My name is Jenny, and I’m a shwopaholic. Luckily, that’s not such a bad habit to have: it means I love to organise, recycle and reuse the things I buy, so that nothing goes to waste. Most people have the occasional closet clearout, perhaps once a season or once a year. Me? I do it monthly, at least. My motto is to go shwopping little and often, which means it never becomes a chore and there’s always room for more. (Did I mention I also like to shop?)

When you leave your old clothes in an M&S Shwop Drop they’ll go to Oxfam to be resold, reused or recycled, so it’s never been easier to have a good clearout. And with an impending house move and summer holiday,  it’s been a big shwopping month for me. Check out what I shwopped below, and maybe it will inspire you to have your very own wardrobe overhaul…

Week one

It’s three weeks to moving day, and already I’ve shwopped a sackful of clothes that I’ve been keeping just in case I ever fit into them again – I’ve finally had to admit defeat on the dropping-three-dress-sizes dream. I’m moving in with the boyfriend, which means going from two whole wardrobes all to myself, to sharing a wardrobe with him (eeek!). Knowing my fashion habit, he’s even giving me regular reminders about how much less space I’m going to have come next month.

At this stage, I’m also looking in my wardrobe and seeing the potential value – there are definitely a few designer labels that could raise some pennies, so I’ve been selling those for the holiday fund. Already I’ve managed to save enough to bag myself a new dress, some travel money and some tins of foodie gifts to pack for our friends in Italy. And we’re lucky to have a shwop-drop here in the M&S office, so I just bring in a tote bag of old clothes to recycle as and when I can. 

Top tip: Keep a tote bag ready and waiting in the wardrobe. If you go to put something on that just doesn’t work any more, you can pop it straight in the tote ready to be shwopped next time you visit M&S.

Some of the goodies I've bought with the proceeds of my clothing sell-off

Week two

It’s time for a shoe sort-out! Shoes are my ultimate weakness – probably because when it comes to my feet, I just don’t have ‘fat days’ – my footwear always fits perfectly. My shoe-shwopping hitlist  is based around two major points – tatty/broken footwear and high heels that hurt. Much as I love towering stilettos, I don’t actually get on very well with wearing them. This means I’ve got too many shoes that I can only really wear for about half an hour before I get grumpy and want to reach for the flip-flops. Shoes that got culled at this stage included a pair of toning sandals that I have quite literally worn into the ground. They’ve been to Rome, New York, Paris and Egypt with me, but sadly are beginning to fall apart – not a good look. I also ditched a pair of designer wooden heels. I should have guessed that walking on solid wood wouldn’t be all that comfortable – another valuable fashion lesson learned!

Top tip: Find a tidy way of storing your shoes so you can easily see what you’ve got. I’ve got little feet, so rectangular vegetable racks make perfect shoe storage – plus they’ve got wheels, which makes having a sort-out even easier.

Week three

I’m feeling rather pleased with my shwopping antics so far this month, but until now, all of my boyfriend’s belongings have survived unscathed. It was time to tackle the issue and offer an ultimatum: “I’m not moving in unless you make some room!” So we spent a happy Saturday afternoon flinging clothes into piles for shwopping and selling. I was impressed with how ruthless he was once he got going, and we soon found that the laundry baskets and clutter that had been making the room feel messy could now be hidden away inside the wardrobe.

We even found an old wool coat that had been attacked by moths. I’d never seen the destruction that they can cause – it was gross! My boyfriend admitted that he’d completely forgotten the coat was there and had bought an almost-identical number last winter. Proof that shwopping can save you money, I reckon! I’ve since tasked him with addressing the moth problem before I’ll let any of my garments near his wardrobe.

Top tip: Put a sticker or tag on the hanger of each item in your wardrobe. As you wear an item, take the sticker off. In six months or a year’s time, pull out everything that still has the sticker on. These are the items that you haven’t worn and probably wouldn’t miss, so why not shwop them?

Week four

I’m all moved into the new pad but despite my best efforts, my belongings could still do with a final edit. I’ll be putting a shwopping date in my diary every month and keeping the M&S Shwop Drop in mind whenever I head out shopping. I’ve started packing for my holiday to Italy and have already found a few old bikinis that are perfect for shwopping, so I’ll be taking those with me when I head into M&S to pick up a few last-minute holiday essentials.

Top tip: Whether it’s monthly or yearly, set aside a regular date for shwopping. Put a little reminder in your phone, and keeping on top of the clutter will never become a chore.

-See more about the M&S Plan A campaign, including shwopping, here.

-Find out what our celeb ambasssador Joanna Lumley has been shwopping here.

Do you have any tips for shwopping, reusing or recycling clothes? And when was the last time you took a really good look at what’s in your wardrobe? Let me know by leaving a comment below.