Giving away opened products?

[piratebean]

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas of where I could give away opened products, like an opened container of body wash, shampoo, etc. Most charities will not accept those kind of things. But I have two products that I tried that I really can't stand, and I hate to just throw them away. One is a body wash, the other is a shampoo. Any suggestions?

[sarahjayn1980]

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas of where I could give away opened products, like an opened container of body wash, shampoo, etc. Most charities will not accept those kind of things. But I have two products that I tried that I really can't stand, and I hate to just throw them away. One is a body wash, the other is a shampoo. Any suggestions?
Have you tried your local shelter? Some of these organizations will take open products for on-site use, not to give away. They aren't the majority, though, because it's a liability to take potentially contaminated good.

[karenlovessnow]

I sometimes bring things I don't use any more to work and let my co-workers have them if it's something they can use. It especially works for the ladies because they get to try different products without having to spend the money on it, so if they end up not liking it, there's no loss on their part.

[Amy SF]

Not a bad idea... :think:

[kpickell]

If you do go the shelter route, call and ask their policy first. At our shelter, we'll take any donation you give us (we're not allowed to turn down any donations brought in), but it goes right in the trash as soon as you turn around if it's already opened (against the law for us to use already opened products).

[raw jess]

What kind of products are they? Expensive-ish? I usually give stuff I don't like to my mom. Either she uses it or takes it to her work for kids who can't afford or don't have shampoo/conditioner, etc. If it's body wash or something and I didn't like it, I'd use it as hand soap near my sinks. I have those foam-dispensers, so you pour some soap in there, add some water, and it disperses foam soap. I usually do that with body washes.

OR i'll take them and pour way too much into the bath tub and take a bath in it.

[elibrown]

I can understand why places won't take opened stuff. After Hurricane Katrina, several thousand evacuees came to Dallas, and I organized an independant relief drive for 30 families who had nothing (a friend of a friend of mine owns an apartment complex and was letting them stay in vacant units, but they had no clothing, food, furniture, etc.). Anyway, my relief drive was wildly successful- in 4 days, we completely filled up the clubhouse at the complex, all the way up to the ceiling. But SO much of the stuff people brought was completely useless; used deodorant, dusty bottles with a half inch of liquid in them, dried up nail polish. It was literally like people just cleaned out their bathroom cabinets and dumped all the stuff on me and the evacuees. I guess they were trying to help, but they just went overboard. We wasted a lot of time sifting through things to find stuff that could actually be used, and wasted a lot of space storing the trash.

Of course I know with you it's totally different, you just have some perfectly good products you don't want to use anymore. However, I can see how a place would have to enforce a really strict policy, to avoid situations like what happened with my relief drive.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Here's my advice: try Craigslist. I think you can give away pretty much anything there. I personally might take something from someone in your situation if I needed it.

[WonderRandy]

or give them directly to a homeless person. I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

[karenM]

I've noticed that people seem willing to take much stranger stuff than opened shampoo on freecycle.org...

[kpickell]

I can understand why places won't take opened stuff. After Hurricane Katrina, several thousand evacuees came to Dallas, and I organized an independant relief drive for 30 families who had nothing (a friend of a friend of mine owns an apartment complex and was letting them stay in vacant units, but they had no clothing, food, furniture, etc.). Anyway, my relief drive was wildly successful- in 4 days, we completely filled up the clubhouse at the complex, all the way up to the ceiling. But SO much of the stuff people brought was completely useless; used deodorant, dusty bottles with a half inch of liquid in them, dried up nail polish. It was literally like people just cleaned out their bathroom cabinets and dumped all the stuff on me and the evacuees. I guess they were trying to help, but they just went overboard. We wasted a lot of time sifting through things to find stuff that could actually be used, and wasted a lot of space storing the trash.
Oh tell me about it! I can't believe the trash that people bring us to deal with. And then they turn around and write it off as a $2000 donation. :gun: Oh it frustrates me so much, but my hands are tied.

