I was honoured to be featured in The Spruce in Tessa Cooper’s article, “7 Things You Shouldn’t Donate Just Because You Feel Guilty Throwing Them Away” The piece highlights an important part of decluttering that is often overlooked: donating is not always the more responsible choice.
As a professional organizer and founder of Out of Chaos, I see this hesitation often. People can feel guilty throwing something away, particularly when it was expensive, gifted, or they believe someone else might be able to use it. But putting something into a donation box does not automatically give it value.
What I appreciated about this article is that it encourages us to think beyond simply getting things out of our homes. Responsible decluttering means considering what happens to an item after it leaves us.
Donation Should Be a Gift
One of the most important principles I share with my clients is that charities need donations that are clean, safe, complete, and usable. As I said in the article, “Charities need donations that are sellable as is or can be given away and received with pride.”
When we donate something broken, stained, incomplete, or no longer usable, we may feel as though we are giving it a second chance. In reality, we may simply be transferring the responsibility and cost of disposing of it to an organization that has limited resources.
I often encourage people to ask themselves a simple question: If I were giving this directly to someone I cared about, would I feel comfortable giving it to them in its current condition?
If the answer is no, it may not be appropriate for donation.
Things I Wouldn’t Donate
There are many items that charities may not be able to accept, but these things come up particularly often in my work.
Anything broken, missing parts, or heavily soiled should be reconsidered. We sometimes tell ourselves, “Someone just needs to sew the buttons back on,” or “Someone could probably fix this.” But a charity is not a seamstress, laundromat, or handyman. Their resources are better spent supporting their mission rather than repairing items that donors no longer want.
There are also items where safety needs to be considered carefully. Baby carriers, helmets, and other safety equipment may have expiration dates or an unknown history of accidents or damage. A charity cannot necessarily verify that history or determine whether an item is still safe. In these cases, keeping someone safe is more important than keeping an item out of the garbage.
The same applies to worn or damaged non-stick cookware. By the time these items are ready to be passed along, we find they are already so burnt, worn and scratched. It’s no longer safe for anyone to use as this non-stick surface may continue to peel into your food. A health hazard, I would say.
The article also includes helpful perspectives from Colette Kemery of The Place and Shara Kay of SK Organizing, whose experiences reinforce why donation centres have limitations around items such as baby equipment, hazardous materials, opened cosmetics, and other products that may create safety, hygiene, or storage concerns.
What I Hope Readers Take Away
I think one of the hardest parts of decluttering is accepting that not everything needs to have a second home.
Sometimes we donate because we genuinely believe another person can use and enjoy something (and that is wonderful!) But sometimes we donate because throwing something away makes us feel guilty. Those are very different motivations.
Being responsible and earth-friendly does not always mean finding someone else to take an item. Sometimes it means taking the time to find the appropriate recycling program, arrange specialized disposal, or pay for a service to remove something that has reached the end of its useful life.
As I said in the article, “Don’t defer your responsibility to dispose of items on your own time and at your own costs. Charities are limited in their resources and funds, and to make them spend money on removal costs of unwanted items is just uncharitable.”
You don’t need to find a second home for everything you own. Some things have simply reached the end of their useful life, and the responsible choice may be recycling, specialized disposal, or, when appropriate, throwing something away.
Ultimately, thoughtful decluttering means considering not only what leaves our homes, but also where it goes next. Being earth-friendly means taking responsibility for the entire lifecycle of what we own, including its end-of-life.
I’m grateful to The Spruce and Tessa Cooper for highlighting this important conversation, and I appreciate the contributions of Colette Kemery and Shara Kay. Their perspectives, along with my own, reinforce the importance of donating thoughtfully and responsibly.