Celebrate National Get Organized Month with Goodwill

Donate unwanted items to Goodwill and get your home organized for 2023

ROCKVILLE, Md., Dec. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Each year, many people set resolutions for the New Year holiday to help improve their lives. January is National Get Organized Month, a time to sort through and declutter your home. Consider donating your unwanted household items and clothing to your local Goodwill store. When you donate to Goodwill, the revenue generated from those items sold at Goodwill stores across the country are used to pay for job training and placement programs that help people in our local communities receive much-needed skills training, and ultimately jobs.

Matt Paxton, Decluttering Expert and Goodwill Ambassador, offers some essential tips for downsizing and organizing your home in the new year:

1. Make a Legacy List a New Year's Day Tradition. Create your own Legacy List. Make a list of the two most important items in your home that tell your family story. Then SHARE those stories with your family and friends. Telling the stories will start a conversation on stuff for the entire year.
   
   
2. Resolution Reset.  Instead of making more resolutions, start decluttering the items you bought for past resolutions that you don't need. Donate or sell the new fitness and sports equipment that you never used.
   
   
3. "Did I Really Wear It?" Reality check. On New Year's Day, put all your clothes hangers facing one way. Then when you wear the item during the year, you switch the hanger going the opposite way. So, this time next year, you can easily see what you have NOT worn. If you know it's been at least a year, you can donate it to your favorite charity or sell it online.
   
   
4. 4 pm Project Push. Pick one project that you didn't complete last year and finish it today. Make sure it's a smaller project that you have procrastinated for months and is small enough to get done today such as sorting through some pictures, cleaning out a junk drawer or picking old mail to be shredded. Finish it by 4 pm TODAY. This lets you start the new year off successful and gives you momentum and confidence that you can organize through the year.

"When someone makes a decision to declutter and donate their items to Goodwill, they are giving their items a second chance while deserving individuals in their community are able to gain job skills and find meaningful work," said Matt Paxton, Decluttering Expert and Goodwill Ambassador. "It's a win-win situation, as they are helping to not only improve their own lives by decluttering their homes, but they are also giving others a brighter future," added Paxton.

Goodwill stores help extend the life of usable items through its business model of collecting and selling donated goods. Last year, more than 107 million donors throughout the U.S. gave their gently used items to Goodwill. Donated goods are sold at nearly 3,300 outlet and retail stores and online through ShopGoodwill.com^®. 

The sale of donations across the Goodwill network goes back to Goodwill's mission of providing job placement and training to individuals in t local communities. Other support services such as childcare, financial education, transportation, tax preparation and mentoring are provided to meet the specific needs of their communities.

We encourage anyone who is in the process of cleaning out their belongings to donate. Perfectly reusable clothing and household products with the exception of broken or soiled items can be donated to a local Goodwill store. To find your local Goodwill store or donation center, visit www.goodwill.org.

Goodwill Industries International is a network of 155 community-based, autonomous organizations in the U.S. and Canada with a presence in 12 other countries. Goodwill industries International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides people with opportunities and support to empower themselves and thrive through training, development and employment.

Local Goodwill organizations provide career navigation, skills training, job placement and other community-based services funded in part by selling donated clothing and household items in nearly 3,300 stores and at ShopGoodwill.com®. Some of the community-based programs local Goodwill organizations provide include English-language training, financial education, industry-recognized credentials, résumé preparation, and access to reliable transportation and childcare.

Last year, more than 1.1 million people received in-person career services, and hundreds of thousands of people used computers and mobile devices to access Goodwill education, training, mentoring and online learning services to strengthen their job skills.

For more information or to find a Goodwill location near you, visit goodwill.org, or call (800) GOODWILL. Follow us on Twitter: @GoodwillIntl and @GoodwillCapHill, and find us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube: GoodwillIntl.

SOURCE Goodwill Industries International