Donating Clothes & Toys After Christmas

You house just became a crazy place again didn’t it?  Now you have all these NEW things to find places for!  I will be many of you still have new clothes sitting in boxes full of tissue paper, still not put away. The drawers are full, closet is full… where will they go?

Toys sitting on the floor because the toy box or shelf is already over flowing with toys. Right?

Now.. I want you to be totally honest with yourself here.  I want you to go look at that closet, those drawers, those toys.  How many of those things have been sitting there, untouched for months? Maybe even years.  We all do it. We hold onto things.  That dress that looked so awesome, 50 pounds ago; that baby toy that we got and loved for your son that is now 10 years old. You know what I mean. It’s difficult to give things up.

Now, I want you to think about that family that has a father who lost his job, or that single mom who is working two jobs to help feed her three kids, that family that had a fire (probably in the news in the last week huh?) and lost everything.

                                                             (picture from google picasa)

Look again at your closet…. think about those who can really use those things…. look at those toys…. think about those kids who got absolutely nothing for Christmas.  Can’t you make some room in your house?

Selling Them?

I know of many people and hear many people who plan to sell everything.  I understand that, I get it – but… how long has that plan been in place? Have you ever executed it? Have you gotten that ebay store going like you keep saying you will?  When can you have the garage sale? In the summer… 6 months away?

Garage Sales - I have had garage sales in the past, I think they can be great. I can always use the money too. If the time of year is right, you have the motivation and time to do it… great – great… get ‘er done! If you can’t have one for months, then forget it.

I say – donate it and take the tax write off.  Help others and clear your house NOW!

Where do you donate?

Good Will
Local Shelters
Check with your Church or a local church
Check with your local Food Pantry
Check online for many resources

This is a food pantry that isn’t far from me.  I had a friend who used to work here. Most donate their time.  They had food that they gave out to those in need.

They also have a clothing thrift shop.  As I remember anyone could come in and purchase the donated clothing & toys at very low cost and for families in need, things were free.

Here was the pile of clothing and items that people had donated that the staff had yet to go through for the day.  You can’t see, but that pile was up to about my waist. Awesome!

When Donating 

Please don’t give them broken toys or toys missing pieces
No torn or damaged clothing (if you can’t wear it because of damage, others can’t either)

Donate and feel good, knowing you have just helped yourself and your family (by creating needed space, teaching valuable lessons to your children, helping with taxes, doing the right thing) and also knowing you are helping those in need.

Helping Others With Things You Don’t Use

I tend to donate most of my unused or unwanted things to the Good Will store in our town.  I have to admit it is the easy way out, but I got the most enjoyment when the kids and I went to our local nursing home and took them stuff animals we had.

Dave gets me stuff animals (I love to get them!) usually once a year or so for different occasions.  I  display one, maybe two of them on my dresser in my room and then store the others in a trunk at the end of my bed.

Elise, like many young girls had many stuffed animals that she was ready to give up.  We called the nursing home first and asked permission, and then took over several animals to hand out around Valentine’s Day.

It was a little uncomfortable for the kids and myself.  But it was a good uncomfortable. We were stepping out of our comfort zone, doing something we weren’t used to.  We had someone who walked us around and helped us decide which residences to give the stuffed animals to. I specifically asked for residents who did not have many vistors.

We had two different residents start crying. One kept saying… “Oh, this can’t be for me! This is too nice for me!” She began to cry and just hugged that stuffed animal.  I had a very difficult time not crying myself.

Wow…  the power in giving.

Think of all the things you have boxed up, packed up and hidden away.  Have you asked yourself why you are keeping it?

1. Keeping it for your kids?
2. Keeping it for memories?
3. Keeping it because you feel guilt?
4. Keeping it because you might use it one day?

I’m not saying to get rid of everything you have stored.  But I do want you to think about it.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. When was the last time you used it?
2. Is it something you can live without?
3. Is it something you think you will use each year? (holiday decorations, camping gear, skiing equipment)
4. Do you really need to keep it?
5. Could it benefit and help someone else, instead of being packed away in your house?

So you decide that you do need to get rid of some things, but how do you do it and who do you give it to?

First step it to go through and sort the items.  Decide what you need to keep and what you can give up.

Then decide where you can donate it.  Please only donate things that are in good shape.  No one wants your stained, torn or broken items.  When you take these items to a donation facility, they have to go through them. Guess what? They dispose of them. So help to save them some work.

