It's amazing how much "stuff" enters our house all the time, even when we're consciously trying not to accumulate any more of it. Add kids to the mix, and you've got a lot more. We've taken to keeping a bag at the ready for donations at all times.
We don't have much storage space in our home so we try to edit the things that enter our home very carefully. Even if it's a gift or a free item my husband just had to bring home (thanks), we are happy to toss it in the thrift store bag if it's neither useful or nice to look at.
Do you have a system for donating?
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Usually what we do is take a bag and dump things in there that the kids no longer play with, put it away, thinking we'll get back to it and sort it later somewhere in the deep recesses of the basement and then promptly forget about it.
I love this idea because the bag is right there, looks great, and not out of sight, out of mind.
I keep a box in the basement for donation items. It started off as a rather small box, but as our family grows, the box needs to as well. Kids come with so much stuff (mostly given or passed down, but also otherwise 'acquired') and I hate clutter and the claustrophobia of too many unnecessary possessions.
We're on a list for a Cerebral Palsy foundation that does curbside pickups every so often. When they call, I simply bag up everything in the box and set it outside on the appropriate day! I love that it's simple and benefits a worthy cause.
Love this idea. I always have a donation pile accumulating in my closet, but this would be a great way to get the whole family thinking about it. Thanks!
My system is: load it in the back of the car, drive around with it for months, forget (repeatedly) to drop it off at Goodwill or the Junior League or wherever, ask hubby to do it, nag hubby, repeat.
Hmmm...when I write it out like that, it no longer seems like such a good system.
That's way more attractive than my black garbage sacks.
We have a donation bag just like this behind the front door. When it is full we pop it in the car and drop it off at the shelter the next time we visit. Easy...
We pick up an extra box from Costco every so often, and when it's full, off it goes to whatever charity we remember first.
we usually put stuff on our front sidewalk. frames, highchair, even an old mattress and frame. once and only once we collected stuff and had a grage sale. we like the leave it for the neighborhood method a lot better. we dont have zoneing in our town. hoods mixed with the to do people perhaps is the reason this works so well for us!
This is a great idea--I tend to bag stuff up in whatever is available, but a dedicated bag might help with remembering to drop it off.
On a similar note, my sister-in-law has an LL Bean tote like the one pictured, monogrammed with the word "Library," for--you guessed it--all her kids' library books. Seems like a great system.