Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Your use of these links is greatly appreciated!
Last updated on November 29th, 2022 at 09:44 pm
So, you’re on a roll with decluttering and getting stuff organized. Good for you! But here’s the snag: now that you’ve decided that there’s a bunch of stuff you don’t want, you don’t know what to do with it!
I’ve made this mistake in the past. I’ve decided to declutter without a real exit plan of what to do with all the stuff I’m getting rid of.
Seriously, the hardest part of decluttering is moving everything out of your house!
Instead of waiting until you’re halfway through decluttering and realizing that you’ve filled half your garage with bags of stuff you don’t want, decide before you begin.
There are a lot of ways to get rid of your stuff, so today, we’ll talk about your options: donating, selling, and recycling.
Donating
Donating is definitely the easiest way to find homes for the things you don’t want. It’s easy because you don’t have to put a ton of work into it. Buuuuut you should make sure wherever you’re donating your stuff follows the same kinds of ethics you have. For example, I like to donate to the thrift shop run by my parish. That’s easy.
The other thing to think about is if you actually have to load up the car to get your stuff to the donation center. I’ve got a heck of a lot going on, so I like to donate to the Vietnam Veterans of America. Just set up a pickup date and they’ll pick up all your donations from your front porch.
One last thing about donating: donation centers will not take absolutely anything. Check the website to make sure you’re donating things they can actually take.
Also, don’t donate things that are just plain messed up. Because that’s messed up.
But you can absolutely find a place for most of the stuff you have just by using that good ol’ fashioned research tool called Google. I had a bunch of old textbooks that can’t be resold (something about new editions …ugh), so I sent them to a charity that sends textbooks to third-world countries.
Here’s a post with the Ultimate List of Where To Donate Your Gently Used Items.
Selling
To me, selling is only worth it if you have really high value items. Things like designer purses or some vintage car.
If you have the time and the patience for this, more power to ya. And there are lots of places where you can sell your stuff.
For clothing, there’s Poshmark or Thredup.
If you want to sell locally, there’s Facebook Marketplace and Offerup.
And of course, there’s always eBay.
If selling is part of your clutter exit plan, make sure you’re prepared to have stuff sitting around until it can be sold. And be prepared to put some effort into it.
Recycling
Did you know that instead of trashing the previously mentioned messed-up stuff you can recycle some of it? Yup, it’s true.
If you go to the mall, you can find clothing recycling bins in some stores like H&M, The North Face, or Levi’s.
Once again, you can use Google to find more localized recycling centers. My search showed an actual recycling center in my city that recycles things from car parts to cardboard.
Also, you can’t just throw away certain things like prescription medications. You can read this article about how to properly dispose of medications here.
Recycling also takes a lot more effort than donating, but it feels way better than just throwing things in the trash.
…
So, before you start decluttering, figure out your clutter exit plan! Decide where you want to donate, determine if you’re going to sell, and find out where you can recycle. It’s easier to get things to the right places when you’ve already got a game plan.
Leave a Reply