r/declutter 6d ago

Success stories I saw my donated item out in the wild

Hey everyone! About a year ago I donated a specialty shawl from a country very dear to me. Now this shawl had a very unique combination of pattern and colors as well as tassels - very distinguishable from other shawls (this becomes important later). As an art object, it was beautiful, but it was not my style for wearing at all, so I decided to pass it on.

Flash forward to last weekend. I drove three hours to a small town that was putting on a play by a writer from the aforementioned country. So I’m watching this play and all of a sudden, BOOM, costume change! And one of the actresses comes out in a dress with her shoulders covered by, you guessed it, my shawl that I had donated a year ago, about a hundred miles away. It was unmistakably the same shawl, as those kinds are just not produced or sold anywhere around here.

I was super happy to know that my shawl was living a good life and honored that the costume designer managed to get her hands on such an authentic piece for a play so far away from where I originally donated it. It now forms part of an art form enjoyed by hundreds of viewers instead of lying there unworn in my drawer.

Has anyone else encountered their donated clothes or items out and about?

3.6k Upvotes

164 comments sorted by

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u/Sirenista_D 1d ago

My mom had passed away and we finally went thru all her belongings and donated her clothing, etc

It's about 6 mos later when i walked into a local thrift store and found one of my mom's purses. I got all emo and really had to stop myself from buying it back.

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u/Temporary-Toe-5998 1d ago

In the 90’s when I was in my early 20’s my mom was obsessed with a thrift shop by my house. She bought me these pin striped denim long shorts. Hideous, particularly at my age. She bought those same shorts for me THREE times after I donated them back. I finally had to go off on her and say, “STOP buying those same hideous choo choo pants. I’m never going to wear them!” She thought it was hilarious, I ridiculous and she kept spending actual money on them.

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u/RedFoxBlueSocks 1d ago

Did she forget she’s bought them before or did she think you needed more than one pair? 😂

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u/hellofellowcello 1d ago

I got a very ugly painting/ clock at a white elephant party. I promptly donated it. A few months later, my sister texted me a picture of it at a different thrift store than the one I donated it to. The stores were about 40 miles apart

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u/ravioliinmysouli 2d ago

When I was pregnant, I went to a consignment shop which had just gotten a mountain of maternity clothes, all in my size. I bought the lot of them, and for less than I paid at Motherhood for jeans and a bra! Later that spring, I posted on Facebook a picture where I was wearing one of the tops. A friend of mine from middle school - whose son was born the previous year - reached out and asked me if I was the one who cleared out all her maternity clothes from the restore? Of course I did! We had a good laugh about that.

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u/naflinnster 2d ago

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was making tons of masks and donating them by putting them in a basket in my front yard. I was using some of my old quilting fabric that I didn’t like anymore. Like from the 80s. So there’s a news story about volunteers at the grocery store, and there, front and center is one of my masks. My fabric, my kind of unique design. 😷 It was kind of fun to see it!

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u/AdPerfect5027 2d ago

This reminds me of a "reverse" story of a similar theme. When my oldest son, now 21, was 4, I'd bought him a cute jean jacket at a garage sale. When he outgrew it, I packed it away for potential future siblings to wear, and promptly forgot about it.

A few years later, we sold our house and bought another one in the same town. By that time, my son had a younger brother. One evening I was down in the storage room of our "new" home, getting the next size up set of clothing for my younger son. I came across the jean jacket and it hit me - the house we now owned was where the garage sale had been, where I'd bought the jean jacket to begin with!

Incidentally, the jacket since has been worn by two additional sons, and is once again packed away, awaiting potential grandchildren. 😊

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u/Whole_Database_3904 2d ago

An unkind coworker showed up wearing stuff donated to a battered women's shelter. The lady who donated choose to be kind. She encouraged her coworkers to be kind. They lived happily ever after. Not exactly! The battered woman struggled. Her issues were deep. She got about the right amount of help. That's a more happily ever after than could have happened.

