What Not To Donate To A Charity Store
67Just a puff piece I am sure
To help with my sagging HubScore
It didn't take long
And it shouldn't belong
On the list of hot hubs you adore.
Boom Boom
The Local Charity Store
Charity stores are local and national institutions staffed mainly by volunteers that provide a recycling of product service for the needy, the frugal, the collectors, people with unusual tastes and Ebayers. Profits gleaned by Charity Stores are then returned and distributed to those who could use a helping hand. In other words Charity Stores are a pretty cool idea.
I Am A Frequenter
One point or perhaps confession I will make about charity shops is that I frequent them. I am a closet customer and I am not too proud to say that I have purchased the odd leather jacket with long leather frills or the odd picture frame with crafty intensions of recycling, repainting, and rehanging. As a dirt poor and desperate young man going through university I purchased all my sporting clothes, eating utensils, hats and sunglasses from the local charity shop. I still shop there these days trawling throught the worn, smelly and discoloured piles of novels and books for topics and titles that are close to my heart. Quirky books like "How to Kill Your Wife's Dog", "Where Is Guernsey and What Do You Do There If You Find It" or "How to Properly Welcome Your Husband Home After He Has Had A Hard Day At Work" are the hidden gems I look for and the local charity store is where they are to be found.
Charity Shop Interior.
Social Stigma
For some of course they would rather be seen running barefoot and naked down the main street than seen perusing through the shelves of old tea and coffee pots, aluminium cookware, framed pictures of Velvet Elvis and the many many other items that seem to proliferate. Even I look both ways to see if anyone is looking and going to socially judge me before darting into my local charity shop.
Charity Shop Volunteers
The Big Question
The question is however, when we offload the accumulated junk that has clogged the pores of our humble abodes for the last six years onto the poor and unsuspecting vollunteer, what should we not donate.?
Are there any rules at play here?.
What items should bypass the Charity Store Bag, not even look at the recycling bin and get sent straight away to the place no one in their right mind is going sieve through, the rubbish bin.
Poll Time - Yaay
P.S. We now have a list of 25 items that should NOT be donated to a charity shop. I have had to pull out my tough Moderator's Powers to keep the list down.
Thanks to all contributors who enterred into the fun of this and kept the Hub from getting boring. Special Thanks to Mistyhorizon2003 for letting her imagination run riot.
Have I enough for my first poll, I have been hanging out to try this poll concept.
All right Poll Mark 1 Time.
At Last I Get To Try The Poll
Which Is Your Favourite Item That Should Never Be Donated To The Charity Shop.
See results without votingThe List So Far
1. Mr ahh Bunny (thanks spryte) - previously established
2. Batteries - Half Dead
3. Pets - Dead, Half Dead or Otherwise
4. Prescription Glasses
5. Dentures
6. Medications
7. That Kind Of Magazine
8. Cracked Motorcycle Helmets
9. Homemade Love Story - The Video
10. Grandad's Underwear
11. Used Notebooks - Courtesy of Lifebydesign
12. Neti Pots - Thanks spryte
13. Toupe's - Just Wrong, Thanks Mistyhorizon2003
14. Hearing Aids - Misty
15. Toilet Brushes - Misty
16. 2nd Hand Handkerchiefs - Misty
17. Grandad's Ashes - Misty
18. Used bandaids - Thanks rmr
19. Collection of Belly Lint or collections other gross human bits - thanks B.T.
20. Contraceptive Cap - Misty
21. Gross Medical Appliances - Mistyhorizon2003 again :)
22. Nasal Hair Trimmers or any that goes up the nose - Misty
23. Incontinence Pants - Misty
24. Zit tweezers - Misty
25. Old Trainers - Misty, this Hub Now Officialy belongs to you :)
Disclaimer
Inspirational credit for this Hub should go directly to Mistyhorizon2003 and spryte. In other words all blame can be laid at their door.
The Photos
I originally had no intention of doing this but sixtyorso's Merkin suggestion of what should not be donated piqued my curiosity and sent me searching through google images. In his honour I have decided to call this segment the Merkin Collection.
-------------------------------------The Merkin Collection---------------------------------
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Comments
11. Used notebooks already written in
Ahh terrific. I'm laughing already. Would people actually do that? I guess they would. 11. space reserved.
Thanks Lifebydesign
Donate Mr. Bunny???!!!! NEVER! If Mr. Bunny should ever be found in any charity store, you can be assured it was a case of bunnynapping on the part of my husband. Also...should I find out Mr. Bunny ended up in a charity store, be sure to look around...you just might find a really nice remote control in the vicinity. *evil smile*
Okay..things that I would never donate to charity...
1. My flute - I call him Buford because I just couldn't blow a complete stranger
2. A Neti Pot - Ewww...can you imagine where that thing has been?
As for charity shops...I rarely get the chance to go to them these days, but I adore them and to hell with anyone that sees me go in. I don't care. Sometimes you can find some truly cool stuff in them.
