BE PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER

Posted on January 3, 2019 by

YOUR GIFT – IN ANY AMOUNT – IS PRICELESS

Wonder what to donate to Goodwill? When you make a donation to support our cause, you join thousands of generous people who are investing in a better world. The dollars we receive are used exclusively for our programs.

WHAT TO DONATE TO GOODWILL

When deciding what to donate to Goodwill, think about what you would give to a relative, friend or neighbor. More than likely, if it’s something you would give to them, it’s something that we could use.

Below are a few examples:

Clothing
Cloth Items
Shoes
Jewelry
Dolls
Dishes, Pots, Pans and Utensils
Antiques and Collectibles
Small Working Appliances
Chairs
Couches
Tables
Lamps
Beds
Dressers
Desks

This is not an exhaustive list of things to donate to Goodwill. It would be too difficult to list everything we sell in the stores. These items are the items most people are looking for when visiting our stores and tend to sell well. We like donations of all kinds, but there are some things that we can’t sell or costs us money to recycle or dispose of. These items are on our “What NOT to Donate” list. Please check this list before donating to make sure Goodwill can use them to further its mission.

DONATE A VEHICLE

We would LOVE to take your car, boat or RV and put it to great use! For more information on how to donate your vehicle to Goodwill, please contact by sending an email or calling (574) 472-7319 and selecting option #2.

When you contact us please have the following information available:

Vehicle VIN#
Make and Model of Vehicle / Boat

COMPUTER RECYCLING

The computer and computer peripheral recycling is a FREE service provided by Goodwill and our recycling partners. At Goodwill, we accept your donation of any brand of used computer equipment – working or not – through the computer recycling program. We also accept just about anything that can be connected to a computer.

Items We Accept:

Monitors
Computers
Printers
Scanners
Hard Drives
Keyboards
Mice
Speakers
Cords & Cables
Ink & Toner Cartridges
Software

Click HERE for more information. The Dell Reconnect program is designed for home consumers. Goodwill Industries of Michiana, Inc. is a proud participant of the Dell Reconnect program.

Whether you have one computer at home or several, bring them all to a Donation Drive-Thru at your nearest Goodwill Store. It’s FREE and you’ll get a tax receipt. Questions? Call (574) 472-7324 to speak with someone from our Industrial Services department.

HOW DO I START DONATING TO GOODWILL?

It’s easy! Go through your closets, kitchen, basement, etc. and find some things you’d like to put to good use. Click HERE to read up on some tips we’ve posted on how to declutter your home. Pack everything up and deliver to either a drive up donation center, or to a donation drop box in your area.

For more information about Goodwill donations, please visit their Donation Page.

The things you donate help further Goodwill’s Mission to strengthen communities by empowering individuals and families through Education, Training and Job Placement.

New Ways to Save in the New Year

Posted on February 12, 2013 by

There is something so renewing to know that a new year is beginning and that you have a whole new year ahead of you to start fresh. In February, our New Year’s goals may have already been forgotten, but today I want to encourage you to dust those goals back off and start anew again with a goal that is very dear to my heart… being wise with our funds. The goal that I have each year is to continue to reduce our spending and find creative ways to live our beautiful life on a small budget.

Perhaps it is a goal of yours too? Let’s explore some new ways to save in this new year!

Get Your Finances Back on Track- Isn’t it funny that we have more ways than ever to be in touch with our money, yet many of us couldn’t be further from it? Consider investing in some financial planning software this year or utilizing a free financial planning service like Mint.com for tracking your spending. Start this year out right and begin analyzing where your money is going and find new ways that you can reduce your spending categories. Viewing your spending history is an eye-opening way to see simple switches you could make to begin saving and planning for your future.

Switch to a Cash System- In some regards, using an envelope system is an old-school method, but it has been the one method that has worked the very best for our family through the years. At the beginning of the week, withdraw the money that you need for your groceries and give an allowance to yourself, your spouse, and a family allowance for dining out/entertainment. This will not only keep you within your grocery budget, but it will also keep those incidental expenses for each family member within a budget too.