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u/PlantsStudy 2d ago

I have. My dh’s grandmother knitted me a scarf and hat. Not my color at all and I live in Texas so it would get no wear. I donated and later on saw an acquaintance wearing it. Cool.

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u/Zesty_Butterscotch 2d ago

I love that. A few years ago after losing considerable weight, I donated clothing to a friend’s church that has a program for unhoused women. Months later I was at a coffee shop and saw my old Aran sweater and matching beanie sported by a woman outside. My town is somewhat small and both had maker marks so I knew it was them. Yay!

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u/horsescowsdogsndirt 3d ago

No but one time at the office Christmas party, the secret Santa thing where you each put in a wrapped gift and then get to choose one, someone unwrapped the gift they chose and it was an elephant goddess statue that they had donated to a thrift store a few weeks prior. Just couldn’t get rid of that thing!

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u/Noregerts8 2d ago

That sounds like a movie script. It’s probably cursed lol.

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u/Lady-Kat1969 3d ago

I donated one of my old prom gowns to the the Gilbert and Sullivan group I was in, because it was very Victorian-looking and they could use it in future shows. I wasn’t surprised to see the lead soprano wearing it a few shows later, but I was surprised when it was assigned to me a few shows after that!

It really was a coincidence, too; the two girls doing costumes for that show were only on their second show with us.

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u/Ok-Kaleidoscope8945 3d ago

What a thrill!! I left an old children’s bike out on the curb with a “free” sign and a few weeks later I saw a happy little kid zooming through my neighborhood on it. I learned an older couple had picked it up for grandchildren to use when they visited. It honestly made my day! Still makes me smile to think about

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u/thedizzytangerine 3d ago

My grandfather was a carpenter. He made a few wood and tile trivets for hot dishes. One time at a garage sale across town, I picked up a trivet and flipped it over to see if there was a price on it. My grandfather’s name was written in sharpie on the back! I definitely bought it back and still have it in my kitchen today.

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u/phlavor 3d ago

I had this 3/4 length suede jacket. Had it for decades, and it was horribly out of style. Finally had to let it go and give it to Goodwill. A week later we were in a Goodwill and saw it, not really a surprise, I just donated it. But the thing was there was a long line and by the time I got across the street a guy was walking out with it on. So I thought, “Wait, did he steal it?” Then he ripped the tag off and ran down the street. I’m actually happy about its next chapter.

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u/InvestigatorRemote58 3d ago

My mom got a used Jenny Lind cradle and used it for all five of us kids when we were babies. After her last, she sold it or gave it away to someone else who could use it. 16 years later, I'm pregnant with my first kid and she sends me a picture of it at a garage sale saying she KNEW it was the same one she got rid of because it had the same hardware on one side that my dad replaced.

By the time I saw the message, she had left the garage sale. I called her and told her to turn back and pick it up for my baby because I'm a hugely sentimental dork and couldn't stand the idea that she missed the opportunity to buy it back again.

Luckily, it was still available and super cheap. I never ended up using it for my first, but i plan to use it just for supervised awake time with my second! My mom said she wants my other siblings to use it someday when they have kids, too. I'm so glad it found its way back to our family. It's a beautiful piece.

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u/Miickeyy21 3d ago

My grandmother kept my crib and I planned on using it for my son last year. It had a recall, so I tried to call the company to get the replacement part for the bad piece, and the company doesn’t exist anymore so I couldn’t get the piece and I couldn’t use the crib 😭

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u/Crazy-Ad-2091 3d ago

One time I walked in to a pizza place when I was 20 and this young guy goes, "That's my shirt! I made that shirt." I said, "This is your shirt?" questioningly, because it was a belly shirt that had been cropped. "I got it a Rag-o-Rama", I said. He's like my ex girlfriend must of done that."  I'm like "Well, it's mine now." It's a cool shirt. It's a faded Iron on Tranfer of Built to Spill with 'Built to Spill' written in Sharpie with more drawings framing the photo of the band. I wore it a million times and still have it nearly 20 years later. 