And I'm not talking about opened products like the Op is describing, I can see donating that kind of thing... but literally people will bring in trash, used paper plates, stained underwear, empty ketchup bottles... People like that, I hope get audited and go to jail for tax fraud.

I agree that freecycle is a great place to get rid of.. anything. :)

[piratebean]

Thanks for those who had more info on donating, from the charity's point-of-view....I think it will give us all plenty to think about next time we want to donate.

Being pretty financially challenged myself, I've always thought about what I was giving away. If, for example, old clothes were too nasty to donate, then I'd use them for rags or something (like a sewing project). Just because people are poor doesn't mean they want to walk around looking like they're wearing garbage.

I like the idea of taking stuff to work, but the ladies I work with would probably look down on my idea of trading or giving away opened products. I wish I had a nearby circle of friends, where we could just pass the stuff around. But most of my friends live out of state, and I don't think it's worth it to mail shampoo to them.

So, I think I'll go with the suggestion of using it up in a different way: I'll mix it with some water and put it in my soap dispensers. I just ran out of soap the other day, and I can't believe I didn't think of this one! (Lucky for me, I was going to go to the store today after work to buy soap - and now I can just forget it. Yay!)

I think I'd be more interested in posting it on freecycle or craigslist if it was more stuff - but we're just talking about a bottle of body wash and a bottle of shampoo. It's hardly worth the effort to post them. And the one lotion I don't like, my husband is using. It doesn't bother his skin the way it bothers mine.

Thanks again for the ideas!

P.S. - I also like the idea of giving the stuff directly to a homeless person, but I live in an area where the homeless population isn't very visible. (I'm sure they're here, I just don't know where to find them.) I'd probably have to go through a charity to find someone to give the stuff too, and I'd rather just give some new products to the charity to distribute to the people who need them.

Thanks again for the ideas! You're a great bunch!

[Tesseract]

I have the same problem-- I have a grab of stuff I doubt I could give to a charity, but would probably be much appreciated if I could just find the right person. A huge container of liquid hand soap and a large bottle of dandruff shampoo, both virtually new, and still full (they contained something in the fragrance that triggered migraines for me), some sealed but expired cartons of soup and soymilk, and a whole bag of brand new toiletries from from Victoria's Secret (given to me as a gift, again the fragrance bothers me). I also have a for-diehard-freegans-only item-- a batered, filthy, but still sealed can of Sunkist orange soda found under my stairs a few months ago! :lol: Maybe I'll try signing up for Freecycle.

[surya]

I have actually got rid of stuff like single bottles of shampoo or some TVP that I didn't like by posting on freecycle: its very quick and easy to do, though do remember to post again when the stuff is gone so you don't have to answer lots of emails/calls from people saying its gone. This was in a University town though, where people might have been more open to the idea of taking away opened bottles of stuff: the girl I gave the TVP to actually even sent me a little thank you note card, which I think was very sweet!

[Coney]

I always give stuff I don't want to friends or family. There's usually someone who'll take it.

A soup kitchen or homeless shelter's a good idea too.

[jenni-anti-fur]

I always give stuff I don't want to friends or family. There's usually someone who'll take it.

A soup kitchen or homeless shelter's a good idea too.

i totally agree...i am a person who is very allergic to everything so when i use a new product and it irritates me i give it to family or friends..and a shelter or other charity is a great route too.

[Tesseract]

i totally agree...i am a person who is very allergic to everything so when i use a new product and it irritates me i give it to family or friends..and a shelter or other charity is a great route too.
The problem with giving it to a shelter or other charity, as people have mentioned above, is that so many of them aren't allowed to use opened products.

[Sauteedbeans]

How about leaving a box of stuff in front of your house or street marked "free stuff." I see that once in awhile and had actually picked up a few good things.
Sorry if someone already suggested and I am just repeating. I tried reading the previous posts but sometimes miss stuff.

