The holidays are upon us! Car commercials, latest-and-greatest tech advertisements, and similar mega-institutions bombard you with pleas to spend your Christmas bonus with them. Even without the holiday parties and white elephant workplace gift giving, the lead-in to Christmas Day is a hurried and hectic affair.
Then, suddenly, it’s January 2nd. The shredded Christmas wrapping is in the bin, most of the cookies have disappeared, and an obscure relation has helped you become the awkward owner of a “As Seen On TV” device (which you know will never make it’s way out of the box it arrived in). So the question inevitably arrives in your mind: “What can I do with this?”
Or maybe those 3,000 Christmas decorations in your collection are spilling out of your garage, attic, or spare room? Does the thought of packing them all away for 2021 make you want to take a lie down?
We’d love to help, but…
We have even less garage space than you do! Don’t get us wrong, we love our little location at 800 Paxton Street. The problem is, we have precious few square feet available to store donations long-term. Because of that, we try to only accept donations we can clean up and sell quickly. So, while we can empathize with the holiday haul ahead, we want to offer some alternative ways to rehome those holiday decor items.
eBay and Amazon Marketplace
If you are tech-savvy enough to set up a selling account, snap a few photos, and willing to wait out a few weeks for the sale, then we recommend this option. Just be careful to create a covert username; we don’t want you getting found out by the family member who landed you in this situation.
Offerup.com
Recently merged with letgo.com, Offerup.com is an even easier tech solution for finding a new home to house the collection of animal themed tree ornaments you’ve grown tired of. Let your nearby neighbors know their ready for adoption using either the phone app or the website version of this many-faceted marketplace.
Other Charitable Retail Stores
Just because our Harrisburg ReStore won’t be able to help directly get the Rudolph sweater to a better place doesn’t mean that’s the case for all charitable retail shops. Goodwill, Community Aid, and Salvation Army have a much different storage story than us and may be able to tuck away your gifts until 2021’s holiday rush gets underway. The Thrift Shopper website provides a great way to see what shops are near you.
Regifting
This one’s between you and us – we won’t tell if you don’t. Not only does this option free your home from stuff you don’t want, but you’ll also save some dough on buying new presents at the next solar cycle. Just make sure the package stays in pristine condition and get’s a solid wrapping before you place it under the in-law’s tree. Oh, and don’t ‘regift’ your item to the person that gave it to you in the first place, for Christmas’ sake.
A word of warning…
Before you take action on any of these options, spend a few weeks to mull it over. Set aside all the items you might want to give away and revisit them after January’s almost in the rear-view mirror. Once that time comes and you’ve decided it’s time to send them on their way, be discreet and considerate of your nearest and dearest’s feelings. You don’t want your Great Aunt Gertie spotting the elf mug that she spent half her pension on through the local charity shop window now, do you?