What the heck to you do with all your old clothes now that they no longer fit? - ThinnerTimes - Gastric Bypass Forum, Lap Band Forum, and Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy Forum

JimM · 11-30-2005, 12:25 PM

Now that I'm down about 45 pounds, I'm finding that most of my existing clothes no longer fit (no surprise there, huh?). I'm wondering what to do with them... Give them away? Sell them? What?

I have a TON of good quality clothes in my closet (3 leather jackets, 1 wool dress coat, serveral pairs of dress pants and dress shirts, 5 or 6 suit coats, 4 or 5 pairs of jeans, and lots and LOTS of casual shirts...

All of these clothes are in excellent shape and I'd hate to just give them away if I could sell them. I'm thinking that any money I could make on them could be used to buy new clothes (of which I'm in desperate need).

My question is this: did any of you sell any of your clothes on eBay and if so, how did it go? Was it worth it? Also, would consignment stores be a viable alternative? I really don't have any decent consignment stores in my rural area (I'd have to drive 2 hours to either Sioux Falls or the Twin Cities for this option).

Any advice?

justawoman · 11-30-2005, 12:31 PM

Hi Jim,

I am an Ebay fanatic and I see all my clothes on Ebay. I must say I have had much success with Ebay and my selling. You can't expect to get the full price of an item but if your reasonable your items will sell. I just sold 18 of my items today. For instance I had some no name jeans I sold them for $6.99 plus shipping but then I had some name brand jeans that sold for $35.99 plus shipping. So I find Ebay a great way to sell my items and make a little cash!

bridgetgirl · 11-30-2005, 12:33 PM

I didnt sell on ebay BUT I just wanted to let you know that the cool thing about the consignment option is that you only have to make one trip there. when your stuff sells they mail ya a check.

Out here in southern cali, we have been doing clothing exchanges, does your surgeon have a support group? Perhaps you could head one up and your less expensive clothes you wouldnt mind giving away, the plus side is you get a bunch of new clothes too!

Pokey757 · 11-30-2005, 12:40 PM

I'm so picky with my clothes, i dont know if i could do a clothing exchange. But may check out the Ebay thang!
Also you might think about donating your clothes to the shelters, or churches. I'm sure we all know how hard it is to find big girl clothes, so imagine how you would feel if you went to your church closet and actually found something, or went to a thrift store, and found something.
I am sure the Katrina victims, could use em, maybe they are still taking some donations??

Kristen · 11-30-2005, 01:16 PM

Hi Jim,

I have sold lots and lots of stuff on Ebay! I love it, and usually I receive a fair amount for the items I am listing.

A couple of rules that I have learnt the hard way are:

Never list something you truly love (doesn't matter if it no longer fits) for less than you are willing to accept hoping the price will eventually get raised to what you feel comfortable accepting.

When you can, list the retail price of the item in your description

Use the display option pic, I know that I often don't even look at the ads without a display pic.

For clothes many sellers list a bulk of items, unfortunately though clothing is heavy and can often put the final cost out of the buyers range.

and last but not least I keep my shipping as reasonable as possible. I skip ads for items that have shipping which seems unreasonable. I always offer a standard shipping costs which seems to work well.

I don't know if any of that information helps but I wish you great success!

Kristen

P. S. If you don't have Paypal, I recommend it as the process is much slower if you have to wait on a mailed payment.

CharMc · 11-30-2005, 04:00 PM

Say Jim, If you really like your larger clothes and do not want to part with them, consider having them altered. Alother suggestion: find a mental hospital or clinic and donate them...this is a tax write-off AND you help someone in need.

JimM · 11-30-2005, 04:23 PM

These are all great ideas - thanks, guys!

I'm not sure what route I'll take yet (maybe a combination of donating some items, eBaying others, and consignment for anything left) but I really appreciate all the great suggestions!

Mavisavis · 11-30-2005, 05:55 PM

I sit with a Salvation Army bag, a myf riend Sally bag, a my friend Sharon bag, and a my niece bag. I divide them according to size and style.....who I think would or could use them. It's gotten to where they will shout out what they want when I shrink out of it! lol I give first priority to my friend who also had wls. Another friend of mine had success with Ebay.

coptergirl · 11-30-2005, 06:03 PM

Shelters are also a great idea...many men out there need to hunt for jobs, and are larger. They could really benefit by having some larger clothing donated, and then they will be able to be a bit more presentable at interviews/apartment hunting.

Also if you belong to a church/temple et. al., there may be a youth group or something that could do a "yard sale" where everyone donates their stuff, the youth sell it, and make money for theor youth center/mission trips or whatever...

Just my 2 cents :-)

holly1885 · 11-30-2005, 06:04 PM

My mom and I have both had WLS now and we have A TON like its riddiculous how many clothes we have between the both of us. Its enough clothes to like... clothe a small town in Africa or something! haha Anyways, now that NOTHING we had before fits and even a lot of the stuff we've bought since no longer fit, we're having a huge garage sale and we're advertising it in the newspaper as "LOTS of Nice Pretty Much New Plus Sized Clothing" and charging like $5 for pants and $3 for shirts. We even have stuff that still has tags on them! Its sad! haha But its exciting to get rid of all that stuff! But whatever we dont sell, we're taking straight to a consignment shop or the SAFE House for battered women.