This Week’s Challenge: Unclutter Your Closet

Our mission here at Dot Complicated is helping people untangle their lives. This summer, every Wednesday we’ll feature a mini-challenge to help simplify your life and reduce the clutter – be it physical clutter, emotional clutter, or digital clutter.

Last week, we challenged readers to sort through their digital photos and organize them (read about it here). This week, we’re focusing on the closet. Each week, we’ll have a new, fun challenge to reduce the clutter in our lives.

So please join us. Let’s work together to all feel a little lighter by the end of the summer.

Mini Mission: Unclutter Your Closet
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Your closet can be one of the most memory-laden areas of your home. There are all kinds of reasons you’re hanging on to a clothing item. Maybe it reminds you of a special occassion, maybe it used to fit perfectly, maybe it’s an outdated style that you hope comes back someday, or maybe it was just too expensive to get rid of. Whatever the reason, if you don’t wear it, it’s taking up valuable space in your closet and your life.

This week, every morning when you get dressed, choose a clothing item to discard. You can keep a box or bag near your closet for the week. Ask yourself: Have I worn this in the past 6 months? Does this fit? Does it make me feel good when I wear it? If the answer to any of those questions is no, get it out of your home!

Some solutions for what to do with clothes you no longer want:

SELL: Websites like CopiousTwice and Threadflip let you sell your used clothing online. Not only can you make a few bucks, but you don’t have to worry about hurting the environment by throwing away clothing.

  • Copious: The ebay-style format makes it easy to post pics of items you want to sell, as well as browse around and find great deals. All brands and items are accepted. You can choose to handle shipping costs yourself or add them to the sale price of your item. There is a 3.5% transaction fee for the seller and a 6% marketplace fee for the buyer.
  • Threadflip: This site also boasts a beautiful marketplace layout where it’s easy to post and browse clothing items. Only designer and vintage items are accepted and the site takes 20% of the selling price. You can choose to handle shipping costs yourself or add them to the sale price of your item.
  • Twice: It is crazy easy to sell clothes through Twice. Download and print the free shipping label and send in a bundle of clothes. The site will make you an offer for the clothes they can sell, donating the extras to Goodwill. If you reject the offer, $5 will get your clothes back on your doorstep. Twice only accepts brand name and higher-end clothes (H&M and Forever 21 aren’t going to cut it).

DONATE: If you’re not interested in making money and just want the clothes out of your place, drop them off at a local GoodwillSalvation Army or other charity. Many organizations offer a pick-up service so you can leave items outside your house.

Share the Love! Tweet @dotcomplicated a photo of a piece of clothing you’re discarding with the #declutter and we’ll retweet our favorites. 

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