When is the Right Time to Donate Your Clothes? Here are 5 Ways to Know for Sure

Autumn is right around the corner! One way to feel refreshed and renewed for the fall season is by decluttering your clothes and organizing your closet.

But if you’re like most people, one of the hardest parts of sorting through your closet can be determining what to keep and what to donate. To help you decide, here are five signs it’s time to declutter your clothing and donate it to Goodwill:

Donations box

You haven’t worn it in a while

There are probably some clothes in your closet that you haven’t worn in a while. Or, maybe you’ve never worn them at all! You keep telling yourself that you’ll wear them…someday. But how long is too long to keep a clothing item before letting it go?

One rule of thumb is that if you haven’t worn an item of clothing in at least a year, it’s time to let it go and donate it to Goodwill! You’ll feel great when you clear your closet of the clothes you don’t wear anymore.

You have trouble deciding what to wear

If you find yourself desperately searching your closet for the right thing to wear each morning, the problem could be that you have too many clothes to choose from!

The human brain tends to shut down with information overload. Walking into a closet stuffed full of hanging clothes and shelves piled sky-high is too much for your brain to process. Donate those extra clothes to Goodwill so you””and your brain””can have an easier time figuring out the perfect outfit to wear.

You’re holding onto outdated trends

Here one day, gone the next””that’s just how fashion trends go! What’s in style this year might look downright silly next year. But, you hang onto it, thinking it will surely come back eventually.

While some clothing trends last a while, many fads are fleeting. Even clothing that seems to be back in style isn’t precisely the same as its predecessors. Fabrics change. Colors change. Everything changes! Donate those dated pieces now and free up more space in your wardrobe for the next trends.

Your clothes don’t reflect your style

Even if a clothing item still fits, it may no longer fulfill your current image or lifestyle. As you sort through each item in your closet, ask yourself, ” would I rebuy this?” If the answer is no, it’s not serving you well anymore, and it’s time to donate it to Goodwill!

Changing the way we live or work can also cause our clothes to become clutter. For example, a job switch to a casual-dress office means you don’t need all those ties, suits, or dresses. Streamline your wardrobe and only keep what you really need and want. The rest can be donated to your local Ohio Valley Goodwill!

Go with your heart

The process of decluttering closets, shelves, and drawers isn’t always an easy one. If you’re not careful, your brain might trick you into thinking you really need to keep something. Here’s how to make tough decisions about what should stay and what should go:

• Put the clothing item where you can’t see it for at least four months. If you haven’t given it another thought, donate it to Goodwill!
• Sort through your closet with a friend who will be honest with you and keep you pushing forward.
• Make decluttering a regular habit. Organizing your closet once a year or once a season is a great way to weed out the clothes you no longer wear or need.

Donate to Goodwill and change a life!

Above all, put your heart into it and remember that when you donate to Ohio Valley Goodwill, you’re strengthening your community! After Goodwill receives your donations, we prepare them for resale in our retail stores. The revenue generated from the sale of donated goods helps to support Goodwill’s life-changing programs and services for individuals with disabilities and our nation’s veterans. Donating new and used clothing is also a way to support Goodwill’s commitment to sustainability. By donating your clothes instead of throwing them away, you help us prevent the clogging of local landfills and keep our planet beautiful!

At Ohio Valley Goodwill, we have convenient donation centers located throughout Greater Cincinnati that make it easy and simple for you to donate your gently-used and new clothing, accessories, and household goods. All you have to do is gather up your stuff and drop it off at your nearest donation center. We’ll take care of the rest!

Thank you for supporting Ohio Valley Goodwill!