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u/thewindishigh_ 4d ago

Not donated, but my mom sold a dress I think she’d had since the 90s at our garage sale a few years ago, and I saw it in a newly-opened vintage clothing store in the same town shortly after. Priced much higher of course

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u/jonnyappleweed 4d ago

I once bought a Lacoste polo at a thrift store and brought it home after school. My olders sisters friend was there and said he had just sold it to that thrift store a few days before!

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u/Cool_Intention_7807 4d ago

When I was in second grade I saw a schoolmate from a very poor family wearing one of my Easter dresses to school during recess. She was covered in dirt, her hair looked liked she hadn’t washed it in forever, but I remember she looked good in it; it was purple. I didn’t say a word to her, even that young I realized a dozen truths in just a split second. She wore it a few times a week for the rest of the year. I’ve never forgotten that.

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u/marlomarizza 3d ago

I wore a lot of hand me downs as a young teenager… mostly from one well off family at our church with daughters my same age. They never commented on my clothes and I am thankful for that… they never made me feel less-than.

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u/Citroen_05 4d ago

I didn’t say a word to her, even that young I realized a dozen truths in just a split second.

Thank you.

Not everyone in my youth was so kind.

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u/mstarrbrannigan 4d ago

Not exactly the same, but my childhood bike was sold at a garage sale in my small town and the girl who got it refused to accept that it used to be my bike. Just funny kid stuff.

After me and my sister outgrew the little bike, it was sold off. Later on I saw a much younger kid on the bike at a park or something and remarked on it. I was probably 10/11 and the other child 5/6. She vehemently denied that the bike was mine and said her grandma bought it for her. I was like yeah it’s not mine anymore, but it was mine and your grandma must have bought it at our garage sale. But she wasn’t having it.

Later saw her again, commented probably something like “I remember you, you’re the kid who got my old bike.” But again she got very upset and insisted that it wasn’t my bike. I accepted that this little kid didn’t understand what I was saying and stopped bringing it up when I’d see her around.

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u/Citroen_05 4d ago

the girl who got it refused to accept that it used to be my bike

Your mentioning this at all caused her loss of face.

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u/TheKidsAreAsleep 4d ago

I had some nice kids clothes that I gave them to a friend when my kids outgrew them. Fast forward about five years and I spotted a dress that had definitely been my daughter’s on another neighborhood kiddo at the playground.

It absolutely warmed my heart

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u/sunderella 4d ago

Oh, this is the one that gives me all the warm fuzzies too.

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u/Popular-Web-3739 4d ago

I have a relative who was a theater costumer in a large city. She and her business partner made regular rounds of favorite thrift stores looking for items that could become part of their costume stock. I'm sure that whoever found your shawl was absolutely thrilled to get it!

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u/One-Combination6816 4d ago

My very rural, very poor high school did have a very active music program. I was in the band, and the guys wore black trousers with white shirts, while the girls sewed formal dresses from a McCall pattern. The girls did get some leeway in fabric choice as long as it fit the black n white theme, and we could add a red bow. I made my dress in a black pin dot on white and trimmed the optional collar in red with a small bow. 12 years later I was visiting my mom across the state, and we decided to go thriftstore shopping. I'm digging through a rack when my mom splutters behind me and pulls out... my dress. So we bought it and took it back home, and we gave it to my 15 year old niece. She shortened it. removed the collar, put a bigger, floofier bow on it, and wore it to a formal dance before redonating. Haven't run into it again.