I survived in college on them and they're great places for Halloween costumes too.
Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking but you know one day he is going to get old and tired. I guess I was just trying in my own way to prepare you. Mr. Bunny is definitely confirmed as not getting the "Shop".
Neti Pot. Ohh Man I would never have thought of that but I am so glad you did. I mean some of them look so much like gravy boats that in the wrong hands or placed on the wrong shelf I just nose they will get picked up and used on all the wrong occasions. Position 12. reserved.
Misty, I made a mess of your comment and lost it. I will try and reproduce it as your suggestions of what you should never donate to a charity shop were terrific and had me squirming. Toupe's - ohh yeah thats bad, hearing aids - that's worse, ladies underwear - not as grose as Grandad's sorry and in Japan there is a thriving market for them (straight from the vending machine). Toilet brushes - definitely not people, bin those. Bedroom toys - Mr Bunny has it covered though I accept there is a large range of great and diverse products (good to see Mr Misty getting involved, thanks). Handkerchiefs - yep on the list and my favorite of yours, Grandads Ashes in the Urn.
Thanks heaps Misty and sorry about that.
I was in one of those shops, just last weekend. It is back to school shopping time. I actually saw an entire rack of used underwear! Mens', womens', thongs. I can't even imagine buying used underwear. I'd rather go without! And please, for the love of God, don't donate your athletic supporter! Or your used Band-Aid collection.
rmr...commando is the way to go anyway...
As I fell asleep last night, I added another to your list. Blow up dolls.
Misty suggested used underwear as well. I mean what are people thinking. Buy your kids new underwear please :)
Athletic supporter - same as above but worse, much worse. Used bandaids - yep on the list.
Great feedback rmr. I guess it takes two to Tango. Someone to donate and someone to buy, not to mention someone at the good old charity shop saying "yes thank you for that jock stap, we have had a lot of demand for those lately. Even well soiled ones like this one will sell quickly. I will put it on the shelf straight away."
I was thinking about donating my extensive collection of celebrity belly-button lint. I also have access to Paris Hilton's tongue scraper. Whaddaya think?
Hi Brain, no worries, I think there were one or two others I had in mind plus a few more I have thought of since, e.g. a contraceptive cap, those old fashioned re-useable thick rubber condoms back from around the 1930's, (my Mum made the mistake as a child of thinking her Mum and Dad's one was a balloon that she couldn't seem to blow up, and promptly brought it into the living room full of guests and asked if someone could help her, much to her Mum's embarrassment), a douche or a "Piles" ring.
Your Aussie shop interior looks just like my favorite one here in Palm Springs CA
G'day all sorry about the delay in getting back to you but I have been busier than a one armed bill poster in a stiff breeze.
Spryte. commando, being out there, hanging in the breeze. Not for me sorry but better than wearing someone else's undies. Reminds me of what I used to instruct students of mine. How many days wear can you get out the the two undies in your quick response travel pack? Two if your squeamish, four if you turn them inside out. Eight if you have a mate.
B.T. ohh Yes a collection of belly lint. Right up there with a collection of ear wax. You would be really upset if you donated away Paris Hilton's tongue scraper. That is a high value ebay item.
Misty - thanks for understanding. A contraceptive cap, definately not for the charity shop. I think it would stretch the vollunter / donator relationship too much. Douche. Great line of thinking. I am going to include it under gross medical appliances. Piles ring no way. they have brought a lot of comfort and pain relief to a lot of people and I just wonder if I had piles and I saw one on the self if I could walk away.
desert blondie - thanks for calling past and thanks again for your help on the forum. As far the photo of the Aussie shop interior looking like the same as your favorite one in Palm Springs goes, it might actually be the one in Palm Springs. I will have to check where I got it from. I really need to clean up my act in regards to photo credits. Mind you that seems to be the least of my worries. :)
Well I'm off like a bride's nightie. Thanks all for being creative and having some fun with me.
Interesting hub. I think toupes and hearing aids might actually be ok if cleaned though, seems like there would be someone out there that could use them. Mr. Bunny... hm, maybe take out the motor and just sell that?
I'd buy Paris Hilton's tongue scraper. She may be a skank, but she's hawt. :P
Thanks Shadesbreath. I take your point about the toupee but I am really struggling with the hearing aid. Mr Bunny without the motor, well it just wouldn't work for Sally. See I knew Paris Hilton's tongue scraper had high value.
So Shadesbreath, how exactly would you clean the toupe inside and out, I have visions of it twirling around in the washing machine before being dried in the tumble drier???
So let's look at adding to the list,
Recycled Toilet Paper
Nasal Hair Trimmers
Incontinence pants
"Urine bottles" (for by the beds of invalids)
Anti-snoring rings, (the kind you attach to the centre of your nostrils).
