Where are your bags going: Trash or Good Will?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mary Alice Teti on March 3, 2010 at 11:12pm

These are great questions, thanks, and it makes me feel better that you are just trashing so much. I think that I will not attempt to sort the bags I have already made, just trash them, but from now on I will keep two bags going in my closet, one for trash and one for goodwill, but only truly usable items will go in the latter.

Permalink Reply by Judith Gibbons Riordon on March 3, 2010 at 11:01pm

We're about half and half on trash and donations at this point (trash is about half a bag ahead). We use the same standard Joan suggested for giving away. Would someone else like to own it? (Is it in good enough condition that I would be willing to spend money on it, even if only a small amount?)

Permalink Reply by cecilia sam fatzinger on March 4, 2010 at 4:01am

We have a place at church to donate. Have you ever heard of FREECYCLE? It is huge in my town. Within 24 hours someone I choose usually gets whatever I put on my porch!

Permalink Reply by Diane on March 4, 2010 at 5:00am

I hear what you are saying. On one hand we hate to add things to a landfill but on another we don't want to waste the time of people at Good will or another thrift store . Does it help to think of it as that is the job of these people at Goodwill ? If it were not for donations many would be unemployed. I was once told that if doubt to bring it in as they have several dumpsters to use as last resort however they try to use what they can. Here's my rule of thumb.
It takes longer, but when I decide to part with something it goes into one of three piles. One is the stuff that is still in good condition ( no mising pieces, rips , stains,breakes, etc).One is things that I would not want to buy even if it were the right size or useful to me, and one is things that I know of specific people to give them to ( friends and relatives love to get my youngest child's hand me down clothing as I shop upper scale consignment and this child is easy on clothing) I then throw away anything in the I wouldn't buy pile (30%) take that in the nice stuff pile to Good will( no St. Vincent de Paul here) (50%) and deliver the other stuff to the intended recipient.(20%)

Permalink Reply by Theresia on March 4, 2010 at 7:06am

I basically have three bags going at all times - Goodwill, stuff to save for the consignment sale in the spring (that stuff is stored under my ping pong table until the twice a year sale), and paper trash - papers catalogs magazines, etc. My plan is to pile the Goodwill stuff in the basement until closer to Easter and then take it all in. Sometimes I want to just dig everything out from under that ping pong table and take it to Goodwill or the drop off for the Appalacian mission work, but I usually make close to $150 dropping off things to sell at the kids stuff sale at a local church (I tag and price all my things and take them in on Tues or Weds and pick up a check and whatever didn't sell on Sat eve-nice!)
I do send some stained kids clothes and pieces of games or McDonalds toys. I heard the clothes get recycled somehow and you'd be surprised the things people want or collect.

Permalink Reply by Sharon McClelland on March 4, 2010 at 8:00am

I've been doing the "three bags" system also. I have a donate bag, a give to friend/family bag (only if I've talked to them about it- otherwise it'll create work at their house) and a trash bag filling at the same time.

One suggestion as far as deciding which bag an item should go in - talk with the people at the donation center you are using. Ask them what criteria they use for judging the items they receive. I am fortunate that my parish has a thrift store/food pantry and I was able to volunteer a few days there and learn how they separate donations. I also learned that they have 3 bins, one for items in good enough condition to put out in their store, one for items not "up to par" for them but good enough to pass on to the Salvation Army (whose criteria they learned:), and then the garbage.

My kids are participating by being my "loaders". I separate and bag, they load and take to the thrift store. Good deal:)

Permalink Reply by Christine Volpe on March 4, 2010 at 8:45am

Well, I am embarrassed to say that most of the bags really are trash! I give what is definitely usable to St. Vincent dePaul at my church. If it is not usable due to stains, being broken, or missing parts, I toss it. I feel OK with that because I figure it served its purpose, that's why it is no longer usable. I guess what I am learning is we just have too much stuff! I need to be careful not to fill up my newly cleaned out and organized closets with more stuff.

Permalink Reply by Maggie on March 4, 2010 at 9:09am

I'm actually selling stuff on Ebay and Craigslist and I am counting each item as a "bag." Some of them are big items (like a garage refrigerator), so I am actually making a little cash along the way!

I also give away some bags of stuff on Craigslist rather than taking them to a thrift store. It takes more time, but people tend to come to you so I don't have to drop anything off.

Permalink Reply by Jenny on March 4, 2010 at 2:50pm

I used to work for a non-profit which accepted donations for children. We had so much junk dropped off that we had to keep a dumpster for it. This meant that some of our precious donation dollars were being used to get rid of other peoples trash.

It is fantastic that you are taking the time to think about whether or not a charity can really use you stuff. The best thing you can do is donate 5 minutes of your time and call them to find out what they accept. They get the call all the time and can rattle off quickly the banned items. (Many places no longer accept toys in any condition for safety reasons.) While you have them on the line, ask is there is anything they run short of. You might find yourself more willing to part with items, if you are sure they would be put to good use. The last question to ask is if they know of any place that accepts the things they reject. Non-profit charities tend to be pretty knowledgeable about each other.

I take bag to charity about once a week all year long. I'm always finding books, toys, clothes, etc that would be better used by someone else. This means most of our forty bags are trash, mostly from our office as we clear it out to make room for #4. We will also use Craig's list and Freecycle to get rid of some furniture.

Permalink Reply by Kathy C. on March 4, 2010 at 8:17pm

Right now I am at 6 bags for charity, two bags to the recycling center(who knew how much paper and cardboard we had lying around), and 9 bags of trash.

I use the same criteria that some people above mentioned in that if it is something that someone else could use I send it to Good Will. I haven't called to find out for sure and now that other ladies have mentioned that I may do that.

Permalink Reply by Christy L on March 9, 2010 at 1:41pm

Check with your St Vincent and Goodwill. Both of the ones in my town will take stained and torn clothing as they can sell it and earn some money. I do St Vincent, our school for books, friends, consignment shop, and our local swap sheet, and our school also takes uniforms in decent condition for our uniform exchange program. So I just return what I used and saves a ton of money with 5 kids.

Permalink Reply by Raissa Federline on March 22, 2010 at 11:17pm

Depends on what it is...I have been much more diligent about taking newspapers, junk mail, old school papers to the recycling fund-raising bin behind our parish school. At least one to two bags each week.

Clothes is a big thing I've been purging. Mostly to a local Christian thrift shop. Tonight I gave a small box to a friend who is a counselor and can share the children's clothes with people in one of her group therapy sessions. Other bags have been magazines to the local library, books to local organizations for their book sales. And yes, bags of trash of things no one can use.

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