Four surprising ways to make and save money on your clothing
4 minute read
Decluttering and organising your clothes is possibly one of the best things you can do for yourself.
Having an abundance of clothes leads to laundry pile ups! The dirty laundry mixes in with the clean laundry and it's hard to find what you are looking for. Choosing an outfit becomes completely overwhelming. Sound familiar?
An abundance of clothes is stressful and costs you time and money. Endlessly washing, sorting, cramming things into overfilled drawers and never finding what you are looking for is frustrating and overwhelming.
However, there is help at hand! Here, Christal shows you not only how to save money on your clothes, but even make it. In a cost of living crisis we all want to save a few pennies, not to mention our sanity, so let's look at what you can do today:
1. Declutter it
You may have heard that we wear 20% of our clothing 80% of the time! To start saving money, begin by decluttering your clothes and categorising them into sell, donate or recycle.
For items you plan to sell, consider the best approach for the items you have. If you have children's or maternity clothes you may want to sell them as a bundle. Facebook and WhatsApp groups are great places for this.
For highstreet brands, Vinted is a great app. Provide a good, well-lit picture of the clothing with an accurate description and be prepared to barter. The app is straightforward to use but packing and posting items can be time consuming. Be realistic - is the money you are going to make worth your effort? If the answer is no, donate. Let the items go to someone who will benefit from them, freeing up your space and time instead.
If you have high end items but don't have time to sell them, look into using a local agency such as Vestiaire Collective. If you're not sure where to begin with this, try hiring a Professional Organiser to support you. Check out our Find an Organiser page to find your local professional.
2. Rent it
If you own high end pieces in your wardrobe that you want to keep but only wear occasionally, consider hiring them out on websites such as Hurr Collective. This is a great way for the clothing start to paying for itself. It provides someone else the opportunity to wear a gorgeous piece and it is a sustainable option too. Everyone feels good in this scenario!Similarly, if you want something a bit fancy to wear but don't want to buy something new, consider hiring an item instead. It will save you money, avoid cluttering up your wardrobe and you'll feel good! Google 'outfit hire' for a list of suggested places to investigate.
3. Wash it (or pop it on a chair)
Finally, you can make savings on your clothing when you do your laundry! The Energy Saving Trust advises that washing clothes at 30 degrees rather than higher temperatures saves around 40% of the energy used each year. Wait until you have a full load before putting on a wash and if you want to mix colours (I hear some of you screaming, NOOO!) use a colour catcher sheet in the wash.For the lover of the clothes chair (a chair where clothes pile up), there's good news for you too! Part worn clothes can be hung back up, ready to wear again, reducing washing. Implement a version of this for each member of your household, by using an attractive basket or open rail and encouraging these to be reworn. Small marks can be sponge cleaned off and if the baskets start to get full, they can be put back away after airing. This can be especially useful with children.
4. The heated (clothes airer) debate
When it comes to drying your clothes there has been a lot of hype about heated clothes airers as they are typically cheaper to run in comparison to tumble dryers.
A 300-watt heated airer left on for eight hours currently costs around £0.82. The average tumble dryer cycle costs around £1.53. For full facts and figures on this check here.
Heated airers do need to be left on for longer to dry clothes thoroughly, but their total running costs are still about half those of a tumble dryer. BUT before you rush out and get your heated clothes airer, ask yourself if this is a necessity. Do you have a space to position it? If so, remember to measure up first. You may want to run a dehumidifier alongside the airer if the room isn't well ventilated to prevent damp. If you already have a standard clothes airer and dehumidifier how much value will a heated airer add? Remember to take into account how long it will take to ofset the inital cost of the heated airer. If you wash and drying a load a day then it is probably worth it. If your clothes typically end up on the clothes airer for a week then you're probably better saving your money for something else!
There are so many creative ways to declutter and organise your clothes. Small changes can make a big difference to your pocket, home and mental health. Happy organising!
Christal Dauncey is owner of I Organise Manchester
