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Keeping Track of Your Donations

With all this purging and decluttering, we've been making a lot of donations to our specific Goodwill/Salvation Army. On top of giving me lukewarm-fuzzies and helping to clear the confusion from our home, these donations became a helpful inscribe-off when we did our taxes this year. Our accountant was incredibly impressed that I had kept track of what we had donated. He said most people aren't very capable about that information, they usually just have the receipts.

So I scheme I'd share some tips for keeping alley of and valuing what you donate.

1. Keep a inclusive list of what you have donated and how much of it you have donated. I recomend starting a document on your computer where you can keep hunt down of all of your donated goods for the year (perhaps a spreadsheet of what/when/where you donated). For clothing, well-deserved keep track of the category of clothing and how many items in each area. Break them down by Women's/Men's/Children. For household items, encompass name brand if there is one.
Your list might look something like this:
ItemqtyDateCharityJeans59/5/2010GoodwillSlacks29/5/2010GoodwillCasual shirt39/5/2010GoodwillDress shirt69/5/2010GoodwillDresses29/5/2010GoodwillSkirts59/5/2010GoodwillShoes39/5/2010GoodwillMen's clothingItemqtyDateCharityJeans39/5/2010GoodwillSlacks69/5/2010GoodwillCasual shirt29/5/2010GoodwillDress shirt49/5/2010GoodwillShoes0Household ItemqtyDateCharityRosanna Inc, Pud plates410/15/2010Salvation ArmyKitchenAid Promote Mixer110/15/2010Salvation ArmyMisc. Scullery utensils1010/15/2010Salvation ArmyTablecloth310/15/2010Salvation ArmyTorchiere Lamp110/15/2010Salvation ArmyAnchor Hocking Mixing Dish310/15/2010Salvation ArmyPyrex Baking dish110/15/2010Salvation Army
 2. Take photos of your items. You don't necesarily require to photograph EVERYTHING, but it is a good idea when you are donating a lot of items and/or "big ticket" items. If you forge a list on your computer, you can easily paste the photos into the...

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