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Post by cricket on Dec 21, 2012 19:35:49 GMT -5
Money has been really tight the last few years for us. My daughter loves to sew and do all things crafty. I found a working sewing machine at Goodwill, in a real wood, furniture-grade table a couple months ago for just $17. The table was dusty and scarred up, but I refinished it (which took longer than it should have) and we moved it up to my daughter's room this week, buffed wood grain glowing now in the lamp light, and she hasn't stopped sewing since.
If you have things you aren't using that you need to get rid of, know that you might just really be making someone's day. I could not have afforded to buy her a bottom-of-the-line machine new, much less a dedicated craft table for it, (crappy press board probably) but here she has a nice machine with it's own table that doubles as an attractive bedside table folded up. It's really a blessing for her, and she'll have it for years and years. She'll probably be sewing curtains for my future grandbabies' rooms some day on it.
Seriously, if you have things you aren't using that you are trying to find the strength to let go, know that your donations really do find their way to people who value them. I am so grateful to whomever donated their old machine. It made my daughter's Christmas.
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Post by messymimi on Dec 21, 2012 21:03:53 GMT -5
If you continually give, you will continually have.
If you grasp with a clenching fist, nothing new can come to you, and you will destroy what you are holding so tightly.
messymimi
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Post by dayeanu on Dec 21, 2012 21:25:16 GMT -5
That's a really heart-warming story, and I am glad your daughter has been so blessed.
When we donate stuff, it is defintely a coin with two sides. So often we only look at what we are givig up - our loss. If we could see how our stuff is blessing someone else, we'd probably gladly give our stuff away to them.
I think that may be the catch for a lot of us - it's the giving to a faceless, story-less, donation box.
We just have to give by faith, knowing that there IS a person, with a life-story, who may be blessed by our "stuff."
Once upon a time, I donated some of my DGS's outgrown baby clothes to our local charity. One item was a particularly nice and rather unique snow suit. Rarely do you see children's snow suits in our area because we just don't have that much cold weather, but naturally, I had one for DGS! It was so cute and nice, so "special", I kept it tucked away in my chest for probably a year or two, but I did eventually donate it.
Later on that winter, the weather turned bitterly cold and rainy. DGS got sick and I took him to the doctor. As I sat in the waiting room watching the freezing rain pelt the glass, a young teenage girl, rather poorly dressed, came in with her sick baby. The weather may have been nasty, but that baby was snug and warm and dry in my DGS's little snow suit. I was so happy I almost cried right there in the waiting room. But I also felt ashamed at my reluctance to donate it. I know that that snow suit probably got passed around and handed down, and probably kept several little babies warm and dry before it was used up.
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Blackswan
Banned
Joined: October 2008
Posts: 6,388
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Post by Blackswan on Dec 22, 2012 3:10:31 GMT -5
I donated my sewing machine and a big plastic box full of fabrics. When I did, I pictured myself finding that at the store. I would be so excited! You guys are making an excellent point here. An item can be in our closet, in our pile, or it can be out there in the world living life. I love the baby and the snow suit story!
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Post by dayeanu on Dec 22, 2012 3:24:11 GMT -5
I donated my sewing machine and a big plastic box full of fabrics. When I did, I pictured myself finding that at the store. I would be so excited! You guys are making an excellent point here. An item can be in our closet, in our pile, or it can be out there in the world living life. I love the baby and the snow suit story! Very well said, Swan! |
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Post by Evelyn on Dec 22, 2012 4:55:23 GMT -5
My budget means that I do the majority of my shopping at thrift stores, and this has made it much easier for me to donate. I always feel grateful to the people who've donated just the thing I need - while I don't strictly depend on it, the kindness of strangers is the source of a lot of very good luck for me.  I try to donate at stores that I don't frequent much, so as to avoid the risk of buying the same things more than once. When I find myself re-donating something that I bought at a thrift store, I try to think of the small price that I paid for the item as "rent" - a small fee to help the store offset the cost of kindly letting me use the item for as long as I needed it. |
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Post by canna on Dec 22, 2012 10:27:31 GMT -5
Please donate!
At the resale shop I volunteer at, special vouchers are given to families who are helped by the charity that runs the resale shop. It is so nice to see the families come in and choose nice items that they need, on the voucher program. Cookware, household things, linnens,womens, mens and childrens clothes and
so much more.
Donations are really appreciated!
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sheep
New Member
Joined: October 2012
Posts: 34
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Post by sheep on Dec 22, 2012 11:30:04 GMT -5
Thanks for this encouraging message, Cricket. And, BTW, I love your signature and the idea of having "bare-bones dailies." Going to make a list of those RIGHT NOW!
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ashamed00
New Member
Joined: December 2012
Posts: 18
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Post by ashamed00 on Dec 22, 2012 16:24:43 GMT -5
You know, for years and years my husband and I have put things up to donate.... Which means we put them in closets, cabinets, and eventually corners of rooms when everywhere else was full. We have been married for almost 10 years and we'd never actually donated anything! Within the last couple of days that has changed. So far we've donated bags of baby and children's clothes, old coats, toys, and books. This morning my husband cleaned out the small "coat closet" and found 7 basketballs, 4 tennis rackets, and several rolls of wrapping paper that he donated. Both the sewing machine and the snow suit stories made me cry a little. |
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Post by catcat on Dec 23, 2012 0:20:10 GMT -5
The snoesuit story & the sewing machine story were very helpful in making me want to again start donating right after the holidays. I used to do it several times a year, but this has been an unusually busy year with mold remediation & reconstruction of my basement. I have about finished my Christmas stuff & I think one of the first things I will do next is to clean & donate some coats & household items that I am not using. They are taking up space anyway & I love to think of someone getting use from them.
Thanks for the stories.
catcat
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