Make money by saving money with a clothing swap!

Feel like you have nothing to wear? You're not alone. That age-old conundrum has been haunting the fashionably conscious like those little elves who steal only single white socks out of the drier. Even if your budget's taxed, you can still continue to spruce up your wardrobe every season by hosting a clothing swap.

Clothing swaps are when you clean out your closet of all the clothes you no longer wear and have your friends do the same, regardless whether you wear the same size or not, then get together and go through each others' old clothes.

My friends and I always organize our bags of old clothes into neat piles for each items: skirts in one pile, pants in another, etc. Then we have the loud-mouthed and sharpest-tongue among us act as an auctioneer, going through each pile, and presenting each item one-by-one, tossing it to whoever raises their hand first. If more than one girl wants the same fitted jeans (always a coveted freebie), then....things get interesting (watch the video after the jump for details).

Clothing swaps are something I partake in almost every four months with a group of friends. Right now the fitted Levi jeans I'm wearing, one of my favorite fall-back items, I scored at a clothing swap. Clothing swaps are magic, for your wardrobe, sense of style (since you pick up tips on what looks good on you, and what doesn't, from other participants), and it's incredibly easy on the wallet: new clothes for free!

Here's some juicy footage and instructions on how to have a clothing swap and what they look like once the free clothes start flying:



Also, one of my favorite experts on fashion, Kathryn Finney, author of The Budget Fashionista, provides a list of websites on swapping in your old clothes for someone elses', because what's no longer hot to you will be hot to someone. And recycling clothes is eco-friendly.

Not ready to part? The recessionistas over at Recessionwire have tips on making the most of unruly closet items, like how to rock an old suit and re-purposing costume jewelry.

So, just as my best friend said to me, as she put a flower behind her ear when we were lost hiking a mountain in Tahoe: Just because you're lost in the woods, doesn't mean you can't look your best!