Five places to donate your pre-loved items when spring cleaning

As you embark on your annual Chinese New Year spring cleaning, you may find yourself with various items that no longer “spark joy”.

Instead of tossing these items out, you can consider giving them a new lease of life by donating them to charity organisations.

Here are five places you can donate your pre-loved items to declutter your home:

Have a pile of old books that you are no longer reading? You can donate them to Books Beyond Borders, a social business that sells used and “gently-used” books.

It aims to extend educational opportunities in developing nations by investing all of its profits after business expenses in rural Nepal.

Books Beyond Borders currently accepts both English fiction and non-fiction books. However, if you are still unsure on the type of books you can donate, its giving guide will tell you more.

You can drop off your books at Kong Beng Industrial Building from 12pm to 5pm all week round. Doorstep pickups can be arranged if you are intending to drop off 20 books or more.

Another location accepting donations of books is Dignity Mama, a second-hand book and retail store only located in hospitals across the island.

The store, which boasts over 50,000 secondhand books to encourage a culture of reading and giving, enables young adults with disabilities to gain basic entrepreneurial skills and lead independent lives through the selling of books.

Dignity Mama currently accepts story books and comics for children, adult non-fiction books and magazines. Drop-offs can be done at its kiosk in Ng Teng Fong Hospital or the National University Hospital (NUH).

If you have no younger siblings or relatives to hand down your old toys, St. Isidore Centre would gladly receive them.

Part of the Willing Hearts Orphanage, the centre accepts toys, clothes, shoes, bags, household-ware and electrical appliances that are in working condition.

All proceeds from the sales of goods will then go towards supporting orphanages in the Philippines and Indonesia.

You can drop off your pre-loved items at St. Isidore Centre, Block 120 Potong Pasir Avenue 1, S(350120).

Part of spring cleaning may mean clearing out clothes you no longer wear or fit in from your wardrobe. Instead of throwing them out, you can donate to Greensquare.

Greensquare provides free textile recycling services to households and organisations in Singapore to raise awareness on reusing, reducing and recycling. The collected recyclables are then sold to second-hand textile importers in developing countries to support its business model in providing educational activities and free collection services.

You can donate your clean clothes, wearable shoes and accessories at any of its 16 drop-off locations. Donors who are donating a minimum of five big bags or boxes of clothes can also send an email along with a photo of the items packed into bags to arrange for a pick-up.

Give your clothes and home appliances a new lease of life by donating them to the Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army accepts all articles of clean clothing with the exception of undergarments which will then be retailed at its Family Thrift Stores.

Books, toys, home appliances and electronics that are in good condition are some of the other items that are accepted at its thrift store.

It also provides home collection services for donors with bulky donations like furniture, refrigerators and televisions. Alternatively, donors can donate their non-bulky items at its donation in-kind booths.