Living with Open Hands

Day 2: Donating to Goodwill

I'm a regular at my local Goodwill store donation drive-through. The workers are used to seeing me show up a couple of times per week, with my white laundry basket full of donations. As soon as my basket in the hallway is full, I prefer to drop it off instead of waiting for a whole carload. 

Pros: I get unneeded items out of the house quickly, don't have to have as much stuff setting around in the house, and I have no chance to second-guess my choices to donate. 

Cons: I get one tax receipt per donation, and have to file all the receipts in the Taxes 2012 file drawer. I try to list all the donated items before I take them. I make a Google Docs file, and list the items on there. Ideally, these lists would be printed out and stapled to the receipt from Goodwill, but as of now, I don't have my laptop set up to print on the printer I have available, so I'll be facing a backlog of printing out lists at the end of the year. It will be worth my time, since I am doing so much donating, to set up my laptop so it can easily print. Fortunately for me, the Goodwill Donation Drive-Through is near the shopping area where I am often going anyway. I never drive to Goodwill unless I am already doing another errand in the area. 

There are many options for getting rid of items one doesn't need. I have tried holding a garage sale with a friend before, but felt the amount of money we earned through the sale was not really worth the time to prepare and hold the sale. 

So to streamline this process for myself, and to try to limit the agonizing over what to do with each item, I've been more inclined to just donate as much as possible to Goodwill. We are able to itemize the donations, and in 2011, we donated enough to get quite a break on our taxes. It's simpler than donating items all over town, or trying to match up each item with exactly the right person. 

I still do a bit of donating items to other causes, too. Any medical, such as crutches, ankle braces, or walking casts has been donated to the Sister Maura Brannick Health Center, which is a clinic for low-income people who do not qualify for Medicaid. Cloth, ribbon, and yarn are donated to Busy Hands, a group meeting at our local Food Bank. Busy Hands can use all types of cloth and sewing supplies. Their volunteers sew items for people in need. And once in awhile, there is an item I have trouble letting go, but if I do know someone who can use it and appreciate it, it helps me to open my hands.

But for 95% of the items I am ready to let go, Goodwill is my destination of choice. 

I'm learning to live with open hands.

LB