No one can shame you for buying a weekly latte and no one can be upset that a family member went out to dinner, provided that it is within your weekly allowance! A family allowance will also allow you to do something fun each week together and give you that much needed family time you deserve.

Ditch the Membership Fees- Are you paying for a membership that you aren’t using anymore? Many times when I talk to people about memberships they have, they are usually not using them. Do you have a gym membership, but don’t ever go to the gym? Do you subscribe to a magazine that you don’t have time to read or is no longer applicable to that stage in your life? Do you have a movie club, but no one ever has time to watch the movies?

Ditching those memberships doesn’t mean that you can’t indulge in those activities; it just means you can be smarter about how you are doing them. A gym that offers a punch card where you only have to pay per class might be a better option if you can’t ever make it to the gym. Checking out those movies and magazines from the library might be a better way to indulge in those entertainment expenses without paying yearly on them. Rethink how you can approach those spending categories and you could easily save $30 or more off of your monthly expenses.

Embrace a DIY Lifestyle- The best thing you can do for your finances this year is to invest in learning new skills that you will save you money. Take a class to learn how to make your own birthday cakes, learn a new craft that could save on gift expenses, visit a Saturday workshop at your local hardware store to complete a home improvement project, research on You Tube or check out books from the library on how to tackle projects that you normally have to outsource. Embracing a DIY lifestyle is what frugality, to me, is all about. Go out and learn a new skill today and see what it can do to improve those family finances. It just might surprise you!

When looking for materials for these DIY projects, be sure to stop at your Goodwill store to see what treasures you can use to tackle those home improvement projects. Goodwill is always my first stop when looking for materials for my favorite DIY projects.

Get Rid of That Clutter- Clutter not only weighs us down physically, but clutter causes us to spend money when we don’t need to. One look at a cluttered pantry or bathroom closet and you know exactly what I am talking about. Duplicate purchases occur when we don’t have a strong grasp on our inventory in our home and clutter hides us from the real treasures that are in our lives. Stop allowing clutter to put a drain on your budget and your life.

The best part about our Goodwill stores is that not only can you get rid of clutter, but you can score savings at the store by stopping by and making that donation. An employee will happily hand you a tax receipt when you drop your items off at the Goodwill Drive-Thru Donation Center. The bonus, that makes the trip and decluttering your life entirely worth it, is that our Michiana Goodwill Stores attach a coupon to your tax deduction form that will save you a percentage on your next shopping trip.

When you visit Goodwill, ask about their Goodwill Loves Moms Reward Program. It’s amazing! You can register in the store for $4.00 and you’ll receive a re-useable Donation Bag and Reward Card. When you donate with the bag, they’ll validate your Reward Card. When the card is full, they’ll send you a gift valued at $25.00 – or a Shopping Certificate – you decide! Find out more at: www.GoodwillLovesMoms.com.

I call that a win-win situation when it comes to ways to save money and reward yourself in the new year!

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE ABOUT YOUR SPENDING THIS YEAR?

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION #1

Posted on January 2, 2013 by

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION #1

get all the holiday décor dealt with before February.

New Years Day. What does it mean to you? For me, it means cleaning and organizing. Putting away all the holiday décor and getting my house back in order. And for some reason that task seems to get harder and harder each year.

My goal is simple: get my home to a Christmas-decoration-free zone. Inevitably as I started going through things, I get side tracked and unmotivated. This year it occurred to me ‘why don’t I eliminate some of this holiday clutter and donate it to Goodwill’. BRILLANT!

Imagine being able to just load up your holiday stuff into your car, and not dealing with the organizing / reorganizing! Then, next year head to your local Goodwill store and load up on new holiday decorations. Seriously…I might be on to something here!

