We put our bulkier items in our front yard (we live on a well-traveled road in a small town) with a FREE sign, and they are always gone by the end of the day. Great as we’ve remodeled our bathroom, exchanged our swingset, and gotten rid of our college furniture collection.

E-bay used to be a wonderful way to get rid of stuff, but as others have said, it just isn’t worth it (or fun) anymore : (

Half-used shampoo and lotion: Before donating, can you use it for something else? Hand-wash clothing? Otherwise, for lotions you can try the local day care or nursing home. The caregivers wash their hands all day and appreciate the lotion. The nursing home might take the shampoos/conditioners, or a local battered women shelter. They definitely take travel-size stuff if unused.

Freecycle: love it! Almost everything has gone, the people come to me to get it and are grateful. I’ve given lawn mowers, book cases, christmas tree, VCRs and other electronics.

And… yes, don’t sweat the receipt. Go for the karma and bank it. Pay it forward, ya know!

books and CD’s: I use Swaptree.com to trade my books, CDs and DVDs for other ones I want. It is free and you just pay the shipping. Works great! I’ve also given some old books to the library if no one wants to trade for them.

National Geographic Magazines: The ones we don’t want we give to the local library. They LOVE them because they sell fast during their fundraisers.

Everything else (clothing, toys, and miscellaneous beauty products, etc.) goes to Safe Passage, which is a service for abused women and children. They have a few homes in the area where they house women and children that need a temporary place to live, so they gladly accept shampoo, toothpaste, and the like, and of course clothing and toys. I shop sales and buy things like toothpaste when it is free or better than free (the store pays me to take it home) using coupons, and then donate those things if they won’t get used at my house. I’ve never given partly used shampoo, etc., but I’m sure they would accept it if I did.

http://www.marthastewart.com/a.....ntent_home

Between Freecycle, craigslist, eBay, non-profits, and libraries, etc. (plus composting and curbside recycling) there is really very little that should be sent to the landfill.

One of my plans for the spring to to begin vermicomposting. I’s reading up on it now to make sure I get the right setup.

Most of our clients are enamored with the idea of selling online. They soon get disillusioned.

Donate to some great cause – it’s a win-win!

I’m in the same position as jan — living in a semi-rural area where donation centers are not easily accessible, and Freecycling means driving long distances to drop off or pick up items. In the past, when I tried Freecycle to pass along items, I ran into problems with no-shows. By using Facebook, I’m working with people I trust to come pick up what they want, and I don’t mind paying to ship smaller items out to long-distance friends.

Re: unlikely places to donate items … my local library has been grateful to receive ball-point pens and pencils that we had in excess (my husband travels a lot, and tends to come home with lots of freebie pens from hotel rooms). Having worked in libraries myself, I know that patrons are constantly asking to borrow pens from the circulation desk, and often those pens don’t come back.

I’m amazed at the response I’ve had offering items on Freecycle. When I redid my closets I gave away maybe 300 wooden hangars. Even so, I had to turn away many disappointed callers.

Regarding stuff that can go to a school, befriend a teacher and they will help you get rid of it. I work in a school library and there are so many times during the day that I go “darn, I wish I had all that junk I used to have to solve this problem.” For example, many schools keep nicely used socks and mitts on hand for kids who get wet at lunch.

Teachers are happy for any binders, paper, pencils, and such, even ones that are used. I work in what looks to be a solid middle-class area and there is a lot of hidden poverty.

Viv

You might just find a worthy project previously unknown to you. I did a listing for a friend’s IBM Selectric typewriter, which ended up going to a small not-for-profit opera group — its volunteers still type labels for mailers. Women’s size clothing went to a return-to-work project.

I’d have to say not in a major city. I participating in a lot of “curbside giving” here in LA and items in good condition rarely stay longer than an hour. Oftentimes people come up to me as I’m putting it out there. I even gave away a nice but old refrigerator that way. So it’s a very viable option depending on where you live.

I sell things that are worth selling but you have to know where best to sell for the item and that takes a bit of research. I agree that if you just want a quick sell to get it out of the house – Craigs List.

This is a good post for me because I’m smack dab in the midst of this myself (getting ready to move up State)

As a science teacher, I have scrounged the Goodwill for all of the above and more: ping pong balls, golf balls, bowling balls, golf clubs, crock pots, toys, Hot Wheels Tracks, plastic containers, clocks, kiddie pools, rope, hardware, balloons, odd-sized paper in reams, cafeteria sized trays, animal cages and aquariums, silk flowers, posters.. the list goes on. Luckily I have a great room full of cabinets and everything is in bins by activity.

My craigslist minimum is $10. I do want people to meet me at my house, but I will deliver if it isn’t out of my way. Sometimes I ask a small deposit via paypal if an item is hot, or if there are special circumstances (like asking me to hold it for a week until they get here).

Just this week I sold some exercise equipment and sporting goods. $360 in my pocket and LOTS of extra space in our house.

Viv – your story is inspiring! When we moved to our house, we had nothing. The house echoed with emptiness. Now it is bursting at the seams and I’m wondering where it all came from. I’m trying to get rid of the stuff that doesn’t get used and just keep what is used and loved.