Notes on giving

Almost a cliche, spring has become a time of cleaning for us. Perhaps spawned from the excess of the holidays or because Sunnyvale's garage sale day is in the spring, it has become an annual ritual for us to do a little decluttering at least each year.

This year, I feel a little different about what happens to our stuff. In the past, the thrill of holding a garage sale and seeing what of my stuff other people would actually buy motivated me to clean and hold a garage sale. But last weekend, we quite randomly decided to clean out the garage with the goal of getting both cars into the garage. We mostly rearranged but we had a decent pile of stuff to hold a garage sale with.

But Tom, ever the voice of reason, asked if it might be easier if we donated our stuff this year. Sure we would get some money from the garage sale but we also get money from our tax deduction (it's just not as tangible as a literal wad of $1's and quarters). And that way, we can get rid of our pile NOW and not have to wait until mid-April for the garage sale. And for once, I was actually relieved to decide not to hold a garage sale this year. I'm sure it helped that Tom said maybe this year we could actually go to garage sales instead of holding our own. :-)

As we thought about donating the thought occurred to me. I care who I donate to, especially that the stuff we're giving away now is stuff that has made the first few cuts and are not just useless knicknacks. I don't really care to donate our stuff to Goodwill or Salvation Army because our stuff will end up in a store, overpriced for those who are truly poor, with money possibly going to overhead, so I thought I've read. No, I'd rather give more locally where I feel the stuff could be used by someone in need or that the money would be used appropriately. I came to this realization when we decided to donate some of our bulky items to Goodwill because their website said we could donate on a Sunday, i.e., right away. But I found myself relieved that they were actually closed and that I wasn't abandoning some items, like the desk, to a charity I don't even like.

So I'm in a happy place now, knowing that Grandma's WebTV went to Lytton Gardens, my nice home furnishings are going to New Creation Home, and the rest to CityTeam. I can rest knowing that my former things are also at rest.

I've also had the chance to talk to Tobey about giving and donating. It will probably take a few more conversations for him to get the hang of it but hopefully we will as we go around town dropping off donations.