To ask charity shop workers what you DO and DON'T want donated

[DimityandDeNimes]

Obviously you don't want anything dirty or broken.

I'm having a massive clear out and am struggling to decide what to donate or recycle or bin.

Are you overwhelmed by stuff at the moment? My friend dropped a few bags at a huge charity shop and said their faces dropped at the sight of more stuff!

I used to take stuff to our local hospice shop, usually good quality stuff not much worn but not the sort of labels that sell well on ebay. I know they sell it for good prices as they send an email every few months and it generally says £80 or thereabouts if I've had a clearout. The last two times I've visited I've been treated very rudely, no thank you or positive comment at all, no eye contact. i just felt I was being a nuisance. I don't go there anymore.

@SallySeven

We buy very little and so do end up with rags eventually.

I am composting small amounts of old holey pure wool and cotton this year. I'll see how it goes. (I'd only admit that on an anonymous board!)

If I had a garden I would totally do that, be proud 🌞🌞🌞

I had to do a massive clear out when my Dad died last year.
I took good quality clothes to a charity shop.
He had thousands of books. I sorted through them and a bookseller came to look at that and took quite a lot (and paid for them) of the ones that he could sell. He recommended donating to a couple of local book fairs - they were absolutely delighted. Anyone with books should have a look around in their local area to see if any book fairs are going on. The local scout group does one in the area I used to live in and they take donations all year round.

You can also sell books and DVDs on Momox. You won't get much for them but I always feel it's better than just binning stuff.

For household equipment eg. kitchenware and furniture, have a look around for projects which take things like this, repair if necessary, do electric checks and then either give or sell them cheaply to local people in need. Eg. this project in Newcastle www.orangeboxnortheast.org.uk/

I emigrated several years ago now and I found a project who provided previously homeless people with items to set up a home. Lots of people don't have anything at all when they finally move into a flat. I can't remember what that group were called but they were great - they came out to my home and looked through everything with me and took away what they could use (which was most of it).

I've talked about house clearance here really but the same applies if you have a few items. There are plenty of places able to take donations it's just that the majority of people think "charity shop" straightaway and that's why they are overwhelmed.

Our local one is so rammed with donations at the moment I've been putting things on our local FB free groups to get rid of things - boxes of outgrown board games and jigsaws (having paid the kids to count all the pieces which kept them busy for days during lockdown) and the like - all grabbed pretty much instantly by different people.

I put clothes in those bags you get through the doo, That you leave outside your door. Don’t really care if they are genuine charities or not or what happens to them. As long as someone is getting some use.

I work in one and we're currently overwhelmed but a lot of the stuff is sent straight to recycling as it wont sell and we still get money for it. (Mine is huge though).

Things we get that we don't want -

Single mugs/glasses/plates/cutlery etc.
VHS tapes/cassettes
Used underwear
Things which are dirty/ripped/stinking of smoke/very well used
People just obviously dumping the contents of their kids toy box into a black bag (if you got it a year ago from the pound shop then how are we supposed to sell it? If your kid has scribbled over it with pen then nobody is going to buy it)
Safety hazards (we take small electricals but there's no way your item from the 1970s without a plug is going to pass the safety inspection), Out of date toiletries
Furniture which is scratched, broken or HUGE,
Health and safety items - cycle helmets, walking sticks etc.
Car seats - I don't know any charity shop which will take car seats as there is no way for us to test if they are safe.

Can I also as if you pay tax then please sign up for gift aid, it can make a massive difference to how much money the charity makes.

There is a company who collects all sorts bed clothes, coats, crockery, to send to Belarus I'm not sure if it gets there? The collector's are very nice I stick with them.
I stopped giving to charity shops when there was a robot batman without a remote and broken parts for €40 retail price €50.
I gave nice clothes to the stores as a double to help the community and store now anything branded is over priced defeating the purpose.
I give clothes to neighbours or friends and use the ripped bits for a cloth.

Our local charity shops put notices in their windows. I think they all get together and decide on which days each is open on, and which ones are currently taking donations.

Go in and ask.

I get that they get a lot of crap offloaded but they missed a trick with me as into the Salvation Army went 20 of dh’s posh-make work shirts (he lost four stone!!). Now the independent charity shop has a rude sign outside saying “No Donations”.

It depends on the store, we can't sell men's shirts no matter how lovely they are (and we sell clothes for £1.50-£3.00). Men's t-shirts and jumpers sell brilliantly though.

Agree that men's clothing doesn't sell well. Jumpers and jackets yes, but not shirts and t-shirts. Unless they're brand new, still in the packet.

