Donate or trash?

[DevaMajka]

How do you determine if you should donate or toss an item (particularly clothes)? Do you have a mental checklist of things that make an item trashworthy? What are your criteria?

[Vaske]

Some of the clothing that's not quite good enough to donate to a charity I donate to a for-profit company (can't remember the name, it starts with USAA, with an apostrophe in there somewhere) that has clothing donation bins around the city. If anybody can find a use for it, they can. I know a lot of used clothing (even clothing donated to charities) gets baled up and shipped overseas, so if it's still basically wearable, I'll donate it.

[Jodie]

If it has holes in it or really bad stains I toss I out, otherwise I donate it.

I toss underwear. Socks get used around here till they are falling apart, then they are trashed. I would donate bras that are not torn or highly stained.

As far as stuff from around the house, if its still usable I donate. If it is broken, or missing important pieces, I trash it.

[crunchy_mommy]

I follow basically the same criteria as Jodie. If I'm on the fence, I usually donate it & let them decide if it's usable (only with small items though -- I would never donate a large piece of furniture or something unless I was sure it would be usable/sellable, because it would cost THEM money to throw it away if I just left it there).

Most of the 'throw away' pile I can get rid of by putting out on the curb and/or on freecycle/craiglist 'free' section -- you'd be amazed at the trash people WANT. Unusable clothes I cut into rags or compost, though I would love to be more creative with redesigning them into new articles of clothing (but I don't have the time to sew!)

[clutterwarrior]

I divide things into ..

good enough to sell:

only the designer brands, otherwise too much effort listing and not much chance they will sell.

good enough to donate to cancer ward at childrens hospital:

DVDs and books and toys either new or in new condition

good enough to donate to charity such as Smith Family or St Vincent de Paul:
clothes that are wearable, toys that look used but are not broken or dirty, books that look read, collectables that may have a chip but still nice enough that someone may want it, miscellaneous household stuff that still works/not broken.

I donate old bras to the Uplift charity which are sent overseas to help women in countries who can't afford bras..as long as they are still good enough condition to be reused.

Toss:
clothes with holes or noticeable stains, elastic that has worn out
underwear
plates that are cracked or badly chipped
toys that are not complete

[proudmomof4]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy

I follow basically the same criteria as Jodie. If I'm on the fence, I usually donate it & let them decide if it's usable (only with small items though -- I would never donate a large piece of furniture or something unless I was sure it would be usable/sellable, because it would cost THEM money to throw it away if I just left it there).

Most of the 'throw away' pile I can get rid of by putting out on the curb and/or on freecycle/craiglist 'free' section -- you'd be amazed at the trash people WANT. Unusable clothes I cut into rags or compost, though I would love to be more creative with redesigning them into new articles of clothing (but I don't have the time to sew!)

Suggestions for old t-shirts without sewing:
- cut them into family cloth (see thread here on MDC)
- " washable baby wipes or diaper doublers
- " "unpaper" towels that you throw away after use (also handy in a workshop or garage)
- patterned pieces can be used as giftwrap

[redvlagrl]

I donate everything even if it has holes.

I heard that many charity agencies recycle unwearable clothes by turning them into industrial cleaning pads (they get munched up and formed into felt like pads) which they sell.

Even though I'm not sure which ones do it (I had heard about this in Australia) I still donate everything.