"Zit" Squeezers, (yes, the "Body Shop" actually used to sell these).
Old Trainers, (no-one hould ever have to share "Athlete's Foot" amongst other things).
Gary Glitter CD's, Sooooo incorrect after all he has done.
Teeth Braces (the removeable kind).
Misty, I'm thinking a dry cleaner would be the way to go. Just take it down with some suits and stuff. Tell them it's a short, hair tie if they look at you wierd.
Perhaps a taxidermist could clean the furry little head rug?
Still...if you feel that toupee's are too personal to be given to charity shops, than shouldn't all headgear like baseball caps, cowboy hats and fedoras be omitted as well? I know I would have been lost without my 1950's gangster hat which went everywhere with me in the 80's after acquiring it in a second hand shop. :)
I definitely don't think I'd ever want to see a second hand breast pump in a charity shop though...
G'day Team Charity, I think we got enough for my first poll. ohh wait a sec, second hand breast pump. Now why didn't I think of that? :)
I had to moderate the crap out of your suggestions so Poll Mark 1 wouldn't be too long. It's probably too long now but I was having too much fun reading your suggestions.
Love your work all and thanks for the creative help.
Do not donate severly water damaged and soiled books to charity stores or libraries. We have people that occasionally do that at our library, but those books really are of no use to any one. Recycle them instead :). Interesting hub and this is a great one!
I don't know which is funnier; the hub, or the comments. Nice one Brainstormer.
Charity shops are great, aren't they. But I'd never buy a commode from one, or a used toothbrush, or used bikini wax!
Sweetie Pie - Agreed. There is a line here. It sounds like a lot of books at my charity store would not pass your inspection. Maybe thats the key. Inpect them.
Welcome and thank you.
Amanda Severn - Welcome also and thanks for the kind words. The comments are funnier, thats easy. I sit here reading them and just laugh. its kinda an insight to their minds and how they work.
Commode, chamber pot or just potty as we call em her in the land of OZ, yes thats ugly. not for resale. Bikini Wax, me I am with you but I wonder if there is a black (and curly) market here. I mean if you can buy used and stinky undies from a vending machine why not used and spikey bikini wax. Look for me doing a Market test on ebay soon.
Thanks for calling past.
No contribution at this time, other than a thumbs up, Brainstormer :) I'd gladly donate the smiles this hub brought about to charity.
I am happy to take blame for this Hub as it has really made me laugh and I have thoroughly enjoyed letting my over-active imagination "run riot".
Credit should go to Brainstormer though for having such a great idea for a Hub!
I'll happily accept the blame as well...and offer an item up for the charity store to boot. It's a tube of vegemite...only a smidgen has ever been extracted. Pay no attention to the homemade hazardous waste label.
/flee
How about used merkins? For those of you who dont know a merkin was a genital wig used by shaved showgirls when wanting to appear normal. But In this case I guess normal is a relative term.
Then there was this guy buying merkins. The assistant says "Sir shall I wrap these". He say "Nah I'll eat them here".
LOL Sixy...I'd never heard of a merkin before. How the hell did it stay in place...or do I want to know?
I m not sure the same kind of surgical glue used by actors for fake mustaches and beards?
Funny hub Brainstormer:) I agree with rmr's comment above, used underwear should not be allowed to be donated -or even sold! What are these people thinking??? You can get cheap underwear at the $1 store and then at least you know who has been in them LOL
Welcome and thanks multimastery. I still reckon jockstraps are worse. Don't tell Sally about the $1.00 undie store.
Thanks for your input.
Fun hub agai Brainstormer. You've got my vote.;) I agree with Spryte. Although mine isn't called Mr Bunny(a) , I would never ever give it to a charity store.
My input ; the mattress from an incontinent elderly.
Lazur - How do you all keep doing that? Just when I think I have been grossed out to the max someone comes along and deposits another bit of grossness. - incontinent Mattress. Mind you thought the of buying anyones used mattress makes me want to barf.
Sixtyorso - used Merkins? Where did you spend your youth man? I have never even heard of those nor considered that there was a market for them. Great suggestion and if we get to a POll Mark 2 the Merkin goes to the No 1 spot. I'm off to google that one.
Cheers all
If it's not too late, here are my contributions.
A gynecological table. Yes, I saw one for sale, complete with worn brass stirrups. Curious as to how the leather covered table had such a sheen to it,,,
Slightly used sanitary napkins. I should google this to find out why they are called napkins. I guess the possibilities are endless.
Enema/douche bags, but I think that was covered already.
Half-used deoderant.
Used condoms.
Dentures.
Glass eyeballs.
Toilet plunger
Spitoons.
Porcelain chamber pots.
Bedpans.
Used tooth brushes.
Thumbs up, Brain!
