Everything Old Is New Again

You’re moving to a smaller place that won’t accommodate all the “treasures” that fill your house. Or your parents are gone, and you’re dealing with a lifetime of accumulated household goods. Or you’d just like to clean out your garage so you can actually park in it.

It’s tempting, when you’re faced with the need to dispose of life’s detritus, to just order a front loader to scoop up everything, take it away and dump it. But you’d be adding more stuff to our overloaded landfills and losing the opportunity to match your castoffs with a need that exists in our community.

Helping make “everything old new again” for someone else can be a very satisfying experience, whether you hire an estate liquidator to handle the large and small details, or you take charge of the process yourself, selling or donating the valuables and then finding organizations that will welcome your other treasures. I’ve taken each of these approaches at different times of my life, with equally pleasing results.

A savvy estate liquidator can size up your artifacts, separate the genuine Depression Glass from the glassware your mother bought with S&H Green Stamps and suggest the best possible outlets to sell specific items. The liquidator can help you organize a yard sale or arrange for an auctioneer.

There will always be leftovers, however, whether it is out-of-date clothing, half-full gallons of paint or old tools. Some can go to Goodwill, the Salvation Army and other well-known organizations. But here are some other places that can find new uses for your unwanted items.

Clothing

Fusty old hats? Vintage prom dress? Plaid bell-bottoms? Consider donating these and other souvenirs of bygone fashion to a high school drama department or local community theatre.

Current-style clothing may be welcome at any number of resale shops in the Cape Fear Region. Valerie Robertson, publisher of Cape Fear’s Going Green, has three favorites:

• Vintage Values, with three locations in Wilmington, accepts clothing and uses its proceeds to help victims of domestic violence. Learn more at www.domesticviolence-wilm.org/the-open-gate/vintage-values.aspx.

• Fairy Circle Consignment, on South College Road, focuses on name-brand clothing for teens and young professionals. Visit
www.fairycircleconsignment.com/about.html.

• The Bargain Box takes clothing donations. Proceeds from what they sell go to area charities. What they cannot sell gets sent to other organizations, so you know your clothing will be worn and loved. Check out www.bargainboxilm.org/community-outreach.

Household Goods

As for household goods and usable building materials, the area’s Habitat ReStores are grateful for your donations. There are several in our area: Wilmington (www.capefearhabitat.org/homestore), Brunswick County (www.brunswickcountyhabitat.org/restore.html) and Jacksonville (www.crystalcoasthabitat.org/restore).

Erin Glew, donations coordinator at the Cape Fear ReStore, says her location takes windows, drywall, toilets, cabinets, working appliances, hardware and plumbing supplies, lawn and garden equipment, grills, televisions and furniture.

“We’ll also accept paint as long as the gallon container is at least half-full, and there’s no rust on the top,” she said.

ReStores will pick up your donations, as will Interfaith Refugee Ministry, headquartered at Saint James Episcopal Church in Wilmington. Working with other churches, the New Hanover County Department of Health and area public schools, this organization helps settle refugees fleeing political or ethnic persecution. IRM accepts donations of items that their new families need: gently used mattresses (except king size), adult bicycles, some furniture items and winter jackets. Contact donations coordinator Sarah Kingsley for more information: 910.538.0714.

Books

If you’re like me, you hate to part with books, even those you haven’t read in years. But you can find willing takers for your beloved tomes: The Friends of the New Hanover County Library hold a huge book sale each year and welcome donations of clean volumes (no textbooks, please) at any of their branches. Friends of the Southport and Oak Island Library likewise take donations of used books for their sale. Pat’s Paperback Exchange in Wilmington will accept paperbacks in good condition.

There’s another honorable destination for all kinds of books. Paul Wilkes, executive director of Homes of Hope in India, takes donations of any books and sells them online to raise money for orphanages and schools that equip girls in southern India to escape the poverty into which they were born. One good drop-off point for these donations is Pomegranate Books on Park Avenue in Wilmington.

Electronics

As for those tech gadgets that you don’t want any more, Robertson says that there are organizations that will take them off your hands. An example: Cape Fear River Watch accepts cell phones and chargers, as well as spent ink cartridges. Robertson is compiling a comprehensive list of recycling outlets for Cape Fear’s Going Green, and can be contacted for up-to-date information. She can be reached at publisher@goinggreenpublications.com or by visiting www.goinggreenpublications.com.

Miscellaneous

If all else fails, and you still haven’t found takers for some of your things, join the Freecycle Network (it’s free!) and post them online. Typically, Freecycle is the last stop for an item before it’s junked, but we’ve netted a decent gas grill and a scanner when we belonged to the Freecycle organization in Cincinnati.

As they say, one man’s trash is another’s treasure. LOL

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