Tag: clothing donation pickup

Use Your Extra Hour to Declutter

Posted on by Jordank

First proposed by Benjamin Franklin as a way for Parisians to save money on candles, daylight saving time became ingrained in American society as a way for farmers to make the most of longer days. In the 1970s, daylight time justified itself as a solution to trim energy usage. Today, those long summer nights are still coveted for leisure activities.

Daylight time comes to an end this weekend, so people in most of the nation (except for those in Arizona and Hawaii, which do not observe it) will turn their clocks back an hour on Sunday morning before dawn. And while it may be disheartening to see darkness fall before dinner, you can use that extra hour in your schedule.

Many Americans see the extra hour in the middle of the night as a bonus hour for sleep. However, few will actually take advantage of the extra hour of rest, the Harvard Health Blog says. Since most people’s bodies have become accustomed to rising at a particular hour, regardless of what the clock says, it will take several days to adjust.

If you’re up early, however, you can use the extra hour to do something you’ve been meaning to do anyway. Follow Simply Designing’s advice and do an hour of decluttering every day starting with the kitchen, and your home will be cleaner and more clutter-free in just seven days.

Be More With Less suggests getting rid of 100 things in a “decluttering burst” that lasts only an hour. Grab a box for donations and a bag for trash, set the timer, and eliminate 10 things from the junk drawer. Then move on systematically to the kitchen, car, closets, bedroom, and so on. When the bell rings, you’ll be amazed at how quickly the eliminated items have piled up!

Sound impossible? It isn’t. In every one of those rooms, there are products that have expired or failed to live up to their promise. “Just in case” items are the worst kind of clutter, the blog says, because “just in case means never.” Get rid of them, and you will be able to “stop living in fear of not having enough.”

Once you’ve used the extra hour that daylight time’s end has provided to get rid of a few things, contact ClothingDonations.org for a donation pickup; it’s another time-saver in your ongoing decluttering quest that helps veterans nationwide. Then, take solace in the fact that you’ll be spending five months of wintry darkness in a newly clutter-free home.

Fall Fashion 2018: Out With the Old

Posted on by Jordank

Every September, the fashion industry introduces its new styles for the fall season. And while annual “fashion weeks” throughout the world serve largely to drive consumer demand for clothing manufacturers and retailers, most people like to express their personalities through what they wear and get a genuine sense of excitement from buying something new.

This year, the Elle trendspotters positioned at the edge of the runways say, “power red” will be huge. Western-style details will be common on everything from blouses to boots, and 1970s plaids will be back alongside futuristic “athleisure suits.” There will be “couch” florals, Victorian collars, fishnets and lots of velvet.

Vogue says the ’80s will be back in a big way, with designers showing off garments with big shoulders and neon colors. Fashions featuring sporty looks and logos will make their way to market, as well as oversized utilitarian outerwear, chain-mail dresses, shaggy furs, and lots and lots of scarves.

In other words, there’s a lot for the everyday fashionista to like in 2018.

Most of the trendsetting runway styles are already being adapted for people who can’t afford to spend thousands on a couture garment. Within weeks — maybe days — of the designer debuts, you’ll see ready-to-wear labels and fast-fashion retailers such as H&M adapt many of the hottest looks trends into affordable garments.

The only problem? When people go shopping and find clothes that fit their fabulous new look for fall, they don’t often throw out the old.

Your closet is probably teeming with all kinds of garments that were the tip of hip a couple of years ago, but are now no longer on your short list for daily wear. You might not wear a particular item due to a change in size, a change in styles, or because that garment just never fit into your overall scheme.

Those garments are still in your closets and dresser drawers because you formed an emotional attachment to them — a fond memory of wearing them or when you bought them, or a determination that someday, you will find a way to wear them. But right now, they’re just taking up space.

Do yourself a favor this year as you shop and integrate new styles into your wardrobe: Get rid of the old. Anything you aren’t wearing is occupying valuable real estate in your closets and mind. When you buy anything new, eliminate something old (or two of those somethings, if you really want to declutter).

Bag those lightly worn, once-fashionable rejects up and contact ClothingDonations.org for a pickup. There’s no better way to stay on-trend than to eliminate the clothing that just isn’t working for you.

Take Advantage of Kids’ Back-to-School Time

Posted on by Jordank

Many parents will be sending their kids off to school over the next two weeks, making for a bittersweet moment whether they’re heading to kindergarten or college. But what most parents don’t realize is that when summer ends and the offspring leave the house for at least part of the day, the demands on their own time will ease.

Without the kids constantly underfoot, needing rides or foraging for food, parents will have additional hours during the day to pursue their own career, learning and life goals. If you are in this situation and want to make the most of this newfound freedom, you’ll need to plot out a few projects for those extra hours.

Time management is the first step, Project Me says; without a plan, those extra kid-free hours will evaporate fast. Start by listing the things you would like to do with your extra time, such as going to the gym, starting a new work project or going back to school yourself. Identify your most important tasks, put them on a daily schedule and get started.