3 EASY STEPS

Here are some tips when considering eliminating your holiday clutter:

1. Before you start undoing all of your beautifully staged holiday decor, go through the storage totes and consider what you didn’t use. Do you really NEED those things? Can they be donated?

2. Then, as you put things away, think about it’s meaning. Of course you don’t want to donate those sentimental ornament that your daughter made for you in 3rd grade, so before you repack your ornaments, have 2 piles “keep” and “donate”. Put things in the ‘donate’ pile that you may not like, you haven’t used or simply want to replace next year.

3. Keep a list of those things you’ve decided to completely replace next year. Nothing could be worse than next December, getting all into the holiday spirit and decorating and realizing you donated all of your garland and lights. …and when next year comes, remember to start your holiday decor shopping at your local Goodwill store. You will be surprised what you find!

To find a list of Goodwill stores close to you, click HERE.

Stay tuned for other New Year’s Resolution tips!

Donations… Step 1 – Organize!

Posted on November 26, 2012 by

I think we all can agree that donating our used goods to Goodwill is a good thing. We all want to help people in our communities gain the resources necessary to go to work and become self-sufficient. But the reality of ‘doing that’ means we need to motivate ourselves to clear out some clutter.

Overwhelming? Not really.

I talked to a professional organizer friend of mine, Donna Roland. She is simply amazing! She offered the following very simple step-by-step process to get started with a closet organizing project.

(photo from Donna’s website: http://www.faithfullyorganized.com/)

STEP 1

Set aside the proper amount of time you will need to tackle this project. If you don’t have time to do it all at once, take a section at a time.

STEP 2

Determine what your “style” is and what clothes need to be kept in your closet to fit your style. Having this information helps determine which items should be kept

STEP 3

Remove and sort everything from your closet so you can start with a clean slate. This includes shoes, purses and accessories as well. This will require trying things on and asking yourself several questions which include: Does it still fit?, Is it still in style?, Do I like how I feel in it?, Does it fit my style?, and Would I buy this today?

Sort the items into piles of “Keep”, Donate” and “Toss”. Once all the items are sorted into your piles, immediately throw out the items in your “Toss” stack and take the “Donate” items to Goodwill so they are out of sight and you no longer have to think about them.

STEP 4

Storing your “Keep” stack. Now it’s time to place the “Keep” items back in your closet. Arrange the items in your closet by categories such as: season, purpose, color, style and length. Make sure the items are all hanging so they face in the same direction. Hang your items so that you can “shop” your closet and see exactly what you have.

STEP 5

Be proud of your accomplishment! Stand back and be proud of what you have accomplished and enjoy your new closet and how it makes you feel. Now you can use your new knowledge when you go on your next shopping trip and know exactly what to buy!

Remember… place your “donate” items in the car right away and head to Goodwill.
You’ll feel great having the extra space in your closet. And, you’ve helped others in our community at the same time.

Goodwill…it’s good to donate!

Posted on August 28, 2012 by

(from https://donate.goodwill.org/about/)

There is a movement…a donation movement

Your donation of used goods can make a difference for people in your community, and help make a healthier planet as well. The Donate Movement, powered by Goodwill®, challenges all of us to donate conscientiously and responsibly.

Goodwill® knows the power donations can have on people and the planet. For 110 years, Goodwill has been a pioneer of the “reduce, reuse, repurpose” practice. Together with our partners, we want you to know that your donated goods have the power to make a difference in people’s lives, strengthen communities and create a healthier environment.

When people think twice about what they donate, where they donate and how their donations affect others – and when they donate to reputable organizations – that can have a powerful impact on our world. Goodwill has named this effort the “Donate Movement.”

If you donate just one bag of clothing, the impact of that one bag will supply resume prep services for over 1 hour.

Donating also saves our planet.

Since 01.01.2012, Goodwill has diverted over 1,750,649 pounds of usable goods from landfills.*

Creating a No Spend Challenge for Your Family

Posted on January 7, 2012 by

Does taking a No Spend Challenge sound like a daunting project? It is actually easier than you might think. Our family tries to go on this little adventure every February and have made a commitment to have a month of no spending.

