I don’t know about you – but in our house, we accumulate stuff fast. Or at least it seems that way. We have been in the same house for eight years now and every year when we embark on our spring cleaning adventures, it seems like we have more stuff than we did the last year at the same time. Mind you – this is after spring cleaning last year, too.

There are only four of us, so I find myself baffled every year at how we possibly can still have so much stuff! We aren’t like, borderline hoarders or anything. Though, my husband might have hinted at that to me, a few times. I think I just have a hard time getting rid of stuff I *think* I might need next year – or I feel like as SOON as I throw it away, I am going to need it.

Our current situation:

So, this year we are trying some new tactics to get rid of stuff! And so much of the stuff we accumulate is still GOOD useable stuff – so instead of just taking it to the dump – we send it on to our local Goodwill store for someone else to love. Not only does this solve our problem of stuff accumulation, but it also greatly benefits our community too!

You can even calculate how much your donation helps your local community by using Goodwill’s Donation Impact Calculator, a feature available within the Goodwill Locator App available for Android and iOS devices and at http://www.goodwill.org/. Simply input the items you’re donating to calculate the number of hours of career counseling, on-the-job training, résumé preparation, financial planning classes, and other services you’ve helped provide people facing challenges finding employment.

This year – we are using these spring cleaning tips from Goodwill to help our community AND our clutter problem by using their using our A-B-C-D prioritization tool.

The older my kids get, the more they tend to lean toward wanting less clutter, less mess and having themselves more put together. So, that has been a blessing when it comes to spring cleaning. We have always included them – but now, as teenagers, they can really understand what it means to help the community as they clean their closets.

Thanks to the programs and support services made possible by donations of clothes and household items, Goodwill helped place more than 312,000 people in jobs in the United States and Canada in 2015 – that’s one person finding a job every 23 seconds of every business day.

Have old dresses laying around? 5 of them is 55 minutes of on the job training!

Jeans that don’t quite fit anymore? 4 of them is 48 minutes of on the job training!

It’s helpful to ask yourself some questions when you are unsure about getting rid of an item. Here are some of our favorites:

• When is the last time you used this item?
• What does it cost (in both time and money) to replace this item? And how hard would it be to find and purchase this item again?
• What is the worst-case scenario if you did donate this item? The answer to this question might not be so bad, and just the act of considering it makes decision making easier.

Be choosy about what surrounds you, and donate what you no longer need to Goodwill® so it can find a good home and help people in your own community with job training and placement and other services and opportunities. Find your nearest donation center, or download the Goodwill app for iOS and Android devices!

How do you tackle spring cleaning? Any tips for us almost-hoarders? 😊