I just went through my closet and put my summer things away.
Anything I didn’t wear last season got put into an old pillowcase for donation.
It will go straight to the Salvation Army, where they can likely just hang the
clothes and sell them right away to support their programs and services.
Sometimes, if the clothes are more high-end and I want to
recoup some of the cost I put into them, I bring them to the local consignment
store, To Be Continued. Anything I bring in that sells puts ‘points’ on my
account. It’s always a nice surprise to see I have something to redeem when I
get to the cash. Many times I check out with new purchases that cost me
nothing. If the clothes I bring in don’t sell, I donate them to charity.
I did have a few old t-shirts and stained jeans that I don’t
imagine anyone wearing again. Those are going in the donation bin in the Food
Basics parking lot. I learned that even if you can’t wear the clothes again,
the charity that rents the bin will get cash for recycling the fabric. Your old
clothes, towels and bed sheets might end up as the stuffing for a couch pillow
or dog bed. I just recently discovered you can also stuff boxer’s heavy bags
with old clothing – so I will be donating mine to my son-in-law for his new gym
(which is set to open later this year on Maley Street…).
I have found some pretty amazing things at our local thrift
stores. I buy dresses one size up, then bring them to my seamstress, Michelle
Rodgers on Townline Road, for a fitting. I save an average of $100 per dress or
suit this way – and in most cases I couldn’t afford to buy those designer duds
retail.
I found a soft, slouchy sweater that goes with everything
casual and feels like a cloud. A red leather jacket that just needed the zipper
repaired. A tweed car coat for long road trips and weekend workout clothes (my
outfit for dancing around the house while I vacuum).
It’s always nice to have an extra pair of jeans – you need
jeans for everyday that are so comfortable they feel like sweat pants, jeans
for work and going out on the town, jeans for skinny days and jeans for days
when you might have overdone it a bit at the buffet table. You need skinny
jeans that fit inside your boots and wide leg jeans that go well with heels.
But who wants to spend $100 on a new pair? I have found some pretty great jeans
at our local second-hand stores, and the cooler weather of fall makes me want
to go back and see what else has come in lately.
Which brings me to my great idea: what if someone designed a
program where you could notify customers when something comes in that they have
been looking for? Many retailers are having to up their game to compete with
online shopping. I’m still all about shopping and supporting local when
possible – and I love the idea of passing clothing along instead of buying new.
It’s better for the environment as well as my bank account. But this is a way I
can see second-hand stores evolving. Create a database of customers and their
sizes as well as items on their wish list.
More than once I have discovered a treasure trove of
recently donated clothing – an entire seasonal wardrobe of coordinating outfits
– that fit perfectly. Clearly someone my size had just dropped them off. If we
had a customer notification program in effect, I would know about these clothes
the moment they came in, and the likelihood of a sale just increased
dramatically.
I could also just post on social media when I’m looking for
something in particular. I see people doing this on swap-and-sell sites and I
think it’s a great way to find what you want in terms of clothing and even
furniture, without paying retail. It’s great to know you are also helping
someone to sell the things they no longer need – reducing the amount of stuff
that goes into a landfill.
So if you’re a medium, sized-8 woman out there and you have
some fall and winter items to recycle, let me know! Maybe we can do business.
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