What do you do with your old clothes? Do you give them away? Do you try to sell them or throw them away?
No one wants to pay for a pair of jeans with holes, or a sweater that has a tear in the sleeve. If you have these types of clothes laying around, it might be time to find another way to reuse them.
If you are like me, saying goodbye to clothes that you used to love is hard, even when they have no monetary value. In the past, I have used worn out or neglected clothes in many different ways. Wearing them wasn’t one of them.
Here are five ways I gave my old unwanted clothes new life.
1. Take those old t-shirts and make a blanket. Do you still have old t-shirts from college and high school that you don’t wear anymore, but you just can’t part with? We all do! Instead of just keeping them in a drawer and letting them take up space, why not cut out the logo or picture from the t-shirt and make a blanket? You can snuggle up each and every night with the shirts that you love, making their use even more enjoyable than before. Here is an excellent post on how to do this!
2. Turn ratty jeans into wearable capris. Hate the look of the bottom of your jeans because they’ve dragged on the ground for too long causing them to look a bit frayed and ratty? Go ahead and cut and hem the bottoms and turn them into some wearable capris for the summer. Just because the bottoms are frayed, doesn’t mean that rest of the pants can’t be salvaged.
3. Tie-dye with a purpose. Who doesn’t love the fun look of a tie-dyed shirt? Why not recycle your worn out shirts and make a few fun tie-dyed shirts? Do you have kids that are looking for team t-shirts? You can’t go wrong with a little tie-dye! Stains won’t matter when you add a fun design to them! Choose some wild colors, and have fun!
4. Keep those old socks. They make great dusters for cleaning your home! Instead of throwing away the rogue sock that you can’t find the pair for and the one that has a giant hole in the toe, why not keep them and use them when you are dusting or cleaning areas that are super grimy and dirty? More than likely, you won’t have any problem repurposing those socks when you’re done using them in that capacity. Socks make great dusters that are washable and usable over and over again.
5. Keep old clothes for packing material. It may sound odd, but trust me on this one. If you have a move coming up? Keep some of those worn out clothes and use them to protect precious valuables. Old shirts do a great job of wrapping up glassware, as do most other clothing items. Instead of going out and spending money on packing material that is just going to end up in the trash, keep those old clothes that you no longer wear and use those instead. After that, you can even donate them to pass them on to someone else who may be able to find other uses for them!
Finding ways to reuse your old clothes can be fun, and it can also save you some money. Think about your day-to-day and what clothes you may be able to use to create something fresh and unique for your home or alternative ways that you can use those clothing items to help you out.
There are a ton of great ideas and techniques to recycle clothing items that you no longer need! The next time you pick up a shirt or unfold an old pair of pants and find a stain or tear, think about another way you can use them without throwing them away. If you love them and can’t let them go, find a way to use them and give them another purpose!
Have you ever reused old socks? What did you use them for? Let me know about it in the comments below!
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