Spring Curers are right in the the middle of eight weeks of decluttering and cleaning. Getting rid of stuff can be difficult. Apart from separation anxiety, you have to figure out how to get rid of it. To make the process a little simpler, we've pulled together a list of suggestions for selling, donating, or recycling common household items...
• Furniture: Donate good furniture to places like the Brown Elephant, Goodwill, and the Salvation Army. Sell quality furniture through craigslist, or give it away through freecycle. We don't advocate sending furniture to the dump if you can help it, but we've had trouble finding ways to recycle broken furniture in Chicago. If anyone has suggestions for recycling damaged furnishings, let us know in the comments below.
• Computers and Electronics: Working electronics can be sold on e-bay or craigslist. Both working and non-working computers can be donated to programs that refurbish old computers for schools. To find local computer recycling sites, click here, and click here for genereal electronics recycling information.
• Clothes: You can sell clothing in good condition to consignment or resale shops. To donate clothes, wash them and give them to organizations like Goodwill or the Salvation Army. These groups sort threadbare textiles and sell them to recyclers. For more information on how the clothing donation chain works, see this article from National Geographic's Green Guide.
• Baby Items and Childrens' Toys: Donate baby items and working toys to thrift shops or organizations in need of childrens' items. You can also sell baby items in good condition to specialty consignment shops. To sell collectible toys, list your items on e-bay. Many items in toys and games are recyclable, so if you have a broken toy, take it apart and recycle any paper, plastic, or metal parts.
• Appliances: Working appliances can be donated to thrift stores or charities. Since appliances are made mostly from steel, many of their parts can also be recycled. The Chicago Recycling Coalition lists scrap metal sites that accept small volumes from individuals.
• Cleaning Supplies and Household Waste: Hazardous household waste includes paints, batteries, toxic chemicals, fluorescent light bulbs, cleaning products, and just about anything that shouldn't be released into the environment through a landfill or through flushing. Click here for ways to dispose of hazardous household waste.
• Books: Books in good condition can be sold to consignment shops or donated to thrift stores. When we wrote a post on How To Declutter Your Bookshelf, we got tons of good suggestions on getting rid of books, including donating to 826CHI, Books to Prisoners, Pages to Prisoners, Chemotherapy Patient Donations, giving away books to friends, and donating to your local library.
For lots more tips on how and where to recycle items in Chicago, check out the Chicago Recycling Coalition.
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Where can I donate a large collection of 3" white binders?
Why would anyone get rid of books, may I ask??
Signe, check with your local school district. It's a little known fact that almost all elementary and middle school teachers spend $100s to $1000s of their own money each year to purchase classroom supplies because districts simply don't give them enough to buy what they need.
Good resource! I find it impossible to throw things in the garbage when it could most likely be reused, repurposed or loved by someone else. I always try to find just the right way to dispose of absolutely everything other than packaging.
Your local domestic abuse shelter will take womens' and childrens' clothing, as well as toiletries. Even those toiletries you might've used once or twice and never again! Just call to find out where the drop-off site is, because you won't find an address in the phone book.
Tax-deductible, and it goes straight to those in need.
I recently got rid of most of my book collection as a way to downsize since they were sitting on a shelf collecting dust. I sold them and a bunch of DVDs on half.com. It's easier then Ebay because you pick a set price and someone just buys it at that price. I've made over $300 so far which is impressive since I was selling a bunch of paperbacks.
I weed through my books all the time. I donate books in not-great condition and attempt to sell the good ones.
Sleek, as a book lover and book collector (as well as book reviewer, who gets sent a hundred or so books every year), if I didn't weed my book collection every couple of years, I'd end up like one of those ladies who smells like old books and has to walk sideways down the hallways of her house so as not to dislodge the tottering stacks. And I'm too young to be that crazy (yet).
ok, but what i want to know is how can i get that Star Trek Next Generation Address Book from the photo!
doppelganger,
it is my life's mission to become that lady. i'll take your books =)
freecycle has saved us from clutterdoom and we have had the bonus of some lovely feel-good stories from people who have claimed our stuff. hurrah.
for broken furniture -- it's always worth asking at art schools. there is a lot going on in deconstruction and reconstruction in the study of art & design these days, and if someone can make use my broken bathroom shelf as part of their thesis then that is fabulous. student theatres also rebuild things for sets, since in that case it's all about looks and not about function.
