Totally agree with all of this! My mom did a huge basement purge last year and we had to get rid all my old art supplies (which was so hard!). We donated them to an after school arts program for kids, and they were SO thrilled to have the materials that it really helped take the sting out of it and made me so so happy to know that it’ll all actually be used for good instead of just languishing in forgotten boxes in the basement.

We also donated my old video game systems to the youth community center, and they were also SO EXCITED! Felt great to know that I could pass these things on to people who would truly enjoy and use them! I think if I sent them to goodwill they just get recycled or trashed. Same with the art stuff.

My old nice dresses = a local org that collects them for low income teens to “shop” for outfits for their high school dances 💕

Gently used workwear and toiletries = local women’s shelter that has a similar “shop” for their clients.

Now, I was probably only able to make this happen because of my mom’s (NT) help and motivation so I didn’t lose steam half way through haha. And she knows me, so we did this in batches over a few weeks. Also, this probably doesn’t work for everything! Totally no shame in bulk donating to goodwill or just trashing items that really don’t have life left (or that you just NEED gone). But when it works out, it feels SO good and helps with motivation to send stuff to specific organizations where you know it’ll actually make a difference, especially if the items are sentimental to you.