Help Others While Helping Yourself
At least once a year I decide that it is time to go through all of my clothing and rearrange some things. I will sort out the items that are a must keep, throw away the misused, sell the unused and donate the rest. I try to donate in order to help someone unfortunate who can not obtain new clothing at a regular retail price or maybe even homeless individuals who can not afford it at the moment. It is a simple task but amazing gesture that can truly turn someone’s day around!
If you decide to do the same, look at it like this.. Not only is arranging and sorting your clothes beneficial for clearing out some clutter in your closet while simultaneously donating to other people for a good cause, but it can also be a great way for you to make a little bit of money as well. I have previously experienced both avenues, but it had been quite some time since I participated in selling my clothing to various stores. This time around it transpired into learning some new methods along the way that I would love to share with you for your personal journey.
In the process of moving to Houston from Dallas this year I ended up with an abundance of clothing to haul. You can always find out how I managed to change locations as a single women in my last post. A good majority of the clothing was automatically going to donation. Out of that, I complied a stack of clothes that I considered to be modern enough to be sold. I chose to sell my clothing between Plato’s Closet, a retailer who buys and sells trendy secondhand clothes and Crossroads Trading, a new and used clothing store where you can buy, sell and trade off brand and brand name clothing. Plato’s Closet can pretty much be found anywhere in the US but Crossroads Trading is a new store that I have only seen in Dallas and Houston, Texas. You can also sell to several thrift stores that you can find locally anywhere in your city.
The requirements for selling clothes revolves around lightly used clothing like athletic wear, sweaters, silk blouses, jeans, 90’s wear, even boots, loafers and sneakers. I found it helpful that Crossroads Trading provides a selling guide that gives you an idea about what clothing to bring in before walking into the store with a suitcase of unnecessary clothes.
This was actually my first time working with Crossroads Trading. I plan on continuing to collaborate with them for numerous reason. One obvious reason being that I was able to sell more items with them versus Plato’s Closet. They also offer to apply your money to a store credit if you happen to fancy some things in the store for yourself. If you do decide to cash out then you would unfortunately get slightly less money back than if you where to use the store credit, but either route you decide to go on is a positive outcome in my opinion.
When all was finished I made about $20 between the two stores which was not much but honestly a little bit more than I had the day before. I was able to sell about seven items from my sell stack which was a very small portion considering the size of the original pile. Normally I would have continued my selling journey to a local thrift store but instead I set my heart back on donating the rest to a Goodwill in Houston.
My original donation pile was twice the size of my for sell stack which was donated to a Goodwill in Dallas, TX. Since moving to Houston, I have sadly noticed a drastic influx of homelessness that is openly prevalent and absolutely mind blowing. A good some of those individuals are without food, shelter and clothing with an abundance of that stemming from the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. So it was only right to donate the remaining clothes that I considered modern to people that have been without something good for quite some time. Upon arrival the customer service was extremely amazing from the management to employees. They helped bring my donation items inside the building then soon after I was greeted by the owner. He provided me with information on how they keep the center running and eventually learned that he was also a preacher who provides the Lord’s word to homeless groups every Saturday morning as well as living services to help place people in a better circumstance.
Another great thing about being of service and donating, especially to the Goodwill, is that after you are finished you can obtain a tax receipt in order to file your donations and charitable works properly at the end of the year. A beneficial tool that will provide you with an incentive to not only help the less fortunate but also help yourself a little. Believe it or not, all you did was sort out your closet removing the things don’t use for people that will.