Trish1048, I love your ideas, especially the glass eyeballs.
LOL thanks Misty. I've been trying to think of more, if I do I'll be sure to post them.
G'day trish - Great list. na i dont think it is too late, besides if we had of closed it down we would have missed the glass eyball and all your others. I am not so sure I can admit this but I think I might buy the glass eyeball if I saw one, stick it on my desk at work or perhaps hang it behind me. Get that "I think I am being watched" feeling all the time. LOL my imagination has just shot off in all sorts of directions with this one.
Thanks trish, I gotta trot of to work. Cheers
Misty - :) your hub here on my pages is still bringing out the creative juices in people. So much fun.
Work, gotta get to work, ohh crap Sally has heard me typing. I am so dead. I'm off like a brides nightie. Cheers
I sooooo love that expression "off like a bride's nightie", so very Australian!!!!
Lazur, the mattress idea is great, having seen old mattresses with very suspicious stains on I can completely identify with not wanting to sleep on them ,never mind buy them!!!
Looking at that pic of the merkin, it kinda looks like the second hand fake goatee I bought for halloween last...oh. Never mind.
I read the hub about your wife's vibrator last night, but couldn't leave a comment. I was laughing so hard that I had tears rolling down my face. Just when I was calming down, I came to Misty's comment about donating her old one to charity and I started up all over again.
I voted, but it was an uninformed vote....it wasn't until after I had that I found the pics so I could figure out what the heck a merkin and a netti pot was. I'd never heard of either of those.
Think you've covered the worst of the worst here. You should be up for the coveted Gross Award for 2008. Actually, it might be a toss up between you and Misty. :)
Seriously - if you live in England (and maybe other countries) you can take your old prescription glasses to most opticians. There is a charity that recylcles them to Africa.
almost everything else on this list is too gross to touch let alone carry to a charity shop.
Misty and Lazur - Very wrong that mattress thing. I used to travel around Australia a bit and some of the Pubs we ended up in you never ever looked under the sheets. There were these pillows in every pub that were basically straw filled and had the same blue and off white vertical stripes on em. Still after a few beers you didn’t seem to care.
B.T. - I couldn't believe that whole Merkin thing. Why would you do that, I mean feel the need for a Merkin, and if you did feel the need would you be upset if it was fake hair or happy?
Shirley - Welcome to the hub where shame has no place. I loved that Gross Awards idea of yours. Personally I reckon Misty is leading by a country mile but I also feel that this hub aint finished yet and somewhere out there in Hubland there is a little piece of Grossness which will outshine all the others :) Thanks sharing the laugh with us and thank for calling past.
Patricia - Thanks also for stopping by and leaving a comment. Hey thats a cool idea about recycling the optics to Africa. I will find out if we do it here in the land of OZ. We probably do as we are pretty good like that. As far as handling some of these items of grossness, well thats what tongs are for.
Like I said, I thought it was a fake beard, for halloween. They really should put instructions on those things! Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go brush my teeth. Again.
LOL. Well it does kinda look like a fake beard and I wasn't passing judgement but I am getting all these images of you knocking at the front door of some poor old ducks house in your "fake beard", calling out "Trick or Treat" and then "Quick woman give me a Minty I have this horrible taste in my mouth".
Oh. You saw the video then?
Those cameras are everywhere.
I love charity shops and this Hub!
PS: I must have missed Indian Jones and the Charity Shop - A great movie!
Hey Rik, Indiana Jones and the Charity shop was film in the series that bombed. In the end they donated it to ...
Thanks for callin past and posting a comment.
Wow, this is quite a Hub! I feel like where I live, shopping at charity stores is almost a trend. It shows you're considerate and frugal... or just cheap :) I've gotten a good number of my possessions from the Salvation Army and Goodwill, and proud of it! Thanks for writing this... what a great idea
g'day glassvisage, thanks for shopping by and thanks for your comments. We all had a lot of fun with this hub.
I like this theme... very original! I feel like there will be other parts to this list in the future.
I was working at a Good Will at one point, and I felt kind of odd being seen there too, until I ran into half the people I knew shopping there for clothing to odd theme parties and such.
I can tell you, the most annoying thing that was donated there was a working Furbie... for some reason it just SAT in the back sorting area of the store, talking endlessly everytime someone bumped into it.
G'day Kalindi and thanks for dropping by. What I really like about this hub it introduces me to "things" and "stuff" that I didn't know exhisted. A Furbie? What the hell is a Furbie. Well I went and looked it up and like it so much I devoted 2 photos to it. Thanks heaps that's so cool.
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Lifebydesign says:
16 months ago
I like the intro poem and in fact pretty much like this hub too. I must admit the stuff I've seen at the local charities is the kind of stuff I would hesitate to let anyone see- much less giveaway -it'd be in the trash! You've inspired me to keep looking, and keep reading your hubs :-)