Day 5: Donate to local shelter.

Day 5: Donate Household Items & Clothing to Charity

Shane is my little hoarder and every time I go through toys, his closet, or even the kitchen, he is the first to rummage through the box trying to pull things back out. I think mostly, it’s the memory associated with the item that makes it hard for him to say goodbye.

So this Finding THANKS in GIVING act was especially challenging for him. Instead of going though the items myself, I asked the boys to go through the play room and their closets without my help. Before they did this task, I instructed them to remember that each item they considered could be blessing someone else with MUCH less than we had. 

I reminded them how excited they get when a huge box of hand me downs from my Aunt in California comes in the mail. How it’s like Christmas to see the “new to us” items she has graciously decided to pass on. They are excited with the contents of the box because the items are not junk. They are almost brand new. Awesome brand names and a style that the boys think is totally cool.

We love hand me downs.

Who doesn’t?

We were recently GIVEN a portable dishwasher. Picture me, six months pregnant doing a happy dance without giving the baby growing inside me whiplash..

Donations should make the receiver want to do the happy dance..

I encouraged the boys to put thought into what they were going to donate. If they were unsure of an item I asked them to picture the next person to receive that item. Were they going to do the happy dance or have a frown face because the item was ripped, stained, broken or just plain junk.

I was pleasantly surprised at what they were willing to part with, Especially my little hoarder Shane. J