The technique of giving yourself a break from spending, whether it is a weekend or a year, is a popular technique among personal finance writers and financial advisers to aid in getting your budget back on track.

Money-free weekends are nothing new to our family. We often make commitments verbally that we will forgo spending for a weekend, but no spending for an entire month? This will be a new one for us.

To make a commitment to our no-spend month, we have budgeted exactly what we need for gas and groceries. We will, of course, pay all of our monthly bills, but will go without any incidental spending that usually occurs during the week. That means no trips to Hobby Lobby for me, no dinners out when I am too tired to cook, no drinks out with the girls. As you can see, it will be quite the commitment to not spend carelessly.

What can be gained though from a no-spend month can prove to be of great value for families. When you are not able to spend, you suddenly see how plentiful your life already is. The richness of what is around you and how little you truly do need to be happy quickly comes into focus.

As a consumer, we become conditioned to spend so those initial first weeks can prove challenging, but the rewards are great for families who can overcome that hump and break the cycle of spending. A no-spend month does come with challenges, but it also comes with the gratification of knowing that you have let your bank account grow and have become aware of where your money is going.

Would you like to take a no-spend adventure with me? Just think of all of the free time you will have if you are not out shopping and spending for a month.

Here are a few ideas for how you could spend all of that free time!

– Get your finances back on track by trying out a free program like Mint.com and get in better touch with your past spending.

– Dust off those old board games and spend an evening playing them together.

– Watch free movies on Hulu.com or take out the DVD collection and watch your favorite movies again. If you are really craving a new release, sign up on Redbox.com to get free movie codes sent to your cell phone to use towards a fun new release.

– Break out that really old game system and relive those games again with your kids.

– Dig through your old cookbooks and try out recipes using some of the ingredients in your pantry.

– Play a game of Iron Chef with your spouse and let your children be the judge of the best dish by having your very own cooking contest. You might be surprised that even dad’s toasted Pop-Tart might be the judge’s favorite in this contest.

– Actually use the craft supplies that you have bought and start tackling some of your crafty ideas for the holidays.

– Find the floor in your laundry room.

– Look for free community activities that you could do as a family.

– Volunteer or find things in your home that you could donate to Goodwill to reclaim that space in your home.

– Visit the library and actually read the books.

– Clip coupons and plan your grocery shopping in advance for next month.

– Take a wonderful and delicious nap.

– Learn a new skill set or check out books on self-improvement to help make your life better or easier. I love to visit You Tube to get great video tutorials on everything from doing my hair to discovering a new craft.

– Get free museum passes from the library or check the local museum’s websites for information on their free admittance days. Don’t forget to pack a lunch!

– Have a potluck-style swap night with your friends and exchange three of your things for three of theirs.

– Read that pile of magazines or newspapers that never gets read.

– Exercise.

– Listen to free music on Spotify, Pandora, or Groove Shark and make a fun mix of songs you listened to when you were dating your spouse.

– Take a bubble bath.

– Play on the floor with your children.

– Organize your closet and take inventory of your wardrobe. Be sure to start a great stack of items to pass on to Goodwill!

– Recharge those batteries and put them in the children’s toys to make them “new” again.

– Tackle a home improvement project that you bought supplies for, but still haven’t finished.

However you decide to spend your no-spend day, weekend, week, month, or year, I hope that it brings into focus how great it can truly be to not spend and that it gives you the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with those around you.

Have you ever tried to go without a period of not spending money? What did you learn from that experience? Please feel free to share!

Please click on the above pictures for photo credit and to access the photographer information for each image.

Finding Thankfulness in a Simple Holiday

Posted on November 10, 2011 by

I don’t know about you, but Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. What other holiday do we just eat and sit around being thankful for what we already have? While Christmas really should be about that, I find that Thanksgiving is the holiday where our family seems to focus best on all of the blessings in our life. There are no presents to distract us from our thankful hearts and the focus is all about being together as a family.

