Reader question: What’s the best place to donate my stuff?

I hear this question regularly and it came up again last week. There are so many places to donate your unused things, where should you take them?

 

I suggest doing whatever is easiest when it comes to donations. Is it easier for you to make one phone call and avoid having to drop off the items yourself? If so, contact one of the larger organizations that make pickups. You leave the bags or boxes of goods in front of your house on the appointed day and someone else drives them to the thrift shop. Would you rather get things out as soon as you fill a bag? Put the bag in your car and commit to drop it off at a local thrift shop within the next day or two.

 

Do you feel strongly about supporting a particular organization? Ask if they will take all the things you have to donate. If not, you have to decide whether it makes sense to separate your donations and offer them to different groups. If you start making separate piles and adding steps to the process, though, it will probably break down. Go back to whatever is easiest.

 

Are you concerned that no one will appreciate your potential donation as much as you or someone you know? I always say that everything goes to exactly the right person. Once you let it go, it is out of your control who gets it. Someone who needs it will put it to use and you won’t have it weighing it you down.

 

What if the thrift shop won’t take something you want to donate? Don’t take it personally. Remember that they are in business to make money so they can support their programs. They know what their customers buy. If the driver of the truck won’t take a piece of furniture or other object, you can try to give it away on freecycle or craigslist. Otherwise, the best place is often the trash or the recycling bin.

 

How do you typically handle donations?

 

Organized by Marcie TM: Save time and money by letting go of what you don't need and finding room for what you value
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And if you like what you've read, share it using the links below!

Reader question: What’s the best place to donate my stuff?

I hear this question regularly and it came up again last week. There are so many places to donate your unused things, where should you take them?

 

I suggest doing whatever is easiest when it comes to donations. Is it easier for you to make one phone call and avoid having to drop off the items yourself? If so, contact one of the larger organizations that make pickups. You leave the bags or boxes of goods in front of your house on the appointed day and someone else drives them to the thrift shop. Would you rather get things out as soon as you fill a bag? Put the bag in your car and commit to drop it off at a local thrift shop within the next day or two.

 

Do you feel strongly about supporting a particular organization? Ask if they will take all the things you have to donate. If not, you have to decide whether it makes sense to separate your donations and offer them to different groups. If you start making separate piles and adding steps to the process, though, it will probably break down. Go back to whatever is easiest.

 

Are you concerned that no one will appreciate your potential donation as much as you or someone you know? I always say that everything goes to exactly the right person. Once you let it go, it is out of your control who gets it. Someone who needs it will put it to use and you won’t have it weighing it you down.

 

What if the thrift shop won’t take something you want to donate? Don’t take it personally. Remember that they are in business to make money so they can support their programs. They know what their customers buy. If the driver of the truck won’t take a piece of furniture or other object, you can try to give it away on freecycle or craigslist. Otherwise, the best place is often the trash or the recycling bin.

 

How do you typically handle donations?

 

Organized by Marcie TM: Save time and money by letting go of what you don't need and finding room for what you value
Follow me on twitter , facebook and pinterest

And if you like what you've read, share it using the links below!

Archive Your Files Month

February is National Archive Your Files Month. Yes, another one of those organizing “holidays.” No, I don’t know who comes up with them. It is a good time to archive your files, however, as you should have received paperwork that supports your taxes from your banks, employers and other entities.

I recommend that clients hold on to tax-related paperwork for seven years and destroy it after that. There is no need to keep the paperwork in your frequent-access filing, though; put it in a remote location. Creating an archive area for older files that you rarely (or never) look at gets them out of the way of your day-to-day paperwork activities.

You can keep archives in a box in a closet or a separate drawer of a file cabinet instead of devoting “prime real estate” to files you don’t use regularly. My archives are in a closet in the basement, where the oldest tax file is shredded to make room for the most current one.

Where can you keep archives so that they don’t compete for space with your active files?

Organized by Marcie TM: Save time and money by letting go of what you don't need and finding room for what you value
Follow me on twitter, facebook and pinterest

And if you like what you've read, share it using the links below!

Archive Your Files Month

February is National Archive Your Files Month. Yes, another one of those organizing “holidays.” No, I don’t know who comes up with them. It is a good time to archive your files, however, as you should have received paperwork that supports your taxes from your banks, employers and other entities.

I recommend that clients hold on to tax-related paperwork for seven years and destroy it after that. There is no need to keep the paperwork in your frequent-access filing, though; put it in a remote location. Creating an archive area for older files that you rarely (or never) look at gets them out of the way of your day-to-day paperwork activities.

You can keep archives in a box in a closet or a separate drawer of a file cabinet instead of devoting “prime real estate” to files you don’t use regularly. My archives are in a closet in the basement, where the oldest tax file is shredded to make room for the most current one.

Where can you keep archives so that they don’t compete for space with your active files?

Organized by Marcie TM: Save time and money by letting go of what you don't need and finding room for what you value
Follow me on twitter, facebook and pinterest

And if you like what you've read, share it using the links below!