Where to Donate and Recycle Household Items

A list of where to donate and recycle household items after decluttering.

So, you caught the decluttering bug and have been incredibly productive and ruthless in unearthing the unnecessary, redundant and unwanted ‘stuff’ that has been hiding in your home for years and now you would like to find a new home for it. OR…you know you need to get busy ridding your home of clutter but are just putting your plan in place. I have put together a list of charities to donate and places to recycle household items and declutter.  

Some of these are affiliate links and I will earn a small commission off of the sale of these products, but the price you are charged is not affected. You can see my full disclosure policy here.

In her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marie Kondo stresses that the purpose of an object is to bring joy. If an item no longer brings you joy or has a purpose in your life, you are doing that object and the person who does need or get joy from the object, a great service by bringing them together. I find it’s always easier to remove stuff from my home when I know it’s going to someone who will put it to good use.

So, not only would you like your discards to land somewhere where they might be useful, but we surely don’t need to add more to our landfills. What do you do with all your discards and where to recycle?  I’m here with some answers.

There are many agencies and charities where you can donate your gently used items and make them available to those who need it.  If you’re documenting your donations to charity for tax purposes, here’s a site that gives suggested values of commonly donated items.

Where to Donate and Recycle Your Gently Used Items:

• Clothing
  • Dress For Success
  • Vietnam Veterans of America
  • Goodwill
  • American Red Cross
  • Salvation Army 
  • Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
  • FreeCycle
  • Suits for Veterans…they still have a website, but I’ve had a hard time getting someone to return my queries.
  • Local Homeless Shelter
  • Local Domestic Violence Shelter
  • Local Church
  • If it is still in ‘style’, you could resell at your local consignment store.
• Shoes 
  • Donate gently used shoes can be donated to the same places as gently  used clothing
  • Well worn shoes can be taken to your local Nike Factory Outlet Store. They will grind up the rubber soles to make the surface for playgrounds and tracks.
• Furniture
  • Salvation Army 
  • Habitat Humanity ReStore
  • FreeCycle
  • Local Church
• Books 
  • Books for Soldiers
  • Books for America
  • Communities in Schools
  • Boys and Girls Clubs of America
  • Local Libraries
  • Local Literacy Foundation
  • Local Schools
  • Local Churches
• Knick-Knacks, Tchotchkes, Lamps, etc.
  • Vietnam Veterans of America
  • Goodwill
  • American Red Cross
  • Salvation Army 
  • FreeCycle
  • Habitat Humanity ReStore
  • Donate trophies back to the local trophy store, where they can be ‘reused’ for charitable organizations.
  • Donate Games and Art Supplies to your local after-school tutoring program, such as Communities in Schools.
  • Take your gently used toys to your local domestic violence shelter.
  • Take your old prescription eyeglasses to your local Lion’s Club.  I emailed my local club and found where their local collection boxes are. 

 Where to Recycle Household Items:

• The Earth911 site will provide locations in your area where you can recycle household items.
• Computers and  Electronics
  • Staples, Office Depot, Best Buy, and many other local computer repairs/sales stores will accept your computers and parts (including all those cords, wires, etc…) for recycling. I was told they take most everything but televisions.  Take out or wipe your hard drive first.
  • Contact your local solid waste/recycling department.  Many have sites that will also recycle these items.
• Compact Fluorescent and Rechargeable Batteries
  • Home Depot and Lowe’s Home Improvement
• Paint and Fertilizers
  • Contact your local solid waste/ recycling department.  Many have sites that accept these items.
• Packaging Materials (that popcorn stuff)
  • The UPS store or another local shipping store will often accept this
• Wire Hangers
  • Dry cleaners will often gladly take wire hangers
• Prescriptions and Medications
  • Check to see if your local Walgreens has a collection kiosk
  • Use this tool to find authorized DEA collection site.

Now that you have a list of charities and know where to donate and places to recycle …keep uncluttering!

Thanks again for spending a few minutes of your busy day with me today.  Please know that you are appreciated and that I welcome each and every comment that comes my way. If you want to make sure you don’t miss future content, pop your email in the beige box up on the right or click here.  I usually send out 2-3 emails a week, so I won’t inundate your inbox…believe me, I’m sensitive to an overflowing email inbox!

Thanks for making my day by SHARING!!