We don’t have very many Thanksgiving traditions in our family other than a morning spent watching the Thanksgiving parade in our jammies and just being together. The beauty in Thanksgiving, for me, is finding simple ways to give thanks for all that we have in our lives.

As Jacqueline Winspear has said though, “Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live.” I want to live thankfully, to be aware of every blessing (great AND small), and the more aware I become the more thankful I am. The more thankful I am, the more blessed I feel. It is a richness that money can’t buy.

Here are a few ways to embrace a life of thankfulness in the little things this holiday season:

Say Thank You With Simple Gifts– Contrary to popular belief, even though I blog abut saving money, you won’t find this girl at the Black Friday sales trying to score the best deals. My favorite thing to do is to spend the day after Thanksgiving lounging around in my pajamas, sipping coffee, and starting my holiday crafting for those I love.

Instead of making a plan of attack at the store this year, embrace a DIY mentality towards your gift-giving and start jotting down the crafts you want to try this year. I don’t know about you, but nothing means more to me than someone taking time out of their day to create something beautiful and unique just for me.

Make a list of supplies you need for making those crafts happen and hit Goodwill first to see if you can find the craft supplies for less or find a vision for what to do with these thrift store items. If you need a little inspiration to get you started, be sure to read my entry on, “Breathing New Life In Thrift Store Items.”

With those beautiful handmade gifts, jot down a note to say thanks and tell that person why they are so important in your life. In a day and age where we barely write anymore, just imagine what a little note included with a handmade gift could mean to someone you love?

Start a Simple Christmas Stocking Tradition- Tired of trying to find a home for all of those useless items in your stocking? Why not start a new tradition that will remind you what the holiday season is all about?

On the first day of December, I set out a basket with small slips of paper. Each person in the family is supposed to write something about someone else in the family that they appreciate about them and stick it in each other’s stockings. On Christmas morning, we have something fun to look forward to opening, which centers on family rather than gifts. If you have smaller children, have them draw pictures for each family member and jot down the sweet things they say about their family members. It is truly a highlight of my Christmas morning and brings us all closer together as we share our family breakfast.

Give Simply to Others- Even though I have the best intentions to keep gift-giving simple, we always receive so many wonderful gifts from our family that we have to find a home for. Use this time leading up to the holidays to bless others with the abundance in your life.

Talk with your children about the importance of giving back and have them help you weed through their books, toys, and electronics to make room for the gifts that they will be receiving and to reclaim some much needed space in your home.

Want to visualize how much your Goodwill donation will mean for others with your children? Visit The Donate Movement page and you can use their calculator to discover what your impact will have on your community and the amount of hours your simple donation will provide to educate and train employees at Goodwill. Head on over to their page today and see what a difference a simple day of decluttering could do for someone in your community.

Instead of Gifts Create Simple Family Moments– Last year we started a new tradition with the money we received from our grandparents. In year’s past, I would spend an entire day shopping and trying to find gifts that the kids might want even though they really didn’t need anything.

Instead of buying gifts, we put the money toward an experience that we could do together. Last year we all dressed up very fancy and took our children to see, “The Nutcracker.” We finished the show by having hot cocoa at The South Bend Chocolate Cafe. It was a memory I hope they will never forget.

Consider asking for gifts like money to put toward a pass to a local museum, zoo, or a special show that you would love to see at the theater. Not only will you have had a fun experience together bonding as a family, but you will also have a memory that will last far longer than another gift under the tree.

What are some of your favorite simple holiday traditions? Feel free to share them here!

3 Suprising Things You Might Not Know About Your Donations

Posted on June 14, 2011 by

The summer months for our family means oodles of birthdays, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and so many extracurricular activities that we have to pay for during these warmer months. It can often feel like we are completely tapped out by the end of the summer. Regardless of our situation though, I am always looking for ways that we can continue to support charities and organizations that need our help, even when we don’t have the financial means to always support everything we can.

