Step One: Declutter.
Step Two: Get the stuff you decluttered out of your house.
I love my donation spot. But I realized the other day that it was as tall as I am. It was no longer just a spot, but more of an area-in-which-to-practice-balancing-random-items-on-top-of-one-another.
Since this week has been crazy with helping out at the kids’ school every day for a fundraiser and a big freelance project, I just wanted to do something for my weekly decluttering project. Emptying the far-from-inconspicuous donate spot seemed like a no-brainer.
Which was what I needed. Something that didn’t require any decisions. Everything in that pile had already been decided.
About 15 minutes later, it was empty. Now I just have to remember to head by the local thrift store and drop it off tomorrow morning.
It probably would have taken even less time, but I did several takes of the special effect I created for my webisode. Now you have to watch it, right? It’s my shortest one yet!
And I’m sorry about the lighting. That’s one of the big disadvantages of being your own camera-woman and not knowing what’s going on until you edit the video later. I promise, I do not suffer from Disappearing Face Syndrome, but thanks for your concern.
I’ll be linking this up to Orgjunkie.com’s 52 Weeks of Organizing.
I am usually so bad at donating things. They sit and sit forever and take up space that just drives me crazy. Eventually, I just throw it all in the trash just to get rid of it. It is such a waste, I know. I need to get better at donating.
For sure! Do I want to ebay this? (I know, I’ve read your post on that! Just haven’t followed through on doing it to see if it’s worth the trouble!) What about a yard sale next summer. Can my nieces and nephews use this? Do I know other kids who can use this? Can I repurpose this? Will I need these boxes for shipping?
I usually make my decision before the first big expected snow. We’ll have a lot of extra water in the garage and clothes needing to dry from sledding. Mama does not need wet “sort through” items sitting in the garage at that time.
The Salvation Army (Texas) will come to your house and take the stuff out of your home for you! All you have to do is call them to set up a day for them to come by. Don’t forget to give them an idea of how much stuff to expect. Especially big items like furniture or TVs. It helps me so much. I can schedule the appointment a few weeks in advance or every week depending on how much needs to be donated.
You go, girl! That reminds me, I really should go bag up all our donation stuff and haul it into our jeep! (My spot is underneath my folding table in the basement. I use two laundry baskets to corral it.)
Question for you. Maybe this is a duh, but I thought I’d throw it out there.
I’ve lost 25 lbs and all my old clothes don’t fit. And I mean ALL my old clothes. So it’s A LOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. (I guess you could say I have a clothes fetish lol)
I’ve been bagging clothes up and some I put aside to consign (the newer some I never got to wear) and the more worn clothes (but still have a lot of wear left) I was going to donate to either Goodwill or Salvation Army. Now I’ve called a few consignment shops and all require them to be on hangers and pressed.
Is it worth it to consign? or should I just donate all the clothes? To press all those clothes will take some time!
Danielle, that’s such a difficult question. I used to do ebay, and did really well at it, but it was soooo much work. At the time, it was worth it, but now, knowing how much work it really is and how much better I feel when things are just gone, I’m more of a donater. Make sense?
You might try taking in some of your best things to consign, and seeing how much the store thinks you’ll be able to get for them. That way, you’re not doing them all until you know how much to expect. If you know that your best stuff will bring you xxx amount, that can help you decide how much money would make it worth your time.
Don’t forget to donate to local women’s shelters….
Great job, Nony!!
I have a box too…. the deal is once a single box gets full…. O-U-T it goes!!
Nony,
LOVED the webisode. Can’t say why exactly but I laughed all the way through.
I have a donate spot, but I’ve got a small house and it’s in my dining room, so everytime some place else in my house gets better, my dinning room gets worse.
Plus I have an infinite ability to complicate getting things out of my house. Do I put it at the curb (I live somewhere this works really well alot of the time) Freecycle? Donate to specific organization (like finding a preschool or children’s shelter to take my kids stuff) Give it to someone I know?
That’s just the stuff that’s clearly in good enough shape to donate, then there’s the “will someone else mend this”? Does it have to go to harzardous waste? Stuff.
Someday I’ll get out of my own way and simplify this process.
thanks for the reminder that I have a bag of stuff that needs dropped off today! decluttering doesnt do much good unless you actually get it out of the house 🙂
My donating pile is in the basement, SOMEWHERE!????
You webisode is great!
I’ve done a lot better at getting that donate pile out of my house since a charity started calling my house every two months, saying their truck will be in my neighborhood. It’s so nice that they come to me!
I loved your gasp! It made me laugh out loud. 🙂
I used to save stuff for yard sales, realized after a few it wasn’t worth all the preperaation just to end up at the donation center with most of it!