I am a 21 year old guy living on myself now for a year. I just realised that I have never thrown away clothing before. It either broke down, tore up or became too small before.
Every time I go over my shirts everything is at least ‘wearable’. I have some shirts with some marks on them but they’re nice too wear. Some I haven’t worn in years but still feel like keeping somehow.
How do you guys do this? Do you throw away all the stuff you don’t wear anymore?
Edit: thanks for the answers. Just to clarify: with throw away I mean discard in general sense. Wether it’s for scraps or donated. At least out of the closet
21 comments
Never throw anything away unless it’s stained or ripped beyond use. I wear it for years until I no longer can see myself continuing to because my style has changed or it no longer fits, and then I donate it. Even if the shirt is like 15 years old and in shambles, it’ll more often than not get turned into a rag to mop up spills or dust furniture. Nothing goes to waste
For me, it is more of a staged process. I have my clothes that I typically wear. If they get a little messy, torn, stained, etc., then they become “work” or workout clothes at home – stuff for mowing the lawn, changing the oil, going for a run, etc. If they are beyond that, I will cut them up and use them for cleaning rags.
If it is still in good shape by is something I no longer wear, I will usually donate them to nursing homes or other organizations that help people.
I do all my own auto work and such so old clothes end their life in my garage getting soaking in some kind of oil or grease.
After it has outlived it’s useful wearable life, and it’s been relegated to the rag pile and it out used to soak up oil/fuel or something else that determines it’s final testing place of the landfill.
I don’t. It just disappears eventually
I’m 30 I still fit into and wear shorts from middle school. I get rid of clothes when they break down
Try this: Whenever you do laundry, go to the middle of your closet and put all the clean clothes there. Do this every time – don’t sort your clothes, just always put them in the middle.
Then once a year, throw away everything on the ends. They’re at the end because you haven’t worn them at all.
Underwear/socks when hole appears.
For other stuff it’s usually process : when it’s new/good looking I wear it in public, when color fades/has to be repaired I wear it at home or give it to my father. It’s much better to what he is wearing usually lmao.
Ofc if it have many holes and it’s bigger piece of clothing like t-shirt I can still use it as rag.
There is plenty of clothing that I wear for 10+ years. Record is around 20 years for my favorite sweatshirt.
When it’s no longer wearable. Either has holes in it or gotten small.
When it’s ruined (torn, got holes in it, a stubborn stain or whatever) I throw it out. If I don’t wear it anymore I take it to a charity shop.
I don’t like owning too many clothes, just things I regularly wear so every couple of years I generally donate about half of my clothes I’m not into anymore and replace them instead of buying new clothes regularly.
I get rid of mine when I realize I haven’t worn the item in a while and likely never will. No sense it taking up space in my closet. I’ve even donated clothes that were never worn, for whatever reason. Holes in socks or underwear = garbage immediately. Everything else is donated.
Depends on the clothing. T-shirts go through a lifecycle of “wear in public” -> “gym” -> “yardwork” -> “trash”.
Anything with a collar gets tossed once there is a stain or tear.
Pants/jeans: I’ll keep jeans with holes, but everything else gets tossed. If there is a lot of hem fraying, they get tossed. Then I’ll typically do a 1-for-1 replacement with pants/jeans.
Throwing clothes away is a rare occurrence for me. If I get bored of something, I donate it. If it is so bad that there is nothing else to do, then I toss it. But I take good care of my clothes so it’s rare that anything I am getting rid of is completely unwearable.
Why would you throw away a “wearable” shirt?
Usualy l make other things out of them so if i have like torn jeans, i’ll cut the bottom half off and make something creative out of them like a little “wallet” for coins and i’ll also have some bonus torn out shorts for the summer messy work
I used to absolutely hoard stuff… like I’d kept mountains of clothes I’d not worn in 10 years “just incase”. These days I just put stuff I don’t wear anymore in a charity bag, as my clothes generally don’t get dirty or ripped and someone will get use out of them.
Once it gets a hole, I like to give it one chance to make sure it fits and if I love the item, and if I do I’ll take it to a tailor to mend. If it doesn’t fit, has a puka,, and I am ambivalent, trash.
When they don’t work as oil rags anymore.
Holes/stains/tastes change.
1.) Significant unpatchable holes and/or holes in super obvious locations
2.) Smells
3.) Between weight gain and/or clothing shrinkage, it no longer fits properly (these usually get donated rather than thrown away as long as 1 and 2 are not true)
Honestly, the Marie kondo method does work when keeping what you like / don’t like. For general clothes, once they stop being something you enjoy wearing it time to get rid of it.
But usually major damage, worn out, etc.