Is your house bursting its seams? When you open a closet are things falling out on your head? When you look across the room at your dresser are most of the drawers partly open because they simply won’t shut anymore? These conditions don’t necessarily mean that you have a hoarding problem. They do, however, indicate it is time to do some purging. While many people donate household items when they start cleaning out their homes, and some people donate used toys instead of packing them up in boxes placed in the attic, another thing to think about before cleaning is a plan to donate gently used clothing.

Throwing out old clothing wasteful. You have likely heard that 90% of what Americans throw away could be recycled or repurposed by someone else, but did you know that clothing and other household fabrics create 5% of the total garbage in U.S. landfills? As you start sifting through the drawers, closets and hidden spaces under your bet have a plan to spend a few extra minutes sorting the clothing you get rid of. Some items are too worn to be of much use, but many things will have a new life if if you donate gently used clothing. In fact, in the year 2006, 2.5 billion pounds of fabric were kept out of the landfills and garbage collection centers by used-clothing purchases.

Often people have thought of selling used clothing at garage sales, and that can serve a financial purpose for your family. When that garage sale is over though, place the clothing in bags and drop them off at the nearest center that allows you to donate gently used clothing. You may even find charities that will pick up your clothing from your house. Instead of garage sales, some families sell their outgrown or outdated clothing to resale stores. Some of these stores even make a cash offer to you that you can accept or reject on the spot. These clothing resale store then create an economic service by helping families in need find lightly used clothing at affordable prices. This business is especially prevalent for children’s wear. Again, after this resale process you still have the opportunity to donate gently used clothing with the items leftover.

If you do not want to bother with garage sales and clothing resale stores, make sure that you do take the time to find places to DONATE clothes. St Vincent de Paul clothing donations and Good Will donation areas provide jobs and affordable clothing to low income families and provide you a tax write off. Did you know that approximately 1,507,231 tax-exempt, charitable organizations in the U.S accept donations? Rather than through your unwanted and unused items away, donate gently used clothing and your other household items to businesses and donations centers that will help you connect with families in need. Americans throwout an estimated 68 pounds of clothing a year, and they only buy 10 pounds of recycled clothes a year. Help reverse this trend!