6 Useful Tips for Making Donating a Better Experience

If you are home, look around your house. No doubt there are at least five things that you see that don’t need to be there. It might be clothes, decorations, picture frames, dishes, throw pillows or something else entirely. We all have things that we have held on to for no reason. Some of the things aren’t even sentimental but we just still have them because they are in to good a condition to throw away. Well, here is the perfect solution for those items; two words: charitable donations. There are plenty of organizations that help military families, homeless people and others in need that would really benefit from your gently used household items. Here are some useful tips for donating to organizations that help military families as well as others.

Start With Your Clothes
Clothing donations in particular are a much needed item. While these organizations will accept other items, clothes are what is always needed. Especially during the winter time, charities like to have jackets and shoes on hand to give to the needy. Being able to wrap up can lift the spirits of someone who is down and out. It’s important to still be able to hold on to a little hope during the times when things are not really going your way. Many times, people will come in to the organization looking for clothing and other times, the organizations will go out and hold a drive where they give them out.

Use the Pick Up Service
If you have too much stuff to fit in your car or you don’t have time to drive your things over to a donation center, many organizations will have a pick up service that you can use. All you have to do is call them or go to their website and schedule an appointment for when you’d like them to come and pick up your stuff. They’ll bring a truck, load it up and be on their way. If you leave the items in your yard or somewhere safe but open, then you don’t even necessarily have to be home when the come to get the pick up. Just let them know where the items will be and when you get home, they’ll be gone.

Write it Off on Your Taxes
A good incentive for donating to organizations that help military families is that you can use it as a write off on your taxes. So, essentially, you’ll get paid for donating. The organizations themselves cannot pay you because they are a non profit organization and if they paid for items, they wouldn’t even break even on their overhead but you an pay yourself but having to pay less taxes when the time comes. Just make sure that you get a receipt. If you use the pick up service and are not home, have them leave the receipt in your mailbox.

Make it a Habit
You could keep several boxes in inconspicuous places around the house and every time you come across something that you don’t want or need, you could throw it in the box and once the boxes are full, call the pick up service or take them yourself. This will put you in a constant habit of donating as well as making sure your home never gets to cluttered up again.

Feel Good About Yourself
When you donate to organizations that help military families, veterans, the homeless, natural disaster victims, etc, you are doing a wonderful thing. Even though you may only feel like you are getting rid of clutter you didn’t want anyway, you could potentially be making a huge difference in someone’s life. You may never know who’s life you touched specifically, but every time they wear their shoes or jacket or use the item they got from you through the charity, they will know that someone out there was thinking about them and cared enough to donate.

Convince Others
Tell your friends about your resolve to donate and see if they’ll join you. You could make fun challenges and competitions to get people to donate more. But remember, it doesn’t matter how much or how little you give, what’s important is that you’re giving something, anything, to people in need. You’re helping change lives.