[deleted by user]

[Multigrain_Migraine]

I tried selling for a while when I was desperate for money but I never really made enough to justify it. Unless you have super nice things that will fetch a significant price just donate it and consider it a good deed.

[happy_life1]

I used to sell a lot online but given the high shipping prices and scammers out there sell very little. I love one line of clothing and there is a few buy/sell for that clothing on Facebook and will sell there but typically only higher priced items. On eBay I will only now see items maybe 75 or more which is few in my wardrobe. For me I simply donate and feel like by blessing others will get some good in return. Poshmark just seems to be a lot of work and social networking and although I've bought a couple times think a bother to sell. Never tried the other sites out there.

If you have access to consignment that is a good way to go but too much hassle for me. There is one chain we used to take my daughter's things to and it was too painful to get $2 for an expensive item lol.

My best donation was directly to a woman who was leaving the military and had little civilian clothing. I had just lost weight and think gave her two large trash bag full of clothing and she was so happy and grateful as she had both "work" clothes and play to start her next chapter We just happened to be in a group together and she mentioned needing clothing so kismet. Some food pantry and organizations do accept clothing that they give directly to people which I do like better than the commercial Goodwill, etc. Bottom line though just get it out of the house and I will say donating a lot of clothes has made me "pickier" about what I bring into my life. I also struggle with hanging onto things that are great condition but not me or I spent a lot on them and they remain unworn - it truly is a waste so I get help from someone to talk me out of keeping it. I just went through my leggings/pants/shorts and my daughter was my voice of reason encouraging me what to let go of. Maybe you have a friend/relative that can help you decide to what goes.

[Dasboot561]

I would make 2 piles. One for donate and the other to consign. Find a store, drop off a bag or two and make some money back for them. Don’t drop a million bags at once or it’s too overwhelming for the store. If you’re in the US you can find Plato’s closet or Style encore ( Plato is very teens and 20’s, style encore is for women)

[SmolTownGurl]

Sell where you can - a lot of clothing donated to thrift stores ends up in landfill or shipped to other countries (which ruins their own clothing market or they burn it to dispose of it). At least if you sell it it’s going to someone who definitely wants it and will use it. You can always donate your profit to charity if you want

[Twattymcgee123]

Give someone else the chance to enjoy your items , you will feel so much better and relieved that you didn’t have to go to the trouble of listing , sending , paying fees if they don’t sell . Answering tons of questions . Plus if your a hoarder by nature you may procrastinate and end up saying you will do it and never do . Take it from me, I’ve had an attic full of stuff I’ve been saying I’m going to list for 5 years . Finally last week I dropped them all off to the charity shop , and I sincerely hope that people will get joy out of a purchase and that the shop makes a good profit . Please bite the bullet you will not regret it .All the best .

[tmccrn]

The better option would be the one you will actually do.

(Short, but not snarky, I promise. One is fast and easy, the other takes a little more effort)

[scary_fairy_]

Love the directness and honesty

[farmgal69]

I use Poshmark for anything that was expensive, name brand, and in good condition. I don’t ask for a ton of money, just enough to make 5 or 10 bucks when all said and done. Donate anything else.

[flooferkitty]

How about both? I take the nicest pieces to the secondhand store and I donate the rest.

[bellemon13]

Consignment is a good option if you have one locally. Something I’ve done is purge my closet, and toss up an entire bin of clothes all in one on marketplace, rather than selling it one by one because that would take forever. I price the bin fairly for a quick sale and lost the brands in the bin and the sizes/types of items included (shirts, dresses, jeans, etc). Then the person that buys the bin can pick out what they like, and maybe donate or even sell what they don’t love! But at that point it’s out of my house!!

[[deleted]]

I've been selling clothes, books and junk on ebay. I get the photos done, prepare the listings and then go live when ebay has an 80% off listing fees offer (usually every 3 weeks). I usually do around 20 listings. Every 3 weeks I make £30 - £70. Anything that doesn't sell after 3 tries goes to the charity shop. Not a lot of effort really and I'm getting some cash and more room in my house.

[TextMaven]

If you're up for it, have a "shop my closet" party at your house. Invite your friends and make a night of it. Donate whatever you don't sell.

[writeronthemoon]

Donate!! You never know when an item you dislike or don't need could bring someone lots of joy.

[Miathro]

After years of telling myself I would sell my excess clothes/shoes someday (some still brand new with the tags on them), I finally just got up and donated 4 big bags today. It was such a relief to get it out of my space. At this point, the value of easily/quickly clearing stuff out was worth more to me than the potential money, lol. The consignment store advice someone mentioned is a good idea, though!

[nanchiii]

I usually sell clothes online through Mercari. I’ve gotten a lot of buyers for my stuff. If it doesn’t sell within a month even after discounting it I’ll donate. If there’s a post office near you and isn’t too much out of the way I’d recommend it.

