$728 Worth Of Stuff Out The Door
Posted on February 19, 2008 by Melissa
Filed Under Charity, Household, Taxes
This weekend we gave our first big clothes donation to Goodwill. We sorted through all the clothes in our closet and pulled out anything we didn’t intend to wear again.
A frilly tie-dyed blouse (with sequins, no less) and a bright Mai-Tai patterned Hawaiian shirt found buried in the back of the closet come to mind.
The majority of the clothes weren’t nearly as horrifying, thank goodness. It’s mainly t-shirts and polos that just never got worn anymore.
We also got rid of most of the clothes that were too small, with only a few exceptions for clothes we really liked and hoped to fit into again someday. We are realists, though, so only a few too-small items got to stay.
We don’t go through our closet very often, and as a result there were clothes that should have been given away a long time ago. There was enough to fill 3 large boxes!
After entering all the items into ItsDeductible, we discovered our donation was worth $728. That’s awesome! Not only will someone else get the benefit of having these clothes but we get a tax deduction. It’s a win-win situation.
Using ItsDeductible is super simple and it works with TurboTax. You simply search for an item and it will give you the value based on condition. Old clothes are sometimes worth more than you would think! We tend to be conservative and value everything as medium quality, even if it has never been worn.
To make the process easier we looked at the categories in the program before we got started and tallied our donations according to those. I highly recommend sorting that way.
For instance, instead of writing “men’s shirt” we broke it down into t-shirt, polo shirt, dress shirt – just like ItsDeductible does. It made inputting the information a breeze. The more specific you are in what the clothing is the better. Best of all, you can transfer the information to TurboTax when you are done.
Even though we reduced the clothing in our closet by about half, we are just at the tip of the iceberg. There are boxes and boxes of old clothing in the garage that we have been carrying with us through the years for some reason.
Maybe it’s laziness. It’s easier to just leave it in the garage than to go through it, I suppose. No more! Every box will be opened and dealt with. I’m on a donation rampage!
Sunday we started going through those long-neglected boxes. Most of the clothes are from “way back when” so almost all of it will be donated. I am in the process of laundering those clothes for the next round of donations. Even though they are clean, they have been sitting in boxes for years and could use a freshening up. I figured that it’s a nice thing to do and helps get them on the racks for sale as quickly as possible.
Donating all this clothing is almost addictive. I can’t wait to see how much our next load adds up to!
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Thanks for the tip. I had not heard of ItsDeductible.com, I will check it out. We donate quite a bit of old clothing to the Salvation Army so it would come in very handy to keep track of what we give for tax purposes. Thanks.
Having just purged four boxes of kids clothes before our anticipated move it was nice to know that I can put down more than $100 for all the stuff.
I never know what to claim for what we donate. Thanks for the tip!
if you have any old neckties in that bunch of old clothes would you consider sending them to me if i pay the postage? i am collecting old neckties for a quilting project.
ItsDeductible IS great. We’ve used it for a couple of years, with equally surprising estimates. I’m told, though, that now the IRS might ask for photographs of your donations if they decide to audit you. Ech! Easy enough to do though, just spread everything out on the floor and snap away.
I’ve never heard of that site! Sounds like a great tool. Good luck with your donating!
[...] out why Melissa from A Penny Closer is happy that she shoved $728 Worth Of Stuff Out The Door. Here’s a hint: Donations are tax [...]
I’ve just helped my mom prepare for a move across the country. She’s going from living alone in her own house to having a bedroom in my sister’s house. What a transition! Together with my sisters, my mom and I sorted through every possession in her house, her yard, and her shed. She got rid of so much stuff. Unfortunately, I took some of it ;-) I’m so inspired though. I’m in a ruthless, clear-out-the-clutter mood and my husband’s in agreement (though he’s unlikely to do any of the work).
I love the ItsDeductible website. Somehow it’s easier for me to get rid of stuff when I know I’m actually getting something (a tax write-off) in return.
Wow thanks for this post, I never know that this was possible. Giving away what I dont need makes me save easier, the more you have the more you buy. If you only have what you need then you should buy less.