Here are several suggestions:

1. Donate to a local shelter
2. Donate to a larger donation facility (Good Will, Kidney foundation etc)
3. Donate to your church or a local church that takes donations
4. Call your nursing home to see if they can use donations
5. Check the internet to see if there are any disaster areas that still need donations (tornado ravaged, or hurricane, earthquake areas)
6. Check with your local firehouse or city hall to ask if they know of any local residents who can use help.

If you feel that you can donate some things, but other things you can use some income for, here are a couple other ideas.

1. Have a garage sale
2. Take to a resale shop
3. Sell on eBay

I have had several people tell me that they have parents who have aged and have either a home that needs to be cleared out or  a storage facility that needs to be cleared out and they have no idea where to start.

You can start with a local Professional Organizer in your area.  They might have resources, or know of someone else that helps to take care of those kinds of situations.

Think of others

Think of the good that your item (that hasn’t been used, seen or thought about in years) might do for someone else

Donate your clutter! It will do a body good (yours and someone else’s!)

Some of you may recognize the pictures. I have done a previous post on donating to this nursing home.

Knowing How To Sort through All your Clutter is an important Step in Learning to Organize a Space

Something as simple as these sorting cards can make your sorting of all your clutter much easier.  They work as guidelines when you have something you aren’t sure about. When you have an item that you just don’t know. Look at that “Keep Card” and read the requirements underneath the “Keep”.
Realize that if you have this much clutter and the room is full, then obviously there is not enough room in the space for everything to stay – so some things will HAVE to go. You can do it!

Tips for sorting:

Take 5-10 seconds per item.  Make fast decisions – don’t start reminiscing with the things you are going through – or you will never get through everything.  Then the time you have put aside to work on your project will be wasted.

Really make sure that if you are keeping an item – you do LOVE it, you USE it and you WANT it.  Does it fit into the plans you visualized for this room? If not donate it.

Make a set of signs for yourself.  You can put the same that I have down on mine, or you can adjust them for yourself.  But be tough! Once you have done enough sorting, then you probably won’t need your signs anymore….but they really help to begin with.

If you want to use boxes to place things in… that is fine – then it makes it easier to carry items to other places – but generally the boxes get filled quickly – so I don’t always use them.

Get Black trash bags for trash, and white trash bags for donate. This will help you to not accidentally  throw things away that should be donated.

I’ve written several posts on sorting, here are a couple of them:

5 Steps for Sorting

Organizing – One Step at a Time

How Can Clutter Make you Late?

“What, do you mean by that?” you may say. But clutter and time management can go hand in hand as a problem.
“Where are my keys? I know I just laid them here, maybe they are under this stack of mail.” “I just need to grab that report for the meeting, but where is it?” “Mom, where did my red jacket go? I’m going to be late for school!”
Do any of these sound like your house?
When you have extra clutter sitting around choking up the “clean, clear, calm” space then you also have clutter sitting in your head…choking up your “clean, clear and calm” space of your brain. When you do not have a clear brain to think with, you are going to have too many thoughts…too many things jumbled in your head and lose track not only of what needs to be done, but in what time frame it needs to be done in. Simply put, Too much stuff in your house + Too much stuff in your head = Being Late.
Being late out the door, being late to pick up the kids, being late with reports due, being late paying bills, being late to the meeting – sound familiar?

So what do you do? Clearing out the clutter from your home will result in clearing out the clutter from your head which will in turn help you to focus and plan your day more productively which will then lead to being on time.
Sounds simple doesn’t it….NOT!

How Do I Clear out the Clutter?
Use your 5 signs to designate your piles to sort.

Get white trash bags for your donate and black for trash (so you don’t mix them out when you take them out of your house.
I prefer clear plastic storage bins for long term storage.
Make sure you have some form of labels to label your bins.
Give yourself 2 hours of time if you are able. Do not think you will get an entire room done, just start out with a smaller goal.

Pick up each item, look at it fast and think:
1) Do I use this?
2) Do I need this?
3) Do I like this?
4) What is the worse thing that can happen if I don’t have this?
Don’t spend more than about 5-10 sec. on each item, otherwise memories start popping in and you “personalize” that item. You want to keep it “depersonalized”, otherwise it can be too hard to get rid of.

