A guide to sorting out, selling and donating your clothes

Sorting your clothes is the hardest part. If you’ve got the time, the best way to do it is to take all of the clothes out of the closet and create a pile. This way, you’ll be forced to continue sorting through them until the task is complete if you ever want to see your furniture again. If you don’t have the time to clear out your entire closet in one go, take the clothes out section by section, and spread the task out over a few days.

Once your clothes are out of the closet, sort them out item by item. First, create three clothes piles: Keep, sell and donate. Go ahead and throw away anything broken beyond repair immediately – or else it’ll end up finding its way back into your closet and haunting you forever. Then, hold up each item and ask yourself “does it fit?” and “when was the last time you wore it?” If it’s a piece you love that fits well and you wear often, keep it. If you decide you don’t love it, check to see what condition the garment is in. If it’s in pristine condition or still has the tags on, then it goes in the sell pile. If it’s in good but pre-loved condition, then into the donate pile it goes.

While donating your old clothes is a noble effort, sometimes nothing beats cold, hard cash. Some people don’t know where to start when it comes to selling clothes, but here are some tips:

• Yard sale: You’ve got to love a good old-fashioned yard sale. Put up some flyers around your neighborhood and a sign in your yard to let your neighbors know the details. Set up a few clothing rails and a cash desk, and boom — you’ve got yourself a yard sale. Haggle away with your neighbors, and you might even make a few friends while you sell your clothes!
  
• Online: Not feeling a yard sale, because you’re a bit shy, can’t find the time or you live either in an apartment or in the middle of nowhere? Selling your old clothes online is the perfect alternative. There are many online selling platforms that can  help you list items for sale with photographs and descriptions. Buyers are welcome to either bid on the clothes or buy them outright. The choice is yours.
  
• Consignment Shops: Another option is to give your old clothes to a consignment shop. These types of businesses will accept your old clothes and will put them up for sale in their store. Once an item sells, the store will give you a percentage of the selling price.

Whether you’ve got a generous disposition or you just couldn’t sell those final few items of clothing, donating your clothes is a great choice. Here are some easy ways to donate:

• Clothes bank: First you’ll need to find a donation center. Sometimes it’s in the parking lot of a grocery store or at a recycling center. Wherever your local donation center is, bring your clean, well-packaged, good quality clothing with you and drop it off.
  
• Charity stores: Tons of charity and thrift stores operate on a donation basis with the proceeds from resales going to great causes. Check the donation policy on individual establishments before you go and. head over with your bag to donate your clothes!