When I finally decided to give my wardrobe a nice sprucing up, I found myself wondering: “What do I need all those clothes for?” Of course, I had no answer ready, but just like that the solution hit me, like a pro-baseball player hits a home run: “Why not get rid of all my unwanted threads?” Two days later I held a yard sale, and before I knew it I had much fewer clothes cluttering up my wardrobe!
There are a few steps that you must take into consideration before attempting anything of this magnitude, and I do understand how difficult it is for some people to abandon their clothes (some more so than others). But it’s worth it, so here are a few tips to get you motivated:
Decide That It’s Time For A Change
To shed one’s layers is never easy, especially if you love your clothes and will be sad to see them go. You must establish a mental state of the sort where you feel more than comfortable to give your clothes away to those who are less fortunate than you. You might want to make some money from your efforts though, and to do this you need a well-formulated game plan that would permit the auction of said clothes through the medium of direct sales — but more on that later.
Firstly, open up your wardrobe and decide what stays and what, well … goes. As much as you like your threads, you must be sick and tired of at least half of them. (At least!) Make a detailed list of what you like and what you will really like wearing in the future. The ones that don’t quite make the cut are automatically designated for recycling and should be filtered out immediately. Gather all of your unwanted clothes in a big box (folding them neatly as you do) and holster them somewhere safe — out of your wardrobe or closet if possible.
How To Sell Your Unwanted Clothes
There are numerous ways to sell your clothes, both domestically and, believe it or not, internationally. Taking into consideration how much free time you have on your hands, you can choose either the ‘analogue’ or the ‘digital’ method of selling.
The Analogue Model
Have you ever though about having an all-out yard sale? It’s the perfect way to sell unwanted clothing to friends and neighbors. You can even make it as a part of a larger sales strategy, depending on how much old stuff you have lying around. You can easily make a day of it, marketing both clothes and trinkets alike.
Of course, selling your stuff to strangers is one way to go. Another way to go is to directly offer your closest friends a piece of your wardrobe (at a reasonable price, naturally). I bet more than half of your friends have something in your wardrobe that they like, and would like to purchase. Of course, you could always do the right thing and simply give them the various articles of clothing that they fancy, without any monetary gain.
Digital Marketing
If you really want to make money off your unwanted clothes, there is always the option of auctioning them over the internet. There are numerous websites, such as eBay, Amazon etc., where you can sell your old stuff and make a considerable amount of hard currency while you are at it.
All you need is a camera, a PayPal account and a few lucky charms to get your operation in gear. This is a better alternative when compared to the yard sale because you can bargain on the price and not feel guilty about doing so. The ‘bid’ system allows you to place any price on your property and no one can tell you otherwise. And if the first customer is not willing to buy, there are at least 100 more waiting in the ranks — all you need is patience!
Final Thoughts
Once you make a sale, you will see how easy and manageable dealing with unwanted clothes really is. You can keep yourself motivated by envisioning how much wonderful stuff you are going to buy with all that clothes money you have just made. You can even replace each article you sold with a new, fresher equivalent, setting the stage for future sales as well.