Does it drive you Crazy?

Does this look familiar to you?  Piles of things all over. The floor littered with things because you don’t know where they should go?  Your life is so busy it is easier to just “throw and go”?

I understand.  Life can get crazy.  But if your home constantly looks this way…it has to be causing you more stress…on top of the stress you already have.

It if is to a point that you can’t walk into rooms, or you have no where to sit down…and you can’t throw things away – then you might have more than just a clutter problem. You might have a hoarding problem.

For clutter you have to make THAT DECISION to correct the problem.  It is just like losing weight or stopping any bad habit….it isn’t fun. But the results of clearing out the “stuff” is live changing. It will free up your space, free up your home and free up your mind.

Here are a few other related posts that I have written:

Clutter in your Home = Clutter in your Head

The 12 Step Program for Surface Abusers

Which is your house?

A) Clutter - Your counters have stacks of stuff. You have to move stacks to prepare a meal. You can’t take your wash cloth and wipe from one end of the counter to the other because there are stacks of things in the way.  You can’t vacuum the floors without major pick up.  You don’t vacuum often because you don’t have places to put all the stuff that comes off the floor. Things are out of control.

B ) Clean – A place for everything. You can bring people into your home without notice.  You have clear counters and surfaces.  You vacuum several times a week if not everyday.

C) Middle of the Road – Of course there is somewhere in between.  Not a cluttered mess all the time, but you might need more than 5 minutes to put things away. Some days are better than others…but on the whole your house is decent looking and people aren’t falling over things as they walk in the house. The sinks might not sparkle all the time though. Vacuuming is not a problem, maybe picking up a dog toy or two before you start.

I think we always want to be “Clean” and have the perfect houses. We all know our friends who have homes like those. The ones that look like a model home ….ALL THE TIME!  And they have kids!

But realistically…I would bet that most of us are “Middle of the Road”.  I would have to put myself in this category too.  My house is not a showcase. I do have a place for everything and in my perfect world all of my other 6 family members would be as passionate as I was about making sure things make it back to those places.  But….right now there are 2 basketballs that they kids left just outside the back door.  I have my book bag sitting on the floor beside the couch that I have to pack up for my trip this week.  I have the mail sitting on the couch beside me to go through. My floor needs vacuuming! (Dog is shedding like you wouldn’t believe!…vacuuming is on my list for this afternoon).

So ….which are you?

Usually the first step is to find the floor!

Usually teens (like most of us) have too much “stuff”. There is more stuff than places to put the stuff – so it is easier to just throw it on the floor. Keep in mind this isn’t always the case. My oldest son (at home) has plenty of storage space…but stuff is still on the floor – but he could still stand to declutter again.

Starting at the Beginning means starting with Sorting

Be armed with Black trash bags (trash) and white trash bags (donate).

Then remember your sorting basics.  Don’t spend more time on each item than about 5-10 seconds.  You don’t want to start reminiscing or you will never get the job done.  If they still have all kinds of stuffed animals or toys from their childhood (and they are teens)..help them pick out a couple special ones to keep (if they want to keep any). Take pictures of others if they are having a hard time deciding or not sure about getting rid of things.

If there are clothes that you need to keep to pass down to other children in your family. I suggest clear bins (so you can see what is in them) and be sure to label them well.

Work with them and have them decide: Make paper sorting cards to help remember what to do with their things.

1) Keep – Do I LOVE it? Do I WEAR it? Do I USE it? Does it FIT?
2) Donate – I DON’T like it and will not wear it, It DOESN’T fit, I DON’T use it.
3) Move – It doesn’t BELONG in my Bedroom
4) Storage - This can be season sports supplies or things they need to keep but don’t use but once or twice a year.
5) Trash – It is trash, broken, torn or worn out

Let them just make piles (they love piles anyway right?)  on the floor for the different categories.  If there is not floor space to begin with. I suggest piling everything in one big pile and then going through it.

