To ask if any charities will take second hand household items?

[that1970shouse]

I'm clearing a relative's house and it seems awful to send things like crockery, cutlery, pans etc. to landfill. I've contacted a local group who work with refugees and they only want donations of cash or new items not second hand.

Do you know any organisations who will take them? I mean definitely know, not "why don't you try x" - I've only got this week to clear the place so I don't have time for any wild goose chases.

Furniture is all sorted except beds; how do I dispose of those?

Put beds on Facebook marketplace, I sold mine for £25 and they were old! Charity shops will take crockery as long as not chipped. I have donated lots recently to help Afghan refugees, they certainly did take second hand but did request matching sets for crockery and cutlery

@Andante57

Not all second hand stuff is junk I agree. I would rather have second hand for example Le Creuset than new cheaply made stuff. We’ve got plenty of excellent quality second hand kitchen utensils from charity shops.

There are some Le Creuset and other cast iron pans. It's really not all junk.

@Smartphonetoomuchoo

I would take a few photos of the piles of stuff and post them on Facebook (market place and local area groups. Type in your postcode to the search bar to find a group near you), shpock, vinted, olio, karrot and others. I know its a bit of a job making new accounts but when I moved out I spent ages without basic things because I couldn't afford new and charity shops were picking than I was. I hadn't even heard of online buying except bidding on ebay which I couldn't afford because of shipping or posting costs. Now I buy everything I can secondhand from places like this. You would be surprised what people buy. Especially as people are becoming more environmentally aware. You may make some money but list things cheap. People will come for a bargain. Also if you drive, offer delivery for a couple of quid extra when you list things. Its very easy to get rid of things these days.

It's only very easy to get rid of things like this if you have the time to do it. I've already explained that this is the main reason I'm not taking this approach as it would take far longer than the time I have available.

You could try Emmaus, they do collections, you can check to see if there is one in your area emmaus.org.uk/

When we cleared my mother’s house, British Heart Foundation took nearly all of the furniture (they collected) and local charity shops took the rest. Having volunteered in a charity shop I can say so long as stuff is clean and not damaged they’ll take practically anything. Often local charities are most flexible about what they will take - the local hospice shop was happy to take a stack of used terracotta plant pots, for example.

Salvation Army will take almost everything (and their staff are paid next to nothing - the CEO is on under £20k a year or something, meaning the money really does go to where it's needed).
My parents have bought furniture at Sue Ryder before so they must be open to donations.

Do you have a Community Furniture Project? Ours takes a huge range of items.

I'd contact BHF / the local hospice shop and let them have their pick of stuff. Selling and free cycling stuff takes time and patience which you don't have.

Few places will take second hand mattresses. But I did see an organisation who will recycle them.

Sorry your having to do this, it's pretty soul destroying trying to clear someone's house, their lifetime of memories and things left behind.

It’s very difficult for small charities to take a lot of stuff due to lack of storage. If they take a car load from one person that potentially means no other donations for maybe a few days whilst the car load is sorted. And with the best will in the world some of it won’t be sellable meaning the charity has to pay to get rid.

Best getting a house clearance firm. When I was clearing my mum’s house I found BHF very unreliable and extremely picky

British heart Foundation have furniture shops. Just Google charity furniture shops, they're fairly common

Go on Freecycle and say "free household items outside X address, come and help yourself".
So no need to arrange times and reply to emails.

Might be off topic but having volunteered for a charity helping refugees we used to be absolutely inundated with peoples crap- literally broken pottery, holey underwear, broken electrical items.

It took so much time to sort through this stuff - and then we incurred the time and expense of having to dispose of the rubbish. Amongst the donations there were great things given that really helped families but we didn't have the storage or manpower to cope with it.

I can totally understand charities saying cash or new only!