Goodwill

Today I donated 8 bags of stuff to Goodwill. 8 large bags. Full of stuff. Stuff that I no longer use, that doesn't fit, that I never used but felt guilty about ditching, stuff I wish I could use but don't have the space for. Just all kinds of stuff.

Now that stuff is headed to some place where families who CAN fit into and use it will be able to do so. Now, my stuff is ready to be someone else's purchase of the day. Now my stuff is going to be recycled into the economy, rather than dumped in a landfill.

I've always donated to Goodwill throughout the years, after periodically purging my closets and drawers, and I've always done so without getting a receipt. This time, however, since I had such a large donation and finally have some sort of understanding of how taxes work, I decided to take the deduction. When I first decided to try to do this, I was sort of overwhelmed. Would I write down my estimated value of each item? Would I stand at Goodwill for an hour while the worker wrote down the estimated value of each item? Then I talked to my mom and all questions were answered.

My mom referred me to this website: Its Deductible

This is a site powered by TurboTax where you can create a free account and keep track of all your donations throughout the year. You enter the charity to which you're giving, and indicate whether it's a donation of stuff, money, or mileage (as in, if you drive around for Meals on Wheels). I was able to enter all my items into a system which has already categorized and priced everything for me-- all I had to do was indicate how many things I had in each category. At the end of the process, the site told me the estimated value of my donation and the estimated tax deduction from the donation. I was able to print out this inventory and take it with me to Goodwill. After dropping everything off, I received my receipt from Goodwill (just a piece of paper with the date, my signature and the worker's signature) and stapled it to my deduction inventory. Now, when tax season comes around, I'll be ready to enter the amount and I'll be less likely to get audited by keeping track of my inventory and the charity receipt.

This was such an easy way to get my deduction, and after seeing just how much money those things were worth, I realized how much “money” had just been sitting in my closets, not being used. Now, that “money” is on the shelves, ready to be bought by people and families who will appreciate it for what it's worth.

Dare yourself to see just how much “money” you have lying around the house, unused. How much of that can you donate to someone else? See if you can beat 8 bags.

I dare you!