do it. Always include a picture.

Sharing Kids Clothes

I have friends with kids in staggered ages and sizes. They pass the clothes their kids have outgrown onto friends with kids of the right size. I think it’s great. The kids love getting something that is new to them, and the little kids get a kick out of having something which belonged to their bigger friends.

Host a Clothing Swap

Do you have any items in your closet you haven’t worn in quite a while? Maybe your job or your (gulp) weight has changed? Whatever the reason, if you haven’t worn it in a while chances are you won’t again. But a friend may be coveting those items, so why not host a clothes swapping party? It’s simple: 1) invite friends, 2) set a minimum number of pieces and 3) let the trading begin! I think even ‘tween and teen girls would enjoy this.

Swapstyle.com offers an international completely online clothing swap. It’s free to register and there are no limits. Check it out and make certain you understand their terms and conditions (the site itself is not responsible for bad swaps, inequitable swaps etc.).

You can also check out clothingswap.org, swaporamarama.org and buffaloexchange.com for fashion exchanging events.

Sneakers

Nike has their Reuse-A-Shoe program (nikereuseashoe.com) which recycles old and unusable shoe material into basketball and tennis courts, soccer fields and running tracks.

From their website:

To keep our recycling equipment running smoothly, we have a few guidelines for recycling:
Athletic shoes only (any brand)
No shoes containing metal
No cleats or dress shoes
No wet or damp shoes

Check their website for drop off locations. If there is not a collection partner in your area, you can send any number of shoes to:

Nike Recycling Centerc/o Reuse-A-Shoe26755 SW 95th Ave. Wilsonville, OR 97070(Nike will not accept shoes delivered with postage due)

Here are some other websites to check out before tossing those sneakers:
shoebank.org and shoe4africa.org

Uses For Too Worn Items

I have to say, I have not found any exciting uses. There are of course rag rugs, which do sound pretty cool and seem fairly straight forward to make. There are also braided rugs. Instructions for both can be found online. I think what I’m looking for is a place to send them the items other than the landfill. If you have any ideas let me know.

This one is soooooo easy! Not only do we have a lot of options for how to reduce, reuse and recycle our clothing so we make less of a negative impact on the environment, we get to help others and save a boat load of money too! I love it when our choices are win-win!