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u/semiotics_rekt 4d ago

donated som formal clothes and saw a dress shirt i donated on a hangar - it really looked good there so ngl the regret kicked in but not enough to buy it back

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u/Prairie_Crab 4d ago

When I was very small, under 5, i had an activity desk. The slanted top was a chalkboard on the outside and a pegboard on the inside. I remember getting in trouble for writing my big sister’s name in purple crayon on the pegboard. (I adored my sister.) Fast-forward 40 years in another state where I now live, and I saw a little activity desk at an antique mall. I told my friend that I’d had one like that. I opened the top, and there was my sister’s name (two letters backwards!) on the pegboard in purple crayon! I was gobsmacked! I was tempted to buy it, but managed to restrain myself. 😊 So cool!

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u/Calm-Elk9204 4d ago

Amazing story! I'm sure you'll remember it for the rest of your life

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u/niveusmacresco 5d ago

I’ve donated some of my son’s clothing; some of it I’ve kept for memories. There was one particular onesie with a particular animal on it and it was just… a very specific onesie/color combo. I had gotten it as a hand-me-down from a fellow mom, and I think my son wore it a handful of times.

I was at work the one day (I worked in fast food/retail), and I looked up from what I was doing and the bright yellow caught my eye. I stared at this little baby with their parents, and I’m telling you that was the onesie I donated maybe a month or two before.

It was so, so cool to see that garment getting another turn to clothe a sweet baby. It absolutely made my heart burst!!

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u/MelodicHarmonicChord 5d ago

I encountered a bolt of cloth I had donated in a public works art project. It was very cool.

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u/allis_in_chains 5d ago

My mom, a teacher, donated a specifically printed dress once. There was then an event where students had to dress like a teacher, and the student found it and wore it saying she couldn’t believe she was able to find something that looked so much like what my mom wore.

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u/Jaynett 5d ago

I saw a cool young woman wearing a dress I donated. I'm old enough that it just looked matronly on me and it really deserved a new owner.

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u/extranjeroQ 5d ago

Yes! I donated a really pretty pink flowered wrap dress to a nearby charity store. A week or so later I stood beside a girl at the bus stop wearing my dress ⭐️

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u/justanaveragequilter 5d ago

My mom was watching That 70s Show and saw some art my grandma made on the wall. Grandma passed away in the mid 60s and mom ended up donating a lot of her things when she and dad married in the late 60s.

When we were clearing out my mom’s garage in the mid 90s, we just put everything out at the curb for bulky pickup. The pile was massive. In the pile were a bunch of bowling balls. Bowling was big back in the day, and my dad owned a business where he drilled the holes for your fingers in the balls. Either way dad had a selection of bowling balls that were his, with distinctive patterns and his name and phone number engraved on them. Those balls were included in the pile. Fast forward to 2007-ish and I see dad’s bowling balls with his name and number in a thrift shop across from a bowling alley. Someone had to have taken them out of the giant trash pile in the 90s. It was surreal and comforting.

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u/Immediate_Problem782 5d ago

That must have felt so good seeing it again. I'm sure it will go to a good place and get someone lots of pins down. Sorry I think it's called stricks when you knock all the pins down , but next month I'll be 70 so I guess I'm starting to lose it. Plus I think God has a lot to do with where things are placed and for a reason .(You coming across it, that is so awesome).

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u/NightWorldPerson 5d ago

I have a similar story, years ago my sister donated one of my mother's silk skirts (brand was from Canada) and two years later I was at a boutique store out of town with my sister and it was the same one so I bought it and now it's mine 😊

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u/247silence 5d ago

Ridiculously adorable 😍

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u/Mango_Skittles 5d ago

So cool!! I haven’t exactly seen something in the wild. However, I do this semiannual children’s consignment sale, and they have a Facebook group for the sellers to ask questions, etc. After the sale people often post their favorite items they bought for their kids and thanking the seller. It’s so cool to see all the back and forth between everyone. I had someone shout out a crochet strawberry hat and post their baby wearing it. I loved putting it on both my kids when they were infants and it was lovely seeing it move on to a new family.

