What Should You Do with Your Work Clothes After Retirement?

“I’m retired, but my closet still thinks I’m going to work.”

You’re no longer heading in to an office every day but your closet doesn’t know that, which may leave you wondering what to do with work clothes after retirement.

Once the retirement party is over and you’re enjoying life in casualwear, it’s time to head into your closet and get rid of any “office” clothes you no longer need. Not only will it help you declutter and simplify your environment, those clothes might be of good use to someone in need. Let’s get into it by breaking down:

a workable approach to paring down your current volume
options for handling the clothes you no longer need
ways of rewarding yourself for a job well done!

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Pare Down the Volume

Retirement is a great time to reduce the size of your wardrobe overall–not just your office attire. This is a task that many people put off as long as possible (often saying they don’t have time). Well, your schedule just opened up! I’m a big fan of scheduling time for projects, so put this in your planner to give yourself the space you need. If you need some help with this, check out Scheduling Your Time In Retirement to help you block out the time.

The method I prefer when decluttering and organizing a space is the “empty-it” approach. By this I mean to take everything out of the closet and only put back what you want to keep. While this may seem overwhelming, deciding what to put back is, for most people, more effective than deciding what to remove.

When you’re ready, here’s what to do.

Get Everything Out of the Closet

If your closet (or dresser or whatever) is quite large, think about doing this a section at a time.
Take every last thing out.
As you remove everything you can start the filtering process. Put the removed items into piles that are:
- definitely keepers
- maybe keepers
- definitely not keepers
Think through how you’ll want to organize the closet; for example, by color, by sleeve length, by occasion (everyday and going out). Whatever works for you is fine; it’s just important to create a closet that you can easily find things in.
Now it’s time for the selection process. I like to do this process in front of a full-length mirror and starting with easy on/off clothes. This makes it easy to try on the iffy items to help me decide.
Use a “storage fee” approach to decide what’s worthy of keeping. Pretending you have to pay a storage fee for every item that goes back in the closet changes the question from “Do I like this?” to “Would I pay a storage fee to keep this?”

Decide What to Keep

This is a critical step. Think it through and be strict on yourself.

Keep only what is flattering

Only the very best should be in this pile! We’ve all said it–“I’ll save this for when I lose 5 pounds.” Resist! It may seem like incentive to lose the weight, but having a closet full of these items can actually be demotivating and end with you just beating yourself up for not losing the weight. Ditch those clothes and reward yourself with a few new items later.

Balance the size of your wardrobe with your new routine

If you work out 5 days a week, then you need a decent amount of workout clothes. You probably do laundry at least once a week, though, so why do you need more than 5 pairs of workout shorts? Keep one or two extra for laundry-timing cushion, but no more. This balancing process is especially important as you go through your former work clothes. You may need some of these “dress up” clothes for future events but you don’t need anywhere near the volume you had before. Keep only the very special, versatile, flattering items.

Select versatile pieces

By changing accessories, one little black dress or a basic pair of slacks can be the foundation for many different outfits. That clean-lined, simple black dress is a definite keeper. The unique one with all the fancy print that you wouldn’t wear twice in the same week is not.

Give up on the super-unique colors

If you have a pair of slacks that can only be worn with one certain color, then they are just too much trouble and probably aren’t worth the storage fee.

What to Do with Discarded Items

Donate or Sell?

Once you get to this stage, you really just want to get those discarded items out of your house…and fast. Now you have a choice–are you good with donating what you no longer need or would you like to get a little return on your original investment?

Choosing To Donate

Before just dropping everything at the nearest Goodwill, take a little time to find some worthwhile donation places in your area. Donation options vary greatly by location, but here are some options I see here in my New York area. Some of these organizations may be available in your area, too. You can use these ideas to jump start your own search.

Bottomless Closet – organization in NYC taking donations of workplace attire.
Dress for Success – international organization with lots of locations. Their website a search feature to help you find a location near you.
Greendrop – the middle guy between organizations like American Red Cross or Purple Heart and donors like you. They service many cities on the US East Coast. They also provide a home clean-out service if you’re looking to get rid of everything, as well as home pickup services in some areas.
Donate Stuff – serves several regions in the US; check to see if there’s one in your area.

Choosing to Sell

Selling your work clothes can earn a few dollars to supplement your retirement income. If money isn’t an issue, you can also opt to sell your items and donate the proceeds to your favorite charity.

I have had decent success on Poshmark. Here are a few of my takeaways from selling on this platform:

The app is very straightforward and easy to use. However, because you must create a separate listing for each item it can be time-consuming if you have a lot to sell.
You get what you put in. There is a social component to selling on Poshmark, and the most successful sellers are active in the “community,” meaning they continually share their listings and join themed “parties” to get their stuff out there. You can do this from your phone, which makes it easy to do while in line at the grocery store or during other downtime. It’s really no big deal once you get used to working it into your routine.
Certain brands sell better than others. Personally, I have had more success with higher-end brands, but I’ve also been surprised now and again by what has sold.

Another online selling platform is Mercari. I know others who have used Mercari and have been happy with it. If you need help deciding which platform to see is right for you, check out, “Poshmark vs. Mercari” by Closet Assistant.

Online Thrift Stores and Consignment Shops

Another option for selling your clothes is an online thrift/consignment store such as ThredUp. ThredUp makes it easy; simply request a “Clean Out Kit” from their website. Fill the bag they send with the clothes and mail it back (postage paid). They do the sorting, take photos, list items, and ship them to buyers. One big caveat, however; ThredUp has an extensive list of brands that are ineligible for payouts, so pay attention to that list before when deciding what to send.

I do know people who have made some money on ThredUp. I didn’t. It could be that I listed my better items on Poshmark, so my ThredUp offerings just weren’t that good. I also only tried it once, so my experience is limited. You may have different results, so it’s still worth checking out!

Now Comes the Fun Part…Reward Yourself!!!

You deserve a treat!!

The first and best treat is to stand back and look at your accomplishments. Take it all in. Maybe post a picture or two on social media to brag to your friends about what a great job you did. And look! The reward is a neat and visually pleasing new closet!

While you’re admiring your newly cleaned-out closet, consider something useful and fun to decorate it. For example, my husband bought me an awesome jewelry case to display my jewelry that’s not only beautiful to look at but is also functional as it helps me see my accessories. You just got rid of all of your work clothes, so replace them with an item or two that reflect your new lifestyle.