Perhaps now is the time to say “it’s that time of year again”. But truthfully, every time of the year is the time of the year to get rid of clothes you’re no longer wearing. As spring rolls around, you’ll begin peeling off your layers of winter clothes — knowing that by the time winter returns, you’ll probably want an update to your wardrobe, and certainly can expect some newer winter clothes as holiday gifts. Alternately, when it begins to chill down you’ll need to free yourself of some of your summer clothes for the same reason. It may be tempting to simply toss the clothes you don’t want anymore. Certainly, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to sell your old clothes, and unless your friends are your exact same size, it may not be easy to hand them off to others. But there is another way. Perhaps the best way you can repurpose your old clothes is through used clothing donations. Used clothing donations can be a way of giving back, a way of ensuring that your clothes don’t go to waste. But there’s more to donating clothes than just giving back — though that’s a valuable reason to donate clothes. Let’s look into some of the reasons why used clothing donations could be the right option for your spring — or summer, or fall, or winter — cleaning strategies.

1. Recycling

Used clothing donations can do a lot to help specific people, and a cause at large. However, they can also do a lot to help the world and the environment in a much bigger sense. Did you know that Americans send 10.5 million tons of clothing to landfills each year? That is clothing turned into trash, and it won’t decompose and aid the environment in any way. In fact, it will do just the opposite. Most of the time, people who can’t hand off or sell their old clothes end up throwing them away. Only 15% of that clothing ends up being donated or recycled, which is truly unfortunate. Yet at the same time, 100% of all clothing and textiles can be recycled in or reused in one way or another. Clothes donations are a great way of recycling in a direct way, and that way you can know that your old clothing will not be wasted.

2. Tax Write Offs

As strange as it might sound, you can actually get a financial reward for making donations to charitable organizations. Hopefully, this isn’t people’s chief motivations in donating clothes. But it’s certainly a benefit that shouldn’t be ignored. You would be amazed by how much you can potentially earn in tax benefits by donating your clothes and other household items. A coffee maker, for example, can be worth $4 to $15 in tax benefits. Men’s suits and coats, on the other hand, can provide a write off of up to $60. Of course, don’t believe that you can simply claim to donate without actually doing so. Not only is this morally wrong and illegal — it’s also nearly impossible to do. A donation of $250 or more will require a receipt in order for it to be included in your write off. As such, you should be careful when donating, and get receipts whenever possible. Ultimately, the government wants you to donate, and will reward you when you do so.

3. Cleaning Out The Clutter

At the end of the day, there are so many people you can help through your donations. But don’t forget that in donating clothes, you’re helping yourself. Old clothes are nothing but clutter, using up valuable space you could use on things like — well, new clothes for one thing. For another, there are psychological benefits to clearing out old clothes. It’s a fresh start, and a way of making yourself feel like it’s out with the old and in with the new. That’s quite important.

So the next time you have clothes that you don’t need anymore — just donate them!