Where to Donate Household Items

Owning a home for many years often accumulates a lot of storage. It seems that the longer you have been in your home, the more items you hold onto. You may have boxes and boxes of items that you never use anymore, but do not know what to do with. You do not want to throw them out, as they are still useful, yet, you no longer have any use for them. You may have considered donating them, but you are unsure of where to donate household items. This dilemma is common of many homeowners. There are actually multiple ways to get rid of your unused and unwanted household items.

Give them to other family members in need. Donating your unused and unwanted household items can be useful for even members of your family. Perhaps you have a distant relative who is going through a tough time. Maybe you have a young couple in the family who is just beginning their life together. They could benefit from household donations, until they are able to purchase their own items for their new house.

Donate to your local church or member organization. If you are a member of a church or local community organization, this can be a great place to donate your unwanted items to. Many are unsure of where to donate household items to, but have a circle of contacts that could actually benefit from those items. Churches, for example, can use the clothing donations and other household donations to have garage sales and to raise money for other church events.

Donate to a local drop box. You have probably noticed multiple charity drop boxes popping up all over your city. The purpose of these boxes is to make it easier to donate clothes and other household items. Many people are unsure of where to donate household items to, so these boxes have made it convenient to find a location to do so. GreenDrop now has approximately 30 free standing locations and mobile trailers that collect on average 100 tons of donations each week. The organization raised $2.5 million for participating charities in 2014.

Donate to a local charity. You may be aware of local charities in your location, or you may have to look for some to know where to donate household items to. You can also ask around, asking local charities for organizations for assistance in locating a good charity that could use charitable clothing donations. The average American buys at least twice as many pieces of clothing as 20 years ago, so it is likely that you will have a lot of clothing items to donate to a charity.

If you are selecting a charity to donate to based on local recommendations, you may be worried about selecting the right one. Remember that the best charities to donate to are ones that are backed by the IRS. The IRS will only provide a 501C3 nonprofit status to those charities that are providing good for their communities. Also, donating to a nonprofit charity that is backed by the IRS means that you can receive tax breaks and benefits for donating your items to them. The IRS requires a qualified appraisal to be submitted with your tax return if you donate any single clothing or household items that is not in good used condition or better, and for which you deducted more than $500.

Many Americans have more stuff in storage than they know what to do with. A lot of these people wish to donate their items to someone who could get more use out of them, but do not know where or how to donate them. People who wish to donate their unused items have a variety of options. They can donate to family members and friends in need, to a local church or community organization, or to a local charity.