Old Clothes

sgx.saint

Hello All.

I have some old clothes that I no longer need or use. They are in good condition so I was just thinking of taking them into one of my local Charity shops.

Do I need to do anything special with them first? i.e. Iron them, wash them etc.

Probably a silly question to which I already know the answer but just wanted to double check

P.S. I can't go to the toilet without first checking on the MSE forums if there is a moneysaving way I can go about it :rotfl:

inkie

Assuming that they are clean and in good repair you will not need to do anything with them - many charity shops press if need be - just take them along - they will be gratful for your donation.

kelloggs36

I tend to wash mine anyway before I donate although I admit I don't always iron them. If I buy clothes from a charity shop, I wash them before I use them too as I can't be sure if they are clean - my paranoia

Angel777

Hi just to add, i also just make sure that they are clean, i dont iron them just fold them and stick them in black bags.

emilyt

I too don't worry about ironing them unless i have loads of spare time on my hands. As long as there clean.
Just been to donate clothes to the charity shop today and was refused. They were really sorry but had so much given to them over the last week they were inundated and couldn't store anymore. I will take them again in a months time.
Maybe worth giving them a ring before you go.

sgx.saint

Thanks for the replies.

I shall give them all a wash before I take them down, just to be sure.

Next decision, which shop to take them too?

Drinda

Hi, I am new to this site , but i would like to add my pennyworth.

I always took alsorts of items to the local heart foundation until I found that much of it goes straight out the back and into the skip, the bags were not even opened, a young man that works near the shop regularly helps himself from the skip, a lot of it is very good stuff, he then takes it to the boot sale on Sunday's and makes at least £300. He also makes up boxes of bric-a-brac and advertises in the local paper at £5 a time

another hospice shop puts it in a bin at the back of the shop where foreigners sort out what they want and leave the rest scatterd all over the pavement.

Now myself and freinds save our unwanted goods and hold garage sales and garden jumble sales in the summer and give the money to our chosen charities.

Sorry if you think I am a grump.
Drinda.

li'l_p

emilyt wrote:

Just been to donate clothes to the charity shop today and was refused. They were really sorry but had so much given to them over the last week they were inundated and couldn't store anymore. I will take them again in a months time.

This is outrageous really. Not wanting to deviate from the fact that charity shops do a wonderful job - I do buy a lot of goods from charity shops and donate equally as much! However, their "we have so much stuff" attitude just irriates me and I have witnessed it first hand.

Charity shops seem to have become so greedy and picky, becoming more like high street stores than second-hand shops. They seem to only sift through for the high-street labelled clothes, and casting the rest off to the bin which is a huge shame. Considering that they get everything for nothing they charge excessive prices for stuff, which if they reduced their prices to a more reasonable rate, things would fly out of the door quicker and their intake and output would surely even out? There would be no need to refuse any goods.

Surely any money received on goods given to them for nothing is better than throwing them in the bin and getting nothing???

lamb7994

This is outrageous really. Not wanting to deviate from the fact that charity shops do a wonderful job - I do buy a lot of goods from charity shops and donate equally as much! However, their "we have so much stuff" attitude just irriates me and I have witnessed it first hand.

Charity shops seem to have become so greedy and picky, becoming more like high street stores than second-hand shops. They seem to only sift through for the high-street labelled clothes, and casting the rest off to the bin which is a huge shame. Considering that they get everything for nothing they charge excessive prices for stuff, which if they reduced their prices to a more reasonable rate, things would fly out of the door quicker and their intake and output would surely even out? There would be no need to refuse any goods.

Surely any money received on goods given to them for nothing is better than throwing them in the bin and getting nothing???

Coming from someone who works for a major uk charity running charity shops for them. There are occasion where we cannot take anymore donations mainly because lack of storage space as our shops are generally small.
I understand what you're saying but if we sold goods ay very cheap prices doesn't mean we will immediately sell more.

We don't rag clothes which are good if we can't sell them after 2 weeks we send them to another shop and the other shops do the same because different clothes sell better in other shops for some reaseon mainly because they're different areas.Our clothes are transfered upto 8 times and then if they haven't sold on 8 different shops iit's the end of the line and they get reduced in price and they ragged after another 3 weeks

Also alot of donations we get in are dirty, smelly and not saleable but on the other hand we get some brilliant stuff from our customers in Reading.

We only very rarely reject donation but if we do we do try to take a bit e.g 2 out of 4 bags as it means we've helped them and also because our charity shops have other charity shops close by they can normally donate the rest to them.


James

GiveItBack

Hi all, I agree with James here. For some reason price doesn't seem to have a big effect on the speed things sell. I know plenty of charity shops that would LOVE to have space out the back for bins, like the shop someone mentioned, but space is a huge problem for many.

On the other hand, I think it's a real shame that shops sometimes have to turn things down. I don't think the ones I know have done that, apart from items that are unsaleable.

Perhaps, it'd be worth calling the shops in advance to check that they have space?

lamb7994

It is all ways worth checking before donating al least it saves a wasted journey.

James