I started referring to this giving in my house as my, “scraps of life giving.” There are so many things that I have within my possession and that I can do with the limited talents and budget that I possess that the possibilities for good old-fashioned giving are endless.

Goodwill is a great example of a “scraps of life giving” project that you could be doing with your family and I just love sharing easy ways that you can make donations with items you already have in your home. Today I wanted to showcase 3 surprising things you may not know about those donations you are giving and how they can impact others.

What a Clothing Donation Means- Of course, it comes as no surprise that you can donate clothes to Goodwill, but what might surprise you is how much of an impact that clothing donation could be to others.

It is shocking to know that a single pair of donated jeans can provide someone in your community with about 10 minutes of resume preparation services. If just one pair of jeans can provide that, think what a good old-fashioned closet cleaning would do for others.

Goodwill has started a movement called The Donate Movement and they are encouraging everyone to participate in it. Visit The Donate Movement page and you can use their calculator to discover what your impact will have on your community and the amount of hours your simple donation will provide to educate and train employees at Goodwill. Head on over to their page today and see what a difference a simple day of decluttering could do for someone in your community.

What an Electronic Donation Means– With two gadget-geeks living in our house, we have accumulated a lot of electronic clutter in our home. I am ashamed at the electronic clutter we have gathered, but it is nice to know that my electronic clutter could have a purpose as a Goodwill donation.

Just a couple of months ago, I shared with you how to spring clean the electronic clutter from your life. This post showcases what happens to your electronics and what you could be donating.

Goodwill has a partnership with Dell to process electronic waste in a technology recycling program that can greatly benefit our community and reduce the waste in landfills. The program is called Reconnect and it offers you an easy, convenient and responsible way to recycle your used computer equipment. You can drop off any brand of used equipment – working or not – at Goodwill’s Drive-Thru Donation Centers at their retail stores.

Look around your home and see what electronic waste you can clear from your life today. Not only will you help the environment by not dumping your item in a landfill, but you also will be supporting Goodwill’s mission to provide jobs for others.

What a Car Donation Means- When I was young, I thought anyone who could donate a car had to be a millionaire to be able to do that. Just this summer though, our family had a car that we had paid off and we were able to give to my brother who needed a set of wheels to get him back and forth to work. Our humble Ford Focus was a Mercedes compared to what he had been driving, and he told me he felt like he got an upgrade and new lease on his life.

You may have a car of humble means that you could offer as a donation to Goodwill that could give a new lease on life to someone else. Even if your car is not drivable, it could make economic sense for Goodwill to take the donation to their auction site . There is no need to detail your car before donating it, just clear it of the clutter and contact Goodwill to let them know that you have a car that you would like to donate.

The vast majority of these vehicles are sold at dealer auctions and those donations help Goodwill’s mission to provide jobs, training and placement services for people with barriers to employment.

The honest truth is, you don’t need to be a millionaire to be a giver.

If there is anything I have learned, it is that those scraps of life giving can often have the most impact to others.

(Photo credits- Please click on the photos to access the photographer’s Flickr pages. The last photo is my own)

Amy Allen Clark is the Founder of MomAdvice.com, a web community where she shares advice on parenting, money-saving ideas, recipes, and solutions for work-at-home moms. Visit her site for more ideas on ways to live on a frugal budget!

Did you miss the Fill-A-Truck Donation Drive?

Posted on April 2, 2011 by

On April 2, the Grape Road store had a Fill-A-Truck donation drive!

Did you miss it? That is OK! Keep cleaning out your closets and get those donations to a Goodwill store!

…and remember, all you need to do is load up your car! The good folks at Goodwill do the rest. Pull your car in to the drive through donation area, and they will do the rest! SUPER EASY!

The best thing about donating? The items you bring to Goodwill provides jobs, training and placement services for people with barriers to employment.