Decluttering is an excellent option, the site says. Step back and take an objective look at your space, create a plan of attack (doing one room at a time, for example, or targeting a number of bags and boxes to donate to ClothingDonations.org), and dive in. When each step in the task is complete, reward yourself! You’ll be much more likely to complete it if you have your eyes on a prize.

Back-to-school clutter likely needs organizing, says All Parenting’s “20 Things to Do When your Kids Go Back to School;” many areas may be cluttered with new clothing, backpacks and homework. Household cleaning tasks probably took a backseat to summer fun, too, so now’s the time to catch up on deep-cleaning the refrigerator, ceiling fans, baseboards, bathrooms and floors.

A digital decluttering can also help you get organized for the season ahead. Go through all of the summer photos on your phone(s) and camera(s); download them to a safe place and print the best ones out for framing and display. And while you’re at it, clean up your desktop and delete the mobile apps you haven’t used in months.

Whether you’re a stay-at-home parent or work full time, you’ll find that having the kids at school will free up a little bit of your time. Plan on making the most of it!

Building Upon the Benefits of Decluttering

Posted on by Jordank

The Organizing Blog has often extolled the many virtues of decluttering in streamlining your space and building your overall well-being — and offered plenty of targeted advice on many aspects of the topic.

We have also made it easy to get rid of the extra junk that we’ve helped you clear out of your closets, basements and garages by contacting ClothingDonations.org for convenient, tax-deductible pickups throughout the year.

But you may not yet be aware of what happens to your donations and the ways in which they help the nation’s veterans. Reducing clutter is reward enough, but your donations are crucial to programs that help veterans throughout the country.

When you donate to ClothingDonations.org, the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) coordinates pickup. VVA is a national veterans service organization that’s funded mostly though fundraising activities and membership fees.

The association’s primary source of funding is the resale of items donated to ClothingDonations.org. VVA picks up your generous donations and resells them in bulk to qualified, privately owned thrift-store operators, who in turn sell the used goods to bargain-shoppers.

Money from resale goes directly to local, state and national programs designed to help VVA’s more than 75,000 members, other veterans in need and their families. They help throw chapter get-togethers, build memorials to those who gave their lives in service, send veterans’ grandchildren to college and more.

Proceeds from your donations assist veterans nationwide in accessing guaranteed government benefits, affordable housing and health care. They help veterans cope with problems such as Agent Orange exposure, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse.

On a national level, VVA uses the funds to advocate for legislation supporting veterans such as the Blue Water Navy Act. In short, all funds garnered from donation pickups help veterans continue to be active and vital members of the communities in which they live.

So, the next time you schedule a pickup with ClothingDonations.org, you can feel doubly good. Your simple act — decluttering — will not only improve your situation, but will also improve the lives of thousands of veterans in your community and others throughout the country.

We make it easy to #ThankAVeteran and give something back!

Thrift to Save on Back-to-School Costs

Posted on by Jordank

Most schools across the country will be starting the school year in just a few weeks — and you can tell, since the back-to-school promotions have begun in earnest at the chain stores. But if you really want to save money, you don’t have to buy everything brand-new at a Target, Walmart or Gap. Back-to-school time is one time of year when it pays to shop at the local thrift store.

If you have young children headed back to school, chances are good that they have grown out of the clothes they were wearing last fall. Good news! Thrift stores are full of lightly used clothing and school uniforms that either fit someone’s kid until recently or didn’t get worn much at all. A lot of it is desirable, big-label stuff, points out The Well-Kept Wallet, that’s getting sold at a fraction of its original price.

If you live in a northern climate, you can get the jump on winter shopping, too. When people donate used or disused clothing to charities such as ClothingDonations.org, they often eliminate items such as sweaters and winter coats from their closets in the season they need them least — and that means you can score great deals well ahead of the onset of winter weather — and long before the selection gets picked-over.

One parent writing in The Penny Hoarder reports that she was able to outfit her two daughters, both in elementary school, for less than $40 by visiting thrift stores and rummage sales strategically. The children helped her shop on most trips, she says, and likely learned to appreciate a great value at the same time.

If the kids are headed off to college, a thrift store can be an even greater resource. There, you can find items such as desks, bookshelves, coffee tables, lamps and small appliances at bargain prices, as well as the bed linens, dishes and other household goods every college student will need for the first time when moving into a dorm or residence. The thrift can also be a great source for office supplies and backpacks.

Buying at a thrift store supplied by donations to ClothingDonations.org has the added benefit of saving you money while helping fund programs for veterans. And remember, you can contact ClothingDonations.org at any time to schedule a pickup of the clothing and other items your own kids have grown out of or just don’t use anymore. Somebody will be able to use that stuff, but to you, it’s just clutter.

Including clothing, electronics, shoes and school supplies, families will spend an average of $688 on each child during the back-to-school season, according to an annual survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF), and $970 on every college student. But you can keep those costs down — way down — with a trip to the thrift store!