This week’s donation organization tip covers going through your garage and shed!

The garage and shed are places just big enough for us to store too many items, and it can be easy to start to forget what is in the back, or on the bottom shelf. It can be daunting to go through and clean/organize a garage. Hopefully some of these tips will help you figure out the best way to organize your garage and shed donations. 

Here are some tips to help you organize garage & shed items you’d like to donate! 

• The number one thing to do before donating items out of your shed/garage is to make sure your items are clean. We know yard tools, bikes, and toys get used frequently– but if you’re hoping to donate these things and they’ve been sitting in the back of your garage collecting dust and cobwebs, it’s really helpful to us if you just wipe them down before bringing them in!

• If your tools are rusty, we cannot sell them. We understand tools both for the garden and construction projects get used in dirty settings, and some wear and tear is no problem. However, if the metal is rusted, it is not safe for us to have it on the selling floor. 

• Check for broken items before donating. If your items are cracked or broken we are unable to sell them. 
  • Frequently donated items that we receive broken:
    • Garden hose reels
    • Flower pots (please note, we are unable to sell the plastic flower pots that your plants come in when you purchase them)
    • Shovels
    • Kids toys (plastic bikes, sandbox toys, etc.)
  • We are so glad to receive these donations, we just ask that you double check to see if they’re functional first!

• We cannot accept gas powered lawnmowers/tools. It is a safety risk for us to have something on the store floor that could potentially leak gas. Thank you for understanding!

• The last tip we’re offering is just to check what’s inside your boxes before donating. We know it can be tempting to just take all the boxes from the back shelves and drop them off, but we appreciate it if you’re able to sort out what might be broken or unusable before bringing it over. 

We are so grateful for all of the support we receive from all of you. We are incredibly blessed to have people who send us kind words of encouragement during this time while we are closed. We are doing our best to prepare for the day we can open again. Until then, we hope you know how grateful we are for you and your dedication to our store!

Until next week,

Your friends at New 2 You