Thanks to Jennifer B. for allowing us to republish her post originally from the Declutter My Home Facebook group.
Do you feel it’s too much work to sell children’s used clothes?
Like many of you, I’m overwhelmed with bins of children’s clothes.
They’re in good condition and stylish/good brands.
I have one boy and one girl, so the items were predominantly worn by one child, save some items I swapped with other girlfriends.
Breakthrough #1: Sort out the “good stuff” first
I just had my first garage sale last year (motivated by a local realtor who sponsored a multi-family rummage for our whole subdivision.) I sold many things but not nearly as much as I wanted. So back into the bins they went.
Many of the items are “too old” for local resale shops to buy.
I participated in two more neighborhood rummage sales this year (June and September). I unloaded a few more things. BUT now I had all my items better organized by gender, size and season. This made it easier for me to take the “right stuff” to the resale shops.
Breakthrough #2: I no longer taker it personally or feel defeated when the resale shop won’t take an item.
…even if it’s in the right timeframe, in great condition, and stylish!
That’s their choice.
Also, if I get less than an item’s actually worth (yes, taking resale markup into account), I can’t get frustrated.
The new mode of thinking is — “Great! That’s X more items I’m not going to store anymore, and a few more dollars I can put toward the kids’ new clothes this year.”
Breakthrough #3: My new rule is I’m going to try selling items through two cycles of garage sales.
We have regular annual sales in our subdivision. Once an item has been through that, and shown to resale shops, it will now be donated.
Breakthrough #4: I let go of the mindset of keeping it until it sells.
I still have some baby stuff from my 13-year-old. (Sheesh!)
The clothes won’t sell in our suburb, but a baby/toddler somewhere can benefit from them.
Plus, I have always been a smart shopper – nearly everything was bought on sale or received as a gift. My kids got the original money’s worth of use out of these clothes, so there’s no need to feel guilty about not being able to sell them.
Time to let go and move on!!
Helpful Tidbit: Even if the clothing item isn’t sellable – it has a stain or tear that can’t be fixed, or socks that have been worn (but clean!) — you can still donate those items to your local Goodwill!
They take ALL TEXTILES and will ensure they get into the recycling stream so that the fibers can be reused in another way.
Don’t trash that old stuff – keep it out of the landfill!
It took me a while to get to this place mentally regarding kids clothes. I know this is a major source of clutter for many parents out there.
Do you find it hard to let go of those used kids clothes that just won’t sell?
If you’ve got used kids’ clothing to sell (or anything else you want to make some extra cash on), you need our guide, CASH IN!
Grab a copy and start making money off your clutter immediately.
Year after year I was saving the good clothes for our annual yard sales. When I had baby clothes, those sold quickly and easily. Clothes for ages 6 and up seem to not sell as well. I barely sell any of the clothes at yard sales anymore, so I have donated some to our local school where they have a donation bin to earn cash for the school. I also have allowed my daughters to use some of the clothing to make clothes for their dolls. It saves me from buying fabric all the time, and it’s something they like to do and helping them practice their sewing skills. Some of the outfits they have made are actually pretty impressive. We even made sock snowmen out of their old socks and they are adorable!