The holidays are such a wonderful time of year for most people. With five young children, our house is very busy all year long, but even more so when the holidays roll around. Having a large family can also make the holiday season a bit costly. Luckily, we have thrift stores such as Goodwill we know we can count on. Along with helping me to save money and keep up with my growing children, I am giving back to my community. Goodwill sells donated goods through more than 3,200 stores across the United States and Canada, and channels more than 85 percent of sales revenue to provide those services to people who are unemployed or underemployed.
Giving back to Goodwill and other similar stores and church groups is an excellent opportunity to teach my kids about giving back. You can start a new tradition with your kids too and show them what the giving spirit really means during the holidays. Have them go through their clothes and toys and donate them to a local Goodwill store. If you have done any online shopping this year, you can send those items to Goodwill for free. When you shop online this holiday season, many major retailers will send your purchase in a Give Back Box, which will enable you to donate items to your local Goodwill at no cost to you. The #GiveBackBox program gives every cardboard box a second life to help people in need. Visit GiveBackBox.com for more information.
What a wonderful tradition to start, right? Not only can you shop for your holiday outfits, but you can also create those new traditions and make a difference in the lives of people in your community by donating to Goodwill. Thanks to the job training programs made possible by donations of clothes and household items, Goodwill helped place more than 312,000 in jobs in the United States and Canada in 2015 — that’s one person finding a job every 23 seconds of every business day. So you’re literally donating your stuff AND helping to create jobs.
I love this idea! So often, what keeps me from donating is simply the hassle of loading things into my car and getting to Goodwill during their business hours. This completely solves the problem — no more excuses to put off purging my closets!