5 Great Reasons to Donate Your Household Goods to Charity

Five Great Reasons to Donate Your Household Goods to Charity

1. Decluttering Your House Improves Your Mental Well-Being
   A study conducted by the Mayo Clinic concluded that having more possessions than you can manage triggers the feeling of being out of control and induces stress. Donating household goods clears clutter out of your home and reduces stress. Many organizations even offer donation pickup, so that making a donation to a great cause is convenient; another stress reducing factor.
2. When You Donate Household Items, You Keep It Out of a Landfill.
   Our planet cannot sustain the level of wastefulness that humans put out. Most Americans use about 10 lbs of recycled clothing per year, but throw away about 68 lbs of clothing in the same time frame. This equals almost 700% more clothing being buried in a landfill than being reused. Over 90% of the clothing that is discarded is in good enough condition to be reused by someone in need.
3. Helping Other Humans is Therapeutic
   Doing something to help other people makes you feel good about yourself. In a poll conducted in 2010, 89% of people who volunteered time or goods gained a greater sense of well-being through the experience. 73% of people polled said that doing good for other people in need lowered their stress level.
4. When You Give, Uncle Sam Gives Back
   When you donate household items to an organization with 501(C)3 tax exempt status, you are able to claim the value of the goods donated as a deduction on your taxes. There are currently 1,507,231 organizations that qualify for charitable giving deductions. If you want to take advantage of this, just make sure the organization you’re giving to has 501(C)3 tax exempt status and ask for a receipt from the donation.
5. When You Give to a Local Charity, the Value it Gives Your Community is Multiplied


When you make charitable donations to an organization in your community, the “local multiplier effect” extends the positive impact approximately 3 times the value:

1. First, you make Direct Impact on your community by donating the goods to the organization, who uses a resale shop to convert the goods to cash.
2. Next, you make Indirect Impact on your local economy when the money raised through your donation is spent in your local economy, helping families in need.
3. Third, you make Induced Impact on your economy when the business who receives the money in exchange for the goods that were purchased with the sale of your donation pays its employees, who put it back into the economy.

You probably did realize the lightly used clothing that you haven’t worn in months could make that much of an impact on your community!

What is your favorite charity to donate household items to? Is there a charity that you like to use for buying recycled clothing? Please leave us a comment below!