[piratebean]

Tess,
Thank you for your diplomatically-worded post. You said it better than I could.

Sauteed - that might be okay if I lived somewhere where that made sense, but it doesn't here.

I have re-purposed the body wash as hand soap. It's fine for my hands, I just didn't want to use it all over.

Still don't know what to do with the shampoo. I really can't stand it - it aggravates my dry skin condition, and it even burns my scalp and neck sometimes. That's another reason I don't want to give it away - what if I gave it to some person, especially someone down on their luck, and it bothered their scalp too? That would be incredibly mean of me.

So, I'm really just interested in trying to figure out what else *I* can do with it, since I don't feel it's appropriate to pass it off to someone else.

Maybe I should add it to my mopping water (I use vinegar, water, and a dash of soap to mop)...although it will take me forever to use it up. I'll have to try that and see how it feels on the floor.

[Tesseract]

I have applied to freecycle to try to get rid of my stuff, but my local group hasn't responded to my application. :shrug: Most of my stuff I can't use at all, because it's the smell that bothers me, so head-hands-floor wouldn't make any difference. I'd still have a migraine. I guess this stuff is going to sit in a bag by the front door until I can either find someone who wants to use it, or give up and throw it out. :-/

[Joe]

I have mixed feelings about all this.

First, I would not want to give anything to a charity that the charity is not going to use but is going to throw in the trash. Why not just tell me that up front? "We're not going to use it; we're just going to throw it in the trash." Some other charity or person deserves the chance to use the item in question.

Second, if charities want only new items, why ask for items at all? Why not just ask for money and buy the appropriate items themselves?

Third, if someone is a guest in my home, they would have to sleep on a "used" mattress, on "used" sheets, eat off "used" plates with "used" utensils, etc. And if I were a guest in someone's home, I'd get the same treatment. So why shouldn't I be able to "do as I would be done by" and be able to donate items that I would use or have my guests use to a charity for the use by, say, Katrina victims? I would say that the super-fastidious "new only" policies of some charities dis-serve the poor and the victims who need these items, and just create artificial shortages that make the problem worse.

[Tesseract]

I have mixed feelings about all this.

First, I would not want to give anything to a charity that the charity is not going to use but is going to throw in the trash. Why not just tell me that up front? "We're not going to use it; we're just going to throw it in the trash." Some other charity or person deserves the chance to use the item in question.

Second, if charities want only new items, why ask for items at all? Why not just ask for money and buy the appropriate items themselves?

Third, if someone is a guest in my home, they would have to sleep on a "used" mattress, on "used" sheets, eat off "used" plates with "used" utensils, etc. And if I were a guest in someone's home, I'd get the same treatment. So why shouldn't I be able to "do as I would be done by" and be able to donate items that I would use or have my guests use to a charity for the use by, say, Katrina victims? I would say that the super-fastidious "new only" policies of some charities dis-serve the poor and the victims who need these items, and just create artificial shortages that make the problem worse.
I agree, Joe. I can kind of understand the new-only policy when it comes to foodstuffs and personal care items, due to the concern that it might either be spoiled to the point of toxicity or some jackass might haul off and poison it, but have you ever tried getting rid of a used but not trash-worthy mattress? Unless you just happen to know someone who needs it, you might as well just trash it, because NO ONE will take those. And I don't undersand why. OK, so someone could have peed on it or or bled on it whatever... but just put a frigging mattress pad and some clean sheets on it! that's where organizations like Freecycle potentially come in very handy. I say "potentially" because they still haven't reponded to my application. :brood:

PS: Funnily enough, right after I posted that, my Freecycle application was approved. I have now posted my items on my local group, and hopefully someone will take them in the next few days.

[karenM]

Second, if charities want only new items, why ask for items at all? Why not just ask for money and buy the appropriate items themselves?
I'm sure all charities would prefer monetary donations over new OR used household goods. It's just a whole lot easier to get people to donate unwanted possessions than money. :) Donating money is still an option for anyone who wants to help in that way.

