40 DAY LENT DECLUTTER CHALLENGE - DECLUTTER & DONATE

So as you're probably aware, lent begins today. It's a day when lots of people will be giving up something they enjoy which is usually food or drink based for 40 days. I'll not go into the ins and outs of where lent came from but lots of people do it for spiritual discipline and others do it for the personal challenge. I've never personally managed to give up anything for lent but recently I saw a really great idea where you donate a bag of things for every day of lent. I personally can't afford to get rid of a bag of stuff every single day so I'm going to focus on 1 or 2 things per day but if you want to get involved obviously you do whatever you feel you can.
In effect you're doing a 40 day declutter and also helping those in need, no matter how small your donations.
I'm a self-confessed hoarder and I will literally hold on to anything I can 'just in case' it comes in handy so I'm setting myself this challenge to choose 1 thing to get rid of to a charity every single day for the next 40 days whether that's clothing, household items, books, DVDs... whatever!
There are some things in your house that you may not be able to donate to high street charity shops so here are some places you can send things like used bras, unused makeup/beauty products & socks...
Donating Bras
Against breast cancer bra bank (recycling)
Smalls for all (new or lightly used) - These are sent to people in developing countries like Africa so they can make small living from selling bras
Sell on ebay and donate directly to refuge


Donating Socks (general rule of thumb... don't give any socks that you wouldn't give to your best friend)
Your local homeless organisation - our local charity who help the homeless and in need are actually crying out for socks because people assume nobody wants them.
Socks and Chocs - a national homeless charity who have drop off points around the country
Donating Makeup (same rule of thumb applies and no used lip glosses/mascaras)
Give & Makeup - Set up by Caroline Hirons in 2010, Give and Makeup will pass your donations onto Refuge and Women's aid in the London Areas. I would absolutely love it if there was something like this up north but there's not at the moment but I'm more than happy to support the work of this fab non-profit initiative.

Donating old towels/linen

Your local dog shelter/animal sanctuary - lots of places would be so grateful for the extra resources which can be used for bedding and/or keeping animals clean. Even if they're a bit tatty they might be able to put them to use!
I can't wait to get cracking with decluttering, I'm going to track my progress via Twitter so if you want to get involved too then use the hashtag #40daydeclutter
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