Charity Shop rejects

[fulltimeworkingmum]

I finally had a good look through all the clothes my DD (4) and DS (2) have grown out of - this was at the behest of DH who, not being a hormonal mummy, cannot understand the need to keep every sock and T-shirt. Anyway, I took masses of stuff to my local charity shop who said they could not take it as there was no market for it and they just couldn't sell it. I was a bit taken aback but the woman insisted I take the stuff away again. I felt awful - it's a charity particularly close to my heart.
This isn't really an "Am I being unreasonable" post, I know, but has anyone got any suggestions on what I can do with this stuff? It's all great quality, good condition stuff from mid to high end high street stores. There's no-one family/friends wise to pass it on to. I really can't be bothered to sell on Ebay - I work full time and packaging and posting is a bit of a bind.
Any constructive suggestions would be great and sorry again for the post in the wrong section

A Women's Refuge would be delighted. I'm sure.

Do any of your local schools or playgroups do the bag2school thing? We get rid of loads of rubbish clothes there

Try another charity shop. We have one in our local area which doesn't take children's clothes, and one which does. Don't be put off by this one experience (was it one of those incredibly upmarket Oxfams?) - there will be other charities who are grateful for your donation.

church group maybe to donate, sell at jumble etc? What about a local charity that collects clothes for children in 3rd world countries or disaster victims.

BTW well done for taking the eva dreaded letting go step.

I agree with Topsy I gave all of my DDs' baby clothes, cot, pushchair, highchair, etc to our local refuge and they were pleased to take it all.

Give it to your hv and ask her to pass it on to someone who can use it

I've been wondering this - the DCs have so many tatty old clothes that I don't think they would sell.
How would I find my local refuge??

freecycle it

Really Ivykaty? I can imagine mine doing this if I did that

our local sainsburtys and tesco both have clothing bins near their recycling bins

i know that some of the clothes from the salvation army ones go to nearby hospitals for when they get people needing to stay in who have no clothes and stuff, a friend's mum works in the mental health dept and if they get people in who are then sectioned, for example, they can give them some clean clothes and stuff
so it all goes to good causes, and presumably lots of it gets sold in their shops too

how do you find your local refuge??

Just look up your local Women's Aid and ring them. I wouldn't give them any old tat though.

NCT nearly new sale?

Do you not get those charity bin-liner through the door which you can attach to bag and leave on the doorstep? A few are a bit of a con in that they sell the clothes, and then donate a % to charity, but its an easy way to get rid.

I think one of the reasons that some charity shops dontt take kids clothes, is that they take up quite a large amount of space per cost of item IYKWIM? They can only charge 50p or a £1 for a t-shirt? Also I guess kids stuff can be that cheap new from Primark/Asda etc that people tend to buy new?

Bit mean sending you away though.

That's the thing Topsy, a lot of mine is tat, some isn't

Great suggestions - I'll try the women's refuge and some other charity shops (I live in a v small town but can travel elsewhere)
BTW, what is bag2school?

Out local tip - aka 'Household re-cycling centre' - has a bin for old clothes and rags. Any half decent stuff will go to people who need it and I assume the rest of it is shredded and used to stuff cushions etc, make cleaning rags etc.

The manager in my local Mind shop takes all clothing because she gets paid [well the charity does] by the ton for 'rags'. She showed me the section where she stores it all and said that a full pile made her a good £30-50. They also take pushchairs and baby equipment, although not electrical. Bravo says I.

yep geordie - mine's full to the brim and I've also filled a black bag that I'm hoping they'll take too Have had a major clear out this weekend and feeling all good - my wardrobe is so tidy!!

You could drop it into a local surestart centre or social services office.

I think that the clothing recycling banks are great for stuff too raggy to wear- and kids are hard on clothes, so apologies if I sounded snotty, SPB, I didn't mean to sound critical.

I gave stuff to our local refuge one Christmas to make way, good clothes, toys and baby things like my unused steriliser. They were a bit cagey but that's understandable.

I just managed to sort out a load of our unwanted clothes (lots of baby and toddler stuff too) We had 5 bin bags full. Have never given any clothes to charity so found British Heart Foundation charity shop number and called them (I envisaged turning up and having the same experience as you) Anyway they were so grateful and said they'd send someone to collect it 2 days later. Which they did! Fab!

(also kept loads of stuff though!)

lots of ideas thanks
I do use the salvation army bin at the supermarket but I assume it's all going to fabric recycling, and some is too good for that If it's being sorted though, that;s not so bad

No not snotty at all. Just meant that's the problem I have, I'd hate to offload my old tat on someone else - it's like handing the charity or refuge another job to do iyswim. So I suppose the answer is to sort through it myself...I just never seem to have the time or objectivity!