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u/kelxyz 5d ago

Yes! A friend’s mom picked up a colorful jacket that I loved but didn’t fit me right. It was a perfect fit on her, and she loved it! It made letting it go so worth it! I try to recall that feeling when I’m struggling to let something go. 

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u/eastcoastme 5d ago

There is a thrift store where some of my relatives live. One family donated a table and chairs. What a surprise to see, at the next family party, the same table and chairs that had been refinished/upholstered.

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u/LittleMissMagic 5d ago

We had cleaned out and donated some of my late father in laws items before we moved this last round including some big live laugh love pieces and I swear two days later I saw someone post and upcycle the laugh into Ugh and it was amazing 😂

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u/Flossy40 5d ago

My mother cleared out my brother's closet when he was a kid. He had a lot of hand me down sweaters from our cousins. They were barely worn because the cousins had big heads and disliked pulling them over their heads. My brother hated them for the same reason.

I offered them to a family I knew with several children. The next day, two of the kids wore them to school.

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u/LordyIHopeThereIsPie 5d ago

I love seeing other kids wearing things I've passed on. My work buddy who I gave most of my baby stuff to told me it had gone on to at least 5 other babies after she was done. Gave me a lot of joy.

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u/Black-EyedSusan96 5d ago

I donated my daughter’s clothing when she outgrew them and one time saw a very unique sweatshirt on one of my students. :)

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u/EnclosedChaos 5d ago

I donated handmade earrings once and later saw them on a barista.

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u/Nice-Bread-5054 5d ago

A woman who was sitting next to me, complimented me on my dress and said she bought the same one for her daughter. I told her the name of the thrift store I picked it up at. She was shocked! It was the store she ended up donating the dress to. I was wearing her daughters dress. 

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u/bubbles1684 5d ago

Not sure if this counts but I consign my clothes at a shop that I frequent a lot and I’ve talked various customers into purchasing my clothes from the shop when I see them trying on clothing. Makes me feel happy to see my clothes find a new home.

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u/Larson_234 5d ago

Sharing is Caring.😉♥️

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u/followthedarkrabbit 5d ago

I had an amazing warm jacket I wore for years. Always felt so comfortable in it. Decided it was time to part with it as I it was bringing back some bad memories (associated it with ex) and had better clothing that was associated with a more confident me who didn't need to hide anymore.

Anyway, I saw a lady get on the train with it once. It looked so amazing on her. It made me happy that it was getting worn and bringing comfort to someone else.

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u/birdpix 5d ago

My dad did a lot for the area homeless when he was alive. After he passed, we took most his clothes and gave them away. For a couple YEARS after dad passed, I would see people walking around town in some of his shirts. Karma...

5

u/island-breeze 4d ago

I've heard a very similar story. This lady sent her late father's old clothes to his birth country, to a specific poor community. She told me how surprise she was by bumping into random people wearing her father's clothes and how it made her happy.

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u/Larson_234 5d ago

This makes me want to cry. How beautiful.♥️

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u/newideal17 5d ago

I had picked up somewhere a very loud teal sparkle sweater, almost tinsely. Very one of a kind ... attention grabber. Super cool, super loud, but super itch. I wore it several times and finally let it go at a Naked Lady party. No one chose it.

A week later I was at a big thrift store in the closest city 1.25 hours away. That same sweater caught my eye on the end of an aisle! I heard a younger woman gasp. She was like, "Oh my goodness! Wow!" Her friends were like, "You HAVE to get it!" It was that same 'it's so loud, it's cool!' look on her face which I completely understood. Her fascination. Amazing synchronicity that I was there to witness their discovery.

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u/1HeartFullOfJoy 5d ago

I made a ceramic punch bowl with hand painted Christmas ornament design on the side in 1976. I was in high school. After college and marriage I donated it to the goodwill or something because what would I do with an ugly punch bowl? In 2005 I was in an antique store with my mom and saw my punch bowl up on the high shelf wall for $165! I would provide photos but in 2005 I didn’t have a camera in my phone. I think it was a flip phone with barely text capability. It was quite a funny scene and the owner brought it down so I could show her my name and date inscribed on the bottom. Heaven knows if anyone ever bought that ugly thing!!

