What do you do with old clothes?

[Jamie]

Consignment? Charity? Give to friends? Organized swaps? Some combination?

We talk all the time about downsizing and decluttering. But when you're hauling those trash bags of closet discards out the door, where are they headed?

[Rooey]

All of the first three, actually. Most of the high end stuff hits the consignment shop, and what they don't take gets given to charity then, usually. The consignment shop has worked out well for me, but I've only been using it for the last six to nine months or so. Most of the stuff leaving our closet (mine and Dave's, too) gets bagged and I drop it in one of those ubiquitous charity drop boxes. I have one friend I've been able to hand (well, mail) stuff off to, and that makes me very, very happy when I can do that.

[Kayeita]

Generally i sell the kids' clothes. For the rest I usually will fill up a bag and bring it down to the women's shelter. My husband's clothes are never good enough to give away b/c he will wear things until I make him throw them in the garbage.

[Teena]

Almost always Goodwill. Although I've started keeping anything with an interesting pattern or colors for making fabric beads out of, if I ever do that again. Oh, and I just recently learned that I should be saving my old T shirts for use as painting smocks, which is what I'll be doing from now on. (That's one of those "oh, duh" lessons that I should have thought of on my own.)

[bonkrood]

Charity or trash, depending on condition.

[Jamie]

One of the things I miss about Ft. L was that between the rugby team and the homeless shelter, I always had an easy way to recycle old clothes. After the homeless shelter, I took stuff to Out of the Closet, a thrift store that sells donations as an HIV/AIDS fundraiser.

I'm going to try my hand at a consignment shop here... we'll see how it goes. My venture to Plato's Closet did not go so well. I think I'm too old and not label-conscious enough (although I was surprised to see them turn their noses up at various Betsey Johnson and Steve Madden items). The one up the road is target more toward all ages so I'll take a trip there soon. Everything else will go to charities recommended by my co-workers.

[KarenD]

What bonk said. There are a couple charities that pickup in our neighborhood periodically and that makes it very easy to donate stuff.

[Heather]

Almost all of it gets donated to Goodwill, Salvation Army, AmVets, or the like. Goodwill is easy, but kind of a far drive, Salvation Army is super close, but they only accept donations at certain times and days, so when I don't have time to drive out to Goodwill and the SA isn't open I use one of those drop boxes. I've never taken stuff to a consignment shop, but I really should with some of my nicer or higher end stuff. Most of the stuff I get rid of wouldn't be nice or in good enough condition though. Maybe next time I will take some of the nicer stuff and try to sell it. My Mom used to take stuff to consignment shops all the time and make a decent amount of money.

[Jana]

I have never had a lot of luck with consignment shops - they are very label conscious and clothes need to be in near-perfect condition to get accepted. And if I have stuff that's in near-perfect condition, I tend to sell it on ebay (especially if it has tags attached or is something that was discontinued from a store but that I know people are desperate to find, like when LB discontinues pant styles). If it's still in good to perfect condition and I know someone who could use it, I give or send it to her. Anything stained or worn-out gets thrown out. Things in good condition that I can't give to a friend get donated.

[tapestrygirl]

I did consignment all the time in Cbus, but the similar store I tried here had their heads up their asses. So now its Goodwill if its in decent shape, trash if its stained/damaged in some way.