Donating Items to Charity Helps You Downsize with Care

Making the move to a senior living community can be quite a process. Not only do you have to find a community that suits your needs and carefully plan finances, but the move itself involves logistical considerations. And one thing to especially keep in mind is that seniors frequently go through the downsizing process during the move.

During downsizing, you come across items you no longer need and wish to get rid of. Thankfully, there are plenty of options of what to do with extra “stuff.” One of these options is donating your belongings.

The Process of Donating Your Household Items During a Move

While downsizing during your move to a senior living community, we recommend making three piles of your belongings: keep, discard, and donate/sell. By going through this process, you’re eliminating the items in your life that you truly don’t need. From here, you’re able to sort through what items you wish to donate to the charity of your choice to be used by someone who needs them more than you do.

Carefully consider the items you are including in the donate pile. Generally speaking, these are gently used or still properly functioning items that still have some life left in them. Don’t include items that are in disrepair, don’t work properly, are ripped or torn, or are missing parts – these should be in the “discard” pile.

Another aspect to think about besides what you donate is WHERE you donate. To make the process easier for you, try and find a charity that accepts a wide variety of items, so you don’t have to make multiple arrangements. That being said, also consider where the best place would be to donate certain belongings – while a suitcase you don’t use anymore may be more suited for an organization helping foster children, old towels are more appreciated at an animal shelter.

When you look for the best and most appropriate charities to donate your belongings to, make sure you do your research. There are many types of charities that accept certain items or use items differently. In order to make an informed decision, we encourage you to use a charity evaluator like Charity Navigator that looks into the financial health, accountability and transparency of an organization.

By donating your belongings, you’ll not only be helping yourself in making your move easier, but you’ll be helping others, too. From clothes to books to household items like kitchenware, donating your gently used belongings truly helps others in need.

Make the Downsizing Process Easy with Monroe Village

At Monroe Village, we help you make the move to our community as easy as possible through Move Ahead. This program offers a variety of services that helps guide you and simplify the moving process. Services include home staging, downsizing and organizing your move into your new home. Part of these downsizing services includes organizing and decluttering your belongings, allowing you to evaluate your possessions and donate unused items to those in need.

Learn more about how we can help you through Move Ahead by contacting us today.