Questions about donating to Goodwill

[SandEagle]

I am in the process of cleaning out my entire closet. I plan to donate 90% of the clothes that I have A lot of it has hardly been used and all of it is in good condition. I plan to machine wash everything before donating. Does Goodwill iron what they get or do they just sell them as they come in? Do people donate stuff without cleaning? Salvation Army or Goodwill?

 

[IronWing]

They will sort, throw out the too-worn stuff, wash, and iron as needed. People donate stuff that would gag a maggot off a gut wagon.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

You don't need to wash it or fuss over it. Goodwill will be glad to have it and will take care of making it salable themselves.

 

[SandEagle]

ok, thanks for the info. one last question: do they give me some type of receipt that shows the value of everything, for tax purposes? how do they calculate or should I calculate before I donate? most of the stuff is name brand and very expensive. i just want to redo my entire wardrobe. a nice tax break would help

 

[Slick5150]

They have a standard calculation they use.. Or I think if you want to calculate things on your own they can look through things and sign off on it.

 

[Pepsei]

actually, they gave my parents a receipt with just a date and the clerk's initials.... you get to fill out everything else (like the name of the person who donated, what items and fair market value), there's a fair market value list of items on the back of the paper to use as a guide.

 

[Denithor]

Make a comprehensive list and keep their receipt.

If you use TurboTax you can use their value estimator but you gotta know what stuff you gave. When you do your taxes this year take a look in there for the kinds of things they have itemized. I think they base their values on eBay resell prices so it changes year by year.

 

[MotionMan]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Make a comprehensive list and keep their receipt.

QFT.

MotionMan

 

[bunker]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Make a comprehensive list and keep their receipt.

If you use TurboTax you can use their value estimator but you gotta know what stuff you gave. When you do your taxes this year take a look in there for the kinds of things they have itemized. I think they base their values on eBay resell prices so it changes year by year.

And when you make that list, don't just put down 10 pairs of pants.
Put down 3 pairs of khaki's, 2 pairs of jeans, etc...

Use this: It's Deductible

 

[kranky]

You have to itemize deductions in order to deduct the value of those donations. I would also suggest taking a couple of photos of the clothes before donating, to further support your deduction in case you're audited.

I also recommend "It's Deductible" for valuing your donated items. You will be very pleasantly surprised.

 

[JMapleton]

I would imagine they would have to wash them, it might even be illegal or a serious health hazard.