If you’ve ever spent an entire weekend decluttering your home, only to have bags and boxes of donations sitting around for weeks, you know how frustrating it can be. You finally decide to get rid of everything, but now you have to figure out where to take it all.
One woman found a surprisingly simple workaround on Reddit.
Instead of loading up her car and heading to Goodwill, she took her unwanted belongings directly to people who could use them. And she couldn’t believe how quickly everything disappeared.
A Different Way to Get Rid of Clutter
In a post shared on a Reddit community, a woman explained that she was preparing to move and had accumulated quite a few things she no longer needed.
While helping her sort through everything, a friend who lived in an apartment building suggested bringing the donations to her neighbors. According to the friend, some residents could use basic household items, including drinking glasses.
The woman loaded her SUV with boxes of housewares, books, yarn, DVDs, and other belongings. When she arrived at the building, she opened her trunk and asked a couple of people walking by whether they wanted to look through anything before she donated it.
The first two people took everything. She didn’t have to wait around, arrange multiple pickups, or make another trip to a donation center.
The experience worked so well that she returned four or five more times while preparing for her move. Each time, she gave away everything she brought.
What made it even better was knowing her unwanted belongings went directly to people who wanted them.
Related: Decluttering? Start With These 12 Things First
Other People Started Sharing Their Own Decluttering Tricks
The Reddit post received around 6,900 upvotes, and the comments quickly filled with people sharing similar ways they’d gotten rid of unwanted stuff.
Some of the most popular suggestions were surprisingly simple.
- Create a free table. Several people mentioned apartment buildings, workplaces, and community spaces with designated tables where residents can leave items they no longer need.
- Use Buy Nothing groups. Local Facebook groups allow neighbors to give away everything from furniture and clothing to kitchen supplies and craft materials.
- Put out a free box. Some commenters said they leave boxes of usable items outside with a FREE sign, and the contents often disappear within hours.
- Host a free garage sale. Instead of pricing everything, put unwanted items outside and invite neighbors to take what they need.
- Donate directly to local organizations. Others recommended checking with shelters, foster care organizations, and community groups that can use household items right away.
Of course, it’s worth getting permission before leaving items in shared spaces or outside buildings.
Sometimes Giving Things Away Makes Decluttering Easier
One of the more interesting parts of the discussion was how many people admitted they struggle to get rid of perfectly good things.
It’s easy to hold on to something because you paid for it, think you might need it someday, or simply don’t want it to go to waste. But knowing someone else actually wants that item can make parting with it much easier.
And that’s what made this woman’s experience so satisfying. She cleared out her home, avoided multiple donation trips, and got to see her belongings go to people who could use them.
