Social Good
Declutter Your Home for the New Year by Donating to Goodwill
On Christmas morning as the kids opened their presents, I proposed to them a trade. Here is how the conversation went down
Me – “How about we go into your rooms and look for some items to donate so that we can accommodate the new ones.”
7 yrs. old – “Room for new ones? We have enough room.”
Me – “Well, since Santa blessed you with so many toys wouldn’t it be nice to give some of your old ones to charity. Besides, your playroom is filled to the brim, if you want to keep these, you have to get rid of some items.” she looked at me puzzled then walked into her room and started putting toys aside.
It was that simple. As she pulled the toys together, I reminded her the importance of giving back. Holiday is all about giving, and there is no better time than now to do that. Besides its an excellent way to purge your closet in preparation for the new year. Declutter your life if you will, I know my home could use some freshening up. So when the kids finished, I did the same thing, I walked into my bedroom and pulled some clothes, shoes, and to round it up a few kitchen items. At the end of the day, I felt good, really good, knowing my little contribution is doing something for the community, this definitely puts a smile on my face.
Its up to you how you want to structure it, you can do something like this – If your kids received 12 items for the holiday, then encourage them to donate 12, or whatever number they see fit. The goal is to make giving fun and encourage it as a family event. Pull your husband in on it too; he might have a few suits he no longer needs, might as will clean out his closet.
Donating to Goodwill
When you donate items to your local Goodwill—a sweater, toys, CDs, furniture or electronics—you support Goodwill’s mission to provide employment services to people in need in your community. This holiday season, they are encouraging everyone to donate goods to one of their 2,700+ locations throughout the country. Of course, don’t forget that all of these donations are considered charitable tax-deductions, including the festive holiday sweaters that YOU are ready to let go.
Last year, Goodwill provided employment training, job placement, financial education, youth mentoring and more to 6.7 million people in the United States and Canada. Here is a video on how they do it –
Through Goodwill’s locator tool, you can find the nearest Goodwill location, including stores, headquarters, job training centers and donation centers. And through Goodwill’s Donation Impact Calculator, you can see how every item you give has supported people who are seeking to earn jobs and build careers.
Sample list of items that can be donated
- Toys
- Clothing, Shoes & Accessories (e.g. Jewelry, handbags, belts, hats, gloves, scarves, ties)
- Small furniture (e.g., Coffee table, kitchen table, end table, coat racks)
- Household items (e.g. Sheets, pillow cases, comforter, towels, dishes, juicer, ice cream maker, blender)
- Books, Magazines, DVDs, CDs
- Small electronics (e.g. radios, portable stereos, DVD player, clocks, lamps)
Today, I’m encouraging you to do the same with your family, declutter your life by donating to Goodwill, your families reaction just might surprise you.
20 Comments
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Megan @ That Neat Blog
at
We have taken a ton of toys to Goodwill. We do it every year right before Christmas.
Angela
at
I spent most of the day cleaning out closets. I have bags and boxes loaded into the car, ready to go to Goodwill.
Jennifer H
at
I donate often. They pick up my area which makes it even easier. And I agree, it helps to de-clutter the home.
Tonya {The Traveling Praters}
at
I donate regularly to Goodwill. I can’t stand clutter and have a few bags of things that I need to donate now.
Kelly @ A Girl Worth Saving
at
I do this every 6 months because my MIL can not stop buying my son toys. Ugg.
Jennifer @ My Sweet Sanity
at
We donate to Goodwill usually 3-4 times a year. It’s a great way to get rid of stuff while helping others.
Stephanie Person
at
I love donating to Goodwill! I have a few bags of clothes and toys ready to drop off
HilLesha
at
I find myself doing this quite often. 🙂
Katie
at
Goodwill is a great organization to donate to!
Anne
at
We need to go through the kids rooms and get rid of stuff they have outgrown!
Kait
at
This holidays is a perfect time to declutter. I liked how you mentioned donating the number of items that you got – so you got 12 toys, donate 12 of your own toys.
Elaina- A Time Out for Mommy
at
We do this twice a year! It feels great to give back while being able to get rid of all the excess toys my kids outgrow but barely use.
Kelly @ Texas Type A Mom
at
I have a huge box ready to go to Goodwill and am waiting to go through the rest of the house before dropping off a truck load of donations. I do this every year and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
Julie
at
We’re cleaning out our house right now, and it never occurred to us to take things to Goodwill. What a great idea! We have been trying to stick to a “bring something in, take something out” with toys and clothes, and it’s made a huge difference in the amount of clutter around our house.
jeanae
at
I couldn’t agree more! We take several bags each year, and explain the necessity of giving to others to our son.
Bintu @ Recipes From A Pantry
at
Happy almost New Year – look forward to reading your blog in 2014. I do need to declutter – finding the time to do it though…..
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell
at
I’m not sure we have a Goodwill in this town but for the last 15 years or so, I have made 3-6 month donation drops to them. In this town, I do take them someplace similar but I don’t think it’s an official Goodwill store. Either way, it’s doing someone some good!
LyndaS
at
I believe in donating to Goodwill. It’s a good way to lighten our load and help others out at the same time.
Dianna @ Oy Vey a Day
at
We took two loads of stuff to Goodwill last weekend. I entered my electronic receipt, and with each one, was shown the impact calculator. Seeing details about how it helps, made me feel even better about my donation.
Sharon
at
I’m due for another run of donating stuff. Normally, my girls clean out their closet a couple of times during the year of things that are too small. Lately, they have just started moving their clothing into an extra closet in the house. So, I definitely need to collect them all and get them ready for donating.