Charities across the country rely on generous donations from their local communities in order to be able to continue helping those who are less fortunate. Clothing is one of the items that is most needed, especially when the winter rolls around. While most people are happy to support their local charities through charitable clothing donations, many find it difficult to find the time to go through their wardrobe, pick out the clothes they don’t wear anymore and drop them off. It may seem very time consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. Knowing how to make donating clothing a more efficient process can encourage more people to donate their lightly used clothing to help those in need. Here are some helpful tips:
- Stay Organized – The best way to make clothing donations faster and easier is to keep things organized. It’s a good idea to go through clothing items and first separating them into piles of things to be donated and things to be kept. The items that are being donated should then be looked over to ensure that they are in good enough shape to be accepted. Generally, only lightly used clothing is accepted by organizations. As the items are being put in a pile to donate it is a good idea to write down the approximate value of each article of clothing since this will be needed for tax deductions. Many organizations have lists on their websites with the average dollar amount that common items are worth to make it easier and more accurate.
- Find Charities That Will Pick up Donations – One reason that many people put off donating their used clothing is because they can’t find the time to drop the items off at the charity. Luckily, there are many charities that will pick up donations, so people don’t even need to leave their homes to help out. All they need to do is call the charitable organization and organize a donation pickup time. Charities that will pick up donations are generally very flexible and do their best to make the process easy.
- Don’t Wait – Organizing clothing to be donated is one thing, but actually getting it to the charitable organization is another. Many people will go through their clothes, sort them into piles to be donated and then leave them in the corner of a room for months. Setting up a donation pickup time right away is the best way to ensure that clothing doesn’t sit around in bags for months and immediately gets put to use.
There are thousands of charities throughout the U.S. that depend upon clothing donations from their neighbors. While it can take a little time to do, using the tips above can make the clothing donation-process a breeze. More info like this.