Photo: www.goodwillno.org

Spring Cleaning the Electronic Waste From Your Life

Posted on March 7, 2011 by

photo credit: dio5

In a world where your phones and electronics become obsolete within a year, it should come as no surprise that there is a lot of electronic waste lying around that could be put to great use and recycled today. In fact, the EPA estimates that in 2007, 157 million computer products were discarded (CPUs, monitors, notebooks, keyboards, mice, printers, faxes, and copiers). Just imagine if those items would have been donated and processed by Goodwill instead how much we would be able to keep out of our landfills?

As the season for spring cleaning is around the corner, consider a spring cleaning of the electronic warfare that is taking up residence in your basements, garage, and home office. Today I wanted to share with you the beauty of donating your electronic items to Goodwill and how some of the items gathering dust in your home could benefit someone in your community!

What is the Dell Reconnect program?

I never truly understood how amazing the electronic donation program was at Goodwill until I took a behind-the-scenes tour of the facility and got to see the processing of donations as they were happening in real time. It should come as no surprise that the donations that come in aren’t all in the best condition, but the way that Goodwill looks at donations is that every component of that donation has a valuable part to it. Some of the items that cannot be sold in their stores are processed simply as raw materials, such as metals, plastics, and textiles.

photo credit: tiramisu_addict

What types of items does Goodwill take?

While you may already be aware that you can donate those computers, printers, & scanners, there are some items that you might not realize Goodwill will take for you. For example, Goodwill will happily process those cords and cables (power cord & USB cables) that no longer have a use in your home, your ink & toner cartridges (either full or empty), computer speakers, televisions and software. We even take cell phones!

Items where the glass could be broken, like computer monitors and scanners, just need to be placed into a trash bag or box and clearly labeled that they are broken and the date of your donation. Isn’t it nice to know that even those broken items in our home can be processed for donation?

photo credit: Taran Rampersad

What do I do about the confidential information on my hard drive?

Unfortunately, Goodwill cannot be responsible for the information that may exist on your hard drive. Just imagine if they had to process that along with the millions of donations that they process each year?

Before wiping your hard drive clean, be sure that you back up whatever you might need from it. Remember that when you clean the hard drive that you will not be able to get anything back from it that you might need later down the road.

It is easy and free to erase your hard drive and there are many free online programs that can help you with this process. This site, for example, offers easy instructions and a program that you can download to help you erase your confidential information. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself, you can always hire a third party company to assist you.

photo credit: goodwillsp

Where do I drop my donations off?

To get your tax donation form, be sure to drop those donations off at Goodwill’s Drive-Thru Donation Centers at your nearest Goodwill store. The bonus that makes the trip entirely worth it is that our Michiana Goodwills offer coupons for every donation that you make. After you create a little space in your home from that donation, you can do a little shopping for another great piece to continue organizing your space!

If your donation is a bulky one, you can call 574.472.7334 and Goodwill will be happy to pick up. There are some areas they cannot pick up from, so call ahead to see if your location is within their range.

Basically, there are just no excuses for not getting rid of the electronic waste in your life!

My Story: Goodwill Industries International employee Sekeno Aldred

photo credit: Goodwill International

Why should I donate my items to Goodwill?

All of that electronic equipment that you donate to Goodwill has value. Whether it is an entirely working operating system or it is simply your empty ink cartridges, your items help Goodwill’s mission to provide jobs, training and placement services for people with barriers to employment. You can feel so proud that you finally weeded through your electronic clutter, happily accept your tax receipt, keep your electronics out of the landfill, and provide jobs for others.

I can think of no other reason than that to make Goodwill a place to unload the electronics gathering dust in your life!

*****************************

Time to confess! What electronics are you hanging on to that you haven’t been able to part with? I will start the discussion with our Super Nintendo, a whole bin of random cords, an extra printer, an extra scanner, and two old cell phones. What is gathering dust at your house?