If I have an old t-shirt that isn't in good enough condition to donate, I cut it up into rags. I use the rags to clean my saddles and other tack. They also work out nicely when I have to put a gooey oinment or something on my horse so I have something to wipe my hands off on (besides my jeans).

Here are some things I do with clothing I can't donate because it is either too stained or too worn out:

1.  Use for cleaning rags

2.  I make cloth bags to carry to the grocery store.  I have been able to make several bags just from worn out clothing..  I no longer bag my groceries in plastic bags that will clutter up the ocean. 

3.  Make doll clothes or other type crafts from the less worn out parts.

4. Harvest all the buttons for future sewing projects.

5. Use to pad a pet bed.

surprised no one has mentioned this yet.

You can make book covers from most tshirt materials :)

Plus you can cut up and sew bra material to make silky book covers too.

I hand bind books from scratch and all the materials I use are recycled. I get leather by buying an old skirt or jacket that is well worn.

Nevermind...

Jeans can be remade into quilts for soldiers:  http://www.operationquietcomfort.com/photos.html

old socks can be made into Happy Socks; toys for shelter cats....google "Happy socks"

I just cut all the fabric up into strips and make rag rugs.

I use my sons old blue jeans to make purses.  They tend to bust the knees out of every pair they own, so I cut across the leg just below the knee, sew the cut part together (inside out of course), then sew on an old fabric or ribbon belt for a handle and they make a nice little girls purse!  I have even reused the pockets of the jeans to make a pocket on the purse.  My daugher loves them!

My recycling center takes nearly everything, including worn out clothing.  The clothes get resold if it is in good enough shape.  The jeans get sent to a home for mentally disabled, who weave beautiful rag rugs out of them.  The rest is sent off to be shredded and made into blankets.   Between my family of 6, we manage to fill a bag every 3 months or so, even though I donate anything usable to thrift stores.

Recently, a "Give and Take" shop was opened near me.  I love the concept.  You take whatever you can't use and take whatever you want from the store.  It is run by a church and they take monetary donations to pay utilities.  The items (clothing, toys, and household items) are sorted and displayed, much like a thrift store.  It is extremely popular!  Only open 8 hours a week and it is packed.  I've been there twice.  Didn't find much for myself, but it was still fun to go and felt good to get rid of stuff.  The second time, I took my neighbor's daughter along, who found a ton of stuff for school (including a bookbag) and told me now she only needs to get shoes.  Her family is struggling right now, so I was glad to help.

If not stained, many thrift shops and shelters  WILL take used underwear, socks and bras.  Keep looking or donate to a church sponsored drive.

Our lonely socks either go for the catnip toys or to schools, summer camps, or girl scouts to make hand puppets.

When we lived near Philadelphia, there was a women's organization there that taught low income women how to sew using machines so they needed lots of cloth ------ they could use stained or torn/ wornout clothes as long as they'd been laundered first because they would just use it to learn and  practice sewing techniques. I thought this was a great way not only to "reuse", but to support a community effort to train the unemployed in a skill. I donated cloth pieces left from sewing projects too.

Check with your local Goodwill & Salvation Army as both ours sell decent under garments. I admit I have even bought a few that I found in good condition. I guess it just depends on the store. I love some of these ideas! For some of the craftier divas couldn't you use some of these to make cloth pads?

I grew up mostly with my grandparents and I never understood how resourceful it really was. Towels became wash cloths or dish cloths. Sheets became curtains. All linens could become cloth napkins or handkerchiefs. Yes, I am probably the only woman under thirty to carry them with me everywhere. lol. Stained clothes & linens became rags for deep cleaning. Clothes could also be refashioned into tank tops & such for wearing to clean house. No big deal if they got stained in the process. Badly stained clothing, fabric scraps, ect became pillow stuffing! Yup, we made our own pillows until I was older. You just collect enough scraps to fill an old pillowcase to the softness you prefer (I need lots cause I love a big fluffy pillow) and sew the end shut.  No bad fiber fill stuff, completely washable and frankly helps me sleep better at night knowing what is in there. Plus if your pillow is going flat just open up a corner and stuff a few more scraps in there.

Imagine if you decided to redo your bedroom, but still liked the old sheets and they were in pretty good condition. Why not take the flat sheet, open the top on the sides to simply slide your curtain rods inside. Bam! No sew curtains. lol. The pillowcases could be cut in half to make twice as many matching couch pillows with just a few stitches. The rest could be pillow fillers, valances, ect. Just look around and let your imagination go wild.

I, too, try to reuse everything possible. I've seen a lot of people mention things I already do and some other suggestions that I hadn't even thought of. This is such a great place to get new ideas!

If you know anyone that sews, maybe they could use pieces for a project. I work with a lady that sews for fun and she'll make children's purses from scraps of adult clothing. Different smaller scraps can be pieced together for a quilt.

My husband just cleared out a bunch of his old socks.  After looking at the cloth baby wipes in the store (I went "ick" at first, then said, wait, we're using cloth diapers--why is this more ick?), they just looked like sock material in squares.  So I'm going to cut up his worn socks and use them as baby wipes.

We cut up old underwear, socks, t-shirts for rags. I use them for all kinds of things around the house, My dad also has a furniture refinishing section of his business so he can use lots of rags for that purpose.

Goodwill generally will take all clothes, even the stuff to worn or stained to resale.  Here is a the most important paragraph from the following link:http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/04/06/earthtalk-recycling-worn-out-clothing/

Non-profits like Goodwill and the Salvation Army play a crucial role in keeping old clothes out of the waste stream. When they get donations of clothes that are too threadbare to re-sell in one of their shops, they send them to ?rag sorters? that specialize in recycling pieces of fabric large and small. Says Hawley, these textile recyclers sell about half the clothing they get back overseas in developing countries, while unusable garments, especially cotton t-shirts, are turned into wiping and polishing clothes used by a variety of industries and sold to consumers. She adds that other textiles are shredded into fibers used to make new products, such as sound-deadening materials for the automotive industry, archival-quality paper, blankets and even plastic fencing.

I do know that one of the local church organizations that runs a store similar to Goodwill said they resale all that stuff and get something like a dollar a pound, so even the stained stuff benefits them.