Kickstart the Season with a Little Bit of Spring Cleaning

The season officially began on March 20th – which is the Spring Equinox — and it’s all about sunshine and daisies and fresh starts. So, if you slipped up on your New Year’s resolution, or your life just feels a bit messy and cluttered, don’t worry. With Oklahoma in full bloom, now is the perfect the time to get back on track.

Many of your old or unwanted items can be donated, sold or upcycled to friends and family. First on your list, consider donating to our ReStores, which accept all types of gently-used items. (We’ll even pick them the heavy stuff for free!) Alternatively, you can sell goods through auction websites like eBay or open an Etsy account and create a micro-shop to sell your goods. Facebook is also a great tool that will help you move your goodies and make a little cash at the same time.

While you’re deciding what to keep and what to donate, here are some of our popular tips to help get your home environment in order (or at least one corner of your closet in order), this Spring:

Unused Sports Equipment

Whether you hopped on the latest workout craze or your kid has outgrown his soccer gear, no time is better than the present to rid yourself of this unused stuff. Sports and exercise equipment takes up a ton of space, so get your real estate back by donating items to a local charity, like Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores, that takes sports equipment or sell the goods online.

Kitchen Gadgets

For those of us who love to cook, it can be hard to choose just one amazing kitchen gadget to peel the garlic. Sadly, all these gadgets, pots and pans can quickly add up and create clutter. Choose your favorite items to keep and think about donating the rest to a local soup kitchen like The City Rescue Mission.

Tech Cleanup

Tired of seeing all those old contacts, spam emails and photos in your phone just taking up space? Spring clean your phone simply by backing it up on a flash drive or for safekeeping on the cloud, then delete everything. You’ll be amazed at the difference in how your phone looks and feels, with all the visual empty space. Moving forward, get a system in place and burrow into your retail emails, work emails, and pesky student loan emails, and watch your inbox number drop from 1,000 to 1.

Closet Clutter

We all have that one closet that’s become a catch-all for old books, hats, brooms, random shoes and coats, umbrellas and more. Take a weekend morning, grab a cup of coffee, open the door to that stash-magnet of a space and dive in. Many of the items you find can be tossed, donated or even gifted to family members and friends. Invest in a storage system for the closet so you can avoid the mess in the future. Clear plastic bins work great, since you can quickly see the contents without having to open, move or unstack bins.

And one last note: prior to donating items, be sure to reach out to the organization to make sure they can accept your goods and then make the proper arrangements to deliver your donations. In the case of our ReStores, you can have heavier items picked up for free, by calling 405-595-2828. Donations for Habitat are fully tax deductible, and most donations to other groups are as well, so ask for a tax receipt for your 2020 filings.