How I Get Name Brand Clothes For Free From ThredUp.com
I love shopping.
Online, in-store, retail, resale, doesn’t matter.
I just love shopping.
But as a stay-at-home mom to four kids with a husband in full-time vocational ministry, shopping for sport isn’t a great idea.
Don’t get me wrong.
I love roaming around Target, buying clearanced things I don’t really need as much as the next mom.
Buuuut since we’re trying to pay off our student loans and get out of debt, I’m avoiding Target for the time being.
Instead, I’ve found a great way to get clothes for FREE (with a little work) from ThredUp.com.
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What is ThredUp.com?
ThredUp.com is the largest online consignment and thrift store.
It only sells name brand clothing in pristine condition.
I’ve order clothes for my kids and myself and always had fantastic results.
Their clothes are like new (unless otherwise noted), and they often have really great sales on top of majorly discounted prices.
Trading In Your Clothes
In addition to selling great used clothing at a great price, ThredUp will also buy your great used clothing.
You can order a clean out bag for free, fill it with your unwanted clothes, and ship it to them for free.
They’ll sort through it and pay you for the clothes they keep or give you a store credit to use to buy new clothes from ThredUp.
It’s a great system.
So, you can clean out your closet, get rid of all the things that don’t “spark joy,” and send them to ThredUp.
They’ll sort through them and give you money or store credit to order new clothes.
So, you’ll have a cleaned out closet PLUS new (to you) clothes.
WINNING!!!
They also take children’s clothing, so you can send in your kid’s used clothes as well.
Rescue Clothes
If you want to stretch your dollar (or store credit) even further, try buying a box of clothes from the “Rescue” section.
Here’s what that means.
Since ThredUp has such high standards for the clothes they sell, a lot of what people send in can’t be resold on the main part of the site.
The ThredUp website describes the rescue clothes like this:
“Some items may have cosmetic defects, be missing labels, tags or hardware, or need to be cleaned or lightly mended.”
So basically they already match everything in my closet.
Kidding.
Sort of.
Mom life is hard on my clothes.
So here’s how I get free clothes from ThredUp.
I order a box of clothes from the Rescue section.
(I usually have some money in store credit from sending in my kid’s clothes and that helps to offset the initial cost.)
In the rescue section, you can choose if you want a box of tops and blouses, dresses and skirts, or a mixed box. They even have boxes of shoes and purses!
When I get the box, I go through and choose the things that I love and then list the rest on eBay.
I make enough selling the stuff I didn’t love to fully pay for the pieces that I did love!
Which means, I got the clothes for free!!
Another fun option would be to split a box with a friend who wears the same size clothes or shoes as you wear.
This is a good idea because the larger the quantity you order, the cheaper the per item cost is.
For example, a mixed clothing box of 10 items is $38.00 or $3.80 per item.
A mixed clothing box of 50 items is $140.00 or $2.80 per item.
But if you and a friend split the cost of the box, you’re only paying $70 for 25 pieces.
Which 25 pieces of clothes is basically a new wardrobe.
How do you know what you’re getting?
Well, you don’t.
So, there’s some risk involved.
I guess you could get an entire box of stuff you don’t like.
But that has never happened to me.
I’ve really liked most of the things I’ve ordered.
And although some weren’t exactly what I’d choose style-wise, they were still very nice pieces that sold very well on eBay.
And I get excited thinking about getting an entire box of clothing or shoes or purses that I haven’t seen yet.
It’s sort of like ordering a mystery gift for myself!
Can ThredUp just shop for me?
ThredUp does offer customized “Goody Boxes.”
They’re essentially like the other boxed subscription services.
You answer questions about your style and they shop for you.
It’s a $10 deposit that’s good towards the purchase of anything you want to keep from the box, and nothing in the box costs more than $20.
The box ships for free and returns are free.
The only difference is that ThredUp uses pre-owned clothes and the other companies send new clothing, so ThredUp’s price is a lot lower.
Plus by ordering clothes from ThredUp, you’re reducing waste and saving the environment.
Single-handedly.
Kidding.
But seriously, did you know that the average American throws away about 81 pounds of clothing every year?
(Information from The Saturday Evening Post)
Places like ThredUp are making a difference in how we shop and we get rid of clothing.
In writing this article, I learned that textiles can be recycled.
I had no idea that was even a thing.
I can’t count the number of times that we’ve had a piece of clothing tear and I’ve just thrown it away.
So in addition to committing to reduce our use of new clothing by shopping at consignment and thrift stores, my family is committing to donate ALL textiles.
There are several drop-off bins in our town, so this is an easy way for us to help reduce landfill waste.
In conclusion, clothing can be expensive.
I used to struggle to find cute outfits for the days that I needed to leave the house wearing something other than athleisure wear.
I wanted to buy cute outfits, but I didn’t want to spend a ton of money because the clothes are probably going to get ruined by my mom life shenanigans.
Seriously, my kids are rough on clothes.
Not just their own, but mine too.
Just last Sunday three-year-old slid down my lap and tore a button off of my favorite Antonio Melani dress when his blue jean pocket caught it.
Fortunately, my grandma taught me to sew, so I will just sew that button back on there.
Someday.
When I find the time.
But even if the dress had been totally ruined, I didn’t spend the original retail price of $225.
I bought it off ThredUp for $17.50.
I’ve worn it for years, and I get compliments on it all the time.
It has sparked immense joy every time I’ve seen it in my closet and it has had a very full life.
So even if I never get that button back on, I know now that I can recycle it.
If you haven’t tried ThredUp yet, you seriously need to.
If you use my link, you’ll get $10 off your first order, and I’ll get $10 off my next order.
Score!
Click HERE to get a $10 referral bonus from ThredUp!
What do you think about getting free clothes from ThredUp? What are your thrifty shopping tricks? Tell us in the comments!
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