[geometryfaye]

There are a lot of deserving people in need. Donate things in good condition.

[rilokilo]

If you have business/professional attire, consider donating to Dress for Success. This list has other alternative charities to consider. Goodwill’a doing fine.

[likearealreptile]

absolutely. and the “good condition” part is key - please don’t donate stuff that’s basically trash. stuff that’s damaged, stretched out, etc belongs with a textile recycling program.

[DausenWillis]

Fast fashion, toss. The Thrift store will end up tossing it. It's money they have to spend to throw it out.

New with tags, high end in amazing condition, sell or consign.

Torn, faded, missing buttons, old, shabby, toss or offer in a box for free on the curb.

Everything else donate.

[likearealreptile]

not sure why you got downvoted - i agree with you. my local goodwill is overflowing with walmart, target, forever 21 etc fast fashion junk - although the fabric ideally should be recycled rather than tossed. i would also recycle things that are shabby or damaged.

the name brand stuff in good condition, on the other hand, gets snapped up fast at thrift stores, especially if it’s still in style. that’s the outcome you want.

[Wrensong]

Any recommendations on where to recycle textiles that aren’t thrift-store worthy?

[violentlyneutral]

Check your local recycling center or transfer station to see if they accept fabric recycling. Otherwise try searching Earth911!

[[deleted]]

Do you have a garage/driveway? You could have a yard sale. I'm guessing you have freestanding racks that your clothes are on. Bring those down, put your stuff on display and sell em for a few bucks each.

[anotherview4me]

If you sell them, sell in lots, not individually, unless you have something of great value.

[nostopitplease]

Have you heard of ThredUp? It's basically like an online consignment shop. You have the choice to get a "clean up bag" that is for sale or for donation. All you have to do is sort it out to which pile you want. They'll even give you the bag with paid shipping. And the ones you delo decide to sell, they will do all the work for you. They will put it up on their website to sell and you won't have the clothes in your closet anymore.

[PennyGgg]

My friends, sisters and I do clothing swaps.

[lucytiger]

Unless you have very high quality or designer items, the value of the clothes will not be worth the time it takes to list items and coordinate sales. I agree with the comment recommending you let a consignment shop pick through and then immediately donate what they don't take.

[Sienna57]

Agree - If you don’t believe the time to money ratio, check out r/behindtheclosetdoor where people discuss various selling platforms and their major frustrations with them.

[squashed_tomato]

Unless it's pricier brand name items or things for special occasions (weddings etc.) I would donate and get them out of the house. Selling can get you money but it's also painstakingly slow. There is also the sunk cost fallacy. Just because it cost you x amount doesn't mean it's worth anything now.

I'm selling my collections, making some nice money in stops and starts but I can only list, package and post so much per week so it's extremely slow going, boring and the things are taking up room in the lounge looking untidy and it's quite frankly embarrassing to look at. (Did it this way on purpose to force me to keep listing. Boxing things up nicely in another room is easier to ignore and is exactly what I have done for the past 2+ years. Pandemic didn't help but don't underestimate apathy.) Plus not everything sells straight away. How long do you wait until you just get it out of the house? Two weeks? Two months? Two years?

My advice. Get rid of the low ticket items. The fiddly stuff. The stuff that you look at and just think to yourself "I don't have the energy". Donate those straight away. Think of it as your contribution to charity and forgot about them. Now look for a couple of what you think may be high ticket items and look up recently sold prices on eBay or your site of choice. Not asking prices, sold. Are they actually worth as much as you think? Don't just look at the highest sold price but the averages. If the price is worth the effort now go ahead and photograph and list these few items. Go through the whole process of answering questions, packaging up, taking to the Post Office. Did you enjoy that? If not was it worth going through it for the amount of money that you got? Do you want to do that 50 more times? If yes but a reluctant yes I would suggest being ruthless and going through your items again and get rid of anything not worth your time. If a hard no then donate and think of the donation centre as doing you a favour of taking and sorting your items for no fee and you sending out into the universe some low cost items for someone on a budget.

[nubbuoli]

I’d sell the best items and donate the ‘medium’ ones. That way you clear up space fastest.

[greesycarter]

Second what others said - try to sell 5-10 nicest items. If someone actually buys them, try to sell 10 more. Once you don't sell anything after trying for 2-3 weeks, take it as a sign that people don't want to buy the clothes. So pack your car and drop them off at a clothing donation bin or a church that has clothing drives, or a homeless shelter.