Many local Habitat for Humanity chapters have stores that accept “renovation leftovers,†such as tile, lumber, furniture, appliances, cabinets, fixtures, etc.
Since my husband finally finished our bathroom, I’m hauling a bunch of stuff to them this weekend.
I always pass on books as soon after I read them as possible. Frankly, I've never understood why people hang onto books they've already read anyway. You know how it ends.... ~:o)
Glad someone mentioned renovation leftovers! Here in the DC area, my organization (Community Forklift) accepts donations of building materials and appliances, even donations of entire buildings (as an alternative to bulldozing).
To find the home improvement thrift store closest to you, check www.ReDo.org, www.BuildingReuse.org, and your local Habitat For Humanity chapter.
Anyone aware of where you can bring broken furniture to be recycled in the Chicago-land area? I have kids who are always breaking furniture and I hate to toss it, it would be on my enviro-concious for as long as my "dumped" stuff, so like forever...thanks!
Does anyone know of a good idea/source for donating makeup/hair/skin products? I have a serious spending problem in that department -- it takes an entire hall closet to house my beauty loot.
Once a year I'll invite a lucky friend over and dump all my unused goods onto her, but I'd love to find a way to get that stuff to someone who really needs it...
Perhaps an organization that helps 'troubled' women get back on their feet and back into the work force? If anyone knows of such an organization in the San Diego area, please let me know. Thanks!
I used to work at the Boston Public Library; patrons could donate books just by dropping them in the drop-slot -- if they didn't have a barcode on them, we knew they were donations and would put them in the queue to get code into the system. This happened pretty regularly with our patrons' spring cleaning, but was also a particularly nice gesture when people who had purchased the latest brand-new bestseller (and didn't mind paying for a hardcover if it meant keeping up with bookclub, etc): when dropped at the library we'd code "hot items" immediately and e-notify the person next in line on the waiting list that their copy was available for pick up.
If spring-cleaning books are ones that even the library can't stock (outdated information, a duplicate we really couldn't use) we'd see if other libraries could use it, or make money off ongoing (discounted) book sales.
I've lent some new-books to friends with the requirement that they pass them on or drop them at the library-- that way they're still off my hands!
That Star Trek address book = WANT.
Please don't donate to the Salvation Army. There are lots of organizations that do the same kind of worthy work without having blatantly homophobic policies.
Oh, and most charities can't take used bedding for resale/donation to humans because of health department regulations, but animal shelters are happy to take bedding, pillows, etc.
This just saved my ass, I love you!
Appliances recycling canada
There are many places to donate books. It is a great way to give back to communities that don't have the same educational opportunities that we have.
This site is a great way to donate books in Chicago and give back to impoverished communities.
You can also swap books, CDs and DVDs through sites like paperbackswap.com, swapadvd.com, and swapacd.com. It's a great service that has saved me a lot of money!
To donate unused, unopened or unexpired toiletries and makeup items, check with local religious organizations who can send them to homeless and women's shelters. Also, join www.makeupalley.com where you can swap girlie stuff in the USA or worldwide.
As far as books go, a great way to donate a whole bunch at once is usually when local libraries are having a book sale and when local churches are having their Christmas fairs in the late Fall. An elderly friend at church said her senior center has a library, and places like women's shelters could use them too. A local church in my area has a perpetual thrift shop and takes books. Our town dump even has a used reading material recycling center - someone is always in there browsing! Ask around, you may find many places in your neighborhood that can use donated reading material.
You can ship books for free to Better World Books. Print out a shipping label on their website and then box em up.