Where To Donate When You Declutter

Hopefully as we go through the 32 Days of Declutter challenge, you are coming up with all kinds of things to donate. If you already have a great donation routine, you probably don’t need this post. But if you have a steadily growing pile of stuff in the corner that you are ready to get rid of, but are stuck on the getting it out of the house part—don’t fear. This post is going to help you figure out where to donate.

Where to Donate:

There are a couple of different options when it comes to donating, and some might work better at different points in your decluttering journey. The two options I’m going to cover today are thrift stores and Buy Nothing groups.

Thrift Stores:

Thrift stores take donations and sell them for a small cost, usually raising money for some kind of cause. But not all thrift stores or donation centers are created equally. You might want to do a little bit of research to make sure that the one you are supporting has a cause you can get behind, or that you feel good about their operating practices.

If you are really overwhelmed getting started, start with the practical: what’s close by, has convenient hours, or is a place you drive by regularly? Start there with what’s easy, and then once you’ve moved to more of a maintenance mode of decluttering you can be more intentional in where you donate your stuff.

Helpful hint: sometimes donation hours are different than store hours, or if a store has multiple locations, they may only accept donations at one. Take a few minutes to look up the donation info before you head out to save yourself some time and frustration!

Buy Nothing Groups:

Buy Nothing groups are hyper-local groups where people give away things they no longer need or want to their neighbors. You can learn more about them here, but the basic premise is to “buy less, share more.” From two-liter soda bottles that a neighbor needs for a science project to brand-new items that aren’t needed or wanted, Buy Nothing groups share all kinds of things with their neighbors. And often, you can get it picked up right off your porch, making it incredibly easy to get rid of things you no longer need.

Which should I use?

When you have a lot of stuff and you just need to get it out now, filling up your car with a big load of donations and dropping it off a thrift store feels like a sign of relief. All that stuff, gone in one fell swoop.

But once you’ve done your initial decluttering, you might still find things here and there you want to get rid of. If you don’t want to take a donation trip for just a few items, posting your stuff in a Buy Nothing group is a great option. If there isn’t a Buy Nothing group near you, neighborhood groups or NextDoor are other good places to post free items!

Read more in my decluttering series here:

I Spent Good Money On That · What if I Need it Someday? · Getting Rid of Stuff: Emotional Attachments · 32 Days of Decluttering Kickoff · Clutter is a Thief · Clutter Makes it Hard to Find What You Need · The Container Rule · Decide Before You Start · The Pareto Principle · How to Sort When You Declutter