How to clear unwanted clothes and furniture

Part of my service as a professional organizer in Madrid is to declutter and remove items from my clients´ houses. I understand the frustration there is at times because we live in apartments and sometimes it’s hard to know where to donate or throw things. And then there is the GUILT to decluttering your home…. The guilt of throwing things away,  the difficulty of parting with children´s clothes and making space for a new stage, and the conundrum of what to do with pieces of furniture/household items that you don´t need anymore.

In this blog, I am going to give my top tips on how to declutter & donate in Madrid.  Where is your favorite place to donate? Be sure to drop it in the comments below!

My Favourite places to donate clothes

Shops
Each year more and more shops are jumping on the sustainability drive and offering to take their clothes back. You can drop bags of clothes off to H&M and C&A and Zara for example and they recycle to make new garments. Here is information on C&As Circular Fashion.

Charity
I like a lot the charity Cáritas. Their charity donations are well set up and controlled. You can place your unwanted clothes in the containers that are placed around Madrid or drop them off at their shops and collection points. Find your nearest in this link.

On Street Containers
As a last resort, the on street containers that the council of Madrid has put on the streets is a good place to throw unwanted clothes. There are mixed opinions about throwing your clothes here but if you have no car and you can´t make it to the Caritas drop of points this could be your second option. The council of Madrid contracts the collection of clothes from these containers to three companies: Recuperalia, Solidança y Recumadrid. Recumadrid, of all of them, is the only one that also tries to carry out a social purpose with the management of garment recycling, as it offers work to people at risk of social exclusion.  Click here for a map of these containers.

My Favourite place to donate furniture

Madrid Batel
I came across Madrid Batel when I first moved to Madrid, I needed to furnish my apartment and wanted to do it low cost. They work in the community of Madrid helping recovering alcoholics, drug addicts and restore lives damaged social exclusion. They accept furniture, resell it and run programmes helping people to be active members of their community and grow in their capabilities. If you have furniture that is in a good state and you would like to donate it to Batel you can call them on 91 525 00 06 or fill out the form online here. They will arrange a time to come and pick up your furniture.

You have furniture too old to donate or damaged to donate? 

You can make an appointment through Madrid council and they will send a van to pick it up. They then take it to the “punto limpio” which is a recycling centre.  Here is the link for this.

Best Facebook Groups to donate your things in Madrid

Your Neighbourhood
First thing you should do is type your neighbourhoold into the Facebook group search to see if there is any group to give away things to people in your beightbour hood. I am a big fan of these groups because there is more chance of someone coming to pick up your things if they live near.   For example, I live in Rivas and it has a group called “no lo tiro, te lo doy”. I love it because you post photos, people comment if they want it and then do a draw between all the people who comment. The person who wins comes to my house to pick it up and normally they come within 48 hours.  

Madrid Facebook Groups

• Moms& Dads Madrid
• Trash to treasure
• No tires nada….. todo tiene un uso (MADRID)
• Donaciones Solidarias Madrid  

You have items to sell? 

Obviously, your first port of call is Wallapop and Vinted. Their apps are great and its getting easier and easier for you to send things that you sell without having to go too far out of your way.   But your rule of thumb: if it’s not sold within a month,  donate it. Don´t let it take up much-needed space in your home.

Punto Limpios  or Recycling points

In Madrid, there are many recycling centres which are called Punto Limpios in Spanish. You can drive up in your car with everything and throw things out. There is always someone from the council there to help you decide which container to throw the things and you come away feeling nice that you have done something for the environment!

I have made a quick summary here of what you can throw in these recycling centres but the general rule of thumb is that you can basically recycle most things,  from your old pens to copies of your X-rays – its good to recycle guys!

• electronics: TVs radios , speakers,household appliances etc
• wood
• plastic items: for example broken toys
• metal
• plants and garden residues
• all types of batteries,,
• oils (both cooking and motor), 
• fluorescent lamps, 
• furniture and bulky objects,
•  aerosols and chemicals, 
• medications, 
• mattresses……

Here is the link to find your nearest recycling centre.

If you don´t have a car:

As mentioned above, if you have large items that you want to take to the recycling point, Madrid has small lorries that pass by certain points to collect larger items. There are also certain days you can leave out items at the normal containers without having to make an appointment and the council comes to collect them. Check out the link here.

Need help to declutter and donate? 

Part of my role as a professional organizer is to help my clients break free from the frustration of a cluttered home and remove unwanted items to donate them. If you need help to find peace and joy in a decluttered and organized home contact me for a fixed price quote on your space. Email Lynne at hello@organizemyhomespace.com