How to Make the Most out of your Spring Cleaning!

A few months before the holidays last year, I was going through my closet and started to notice that I don’t wear a majority of my clothes. I usually donate to the Salvation Army, but I thought to myself, how expensive my clothes are and I wondered if there was a way I could sell them. I looked into consignment shops in my area and my clothes are not as high end as they are looking for. I tried selling some pieces on my own through Ebay, but after months of waiting, no one made a purchase. I finally found a few websites that will mail you a “Clean Out Bag” and give you an upfront payout after reviewing your items! So instead of selling the clothes yourself, this website will review the clothes you sent them and offer you a check through PayPal, up front for a few dollars per piece, usually $3-$10 an item. You can either accept the check and they sell your clothes on their website or you can request your clothes back, however each company varies with their return details. I found a site that I really like, ThredUp.com. I find that the upfront payout is a little higher than some of the other sites, and they accept a majority of the brands that I wear, (Express, H&M, The Limited, etc.)

How it works is they send you a “Clean Out Bag,” to fill up and mail back to them free of charge. They take gently worn or unworn clothes and resell them on their site. If they do not accept your clothes, you can purchase your bag back for $12 or they will donate them from the list of charities on their website. I think it is awesome that you can see where they donate to because had ThredUp not accepted my clothes, I would have donated them on my own anyway. I feel good knowing that someone in need is still getting something from me! This time around I filled up four Clean Out bags! I went through my closet, my drawers, and the pile I was saving on the side to eventually sell on my own one day. I neatly folded everything into four bags, from shirts and sweaters, to purses and shoes! I gave myself a fresh start and now all I have to do is wait for some spending money!

Packing up a lot of my old clothes was pretty hard for me. I have a hard time getting rid of my things and I will be the first one to admit that I am unfortunately a sweatshirt hoarder. I haven’t worn a pullover sweatshirt this entire winter, so I figured that that was a sure sign to let them go. I also do not like to wear certain shirts twice, but I love them so much it is going to be hard to part ways. So I told myself that I would keep some of the shirts I really liked. But I HAD to wear them again. To help myself, I moved them to the front of my closet so they would be more visible to me. I read a closet organization tip on Pinterest saying, that changing the direction of your hangers is a great way to see which items you frequently wear and which items you don’t touch. I am going to give it a try! It will definitely help me for my next clean out since it will be super clear to me which items I haven’t worn in months. I also have a large box in my closet that I keep my seasonal shoes in. Over the course of the next few weeks, the box will transition from storing sandals to holding my vast collection of boots.

I hope this helps some of you that were unsure what to do with your beautiful clothes that you can no longer make use of! Please feel free to comment below any other Spring Cleaning Tips!

xo