What to do with your unwanted stuff
With UK Charity shops reporting record levels of donations in January (some have even closed their doors to donations as they are full), Sue Spencer of A Life More Organised gives us some suggestions about what to do with our unwanted stuff. Over to Sue...Reuse, recycle or regift
As a professional organiser I work closely with my clients to try and reduce the number of discarded items which end up in landfill – my approach is reuse, recycle or regift.- Reuse – rather than buying new furniture or storage, look for ways of repurposing some of the things you already own. Often moving furniture between rooms, or adding baskets to shelves in wardrobes, can change the look and feel of a space to suit your needs better.
- Recycle – paper, plastics and metal can be recycled at your local household waste site. If you sort these in to boxes before leaving home, it makes it really easy to drop them off – my local household waste site is proud to recycle over 94% of the items it receives.
- Regift (or donate) – your unwanted items to charity or pass on to friends, but do make sure that it’s something your friends need before you offload it on to them!
Donation suggestions
But what happens to the hard to donate items which charity shops don’t want? Before putting them in the bin, have a quick look at the following suggestions as the chances are someone could find your unwanted "stuff" really useful.
Reading Glasses  Â
Most high street opticians will happily take your old reading glasses from you; they are sent off to Vision Aid Overseas who distribute them around the world, giving people the gift of sight again.
BooksÂ
Not all charity shops take books so if you have some which are in good condition, why not consider offering them to a local library, playgroup or school.
You could also try a trade-in site (We Buy Books, Ziffit or Music Magpie). Download their apps and use the bar code reader to get an immediate trade-in value for your book. Whilst some books are only worth 5p others do get trade-in values of £2-5. As postage is free, the income can soon mount up. One of my recent clients paid for her session with me through trading in some old books!
These trade-in sites also take DVDs and CDs and will accept mixed boxes of books and DVDs, something to bear in mind if you decide to go completely digital.
Bras – don’t burn them just yet
The charities Smalls for All and Against Breast Cancer accept bras which are in good used condition and then send them on to help women in African countries.If you come across any unopened packets of ladies’ or children’s pants (or want to buy some to donate) then Smalls for All will also take these.
