Americans today have more clothing per person than ever, and a lot of it ends up going to waste. The average American throws away nearly 70 pounds of clothing, linens, and other textiles each year. As that ends up to millions of tons of waste each year, it’s far better to donate used clothing instead. Clothing donations can go towards helping families in need, and are accepted by a number of charities across the country. If you’re planning on making charitable clothing donations, there are several steps you’ll need to take, and this article will take a look at a few of them.
- Determine Which Clothing Items You No Longer Need or Use: The first step you’ll need to make in making any charitable donation of clothing is to determine which clothing items you no longer need or use. Making charitable clothing donations can seem overwhelming, especially if you have a lot of clothes, but there are ways to weed out what can go and what can stay. As a general rule, when you look over the clothes in your closet, remember that if you live in a one to two season climate and haven’t worn a particular item in 6 months, it’s time to let it go. Use this rule to make a pile of clothing that can be donated.
- Find a Charity That Can Receive the Donation: The next step, after making a pile of clothing to be donated, is to find charity organizations that accept charitable clothing donations. There’s at least one or two to be found in most towns or cities. Make sure to check them out and find one that can receive charitable clothing donations. If it helps to find one that works for a particular cause you’d like to aid, use that as a factor also.
- Arrange for the Donation to Be Picked Up Or Delivered: And finally, a third important step to take when making charitable clothing donations is to arrange for the donation to be picked up by the charity or delivered to a donation center. Many charities have a service that will send a truck or vehicle to pick up donations directly from your home. If that’s not an option, some also have drop-off centers that make it easy to leave a donation at their facility.
In conclusion, there are several steps that need to be taken when making charitable clothing donations. These steps include: determining which clothing items you no longer need or use, finding a charity that can receive the donation, and arranging for the donation to be picked up or delivered to the charity. These are just a few of the steps that need to be taken.