April 11th, 2018 -- This post was originally published in January 2016.  I am reposting today after cleaning out my closet this past weekend and sending a bag of items off to ThredUp. 

Do you wear everything you have in your closet? Truly think about that. I am going to guess that you don’t. Take a look at your closet, move through the hangers and think about when you last wore each item. First you come across your favorite black silk top, the one you seem to wear at least once a week. That one is a keeper! Then you move that hanger aside and next you see a dark red dress, it is simple and pretty, and you remember buying it a year ago. Again, try to think about when you last wore it? You packed it for your Christmas vacation, but never actually ended up wearing it. So then you go back farther and start thinking about the past few week and months. Suddenly you realize you can’t remember the last time you wore it….. This should be a sign, maybe it is time to take the red dress out of your closet? But then you start to think: but it is cute, and it is from Madewell, and probably over $250, so your not going to give it away. You spent real money on it! And it could be perfect to wear to 'that' dinner next week. 

This is what goes through my mind most times I attempt to clean out my closet.  Usually, most things that I consider giving away, I can easily talk myself into keeping. I may not have worn it recently but I feel like it could be great for ‘x.’  However, lately I am trying something new; I am trying to regularly clean out my closet! I am trying to keep everything a bit simpler and manageable.  vacation, I always know what jeans will be my first choice and what sweaters are my favorites. I have come to learn what my favorite and go-to items are, and other than that, do I need much more? 

This has led me to add semi-regular closet clean-outs into my yearly routine. In the last year, I would say I have probably cleaned out my closet at least five times. It doesn’t have to be anything major, but each time I find a few more items that I realize I no longer wear. Don’t get me wrong, my closet is still pretty full of clothes! But now, it is just more of an edited and paired down collection! 

So you clean out your closet, but then what do you do with the unwanted items?

Do you donate the clothes or try to re-sell them...? I have found that using the website ThredUp is the perfect solution! (I think I first heard of ThredUp over a year ago on the blog, A Piece of Toast.) I would describe ThredUp as the middle ground between your local consignment store and Ebay. It is as simple as sending a big bag of unused clothes through the mail and then having the potential to make some money from the resale of the items. I  think this is the best resale option for clothing right now. 

Over Christmas, my cousin was telling me that she tried to take some old clothes to Second Time Around. Her attempt was a total failure because they wouldn't accept half of the items and for what they did take, she only made $6. I quickly told her that she had to try using ThredUp (and then realized it was about time I wrote about ThredUp here on Simply Elegant as well.)

ThredUp allows you to take a whole pile of clothes, pop them in a shippable bag (they send a pre-labeled bag), and send the items off with ease. They will then sort through all your items and either consign the items that have value and then donate everything else. Simply log on to ThredUp, create an account, and order a donation bag. You then ship it back for free and have the possibility to sell the items. You will not be making anything close to big chunks of cash, but I have been pretty successful so far. After sending in full bags to ThredUp more than five times, I have made from $65 up to $250 per bag.  It just depends on what you send. But I can bet you that more often than not, it will be a lot more money than you will make at a local donation/consignment store.  

*Note: this post is not sponsored by ThredUp or any of these services in any way, they are simply websites I use regularly and find very helpful that I wanted to share.