I might be one of the most organized people you ever meet. Bold statement, I know. But I stand by that assertion. I always have inbox zero, my spices are alphabetized and my closet is color coordinated. The only person I know who is more organized is my mother. (I once heard her in a heated argument with a car salesman who misplaced paperwork and she countered with the fact that she knew were every rubber band and paperclip in her house is, so no way did she lose that file. She won that battle.)
Yet nevertheless, organized af people like ourselves still somehow manage to have the occasional junk drawer, closet, or garage filled with stuff that at one point in our life had a purpose, but is now just collecting dust. And eventually the day will come where we need to reality-TV-show-style determine if those items go into the save, trash, or donate pile.
Having moved out of my parents house a few years ago, the time had come for some serious deep cleaning out of my childhood room and parent’s garage. But as big believers in reducing, reusing, and recycling, we’re not a family that throws things out. So this weekend, I partnered with Junkluggers to clean out my parents house and donate all the literal junk that had accumulated over the years–cabinets, bikes, lawn supplies, old tools, furniture, etc.
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Junkluggers. All opinions are my own.
The Junkluggers arrived in a bright green junk chariot to escort all of the items to a better place. The team, led by Don the owner, did all the heavy lifting and made the cleaning process seamless and easy. They arrived on time, were fast, efficient, organized and passionate about putting the least amount of trash in the landfill as possible. Don said by 2020 his goal is to repurpose everything and not put anything in the landfill.
Whether you’re cleaning out a drawer, a closet or a whole garage there’s plenty of places in Houston that are willing to take your things.
Where to Donate in Houston
Looking to do some deep cleaning and donating yourself? Here’s where to donate in Houston:
- Sports Equipment. If you want to donate your used or outgrown sports equipment in Houston there are a few places you can go to. Gloves for Good accepts baseball equipment, and Recycled Baseball Items (RBI) accepts equipment from all types of sports including football, basketball, softball. If you’re located in other parts of Texas, Play It Again Sports is a good place to donate (or sell) used sports equipment as well.
- Trophies. Yes! You can donate old trophies in Houston! If you’re like me and don’t have that much of an emotional connection to the Speech Club plaques and Swim Team participation trophies from middle school, you can donate them to Revived Glory Awards where they repurpose trophies and plaques. Revived Glory Awards is actually pretty incredible because it employs and enable people with disabilities to have meaningful work!
- Books. There are a million places in Houston to donate your books! This list from the Bush Houston Literacy organization is pretty comprehensive and provides recommendations on where to donate different age groups and different parts of town.
- Bikes. Give a set of wheels to a person in need with Free Wheels Houston! They partner with companies like Bike Barn and Texas Medical Association to repair bikes and provide helmets to refugees so that they can get to school or work. Read about their incredible mission here.
- Furniture. Many places in Houston accept furniture donations, including popular resale shops like the Guild, Houston Furniture Bank, and Goodwill . If you don’t want to move it yourself, contact Junkluggers and they’ll bring a truck to pick up the furniture from your house and find the best place in Houston to donate it to. While they were at my house, they told stories of cleaning out a whole shed for people! For a list of the non-profits that they partner with, click here.
- Demin. If you bring in an old pair of jeans to Madewell, not only will you get a $20 discount on your next pair, but you’ll get good karma because they the old jeans and recycle them into insulation for housing. Madewell partners with Habitat for Humanity to supply insulation and has prevented 126 tons of waste from going to landfills.
Texas Art Asylum in Eado. All those lovely items I kept hanging onto of my grandmother’s (costume jewelry, her fabulous needlework with stains) found a wonderful home here. Grandad’s garage can find a home here too. You might just see some of your items on an Artcar or some other inventive work by the artists who shop here. Also a great place to bring your empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls, there’s a teacher Warehouse once a month. Fill a bag for five bucks!
Texas Art Asylum in Eado. All those lovely items I kept hanging onto of my grandmother’s (costume jewelry, her fabulous needlework with stains) found a wonderful home here. Grandad’s garage can find a home here too. You might just see some of your items on an Artcar or some other inventive work by the artists who shop here. Also a great place to bring your empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls, there’s a teacher Warehouse once a month. Fill a bag for five bucks! Be prepared to kill an hour looking through old photos, grabbing yarn and fabric bargains and trying to figure out exactly what it is you are looking at. Shug and Johnny Cash are another main attraction if you like kitties.
That’s an awesome idea! Thanks for sharing!
H&M accepts ANY clothes (regardless of condition) to recycle. They use recycled clothes in their Conscious line. They will also give you a 15% coupon to use towards any (sale and regular prices) future in-store purchase.
I would love to know where to donate torn or stained clothing. I do not want to throw it away to sit in a landfill but I can’t find a place that will take it and recycle it.
Companies like Junkluggers, who reduce, reuse, and recycle are doing good work. Keep getting the word out. The less in the landfills the better for all.