Give your clothes a second life
February 20th, 2007With Spring only a month away, it’s time to prune those closets again before you add the sparkle of the new season. Re-evaluate each piece and be ruthless. Don’t forget about your sock, underwear, work-out and accessory drawers. You should love everything in your closet.
What can you do with the clothing and accessories that you don’t love?
- Take them to a consignment store. This is an option if your items are in pristine condition. You won’t get much for most items, but it’ll buy you and a friend a cup of tea.
- Sell them on E-bay. You need to be Internet-savvy and prepared to ship your goods to their new owner, but if your items are branded you might recoup a reasonable fraction of the original price.
- Have a clothing swap party with your friends. If that sounds like too much effort, give your friends a gift that you know they’ll love more than you did.
- Donate them to a charity or non-profit. Options include The Salvation Army, Good Will and Dress for Success. You’ll be able to claim a tax deduction and feel doubly good knowing that someone else who literally had nothing to wear will have a new outfit.
Get cracking with your closet-clean out. The sooner you pass those items along, the sooner you’ll get to replace them with goodies that update your look and make you feel fab.
February 20th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Oh i’m so glad you posted this. I just went through my closet and drawers this past weekend. I got rid of 3 large garbage bags full of clothes. I will be donating them to Good Will as soon as i have the time to get them down there.
February 26th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Here’s another suggestion on “re-making” your clothes. I just went on a vacation to Puerta Vallarta and needed some cool, summery clothes. I had a long linen print skirt that I never really liked or wore very much, but had a cute sweater set that coordinated that I DO wear and enjoy. Since I love to sew, I shortened the skirt, and used the cut-off hem length to make a “circle bias” ruffle to add to the bottom of the newly shortened skirt. If I do say so myself - it is ADORABLE! I wore it often in PV and love the look and enjoyed wearing a new “free” outfit. I also shortened a long back cotton knit dress, and tapered the side seams to give it more body-hugging, flattering shape. My last “re-do” was a lightweight, plain white cotton sweater I had purchased at a consignment store for only a few dollars. I cut off the buttons, and bought 1 inch wide black and white checked gingham ribbon, 2x the length of the front/neck edges. I ran a gathering thread to ruffle it, and sewed it down around the outside edge, and voila! A darling sweater that coordinates with ALL my solid black for about $10. Since I spent lots of money on massages and para-sailing on PV I was happy to save some money on my wardrobe and still feel like I had fresh, new clothes. Happy sewing!
October 24th, 2008 at 7:56 am
[…] of this rule. If an item is dated, uncomfortable, ill-fitting or unflattering – by all means pass it on. But what happens to the items that are perfect, but are not in current circulation. Do they need […]