Let me begin by saying that I'm thrilled to have my first follower! Thanks for your support! :)
This morning, I got up and sorted all of my clothes into 2 categories: clothes to keep and clothes to donate. I tried to be really honest with myself about what I will and will not wear again, which is hard because it's possible for me to wear most things in my closet again. Still, I think most people can commiserate with me when I say that I get bored with my clothes. I buy new clothes at least every 6 months and, at any given period of my life, I only actually wear my favorite 20 articles with any sort of regularity. As it turns out, producing clothes to meet this kind of demand is a significant strain on the environment. Plus, it means that there are a lot of wearable clothes taking up space and even spilling out of my closet not being used while others in the world struggle to clothe themselves and their children. What a waste!
I did 2 things with my 'Clothes to donate:'
1) I took a pair of jeans to Plato's Closet for resell. http://www.platoscloset.com/ Honestly, I was really impressed with Plato's Closet. They paid me $5.85 for 1 pair of jeans and resold most clothes for $6-$12. Their selection was huge and stylish, and the clothes were in shockingly good condition. Many items even still had original tags on them. In the future, I've decided that I will go there first if I want new clothes. In this way, I will save money and the strain on the environment needed to produce brand new clothes while still changing up my wardrobe enough to keep me from getting bored.
2) I put the rest of my 'Clothes to Donate' in a Gaia Movement bin, which I found at a local grocery store. Most donated clothes in these bins get sent to third world countries to clothe the world's poorest, but all of it is used in some way that is beneficial to society and the environment. Even clothes that can't be re-used can be and are recycled. It turns out that textiles are almost 100% recyclable. This webpage also has information on the specific environmental resources needed to produce 1 pair of pants. It's pretty shocking how wasteful it is to continually produce new clothes-85% of which are never recycled.
Another option for seeing that used clothes go to a good cause is Goodwill of course, which has locations and donation drop-offs nationwide. I'm not sure why I didn't choose this option. I just didn't. *shrug.*
To better the world today, I also chose to buy applesauce in a glass jar instead of a plastic jar because glass is FAR more recyclabe than plastic. I know I'm only supposed to do one thing a day. But, I needed applesauce today not tomorrow, and this just seemed like the right thing to do.
Incidentally, I also registered myself for the national 'Do Not Call' list yesterday. I'm not sur if this really betters the world as a whole, but it definitely betters my personal world. haha
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