Friday, March 15, 2019

What I've been saying for years

Due to the fact that many pieces of clothing my children, in particular my four daughters, have worn were given to us by others and then worn by more than one of our children, my wife and I joke that by the time our family is done with clothes or toys, they really should be given to a non-charity called "Ill will" instead of Goodwill.  Turns out that in part due to the efforts of recent "clean up your home" experts like Marie Kondo, Goodwill agrees.  They are apparently receiving huge amounts of junk, and some of that, when sent to starving people in Africa, is being rejected.  No kidding.


(if anyone from Goodwill is reading this, my apologies for my family's likely failures to separate out "Goodwill" quality items from "Ill Will" quality items, by the way)


Two realities are obvious here.  First, there is a point where you just use something as a rag, throw it away, or recycle it.  Just because it's in your home doesn't mean someone else will want it.  Second, there is also a certain point to remember that if you don't want a lot of junk in your home, it helps to not buy it or otherwise receive it at all. 


Put other ways, if you want to have something worth buying in the stores, it sure helps if you skip buying things that aren't worth the time spent shopping.

2 comments:

Hearth said...

There are always two piles. One for giving away, one for throwing away. Or turning into rags. T-shirts, if cotton, make excellent rags. Old towels too. Husband is always happy to get those.

Bike Bubba said...

Your comment about your husband suggests that along with increasing use of polyester in clothing, one big reason that Goodwill is getting Ill Will's donations is that too many women don't have a husband with a rag bin in the garage.

And even among the married, traditional uses for rags like "shining shoes" seem to be disappearing as well. Gosh, we wear polyester clothes and plastic shoes, and we wonder why we don't get out and exercise. Big mystery there!