We use an organization that will pick up your items. Epilepsy Foundation?
No idea if it is even a legit organization supporting epilepsy. We got a flyer in the mail, and we are hooked to the ease of getting donations picked up off the front porch.
Good idea! That would be a great idea for reaching a target audience. I do remember seeing those type of ads. I donât read magazines on electronic devices, but hopefully others do.
Now Iâm off to get ride of stuff I do know how to accomplishâshredded office paper! Downsizing is a lot of work. I wonder if all of us had known this in our 20 and 30âs if we wouldâve done a better job not accumulating in the first place.
Every year when I do my taxes I am astounded at how much I can deduct for donating clothes, books and household goods to charity. I use the guide on Turbotax. Itâs a good incentive not just to take things to Goodwill or have one of the pickup places that collect near me (VIetnam Vets, Lupus Foundation, Amvets) but to write down what I take so I can accurately reflect what I should get in charitable deductions.
There is a place near Madison WI that restores and sells old stoves like that. Iâm sure there are others. Google them and youâll find some place nearby.
@VeryHappy Thanks. Googled and found that place. I also wanted to thank the posters who suggested Chicagoâs North Shore area. Both good ideas and within a couple of hours from me.
Most antique stove dealers/restorers are in New England. Itâs incredible how many more cast iron stoves are still thereâeither in use with wood/coal or sitting in barns. I think Midwestern farmers must have thrown them back in their woods until they disintegrated.
About the antique stove: Try the forums on the website for This Old House⊠or Old House JournalâŠ
sryrstessâmaybe we should start a new query.
I have been pretty grand on getting rid of stuff. I am a little stymied though
on two dressersâEast Lake 1860-70 dressers. They were in both kids nurseries and one as a changing table.
Neither of them are interested.
I have slowed down on the getting rid of stuff thing. Truthfully, itâs not like we have that much to get rid of at this point, I guess. I am transitioning to redecorating. Very slowly.
I put several dusty but workable items (chainsaw, dolly, etc.) from the garage out on a tarp by the curb and advertised them as free on Craigslist. Someone picked up several of the items within half an hour. Sometimes I love the internet.
I will be calling for an "extraâ curbside trash pick up for next weekend - we are allowed one per month. I bought two new club chairs for the living room and need to get rid of a tattered chair and ottoman that are pretty good size. Told H that we should âtake advantageâ of this curbsite pick up to run through the garage and attic to see any obvious things we can dump - surprisingly he has a pile started in the garage!
Itâs a little disturbing when I go through the garage and realize that the only things in there that are âmineâ is the gardening stuff - all of which I use. There is TONS of other stuff but , ahem, it all falls under Hâs crap! I got the small pile out of him but there is SOOO much more there to get rid of. His attention span is about 5 minutes for this type of cleaning out unfortunately, donât know if Iâll get any more out of him!
We donât have to advertise free stuff on our curb. There are a couple of trucks that drive around early Wed and Thurs to pick up âtreasuresâ - our neighborhood is right next to a pricier one and they do put out some good stuff. We have once a week, usually Thursday city pick up that we pay for on our monthly city bill for water/sewer/trash.
My H is good at fixing up bikes (DD sold one for basically what it cost him to âfix upâ - needed it for college campus). I have one that he fixed up (I donât want to risk the low handlebars on my other bike). Once a neighbor put a bike to the curb, and I ran a short errand, and 10 minutes later it was gone!
Kid hauled a few items to a local thrift shop and got $100 for her efforts! Pile #2 is ready to go.
Scheduled a pickup from Lupus for Tuesday. I have one bag of clothing and some other miscellaneous :âstuffâ ready to go.
I dropped off the old textbooks at the oneworldbooks drop box.
Got ds1 to take a tub of his junk to his place.
I have been going through piles and boxes in the basement and closets. Itâs a beautiful warm day and I am making multiple trips to the dump and leaving things at the swap shack. Iâm a little obsessive now that I have finally started doing this⊠Iâll probably keep going till midnight! LOL. It feels really good to get all this crap out of the house.
@sryrstress how about a place like Everything but the house? Maybe they could be of some help.
The box of school supplies (gently used/unused binders, unused notebooks/unopened packs of index cards, etc) is going to be dropped off at a friends house. She is a GC at a local HS.
Happy to report that we returned from our vacation without buying anything!!! The chocolate covered mac nuts will be given to the cat sitter. 
I forgot to report that I donated a bunch of stuff last Monday. I counted 40 womenâs shirts, many pairs of pants and skirts, etc. We are starting to think about retiring, and possibly moving/downsizing. My H actually even threw away some of his daugherâs things. (This from a man who paid to move many of her baby things, even though she was 7 years old, so itâs a big deal). BTW, sheâs now 25.
Three bags of clothes and shoes donated Monday. Hoping to go through more this weekend.