Creative Consigning

    Money has been tight lately, what with me being jobless and Kris doing his internship five days a week. Ergo, I had to get creative when it came to finding money for things like groceries and gas.

     I was always on the lookout for ways to save/earn money and after reading through several articles like this, I found one that suggested selling old clothes to a consignment shop. I'd done this before at a consignment store in my hometown, but in Denver, I didn't know where to start. Then, I remembered Plato's Closet. It's a gently used, name-brand consignment clothing store that I love shopping at due to the great deals on adorable clothes. I'd never considered SELLING my clothes to them though. It turned out to be really easy.

Here's an example of the clothes I would consign

    I ended up weeding through my wardrobe and grabbing anything that I hadn't worn for the last six months, or things that I kept because I thought I would wear them again, but never did. Then I went through those items and found the ones that were in the best condition-Plato's Closet doesn't take anything that is faded, stained, pilled, or holey. I have this nifty de-piller gizmo that my mom found for me, but I've heard that you can use a razor to de-pill clothes (I would be careful about that though, considering that I'd probably put holes where the pills used to be). Anyway, I tried to de-pill as many items as I could in order to make them sellable. I also tried to mend any holes.

   I also went through my jewelry collection. I had at least a hundred different necklaces, bracelets, and earrings that I hadn't worn in years just laying around. I decided to streamline my collection and just keep what I loved and wore (I don't own many expensive pieces, so I didn't have to worry about going through those). This is something that most people don't think about when consigning, but I found it to be really lucrative and I don't miss any of the pieces I sold. In addition, I went through my purse and shoe collection and added four or five of those to the collection. All in all, I had a pretty good sized chunk of my wardrobe to sell.

The PC in Colorado Springs

     Then I went to the Plato's Closet in Colorado Springs. It's the one that I've shopped at and it was on the way back to my hometown (where we go on the weekends so Kris can work). It took them about 40 minutes to go through my things. While they were doing that, I went through the whole store twice (much to Kris' chagrin). I found several pieces I liked, but didn't get end up getting anything. They ended up buying close to $80 worth of my things! I was super stoked, because I honestly didn't expect them to want that much. The great part was that at Plato's Closet, they pay you cash on the spot for your things, so I was able to pay for gas that weekend!

   I took what they didn't want back and brought it to my hometown, where the consignment shop I'd sold at before is located. I took my things in and the owner accepts all but three of the leftover pieces. When I came back two weeks later, I found out that my jewelry and scarves had sold really well, and I had made $40 just off of those things!

     In total, I made $120 off of items I didn't ever wear, AND I made my wardrobe small enough to fit in the closet that Kris and I share. Total success!

   Plato's Closet has a list on their website of the items that they are most actively buying (it's usually seasonal items, but they do take any season all year). The other consignment shop I used only takes items that are in season, but I'm thinking that when I get my winter things out again, I might just do another weeding and take anything I didn't wear often this year in to sell too.

     In addition to seasonal items, consider pieces like:

• Jeans- I had several nice pairs that my butt outgrew this year and I sold every one of them.
•  Accessories like belts, scarves, and hats
• Nice pairs of sweat or yoga pants that you never wear
• Earrings (I found that big, dangly earrings were major sellers)
• Old purses, especially if they're nice (I had this huge, knock-off designer one that was a pain in the butt to use and Plato's Closet LOVED it).
• Wallets
• Shoes (anything from heels to sandals to ballet flats), just make sure they're scuff free and nice

Good luck! 

Pin It