I always give first refusal to the local women's refuge. I call or mail them with what I have and they let me know if they can use it locally or centrally. They have ever growing need for womens and children's clothes, toiletries and often small books and toys for the children. They have limited space so if its too much I do a couple of drops to their office over a week or so.

After that I call the shops to see what they want at the time as it varies even from week to week.

often small books and toys for the children

Also bearing in mind that the children can be young teens.

The local charity shops will take unopened toiletries.

Opened ones that are still usable, stick them on Freecycle, Freegle or Nextdoor.

Unopened food that are well within their use by date put it in the food bin. If it is just past it's sell by, offer it on a free site.

Very slightly off-topic, but what's the deal with food that's just past its best before date? I always assume that foodbanks and similar charities can't/won't take it, but I quite happily eat tins and packets that are a bit after that date - especially things where the date is pretty much arbitrary.

I'm guessing that folk who are needing to use a foodbank wouldn't themselves chuck out a tin of beans that was BBE two months previous, so it seems a shame if one gets thrown away or refused before it can get to them. Use-by dates, obviously, but when it's just 'best before' - and it's in an undented tin?

Not that I'm suggesting people should deliberately give the stuff because it's past its BBE date and thus 'no longer good enough for them'; but if you were clearing out your cupboard and there were a couple of tins of things your fussy children used to like, but then went off and now refuse to eat or something ordinary from a Christmas hamper that nobody in the household likes?

Also...the charity shops of my youth used to smell...Thankfully this isn't the case now, but who on earth donates unwashed clothing to charity shops?

Lots of people - I’ve had slippers that stink of wee. Also boots covered in mud, uncleaned razors, sticky toys, dirty kitchenware .....

For towels, blankets etc, have you thought of pet rescue, they need them for the animals.
For clothing, our local YMCA have outside containers for drop offs.

Also, please think about the seasonality of your donations. We always get things like Halloween costumes in November and Christmas decorations/trees in January. We don't have the space to store items for 11 months so they end up in the recycling/bin.

@SallySeven, socks take ages to rot. You need to shred them finely first.

It's amazing how many people seem to think their donations are just so amazing that the charity should be falling over themselves to take it. Everyone is clearing out their crap, your stuff is no better than the next persons. It still takes time to sort, tag, clean and put it out, and takes up space on the shop floor. Who cares if it's from Boden?!

I could never donate food that's 2 months past it's best before to a food Bank. If it's not good enough to give guests in my house, it's not good enough for the food bank imo.

I think you're better phoning your local charity shops to ask tbh. They'll all have different needs and space for different things.

I've been putting toys and games for free on Nextdoor. Met lots of lovely new neighbours, who all seem very grateful. I am happy if they are happy. Books have gone to local Hospice charity shops, all hardbacks though, which are popular with older customers, bigger text.

Also always put anything mechanical/tools or small furniture items out front, with "free" sign, and people always pick them up......

Clothes have been re-cycled.

Binning lego is awful. Surely any playgroup or nursery would love to have lego, it is so expensive, and easily cleanable. Such a waste, and plastic too, breaks your heart.

For things like books and toys can you just put a table or something outside your house?

We had a clear out and created a 'Book Barrow' - it's an old wheelbarrow which we lined with some plastic and added a sign "Free - help yourself"
We've been having various clear outs and just keep adding things to it, then on a fine day DH just wheels it out of the garage and leaves it at the front of the house . Stuff goes!
And in fact a neighbour has now copied the idea .

Also, please think about the seasonality of your donations. We always get things like Halloween costumes in November and Christmas decorations/trees in January. We don't have the space to store items for 11 months so they end up in the recycling/bin.

I don't doubt you in the least or disagree with your reasoning, but I'm amazed that buyers in a charity shop wouldn't have the nous to see a Christmas tree or decorations in January, grab themselves an advance bargain and stick it in their loft for the rest of the year.

Even if they bought it in November, whether used from a CS or new from another shop, that's where it's going to live for the rest of the next year (and probably many afterwards).

We snap up any particularly nice and cheap boys' clothes in older age-sizes than our DS currently is and stick them in the loft ready to retrieve, wash and put to good use when the time comes. Especially as charity shops have so many more girls' clothes than boys' in the first place.

They're all "ring before you bring" at the moment round here. I usually take it to Marie Curie, they make money out of rags, ideally they'd like you to bag it separately and label it "rags". They also have my details for gift aid, so I get a letter telling me how much they have made out of our old tat every now and again. It was about £130 last time I got a letter so I'm sad to hear some people just bin stuff.

I have offloaded bigger items and electrical on nextdoor.com recently and found it a million times less bother than freecycle, people are always local so they just message "okay if I collect now" or "okay if I drop it off now" and away we go.