December 16, 2010

• goodwill

  I really like that our office has Goodwill donation bins and pickups at the end of the year. It’s the perfect way to get lazy people like me to go through my stuff, find items to donate, and actually donate them, simultaneously accomplishing several things: decluttering, doing something nice, and getting one last tax break in before the end of the year.

  Last year, I managed to find 100 things to donate. This year, I didn’t have as much time (or as much backlogged stuff to pick from), but I still rustled up 70 items, which was still enough to pack the entire trunk of my Prius, and took three trips for me to haul into the building. Respectable.

  It’s an interesting process trying to decide what to donate. Some items are obvious, but some things have either sentimental value (“Oh, I used to love that sweater.”) or a guilt factor (“I never used that. I really should have used that at least once. I really should use it now.”) or a denial component (“I have had no need for that in five years, but I’m pretty sure I can find a way to use it soon.”) that make it hard to put the item into the pile of “I don’t want you anymore.”

  This year, I forced myself to part with, among other things, a Roomba (I finally concede that I am not even able to muster up the motivation to get a robot to vacuum my house), some brand new pants that I have never worn, computer speakers, Rollerblades, a barely-used (and at the time very expensive) cell phone, and a bunch of clothes are are too dressy for work and too lame for anything else. 

  • 4:11 pm
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