Just in time for spring cleaning, the brilliant folks at Goodwill teamed up with The Clutter Diet’s Lorie Marrero for a great Twitter party focusing on organization, getting rid of clutter, and how to benefit your community and environment by donating that clutter to your friendly neighborhood Goodwill. Spring Cleaning with Goodwill and the Clutter Diet made me realize the impact that I can make just by getting rid of clutter.
This was my first Twitter party, and the tweets were a flyin’. Hundreds of tweeps participated, retweeting their hearts out, spreading the good word about Goodwill.
Prizes were announced and won (I’m so thrilled I’m seasick – I won a set of Rubbermaid Easy Find Lids food storage containers, WHICH I will announce as TSC’s first giveaway as soon as they arrive!).
TSC's First Giveaway Coming Soon!
Other prizes ranged from label makers and office supplies to a home décor item from Good Housekeeping, Simple Division Garment Organizers, the SpaceScaping Kitchen Organizing System, Donate Movement T-shirts and copies of designer Frank Fontana’s latest book, “The Dirty Little Secrets of Design.” The grand prize was an annual membership to The Clutter Diet program, an autographed copy of Lorie’s book & a bundle of Clutter Diet products. In short, good, feel-good (and informative) fun.
The format was also genius – Lorie offered tips about decluttering, and Goodwill followed up with hard numbers about what donating your clutter can do. Here are a few highlights:
* 5 ways getting organized can help you get a job
- Every 45 seconds of every business day, a person served by Goodwill earns a good job.
- Donations helped Goodwill serve 1.9 million people with employment programs in 2009.
* Set up a “Donation Station” in your home, get items you’ve decided to donate out of circulation & ready to go.
- Donating one lamp can provide 10 minutes of career counseling to someone who needs it.
- The old TV taking up space in your basement, when donated, can provide 31 minutes of career counseling.
* Store frequently-used items in the most-accessible places. Favorite shoes, front and center. Formalwear, to the back & away.
* After decluttering your closet, turn hanger hooks backward on all the clothes you’re keeping . Over time you’ll see what clothes you did/didn’t wear. Donate backward hooks to Goodwill!
- Donating just one purse can give someone in need 7 minutes of financial planning classes.
* Mark kids’ clothing tags with a marker – 1 dot for the oldest child, 2 for the next oldest, 3 for next, and so on – it makes the clothes easier to sort and hand down!
- If kids are bored with old video games, donating 3 can provide 15 minutes of job search class.
- Donation tip: Don’t donate kids’ products that have been recalled. Check this site first: http://www.cpsc.gov.
* Organize kitchens with the Four F Words: Features, Function, Flow, Frequencies.
Consider all as you strategize placement.
- Donating 10 plates can provide 15 minutes of financial planning classes.
* Pre-make tax folders for the next couple of years to have a place to hold tax paperwork as it arrives.
* If you have an iPhone or iPad, track donations using iDonatedit
- Calculate your donation impact
* Organize your own Clutter Diet party, and turn it into a donation drive!
* The Clutter Diet’s weekly Clutter Video Tip
- Learn about Goodwill’s Donate Movement and their partners!
Many thanks to Goodwill and Lorie for such a great initiative, and thanks to all of TSC’s new Twitter friends who made it such a lovely community event! You can review some of the thousands of posts by entering #donateclutter into the Twitter search bar. Be sure to check out the Clutter Diet and the Donate Movement, and follow them on Facebook and Twitter for up to date news, resources and bargains.
Coming next week! The tireless TSC video crew is at it again, spotlighting a great Goodwill store in NYC!
Want more? Check out Closet Makeover Tips from the Pros, and our video Closet Makeover Makes an Impact.
Hi there. I'm Nicole. I live in New York City, in a small apartment full of strange little things. In addition to running Thrift Store Confidential 
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