I would say that the super-fastidious "new only" policies of some charities dis-serve the poor and the victims who need these items, and just create artificial shortages that make the problem worse.
When it comes to items that could possibly be contaiminated and cannot be cleaned/sanitized/disinfected, I have to support the charities' policies here. I wouldn't give my family or guests opened/consumed food, beverages or personal care products from an unknown source, would you?

[Tesseract]

BTW, I'm here to tell you that FreeCycle works. I posted some brand new toiletries, opened but nearly new toiletries, and expired but still sealed food items on my local Freecycle group earlier today, and I have to admit I had doubts whether people would want these, but 8 people emailed me within an hour offering to come get them.

[raw jess]

I also use lotion to shave with. I have some lotions that I don't like putting on my body for whatever reason (too thick, makes me break out, whatever) I put some of each (mixed) in an empty hair dye bottle (you can buy them at beauty supply stores) I have some essential oils too, that I add. Sometimes I put some aloe in there, mix it all up and I shave with it. You can do that with body wash/shampoo /lotion/anything, really. I had some bikini zone razor bump cream I just put the rest into my handy dandy hairdye bottle along with the lotions, essential oils, aloe, whatever else I find to put in there.

I don't shave much because I'm in the middle of laser hair removal treatments, but when I do, it's a good way to get rid of stuff that just sits in my closet.

ETA: one of the lotions I just finished up for shaving is this nasty ass post-laser-hair-removal lotion they gave me that has mineral oil as one of the first ingredients. Blech. But I didn't waste it, and it did the job well.

[elibrown]

Joe I can't speak for all charities, but I can provide you with some answers from my own personal experience.


"I have mixed feelings about all this.

First, I would not want to give anything to a charity that the charity is not going to use but is going to throw in the trash. Why not just tell me that up front? "We're not going to use it; we're just going to throw it in the trash." Some other charity or person deserves the chance to use the item in question. I think most places DO state it on a sign or form or something that they will not accept or will throw away items they consider unusable.

Second, if charities want only new items, why ask for items at all? Why not just ask for money and buy the appropriate items themselves? First of all, when I was running my private relief drive, we did not want only NEW items, we wanted only usable items. Secondly, we did not ask primarily for money because our situation was a bit of an emergency. I had 100 people without clothing, food, toiletries, or furniture, and not enough time to collect money and then take every single family out shopping. They needed things NOW. We did recieve a lot of money though we didn't ask for it, and we used it to buy items that couldn't or wouldn't be donated, like specialty foods, medications, and bus passes for the storm victims.

Third, if someone is a guest in my home, they would have to sleep on a "used" mattress, on "used" sheets, eat off "used" plates with "used" utensils, etc. And if I were a guest in someone's home, I'd get the same treatment. So why shouldn't I be able to "do as I would be done by" and be able to donate items that I would use or have my guests use to a charity for the use by, say, Katrina victims? Like I said, I can't speak for all charities, but with mine, we DID take used items. What we did NOT take, or just threw away, were completely unusable items. As I stated in my previous post, what we threw away were things like rotted food, EMPTY shampoo bottles, dried up bottles of nail polish, crumbled deodorant, etc.

I would say that the super-fastidious "new only" policies of some charities dis-serve the poor and the victims who need these items, and just create artificial shortages that make the problem worse. I highly disagree. Most charities who have "new only" policies put them in place for a reason. If the Red Cross for example took unsolicited donations, the hundreds of thousands of items that would be donated every day would be such a huge task to sort, clean, and organize that it would require the effort of so many volunteers that attention would be have to be taken away from feeding, housing, and saving the lives of disaster victims. And when your used-but-usable donations are turned away by organizations whose main purpose are urgent needs, then there will always be hundreds of smaller, needier charities like mine who will take it."