CA$H In On Your Old Clothes With "thredUP"

Take a second to think about the clothing you have. In your closet. In your dresser. In storage. Sprawled across your bedroom floor. Now think about how much of it are you actually still wearing compared to what has been on the hanger for a year or still folded in the back of the dresser drawer. Because hey it still fits and you might just wear it again. Let's be real though, you aren't going to. If you are like I used to be, could be a lot of useless clothing and it's time to CLEAN OUT!!!

Moving back home, temporarily, to the east coast meant revisiting clothes that have been stored away for a few years. And being post maternity also meant revisiting clothing that now (thank goodness) all fit again. PHEW. But time has gone by and some of it is outdated or I was just simply not going to wear it anymore. I've also become a minimalist and want to get rid of any clutter. I don't like having a lot of "things" around. I've moved too many times and it's quite annoying to tote it all around.

First thing I thought of was Plato's Closet. A store where they buy and sell gently used clothing and shoes, accessories, etc. So I went through my clothes, I had a bag for the donation bin for the clothes that I knew the store would never buy whether it was due to stains, small rips or too old. (If you donate directly to Salvation Army, they will give you a receipt for your taxes by the way.) Then I had a pile for clothing I thought could be sold. Once everything was sorted, I washed and neatly folded all the clothing to take to Plato's. I have heard that they can be difficult but I figured hey what the heck, why not try to get some money off of this.

First location I went too wasn't even there! Guess it had been awhile since I lived in this area and didn't realize that location had closed. Since I was already out I drove to another location in Enfield, CT. After all was said and done with about three totes and a box of shoes I was offered around $3. Yup. $3. That doesn't even cover the gas and the trouble of me toting my baby out with me and lugging the clothes around and into the store on my stroller while carrying my 20lb daughter!!! ARGH. I was a bit angry to say the least. So I headed to another location anyway to see what they could do because I was told they were better and I could probably make more money over there. They offered me about $25. They went through the SAME stuff the previous location did. So OK, that made the day somewhat worth it. Now I still had a ton of clothing left and I intended to donate it. I remembered though hearing about selling clothing to an online company from a nightly news story a while back...so I decided to Google it and see what I could find. Anything to make a few extra bucks!

This is when I discovered the company thredUP. What an AMAZING discovery!! You can shop and sell with them. They will pay you up to 40% of the resale value of your clothing item upfront. It's simple to do this. You can order a bag from the website, for free. It comes to you in the mail. When you open it up it is rather large! It comes with a prepaid shipping label already on it to ship back. Put in your freshly laundered clothing, shoes, clothing accessories like scarfs or hats and put it outside your door for USPS or FedEx to pick up for FREE. (Just put in a pick-up request online with either of these shipping services.)

I received an email once my bags were received by the company. Mind you it can take some time for your items to be processed and to find out how much you will get. Let's face it, who cares how long it really takes...you got the old or unused clothing OUT of your house and in a few weeks you will get a nice surprise email when you least expect it saying you earned some money!

What happens to the clothing that isn't bought by thredUP? Every item is entered into their 100% re-use program which is a partnership they have with textile distributors and recyclers to ensure that no item ends up in a landfill. They receive a small nominal amount from this program which helps keep the shipping free with the bags to customers. In addition to this, a portion of this money is donated to Teach for America. This is another reason why I love this company. Clothing I would have donated for free I made money of off and what isn't used is being donated or recycled properly.
   
Wondering what I made? I sent in 4 bags. The remaining clothing items that the other clothing store wouldn't buy off me. I made a grand total of $32.40. This can be used as a credit on their website to purchase clothing from them or I can chose the cash out option. It will send the funds right to my Paypal account. Paypal takes a 2% processing fee but that's not a big deal because I still just made extra cash without having to drive the clothing around to multiple stores and wait to find out if I will get anything back. Besides this clothing would have wound up in the donation bin anyway and I wouldn't have gotten this money if I didn't send the bags in! Adios Plato's!!! I'm so done with your annoying store that doesn't take any of my belongings! Some of which still had tags on them! My new go to is going to be thredUP.

So CA$H out with this great company! They accept children's clothing as well. Here is the link to the website: thredUP. If you want to buy anything from their website, by clicking on that link, you will also save $10 off your first purchase. Your welcome ;-)