Peter Walsh's you.organized line

Here are some Office  Organization Tips & Inspirations directly from Peter Walsh

These are some tips that were sent to me from Office Max that Peter Walsh gave them for us to use. I wanted to share them with you!!  I have added a couple of my own thoughts after each one…

• Desktop Organization: There’s no faster way to inspire an immediate change in attitude than with an uncluttered, clear and pristine desk. Think of your desk as a reflection of your head. No matter how creative and brilliant you are, you’ll perform better with an organized desk. You shouldn’t have anything on your desk that isn’t “active,” meaning it still needs to be dealt with.  (Peter Walsh)

Isn’t that the truth?  I have said before, Clutter in your home = Clutter in your head.  Think how nice it would be to walk in to work in your office and see a nice clean desk to work out. Ahhhhh…. is the feeling you get rather than…..Gggrrrhhhh!!

• To-Do Lists: When writing a to-do list, group alike tasks together such as making calls or running errands to increase efficiency. But avoid getting overwhelmed with your workload by breaking it into small, manageable tasks. Write to-do list items on individual sticky notes and put them on a wall calendar. Rearrange them as your priorities change. At the end of the day, review your checklist and cross off completed items. Move any pending items to a fresh list for tomorrow.  (Peter Walsh)

I like this idea.  I am hoping to try (hoping to review, but if not…I will probably buy myself) his new you.organized wall modular unit.  I think you could use this with his sticky note idea.

• Paper Clutter: Deal with new papers first. No matter how high the old piles are, begin by devising a system for the new arrivals. Decide immediately what to do with each piece of paper that comes across your desk. Do not postpone these decisions. Paper piles are messy monuments to a long series of small procrastinations. Once you are faithfully dealing with new papers in a systematic way, haul out all unfiled older papers and take them through your new system. (Peter Walsh)

Reminds me of what I used to say when I sold Creative Memories scrapbooking supplies.  Start with the new pictures first. If you look at that huge back log of pictures, you will never do anything because it is too over whelming. You start at the present.  Works the same with the paper clutter.

The above picture is a picture of the line of products that Peter Walsh created and is being carried in the Office Max.

Disclosure:  I was not paid to do this post, I was offered the information to use if I would like to use it.  It was my decision to use the information because I think Peter Walsh rocks and love what he has to say.

I love this desk, family work center. But what a desk CAN look like

The 12 Step Program for the Surface Abuser.

1) Admit that you have a problem.

2) Ask for help with your Surface Abuse problem. (Professional organizers are everywhere!)

3) Remove ALL surfaces in your home.  (Only kidding!)

4) Realize that this will take on going maintenance to maintain.

5) Visualize what you would LIKE this space to look like.

6) Start the process with one surface.

7) Get a black trash bag for trash and a White trash bag for donate.

8) Begin the Sorting process. Clear everything off your counter and clean it first.

9) Realize that clearing your counter will lead to some organizing in other areas of your house. (this is a Good thing)

10) Decide what to do with all the papers and clutter.

11) Plan daily to clear  off anything that might have accumulated in this “hot spot” zone and place it in the folders or cubbies you created.

12) Be sure to take before and after pictures so help remind yourself how you want to keep your new clear counter.

Disclosure: The above picture is not from my home (I WISH!) It was from a Parade of Homes model that boasted like the best family organizing center ever!!  But you can find these products at The Pottery Barn.

It is a New Year, so I am going to start off with some good basics. Some of you have seen these on here before, but it never hurts repeating valuable information.

First off – Don’t try to tackle “my whole house”. Break it down. Think about one “hot spot” that is the first thing you want to take care of.  It may be the kitchen counter, or that table when you walk in the house that everyone dumbs things on.

If you try to do too much in too short of time you will become defeated when you can’t do it and I don’t want you to give up.

Step 1 – Pick Your Zone

Step 2 – Pick Your Time (write it in on your calendar)

Step 3 – Get supplies Ready

*Black trash bags – trash   *White Trash bags – donate   * Clean bins (my favorite), but sturdy boxes will do if you have them

Step 4 – Start the Sort – Take 10 seconds per item (no more…don’t walk down memory lane, just take first thoughts)

A) Keep – You LOVE it and USE it

B) Donate – It would be Usable for someone, but it doesn’t fit or you really don’t like it, or you are not using it.

C) Store – Holiday or speciality items (skiing equip, camping equip) that you use yearly

D) Move – Items that don’t belong in that space or room. They need to be moved to another room if you are keeping them

E) Trash – Recycle if possible.

It isn’t hard once you get started.  The mind set is the biggest obstacle in most cases. Don’t think…”its too much I can’t do it” . Instead think, “Wow…I have a mess, but it will feel GREAT when I get through it.”