Let's face it, anytime is a good time to reduce the clutter.

Of course there are a lot of places that will take the usable clothing and articles as donations. The Salvation Army, St.Vincent d'Paul for instance. You can also call Big Brothers or the Canadian Diabetes to arrange a pick up in most Victoria area.

Selling Your Stuff

Garage Sales can be a fun way to sell your good unwanted items. Of course they do take some work but by being properly prepared to spend day, or weekend, outside in the fresh air with some refreshments ready to go and some comfortable seats, they can also be fun.  Another easy way to sell, or give away, some of your unwanted items is through the free online sites such as Craigslist or www.usedVictoria.com 

1. Check with neighbours to find out if any of them are planning a garage sale, this can save you money by splitting advertising, and can attract more people.
2.  Have good signage. Many garage sale signs are difficult to read. Felt maker on paper alone is not enough. Use cardboard and make the lettering as large and thick as possible. You might try setting up a tall box with a weight inside. And make the arrows large
3.  Place some of your larger, more attractive items closer to the road as a draw.
4.  Display items well, try not to crowd them too much. It can also help to group like-items together, ie. all Christmas items on one table or section, power tools on another.
5.  Label prices well and, in the case of more unusual items, add a description of the items use.
6.  Play some relaxing background music, not too loud
7.  Have plenty of change and grocery bags on hand
8.  Use a Fanny pack as a money belt instead of a cash box, which is more difficult to watch if the sale gets busy.
9.  If the day is hot have a cooler of refreshments, you may want to consider offering Pop or water for sale to customers
10.  Have an extension cord available to make testing of electrical items easy
11.  Holiday weekends tend not to be a good time for garage sales as people are often busy with family activities or travelling.
12.  If you have your garage sale on Saturday, and have left-overs that you still want to sell, try a local swap-n-shop on Sunday such as the one at Western Speedway.

If you don't feel inclined to set up a Garage Sale, there are many consignment shops around the area, but, if you don't have the time or inclination to sell your unwanted items there are, of course plenty of places that will are happy receive your usable clothing and articles as donations such as The Salvation Army (call 727-2293 for drop off location) and St.Vincent de Paul with several places around the CRD where you can drop off. Some of these places also offer pick-up services, or you can call Big Brothers or Canadian Diabetes to arrange a pick up of many items in most areas.

Recycling

Recycling has really come a long way in the last few years. It's not just Blue Box Pick up anymore.

A great place to find recycling depots for specific items is through the CRD Recycling Directory link. On their website you will have the ablility to search drop off depots by type of item.

One recycling depot that we have found to be very useful is the Pacific Mobile Depot. They set up temporary depots in different locations around the CRD, (usually on Saturday Mornings) for drop off. . There is a small donation suggested for items, but they take hard to dispose of items such as styrofoam packing and chips, meat and food trays, and soft plastics such as bread bags and cellophane wrap. They even accept some small end of use electronics such as cameras and radios, etc.. Check out their website for more details on locations and accepted materials.

If you have been looking for something to do with all those used CDs and DVDs, Future Shop now has drop bins for recycling Used batteries, Cell phones, CD players, MP3 players, CDs, Portable DVD players, Ink cartridges. Staples also now accepts some of these items such as cell phones and ink cartridges.

We used to have to pay a small recycling fee for monitors and TVs when we dropped them off at the few recycling depots that would accept them, but recent changes, including an environmental fee paid at the time of purchase, means that recycling is now just a simple matter of dropping them off. It has also meant that we have more options available. There are several Return-It programs listed on the in the recycling directory for easy drop off.

This page has been provided as an extra service to our valued clients.  Below you will also find a wish list.