Make Money off the Clothing You No Longer Need

Mastering the art of the grind isn’t just about getting up early and staying up late. It’s also about being efficient with your time and energy and making space for non-work priorities too (#restday). Step one: Streamline your shit. And by “shit,” we mean your physical stuff.

Whether it’s embracing a minimalist wardrobe to make getting ready for work easier, organizing your desk so you can actually find what you need quickly or learning how to pack your bag, so you fit five activities into one day without running home, making sense of your stuff is going to help you stay motivated and on task as you move through the day—and ultimately help you get more done. Today, we’re encouraging you to clean out your closet by showing you all the ways you can make money off of your stuff. Pare down, level up.

The Marie Kondo effect is taking hold. Everyone is cleaning out their closet. Getting rid of ill-fitting or unwanted items not only keeps your get-ready sessions running smoothly, but it can also help you bring in some extra cash. Even a lot of extra cash if you’re someone who collects sneakers, watches and other coveted items. Of course, we encourage you to donate anything that doesn’t make the cut to charitable organizations that help those in need. Give outerwear to One Warm Coat, professional attire to Alliance of Career Development Nonprofits and shoes to Soles4Souls. Other items can go to Goodwill, Volunteers of America, or another charitable organization in your local community.

Luxury and designer resale startup The RealReal makes the process of parting with your jawnz painless. They’ll send you a box and pre-paid shipping label or, in 21 cities, pick up the items directly from your home. If you live in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco or Washington D.C., you can also drop off in a RealReal brick-and-mortar store. Once listed, you earn up to 85 percent of the sale price of your items. Anything they don’t accept will be returned to you or donated to the GOOD+ Foundation, depending on your preference.

If you have an eye for what’s current but not the budget to support much luxury adventuring, a mid-range, hipster-loved consignment shop like Buffalo Exchange is a good option. The 45-year-old retailer has over 50 stores across 19 U.S. states with new stores in the pipeline. Bring your items in without an appointment and leave with 30 percent of the resale value in cash or 50 percent in store credit less than an hour later. You can donate anything they don’t accept right there on site (charities rotate frequently) or take them back home. Simple as that.

If your unwanted clothes don’t make the consignment cut, you can donate them to Goodwill or another clothing charity. If you plan on replacing unwanted items with new buys, however, you might want to see your favorite retailer has a trade-in deal. Recycle your unwanted jeans at Madewell, for example, and get $20 off a brand new pair. Or recycle any clothing at H&M and get 15 percent off your purchase. The North Face and Patagonia, meanwhile, offer merchandise credit for recycling old jackets and gear that’s made by them. Retailers use your donations to support various eco-friendly initiatives.

There are numerous ways to sell your NIB (new in box), NWOB (new without box) or gently used sneakers, from consignment platforms like Grailed to eBay and Instagram. We’re fans of LA-based startup GOAT, which takes a 9.5 percent commission—lower than eBay or Fight Club—and personally verifies each sneaker, which protects both buyers and sellers from customer service chaos. If you’ve ever sold a pair of hyped sneakers on the internet before and had to deal with the influx of authentication queries, you know how much time and energy this saves you.

Chrono24 is a good go-to if you want to sell your watch online and rather quickly. The Germany-based company has a low commission fee (6.5 percent up to a maximum of $299), free escrow services, and knows how to reach interested buyers—the site gets 10 to 12 million unique visitors per month. The average sale on the site is between $8,000 and $10,000, so it’s more of a resource for re-selling luxury watches, not contemporary styles.

Amazon accepts unwanted electronics, video games, cell phones, and textbooks in exchange for account credit. Their pricing tools let you know exactly how much you’ll make off of your item and they’ll give you a free shipping label if you choose to trade it in.

Bookscouter helps you buy and sell your used books to resale vendors for the best price. Simply enter the ISBN number into the tool, pick the highest bidder, then ship your books out—for free. You get paid as soon as the book is received by the vendor.

Play it Again Sports has over 400 stores across the U.S. and Canada and offers 30 to 50 percent of resale value on your used sporting equipment. The company also owns Music Go Round for reselling instruments and gear.

Miscellaneous items can be sold on eBay, Etsy and Craigslist, or check out Japanese marketplace app Mercari, which has been downloaded over 30 million times since it launched in the U.S. in 2014. Mercari charges sellers a 10 percent flat rate with no additional charges and also covers shipping, making it more affordable than most resale platforms.