tla entertainment: The Best Ways to Donate the Junk Stored at Your Parents House [Charity]

The Best Ways to Donate the Junk Stored at Your Parents House If you're at home over this long holiday weekend, whether it's your own or your family's, you might be looking through some old stuff and deciding on whether or not it's worth keeping. Figuring out what thrift stores and charities want can be hard, but there are a few ways to know if your stuff is worthy of the dumpster or the store.

Photo by Kate Bingaman-Burt.

What Can be Donated

The Best Ways to Donate the Junk Stored at Your Parents House Just because you're in the giving mood doesn't mean someone wants to take your junk. There's no steadfast rule on what can and can't be donated, but it's good to keep in mind that whatever you want to donate still needs to have a practical use.

For the most part that includes all forms of technology. People go to thrift stores for all sorts of things, vinyl records, old video games, outdated computers, musical instruments, and pretty much everything else you can think of. As long as it works, most donation centers will take it. There's almost always someone out there who still enjoys VHS tapes or 8-tracks.

For newer electronics, many stores and non-profit drop offs have donation programs for recycling them or for sending them off to schools or people in need. This can be handy if your six-year-old computer still works fine, but you're upgrading anyway. We also highlighted a bunch of drop off locations a while back, many of which are still active.

There are an entire subsection of thrift stores and non-profits that accept vehicle donation for working or non-working cars. In most cases, they'll even pick it up for you, so if you have an old beater you're tired of repairing but don't want to sell it, it's an easy way to get it off your lawn and help someone out.

For things like books, DVDs, and CDs, libraries and schools often accept donations. You can call your local school or visit DonorsChoose to see what they're looking for.

Photo by US Embassy.

What You Shouldn't Donate

The Best Ways to Donate the Junk Stored at Your Parents House For the most part, you can use your best judgment on whether something can be donated, but most thrift stores won't accept these types of items:

Mattress/Box Springs
Infant Car Seats
Built in Appliances (dishwashers, cooktops, drop ins, wall mounts)
Baby Walkers, playpens, strollers, and swings
Window blinds, mini blinds
Magazines
On top of that, most places aren't interested in your broken furniture, old work clothes, or stained carpet. If you really want to give away your favorite old desk but it has a few problems, you might want to at least partially fix it up before taking it in. Otherwise it will likely go in the scrap bin. Many smaller places won't accept furniture, so be sure to check with your local stores and shelters before lugging down the 200 lb. dresser you want to ditch.

That said, if the above items top your list of things to get rid of, you might still have some options. Mattresses and box springs, for instance, can often go to furniture banks or homeless shelters. Still, keep in mind you should only be donating a clean mattress. A big reason for this is bed bugs, but the overall gross-factor has an effect too.

Photo by monkeysox.

How to Donate it

As we previously mentioned in our guide to cleaning out your closet, there are a lot of ways to donate your old stuff, including ways where you don't even have to get off the couch.

For the bulk of your junk, your best bet is going to be a local thrift store. Places like Goodwill or the Salvation Army are good about taking a lot of different types of household items and usually keep a large drop-off area open for extended parts of the day. If you're too lazy or you don't own a car, many offer pickup if you can convince them it's worthwhile, or services like PickUpPlease and Charity Clothing Pickup will come by and grab your donations from your porch.

Other places, like churches, schools, homeless shelters, or other non-profits are best surveyed beforehand to make sure they're interested in what you have. Since what you give them is given out for free to needy individuals and they typically don't have a lot of storage space, the policies differ from thrift stores.

How to Write it All Off

When you donate something, you'll be asked if you want a receipt. We've covered services like Lemon, Shoeboxed and Expensify before and these are all great tools for keeping track of your receipts. You can, of course, also just keep them in a shoebox or whatever method you prefer.

Your donations are all tax deductible. Charity reductions are on Form 1040, Schedule A and when you donate the goods, they should let you know if they're a 501(c)(3), which makes them qualified for write-offs. However, donations between $250 and $500 require receipts. If you donate over $500, you'll need to fill out IRS Form 8283 with more detailed information. All the forms are pretty straightforward, but valuing your items can be a little more difficult.

Thankfully, the Salvation Army has a breakdown of average item worth and TurboTax's ItsDeductible will figure it for you automatically. If you're donating larger items like a car or boat, your receipt should have the information on it already.

In the end, it's best to remember the purpose of donation, you have something you don't need, so you give it away. It's not about getting rid of your trash. With that in mind, it's a simple process.

Photo by Images Money.