There’s no denying that Americans have far more clothes than ever before. The average American buys at least twice as many pieces of clothing as they did 20 years ago. All of this clothing quickly adds up, and before you know it you have more clothes than you know what to do with. The general rule of thumb is that if you haven’t worn a clothing item in six months, it’s time to let it go. Instead of simply throwing away clothing items you no longer need or wear, consider donating them to charity. This article will take a look at several reasons for why you should donate your gently used clothing to charity.

• Your Clothes Donations Can Go to Help Veterans: One reason to donate your gently used clothing to charity is because your charitable clothing donations can go to help veterans. For example, you can make something known as Purple Heart donations that specifically go to help veterans wounded in combat. Keep in mind that Purple Heart donations do need to meet certain requirements in order to be accepted. Anything that can help wounded veterans is always a very worthy cause.
• Clothing Donations Help Keep Excess Waste Out of the Landfill: Another reason to donate your gently used clothing to charity is because it helps to keep excess waste out of the landfill, which in turn helps the environment. While Americans already donate a respectable 4.7 billion pounds of clothing each year, they also send 10.5 million tons of clothing to the landfill. That’s a lot of clothing getting thrown away to rot every year. By donating your used clothing instead of throwing it away, you’re keeping potentially useful clothing and textiles from going to waste, which can help the environment because too much is being thrown into the landfill already.
• Your Donations Can Be Tax Deductible: A third reason to donate your used clothing to charity is because your donations can be tax deductible. Clothing donations can be tax deductible up to the full value of the items being donated. For example, men’s overcoats and suits are worth approximately $60 as a tax write-off.
• Donating Clothes Can Open Up Extra Space in Your Closet: And finally, a fourth reason to donate your used clothing to charity is it can open up extra space in your closet. As mentioned before, Americans buy much more clothing than they did several decades ago, and all of that clothing takes up valuable space. Once you’ve determined which clothing items you no longer want, you can donate them and open up space in your closet to better organize and store the clothing you do need and wear on a daily basis.

In conclusion, there are several reasons to donate your gently used clothing to charity. These reasons include making Purple Heart donations that help veterans, keeping excess waste out of the landfill, getting a tax deduction because of your donation, and opening up extra space in your closet. These are just a few of the reasons to donate your gently used clothing to charity.