Are you going to be selling your home? Do you have a lot of clutter? Is there excess furniture hanging around that is making your place look far less spacious?
One of the best things you can do to get your home sold faster is clear out the excess stuff that will prevent a buyer from seeing your home’s true potential.
When you move from one house to another, it is a great time to remove old unused furniture from your home. Just because you no longer want or need it doesn’t mean that it should be thrown away. The chances are that someone else will be looking for what you are removing from your home.
In fact, lots of folks will search for furniture donation pick up or pick up furniture donations near me or why not even a garage sale. When doing these kinds of searches, you’re bound to see many of the charities we’re going to discuss at length.
Article Summary:
- How to Schedule a Donation Pick Up
- The Donate to Charity Decision
- Companies That Provide Donation Pick Ups
- The Best of The Rest
- Final Thoughts on Donating to Charity
How to Schedule a Donation Pick Up
Make sure you do a little bit of research to see who is still doing donation pick-ups at the moment. Once you have figured out who is willing to come to your house you should disinfect all of your donations including boxes, furniture, and other items you’re giving away. Doing so will give you some peace of mind that everyone remains safe.
You’ll also want to ensure that the company picking up your stuff will accept everything you’re leaving. Some charities have strict policies on what they will and will not take.
The Donate to Charity Decision
There are so many excellent charities out there that there is no reason why anything in your house should go to waste. Obviously, any broken furniture or appliances should be discarded when you are decluttering.
Go through old clothing and discard anything worn out, torn, or stained. Charities will want your donations to be in decent shape. The clothing that is hardly worn, that family members have outgrown or hardly wear anymore will be perfect. Just makes sure it is laundered and folded well. You can neatly pack it into boxes, making it easier for the charity to handle.
Charities will especially appreciate coats, fleeces, and wet weather gear. These items are often harder to come by and are certainly in demand.
When donating furniture, look at it critically to ensure that it is not overused. Anything really distressed should be removed from your donation pile. Charities are not going to take anything unusable away.
The charities are actually doing you a favor, as you are decluttering and helping others at the same time. When you go through the kitchen and glassware, anything not used can be recycled. Pots, pans, and glasses will all be useful for charities. Even if the set is incomplete, it will be convenient for others.
Many people search through the local charity shops to see what they can find. For young people setting up an apartment or buying their first home, this is a good place to find useful things that have been donated to charity.
Companies That Provide Donation Pick Ups
Second-hand shops make a living out of recycling things that others have thrown away. An excellent example of this is nursery furniture. You only require it for a short time, and then you throw it out, often hardly used.
Instead, donating to charity is the way to go! Not only will you be making your home look that much better, but you will be helping someone in need.
Let’s take a look at companies that do donation pickups. There are more of them than you think. When you are ready to sell, you’ll be wise to call one of these reputable charities that will pick up your stuff for free.
1. Green Drop
Green Drop is a program on the East Coast, selected by several reputable charities nominating it to pick up donations and raise funds. With charities like St. Vincent de Paul and American Red Cross backing them, they can pick up, sort out and sell household products through their thrift shops.
The service is currently available in the city area of Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware, North Virginia, and Baltimore metro areas.
Once the donations are picked up and sold, the money, more than 3 million a year, supports their charities. Some items are not accepted, and these can be found on their website.
2. Salvation Army
Salvation Army is another organization that does donation pick-ups. The Salvation Army, founded in 1865, has helped people battling poverty, addiction, and many other disasters.
The Salvation Army will arrange a furniture pick-up, but they are not available in all places. They will even take your old car from your property, which is pretty unique. Once they have the items, they repurpose them and sell them in their stores using the funds raised to support their many charities.
3. Habitat For Humanity
It is a terrific charity that builds affordable housing for low-income families. Their donation pick-up is resold to families through their stores and outlets.
Proceeds go towards building more homes and doing repairs for families. Habitat will accept furniture, appliances, and building materials, and vehicles.
4. Goodwill
Goodwill is one of the most recognizable names in the charitable donation industry. If you want to donate to charity, Goodwill is a great choice. Besides being a charitable organization providing help to those in need, they also provide training and employment services to several folks who need a job.
They are large with 3,300 stores across North America, and in 2018 Goodwill trained more than 242,000 people for a new career.
Most locations offer free pickups. Your donations will help raise money for further employment training, as well as the needy.
5. Pickup Please
Pickup Please is run by the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). They are efficiently run with an online calendar scheduling pick-ups. Pack the boxes and label them, leave them on the porch for the driver to pick up, very efficient for charities who do donation pickup.
Once collected and sold, your donations fund local, state, and national programs run by VVA. They accept old household stuff, in reasonable order, clothing, toys, and electronics. They also specify small household furniture only.
6. Furniture Bank
When donating to charity with Furniture Bank, your furniture donation will help battered women and children who have sought refuge. These people are poor and often homeless. Often, representatives of migrant populations enable them to set up a home with furniture that we take for granted.
They don’t actually sell your furniture. They redirect it to the areas of greatest need. Besides furniture, The Furniture Bank will also accept cars.
7. The Arc
The Arc is another one of the many charities that do donation pickups. The Arc helps people with developmental and intellectual disabilities by picking up your donations and selling them in their thrift shops, and direct the money to their programs.
The Arc will take many products, including clothing, furniture, books, toys, kitchen items, cars, and more.
8. Amvets
This charity supports veterans and their families who may need assistance in finding employment. If pickup is offered in your area, pack everything into moving boxes, label it and leave it on the porch by 7:30 A.M.
For any larger items, phone the local area office to arrange pickup. They accept a wide range of donations, including electrical products, TVs, and computers that are less than 5 years old.
Once the company receives your donation, they can help families who lack basic equipment or alternatively sell the products in their charity shops to raise the money to help the Veterans get back on their feet.
The Best of The Rest
While the above charitable organizations are all excellent outfits, there are a few other places you can try to donate furniture. Some of them include:
- Homeless shelters
- Women’s shelters
- Thrift stores
- Theatre groups
- Freecycle
It is worth noting that during the Covid-19 pandemic, you may find that it is a lot harder to find a company that will make a donation pick up. Hopefully, sometime soon, that will be changing with vaccinations ramping up around the country.
Final Thoughts on Donating to Charity
Donation pickup will certainly make your move easier. The last time I moved, we hardly wasted anything. Even a few articles left for rubbish collection ended up being picked up by others. As a society, we have become much more mindful of waste, and using a donation pick up organization is a good way to avoid it.
Beyond the fact that donating to charity is going to make your place look that much better, it will make you feel good inside. There is no better feeling knowing your donation will be putting a smile on someone’s face that will really appreciate it.
Hopefully, you have enjoyed this guide for donating to charity. Without a doubt donating things you no longer need or want is a great way to get your home looking its absolute best. Best of luck with a quick and profitable home sale!
Just an FYI, The ARC no longer does pickups in Washington State. They have permanently closed down their donation pickup centers.