Garbage Bags

Changing others is a futile goal? You can’t change others. You can encourage behaviors, but you can’t force anyone into anything. You can however change yourself – to a certain extent, but I’m not going to get into the genetics of personality here.

My mom loves to shop for clothes. She loves to treat herself. And to be fair, she can afford it. She’s not going to debt. She’s worked very hard, and continues to do so, and she’s not racking up consumer debt through her shopping habits. Also, I’m hugely proud that I have turned her onto thrifting at high end consignment boutiques rather then buying everything new.

But, because she shops a lot, she also purges her closet a lot. And every time she does I have a whole system for it.

Garbage bags arrive.

I sort through them to see if there’s anything I would like to keep, or if there are items that are too damaged to do anything with (hello rags, and or linings/uses for my own crochet projects).
Then I take them to a couple of shops that buy used clothes for credit or cash.
Afterwards, I sort through what’s left and reach out to my network of artist friends to see if they would like anything. Artists, we’re all poor and won’t turn down great clothes for free.
I donate the few items that are left but in good condition to charity.

Rinse and repeat. This way, hopefully very few to none textiles end up in a landfill.