As we’re all trying to busy ourselves at homes and cut down on our trips to the store, we may become more aware of our purchasing habits.
Maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed by the clutter in your closet, or possibly facing the realization you have everything but the basics that should be lasting you for a long time. Taking advantage of this time spent in quarantine organizing and developing mindful techniques for building a smaller wardrobe is a great way to create a more sustainable environment for both yourself and the planet.
Here are a few tips to help end the ever increasing pile of laundry behind your door and begin creating a greener closet.
- Start Creating Piles
Before tossing a bunch of clothes into the landfill and producing more waste in the process, start by creating piles organized by pieces you know you love, pieces that need to be fixed or would be worn if it were a different size, and clothing you know you definitely won’t wear again. This helps us visualize how much of our wardrobe we truly use and what goes to waste. While these pieces have already been purchased, its a great way to learn better consumption habits because we can see just how much clothing we actually need compared to what we buy.
Although we may feel pressure to begin throwing out clothing left and right at the sight of the mountain of unworn clothing, its important to wait. Give yourself a week or two to decide if you are truly ready to give them away, This is important because we don’t want to develop a pattern of purchasing too much clothing and then tossing it quickly, creating a cycle of waste.
2. Refurbish your clothes
After revisiting these pieces after a few days you find yourself still holding onto that pair of jeans that don’t fit as well as they used to, consider taking them to a tailor. If you’re tight on money and want to jazz up an old t-shirt, head over to Youtube to check out the thousands of tutorials showing how to create unique clothing using old materials.
3.Swap or donate to friends
Before you make your trip to Goodwill, ask friends or family if they are in need of any clothing that you might have to offer. Chances are your little sister or brother has been eyeing that shirt you’ve been holding onto for the past 5 years. As a bonus, you can help them minimize their wardrobe by swapping pieces that you both can find a new purpose for.
4. Okay, now its time to Donate
Not so fast! Before heading down to the biggest second-hand store in the US (cough cough; you know who..) do a bit of research on your cities local thrift stores or consignment shops in order to better informed of where your threads are going after you drop them off. before you choose which thrift stores to donate to, because where your clothes ultimately end up matters. It’s important we learn about where our clothes end up because many times the clothes stores don’t choose to sell end up right at the dump afterwards, which throws our eco-friendly efforts down the drain.
Consignment shops
There are many benefits of donating to a consignment shop that many people might not know about. After they sort through your items that they want to keep, you’ll receive a cut of their earnings which will put some of your original purchase price back in your pocket. More importantly, they’ll return the items they don’t want back to you, giving you the ability to decide where the rest should go.
Textile Recycling Programs
Once you have reached this stage, we recommend donating unsold items to a textile recycling program, which will break your clothing down to its fibers to be used again for products such as carpet or yarn. However, once again, its crucial to read up on the center you visit because some dump textiles overseas to developing countries. Knowing where your clothing is headed each step of the process is important in avoiding having your clothing sitting in a landfill for years, when it can be repurposed and avoid the need to create new materials.
Organizing can be a daunting task for many, but hopefully this guide will help simplify your cleaning process, and keep the goal of minimizing what we truly need in mind.
How will you be changing up your closet? Do you find that organizing what you have reframes your perspective on your spending and consumption habits?