How to Get Rid of What You Don't Want

If you find that your home is cluttered with items you no longer use, not to fret. There still may be use and life left in your discards, and with a little effort, you may even convert some castoffs into cold, hard cash as well as deductions on your next tax return. Use this chart to get started.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

1. Get rid of old clothes. Sell them at a garage sale, yard sale or online. Consign never-worn or designer-brand items less than 2 years old. Sell vintage clothing (made more than 20 years ago) to retro stores. Donate to charities and shelters. Worn out sneakers can go to Nike at nikereuseashoe.com.

2. Get rid of excess wire hangers. If they're in good shape, give them to dry cleaners or charity stores.

3. Donate old eyeglasses. You can give them to the Lion's Club Recycle for Sight program (lionsclubs.org). Drop-off locations include Goodwill, LensCrafters stores and community offices.

4. Give away old towels, blankets and linens. The Humane Society will accept most. Items in decent, usable condition can be donated to shelters for homeless people and battered women.

5. Dump old magazines ... but not in the trash. Donate them to hospitals, nursing homes, veterans services and doctors' offices. Donate needless subscriptions to public libraries and schools. And, of course, you can recycle.

6. Offer others the benefit of your books. Sell them to book resale stores or online, or donate them to charities, schools and shelters.

7. Sell computers, printers and other technology devices online or through classifieds. Or you can donate them to sharetechnology.org and other charitable organizations.

8. Sell old musical instruments to resell stores like Music Go Round, or donate them to school music programs.

9. Sell old sporting goods equipment on eBay or a resell store like Play It Again Sports. You can also donate them to youth sports programs, schools or organizations like Second Swing.

10. Donate rundown vehicles to auto-maintenance vocational schools or charities like the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Or try selling them through classifieds, online or print.

Tips & Warnings

• Charities can accept donations only of items in good to excellent condition with no need for repair. That means no rips, holes, stains or scratches. Donating items that fall outside the guidelines places a financial burden on the charity for additional dumpster costs.

• If your discards are too much for weekly garbage pickups, rent a dumpster. Your neighbors might split the cost to be able to clear our their garage, too. Look in the yellow pages under "Garbage and Rubbish Collection" or call (800) GOT-JUNK to arrange for pickup.

• If something isn't in good enough condition to sell or donate, put it out on the curb with a "Free" sign. If it doesn't disappear in a few days, toss it.