Tag: charity donations pickup

To Declutter, Donate Early and Donate Often

Posted on by Jordank

Anyone who has attempted to declutter all or part of their home knows that it can be a time-consuming and often frustrating process. If you stop to think about each item’s sentimental or monetary value and/or get overwhelmed by the project’s scope, you’ll get bogged down. You won’t see progress — and progress is what provides the motivation to continue.

The solution? Donate early, and donate often! You can contact ClothingDonations.org and request a pickup every time you gather up as little as one, two, or three boxes or bags of stuff. When a truck is in your area, it will stop, pick up those donations and leave a tax receipt. You’ll see that junk almost magically start to disappear, and the results will help you gain momentum.

To conquer those sentimental second thoughts that can defuse your decluttering, follow the “keep, trash, donate” rule. Decide quickly what will and will not stay in your home, put it in a bag or box, and don’t look back. And know that anything of value left in the “donate” pile is going to a good cause — programs that benefit our nation’s veterans.

If you’ve been in the same place for a while and share it with family members, the scope of a decluttering task can easily become overwhelming. To stay on top of it, break the project down into smaller pieces by targeting a single room each week, or dedicating an hour or two every Saturday morning. Once a few boxes are packed, contact ClothingDonations.org. Before you know it, you’ll have eliminated junk from every room.

For an in-depth decluttering, revisit each room regularly. The first sweep may net only a few bags of tchotchkes and T-shirts, but by your second tour, you’ll be a more seasoned declutterer and less sentimental about the extra stuff overflowing out of your closets and drawers. Your donations may even get bigger as you start to enjoy your new, uncluttered space; arrange another pickup!

If you get really good at decluttering, relatives and friends may ask you to help out with their moves, estate liquidations and other big projects. You don’t have to help unless you want to, of course, but if there is ever a call for it, most ClothingDonations.org affiliates can pick up more than 20 boxes of stuff at a time. For more information on what we can and can’t pick up, visit the ClothingDonations FAQ.

After you’ve decluttered in earnest, you’ll see a variety of benefits. Not only will your space be easier to clean and retain less dust and allergens, you’ll probably also enjoy the subtle, simple psychological benefit of feeling less constricted or weighed down by your extra stuff. So start right away, and donate as often as you like!

Declutter Before Back to School

Posted on by Jordank

Most young people will return to school in just a few weeks. In many regions, school starts as early as mid-August, and that means there’s no time like the present to not only shop for the new clothes, textbooks and gadgets they’ll need for the upcoming school year, but also make room for those items by cleaning out some of the old stuff they won’t.

If your kids are still young, that’s great — you can help them form a foundation of habits that they can use throughout life. “Four-year-olds aren’t super-great declutterers, but they can certainly look through a pile of their drawings and pick out their favorites, or try out a pile of markers to figure out which ones are dried up,” says the Frugal Girl blog.

Help young children sort things into categories, and make “keep” and “get rid of” piles within each. Resist the urge to conduct the decision-making yourself; like everyone else, kids get attached to their stuff, and may be hurt if you make a call without their input. Instead, gently urge them to save only their favorites in each category (clothing, books, toys, etc.).

When they complete each segment of the task, box up the lightly-used stuff and contact ClothingDonations.org for a pickup. To keep things orderly, invest in some plastic bins to keep like items together, and reinforce the advantages of decluttering by pointing out how neat, clean and spacious their shelves and rooms become.

If your kids are already in their teenage years, the battle may be more difficult, says The Non-Consumer Advocate. Again, you should involve them in the decluttering process; it is not OK to arbitrarily clean and toss. Do, however, set concrete limits on how many of a particular item can be kept: X number of T-shirts or X number of games.

If you’re sending a child to college for the first time, you have a golden opportunity to declutter your home. You might have plans to repurpose his or her room, and even if you don’t, there’s likely a ton of stuff they won’t need during the transition into adulthood that you can store, sell, donate or throw away before they go.

As they pack for school, again: Create piles of items to keep, donate and trash. Almost any item of clothing your child doesn’t want to take to college is fair game for a donation, as are toys and games they’ve outgrown. Take this opportunity to have your child create his or her own bin of special memories, says the SpareFoot Blog, and store it in a safe place.

When your child moves out of the house for good, they can take that bin with them — and you can reclaim the space!

Getting Started on Your Garage Sale

Posted on by Jordank

Having a garage, tag or yard sale is one of the best ways to get rid of the clutter and make a few extra bucks at the same time. Start by going through the house room by room and sorting everything into keep, sell and donate piles, advises the Wholefully blog. As you complete each room, price everything in the sell pile and move it to a staging area for the big day. Then, contact ClothingDonations.org to make an appointment (or two) to pick up the extra stuff you want to donate, and whatever stuff doesn’t sell.

Stage a Successful Memorial Day Garage Sale

Posted on by Jordank

A few of Café Mom’s top 10 secrets to a successful Memorial Day garage sale are location, good signage, fair prices, clean stuff, advertising and organization. Also, don’t put something out if you don’t really want to sell it, the story says, and don’t be seller who tries to sell the same things every weekend. Be ready to haggle if you want to make some quick cash, and if something doesn’t sell, “either throw it out or (if you think it’s really good), donate it.”

Give Mom the Gift of Less Clutter

Posted on by Jordank

Many moms — especially older moms — already have lots of stuff, and some are entering their “downsizing decades” later in life. This Mother’s Day, give them the gift of decluttering! Stop by, cook brunch and clean the hall closet; throw everything she no longer needs into boxes and schedule a pickup with ClothingDonations.org. Then, give only gifts that offer Mom an experience rather than more stuff, says the Embracing Simple blog, or items such as fresh flowers and pampering bath products that she can use — and use up — quickly.