A double bonus!

My issues with decluttering are myriad and diverse. Not only am I reluctant to part with anything I have ever owned, since it can always be put to some use, but now I can’t throw it out because I don’t want to contribute to our enormous landfill/garbage problem. I feel the burden of making sure my gently used clothing, furniture, accessories, and electronics are given to someone/place that can use them.

That is a lot of work.

It is far easier to be a stress-free decluttered person if you are willing to throw things out, regardless of where they end up.

I realize that people whose houses (and refrigerators) are clutter-free are good, swift decision makers. But often they are liberated by a willingness to just toss stuff – unpopular clothing, leftovers – into the trash.

Not me. I have to reuse it or recycle it. (I am a big maker of bone soup.)

But finding through networking (a chat on my lawn with a friendly neighbor walking her dog) that not only is there an organization that takes/wants/needs shoes, but also Zappos partners with them to let you ship the shoes to them for free – that was the impetus I needed to get me into the closet and looking for excess.

Soles4Souls is a charity that uses unwanted, gently used or new shoes to lift people out of poverty around the world.

 

By donating your shoes, you can
give someone a life-changing opportunity.

Souls4Souls is a highly successful charity, having distributed 40,677,127 pairs of shoes to date. Charity Navigator gives it a four star rating, praising the organization’s effectiveness and transparency. They take all kinds of shoes, from sneakers and flip flops to high heels, and either give them to people in dire need (natural disaster victims) or train people struggling in poverty to become entrepreneurs, set up shop, and sell them.