Page 2 of 5 FirstFirst 1234 ... LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 42

Thread: What to do about all that stupid fancy stuff??

  1. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    2,843
    If you call it stupid, it needs to just go. You don't care about it. LET......IT......GO!

    Call all the kids, cousins, nieces and nephews....announce a free-for-all on XX date until noon. it's yours. Call an antique dealer and let them come from 1-3, take whatever they offer. After that, haul it to the nearest thrift store.

  2. #12
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Saint Paul, Minnesota
    Posts
    6,618
    Quote Originally Posted by Gardnr View Post
    After that, haul it to the nearest thrift store.
    And hope they take it. Around here, Goodwill in particular has gotten pretty fussy about what they will take. I understand they probably don't want to warehouse tons of Christmas decor for months at a time. But they no longer take baby things (at all), certain sports equipment (seasonal or not), and increasing amounts of electronics.

    I think your advice is great, but I'd add a sentence to the end: "And then take what's left to the trash."
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  3. #13
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Always logged in
    Posts
    25,383
    Quote Originally Posted by SteveinMN View Post
    And hope they take it. Around here, Goodwill in particular has gotten pretty fussy about what they will take. I understand they probably don't want to warehouse tons of Christmas decor for months at a time. But they no longer take baby things (at all), certain sports equipment (seasonal or not), and increasing amounts of electronics.

    I think your advice is great, but I'd add a sentence to the end: "And then take what's left to the trash."
    i do try to not give Goodwill all the junk in the world. I toss a fair amount of items into landfill because when I shop at Goodwill I want unstained clothes and useful items in decent condition and I expect other people do as well.

  4. #14
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    beyond the pale
    Posts
    2,738
    Quote Originally Posted by SteveinMN View Post
    And hope they take it. Around here, Goodwill in particular has gotten pretty fussy about what they will take. I understand they probably don't want to warehouse tons of Christmas decor for months at a time. But they no longer take baby things (at all), certain sports equipment (seasonal or not), and increasing amounts of electronics.

    I think your advice is great, but I'd add a sentence to the end: "And then take what's left to the trash."
    Steve, I'm surprised that your local Goodwill doesn't want baby items. Around here the baby and toddler-sized clothes are a good-sized part of the clothing section, and toys are always fast sellers. Since kids grow so fast, I'd think baby and kid items would still be in decent shape and would be a fast turnover for sales?

  5. #15
    Senior Member gimmethesimplelife's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    6,686
    This right here? This I consider a perk of living in the 85006 or a similar area. Where I live, anything you don't want you can put right out on the street and by the next morning, some enterprising Mexican will have driven by and taken your stuff and will take it down to Mexico to fix/resell. People actually make a living doing this and I say, wonderful! I'd much rather them recycle unwanted goods this way than join the cartels! But yeah about thrift shops being picky - I once ran into this at the local Catholic charity for indigent pregnant women/new mothers - being very picky about used furniture, which I just put out on the sidewalk and it was gone less than 30 minutes later. Rob

  6. #16
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Vermont
    Posts
    14,637
    Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
    i do try to not give Goodwill all the junk in the world. I toss a fair amount of items into landfill because when I shop at Goodwill I want unstained clothes and useful items in decent condition and I expect other people do as well.
    Yeah, I was helping BIL sort through the stuff he was moving from the POD to the Goodwill bag.. and among the stuff were DIRTY dishtowels and old bathmats. I can't believe he was paying money to store dirty dishtowels. But I think that sometimes you see your stuff through rose-colored glasses, and it's only after you've been detached from it can you see it for what it really is.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  7. #17
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    6,255
    Quote Originally Posted by gimmethesimplelife View Post
    Where I live, anything you don't want you can put right out on the street ...
    We have what we lovingly call "The Magic Sidewalk". We have never had anything sit on the sidewalk with a free sign for more than 2 days max.
    To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." Mahatma Gandhi
    Be nice whenever possible. It's always possible. HH Dalai Lama
    In a world where you can be anything - be kind. Unknown

  8. #18
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Saint Paul, Minnesota
    Posts
    6,618
    Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
    i do try to not give Goodwill all the junk in the world. I toss a fair amount of items into landfill because when I shop at Goodwill I want unstained clothes and useful items in decent condition and I expect other people do as well.
    I fully realize many people use thrift stores as dumps. I can understand, say, concerns about accepting bedding in the age of bedbugs if the organization cannot afford to treat items for the problem before sale. It makes sense to me that a thrift store would not accept old obsolete cribs and car safety seats that may or may not have been in an accident (despite what the donor says). But some thrift stores around here will not accept an iPod or functioning loudspeakers. The local GW does not accept things like bumbo seats or "Diaper Genies" complete with the appropriate plastic bags. There's nothing wrong with these items. They're just saying 'no' for undisclosed reasons.

    Who knows where the used kids' clothing they so readily accept has been been? But they won't accept a clean hard plastic dining-room-table baby booster seat. It's puzzling. And, to get into the realm of useful items, why do they still accept those plaques with talking fish? Or vinyl records without liners or jackets that look like they were used as welcome mats? [ETA] I've seen used coffeemakers for sale with coffee stains still on the carafe and some coffee grounds in the basket. Why even put that on the sales floor?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lainey
    Steve, I'm surprised that your local Goodwill doesn't want baby items.
    I was, too. The stuff stayed in the trunk. There are other ways to pass on those items to others. But you'd think there would be a ready market for "useful items in decent condition", especially when kids outgrow all of it so quickly.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  9. #19
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Nevada
    Posts
    12,889
    We also have a magic sidewalk). Our thrift stores accepted most things except old TVs and China cabinets.

  10. #20
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    2,843
    Quote Originally Posted by SteveinMN View Post
    And hope they take it. Around here, Goodwill in particular has gotten pretty fussy about what they will take. I understand they probably don't want to warehouse tons of Christmas decor for months at a time. But they no longer take baby things (at all), certain sports equipment (seasonal or not), and increasing amounts of electronics.

    I think your advice is great, but I'd add a sentence to the end: "And then take what's left to the trash."
    I've talked to my thrift store staff. Unless it is true trash, they would rather it be delivered for resale. They trash about 10% of what they receive but find value in much that others might toss even though they have the cost of landfill trips.

    Yes, any cloth is expected to be laundered. They do not launder. Soiled items would be trashed.

    The only thing they won't take at this point is a Tube TV.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •