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We all know to take useful but no longer wanted items to goodwill when we're moving. I thought it would be nice to have a thread about other places that will take used items off our hands and make use of them.
That's a great idea. I am giving up my huge bed and will buy a smaller one when I move and wasn't real sure what to do with the bedding.
When my ex lost a ton of weight and went down several clothing sizes we contacted a men's homeless shelter in town and I dropped off about five bags of really nice, used dress shirts, t-shirts, and jeans. They were so so thankful!
I have been using Freecycle to pass items on. I had a box of small electronics (old digital cameras, old cell phones, etc, in various states of working). I had a dozen people email me asking/begging for that box of "junk." I told the first person who emailed me that they could have it and they came and picked it up from my porch.
I had a couple of big boxes of decent books and DVDs that I gave to the local library. They have a bookstore of used books in the library that use to raise money for the library.
These days I try to just give stuff directly to people (freecycle) rather than to goodwill.
I went through my rather large book collection prior to my move and separated out the ones I wanted to keep and the ones that I really didn't need. (The giveaway stack turned out to be about three times as large, BTW). I offered the more "general interest" books to Ronald McDonald House, since one of my neighbors was a volunteer there, and my old college textbooks to the county library.
We all know to take useful but no longer wanted items to goodwill when we're moving. I thought it would be nice to have a thread about other places that will take used items off our hands and make use of them.
I'll start:
Take old towels to animal shelters.
Also, towels, sheets, rugs, curtains, drapes, stuffed toys. I volunteered at an animal shelter, they really do have a need for anything cloth to line the cages, something comfy, soft, machine washable, otherwise, the animals just sit on cold stainless steel cages. Old clothes, too! No size too large or small, we have anything from newborn kittens to Great Danes, all would like somethng to snuggle for comfort.
Ever watch that show, Storage Wars? Its simply amazing/ridiculous what people pay good money to store
Serioiusly, its like they didn't have a brain in their head. Perhaps they were evicted, or running from bill collectors, didn't have much time to sort and just figured to stuff it all somewhere and come back for it later?
Here's an idea---stuff it all in a storage locker, and will it to your least favorite child, with the stipulation they must pay the storage fees to get it out. The curiosity will kill them! I plan to sweep up all the crap in my ds room, stuff it in a storage locker, and he can get it out if he pays the fee, or let it go on the auction block!
Goodwill will not to my knowledge pick up donations, but Salvation Army probably will.
That's probably why there's better stuff at SA, especially furniture. We've just about furnished our whole house with SA stuff, furniture, lamps, pictures, etc.People donate really nice stuff because it costs too much to move/store it.
I saw on TV where Goodwill was sending donated items to Africa. Instead of distributing the items to the poor, they would sell them, to "entrepreneurs" who would then re-sell them. One guy had quite a business going, everything cleaned, sorted, tagged, nicely displayed----well, at least it benefits somebody!
We have a local Habitat for Humanity and Thrift shop that I donate to regularly. I had some old snow shovels to get rid of and just put them at the end of the driveway with a free sign, they were gone within an hour. Have also been cleaning out the book collection by posting them for sale on Amazon, made a little cash and someone got a used book for a good price.
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