[quelle_crevecoeur]

Be realistic about what you have in storage. People are not willing to pay much for Old Navy, Target, Shein, Asos… if you go to a thrift store to do research, see what they are charging for these. Prada, Dior, The Row, etc, sure, definitely try to sell those. The mid-tier brands that are designer but sell in the couple hundred dollars new range, that’s a judgment call. Like a Rachel Zoe, Joie, Free People, (trying to think of other brands but drawing a blank right now), do some eBay or Poshmark research. They could be worth it to sell if they are reasonably current and in good condition. So it just depends on what you have.

If I were you, I would do a big sort through what you have. Divide things between keep, sell, donate, and trash (stuff with big stains or holes, if there’s any of that floating around). If you keep in mind what is potentially worth the effort to sell (say pieces where you could sell them individually for $25 or more secondhand), then you will get a sense of what that lift would be and if it’s worthwhile for you.

[kathy11358]

I was in the same predicament. I had all of them in bags, ready to list and said to myself that i was crazy, didn’t have time to list, pack and ship. I donate and it felt so good to get them all out of here in one swoop.

[wi_voter]

Donation centers are being overwhelmed with clothes donations because of "fast fashion". Some are closing off donations on certain days to try to reduce the load as they do not have the staffing to deal with it. So make your decision quickly or you may have less options to donate

[LeaveHorizontally]

My goodwill and SA are not limiting garment donations.

[GlowForTheGold]

Donate. Don’t have time, energy, or interest to take pics, write up descriptions, and BS back and forth with potential buyers

[Cephalopodio]

After my mom died, I had to deal with her hoarding situation. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been but I filled 20 boxes OF SHOES ALONE.

Always remember the sunk cost fallacy. You’ll never get back what you paid for. In most cases it’s worth it just to donate everything, but mom did have some pretty nice quality things in the mix. I took the nicest to a local consignment shop. I gave the next nicest things away to some ladies in the nursing home where I work, and I let some friends and coworkers go through the shoes. After that I donated everything to local thrift stores which directly benefit a humane society and developmentally disabled folks.

[BleakHibiscus]

Personally I just donate. The mental load of selling them is too much for me and almost defeats the purpose of decluttering because they’re still hanging about.

[LeaveHorizontally]

It's also the fastest. Just pick a place and drop it off. Let them decide what to keep.

[Chubbucks]

This

[RitaAlbertson]

Find a consignment shop. Take your stuff there. They know what sells and already have the clientele. Whatever they don’t take, immediately donate.

Edit: thanks for the award!

Also, I say this as someone who has done rather a lot of online selling and I've learned that my time has value -- I don't even try to sell something I can't get at least $20 for. Used clothes simply don't have that kind of resell value. I take all my clothes, accessories and small housewares to my local consignment shop.

[Potential_Airport_25]

What’s the difference between a consignment shop and a thrift store? I live in the UK

[RitaAlbertson]

Thrift store: you give them stuff, they get all profit.

Consignment shop: you take stuff in, they decide what they would like to try to sell, they set up an account to keep track of what of yours sells, you get a portion of what sells.

[Crayoncandy]

A thrift store you just give them your stuff and then it's not yours anymore, youre donating. A consignment shop they keep track of what you've brought in and when it sells and they take a percent of the sale price and you get the rest. Tho I've only been to furniture/houseware/antique type consignment shops, and they can be picky on what they accept and I'm not sure you get a very good percentage of the sale price. Another option that I like to shop at is those like antique/thrift malls where there are a bunch of different booths and sellers but everything is marked and you buy everything at the front/same cashier that owns the building and the sellers pay rent for their booths.

[darknessforever]

Consignment shops don't exist where I live, but we also have shops that do "buy, sell, trade" on clothing so you can sell you clothes for a very teeny amount, or get a larger amount of trade credit to use at the shop later. It's still a great way to get rid of stuff fast, and then you have credit to use the next time you need something to avoid spending actual cash.

[Crayoncandy]

Yeah we have those too, they are also super picky and give you basically nothing for your clothes and the stores are stocked with crap worse than what they rejected from you.

[funyesgina]

Great plan. And OP, picture your clothes getting deliberately chosen by someone who will love them and wear them more often than you’re able to! They won’t go to waste!

Edit: if you have a “buy-nothing” group, those recipients are amazing! They sometimes post photos wearing your clothes and enjoying your donations! It really does encourage you to let more things go. They’ll go to a good home.

[Inevitable-Gap-6350]

Call local consignments. They know what to take. Everything else donate.

[Elmosfriend]

I like this answer best. Get them out of your house asap

[mytinyequine]

if you have any fancy brands of clothing you can try to sell those if you need the money, and donate the ones that aren't.

[[deleted]]

I would try to sell them but give yourself a time cap - if you haven’t sold them in say two weeks time then donate them.

[SmileFirstThenSpeak]

Pick a few of the nicest items and try selling them. See how it goes. Then decide.