There comes a time for every shoeaholic to make room for their new shoes. Being a shoeaholic myself I know how hard it is to get rid of your used shoes, even if you know that you will not wear them ever again. But sadly my closet space does not extent, so I have no choice but figure out what to do with the used shoes.

The noblest way to deal with the old shoes is to donate them. Many charities and organizations collect used clothing and used shoes and then either give them to the poor. If you do that, you will not only make more room for your new shoes, but feel good about helping out the needy.

Recently I was reading an article about a woman from Chicago who visited an orphanage in Jamaica. She was shocked to find out that in many poor countries children have to have shoes in order to attend schools and many kids don’t go to school just because they don’t have shoes.

One of the most known organizations, which is called Share Your Soles ( shareyoursoles.org) provides gently worn shoes to the needy around the globe. Their drop off locations are located around the United States (the list can be found on their website). There are many other organizations which do the same, so Google them if you feel like helping out.

If you are broke and want to earn some extra cash, I suggest selling your used shoes on eBay. Brand name shoes, which are gently used, usually sell well. I used to sell a lot on eBay, but now since they updated their policies, I am trying to avoid it at all costs. Seller fees are very high (9% right now) and you can’t even leave a negative feedback to the buyer anymore. Since they changed their feedback policy, many buyers started abusing it and I had quite a few non-paying bidders. EBay doesn’t do anything about it, so I don’t want to give them any of my business. I shop on Amazon instead and if I do have to sell something I often use Craiglist.

Another way to get rid of your used shoes is recycling them. Not all shoes are recyclable, but many are. There is a program called Reuse a Shoe, which was created by Nike. They take used athletic shoes, grind them up and reuse them to make many things.