Spring Cleaning and Charity
Sort Out and Segregate
Declutter your home
It might sound like an odd combination but in truth it isn’t. Think about it, every time you do spring cleaning you end up taking out a pile of stuff which you no longer use.
What’s the best place to put it
away? The garage is already overflowing and the things are usually
still in a good condition and so don’t belong in the dustbin.
Bingo…Charity!
Give
the stuff away to someone who can make use of it. You don’t have to go
to a formal organization to make the donation, just find a person who
is in need and pass it on.
Take stock of the stuff you have
segregated. Clothes are usually the easiest to deal with. If it is
childrens’ clothes, look for friends or siblings who have kids younger
than yours.
Ask them if they won’t mind taking on some of your child’s
old clothes. In my experience, most people don’t. As it is kids outgrow
stuff so fast most of the clothes don’t even have a “worn” look. For
most parents it’s a relief to get some add-ons from friends and family.
For
adult clothes pass them on to hired help. For some of the more
expensive stuff that no longer fits, ask your slimmer and trimmer
friends if they would like to have it. If you have a largish pile you
can think about the salvation army or the Missionaries of Charity.
Besides
clothes there can be a lot of knickknacks that you no longer use which
are just lying around the house. Spring cleaning may see these things
added to the pile of stuff to get rid of. Be ruthless as you clean your
shelves and untangle your home.
If it is broken and you haven’t got
around to fixing it for some time now, truth is you no longer need it.
Junk it. Don’t put it back saying that you will get it fixed tomorrow.
Remember in such matters more than others tomorrow never comes.
If
it is still in working order but you haven’t used it in more than two
years…give it away. You are doing fine not using it, and you obviously
have no intention of using it now if you have not got around to it for
the last two years.
This is especially true of exercise equipment. If
you have not used it in the last two years no amount of guilt now is
going to make you use it in the future. Be it a skipping rope or a
stationary cycle, give it away to someone who needs it and will use it.
Same
with Sports equipment. Just let it go. Sports equipment can be passed
on to schools or local clubs who need to keep purchasing these items on
a regular basis. The added advantage here is you can go to the club and
use the equipment if you really have a mind to do so.
By now
your pile should be considerably reduced. If you are still left with
somethings that you feel you can not give away to an individual and
don’t have the heart to throw away, make a nice big bundle out of the
lot. Now drop it off at any charitable organization which regularly
holds jumble sales and fetes. They will be able to use these things to
raise some money for their charitable concerns. You won’t feel too
guilty over letting the things go as well.
So here’s how you
link up Spring Cleaning to Charity. Hope you get your houses done in
time for Diwali! Have you ever though about this? In India we do
“Spring” cleaning in the “Autumn”. So why don’t we call it Autumn
Cleaning?
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Comments
Great practical advice! I like the idea of taking the time and consideration to give items to individuals. You know, a lot of the time, places like GoodWill just throw items in the dumpster! Voted up and useful! ;D
I have several boxes of "stuff" sitting by the front door to take to Goodwill. Dropped off several bags of books there a month ago (many which came from there in the first place!). I prefer to donate my castoffs to them because they'll profit more from them than I ever would by having a yard/jumble/boot sale.
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