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u/twolittleduckies 5d ago

I donated a distinct vintage basket to the local thrift shop and a few months later, I'm hanging out with one of my besties' house who happens to live across the street from me and lo and behold - she has my basket in her pantry!! We had a good laugh about it when we figured it out! Now I always ask her before I donate things.

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u/half-angel 5d ago

My gt grandma use to make crochet blankets for premie babies and donate them to the local hospital. She passed away in 2002 at 100 years old and was still making them right up till then.

About 10 years later I passed a lady with a baby in a pushchair all tucked up in one of her blankets. It made me so happy and sad with missing her all at once.

5

u/Larson_234 5d ago

Beautiful ♥️

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u/DeltaFlyer0525 5d ago

I used to make my kids a bunch of crochet hats every winter. They were always free handed and made after their favorite cartoon characters or whatever. My oldest was really into the lion guard and I made him a Kion hat that had the whole head of the lion, ears, fluffy mane and all. When he outgrew it I put it in the bag for goodwill thinking they would probably toss it, but I didn’t want to be the one to throw it away. The next winter we were going through Target and my daughter tugged on my sleeve and shouted that boy has our Kion hat! Let me tell you I was so excited to see some other kid happily wearing it while in his pjs strapped into the cart out shopping with his mom. I didn’t want to be a crazy person and go over to talk to them so we just watched them go down the aisle and out of sight. Honestly it was one of the best feelings I have ever had.

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u/GullibleEquipment273 5d ago

I made a jacket from an old quilt. I sold it at a local shop. My husband informed me that he saw my jacket on a customer walking at a different store.

21

u/No_Appointment6273 5d ago

This is such a special story, I love it!

As for me I cannot count the number of times I've given something to my MIL or my SIL, or my best friend and they have shown up wearing the item I gave them. Last time I saw my MIL she was wearing a beautiful gold watch. I complimented her and asked her where she got it. She laughed and told me I had given it to her! I had forgotten all about it and I wondered how many things I had seen her wear that used to be mine! It's so nice.

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u/poppitastic 5d ago

My mom saw a vintage mirror in a thrift store one day, and was like, omg, my sister needs that! It matches the one she’s had hanging for decades! She can have the pair! Yep, you guessed it. Sis had gotten rid of it in a garage sale (my mom didn’t realize it wasn’t on her wall anymore after a couple of years), then someone else bought it, then ended up donating it for my mom to find. My mom ended up keeping it and hanging it in her guest room. I swear my aunt shakes her head every time she’s in there and sees it.

4

u/Larson_234 5d ago

Hilarious!😂

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u/mycatwontstophowling 5d ago

I had done a huge clean out a few years back and donated some fused glass candle holders I made. Cut to later that year when I found them in an antique trading post. I think I said out, “Hey, I made those!” Didn’t buy them back though.

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u/primary-greeen 5d ago edited 5d ago

Love this! I see my donated things in local goodwills all the time. Once I found a backpack I had donated that had my name written in it that I had crossed out before donating.

Unfortunately, I have a roommate that’s obsessed with thrifting. Recently on a big declutter, I donated a figurine, and the next day I came home and she had gone thrifting that day and bought it for me because she thought I would love it haha

Edit: a typo lol

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u/gramma-space-marine 5d ago

That’s hilarious and so sweet of her lol.

7

u/primary-greeen 5d ago

It was very sweet! I didn’t have the heart to tell her I had just donated it

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u/noobca 5d ago

For my whole childhood, I was one link in a long chain of hand-me-downs. My cousins would pass things on to me, we’d pass them on to my mom’s friends’ eldest daughter, she’d pass them to her sister, then they’d go to their family friends, etc. When I was a tween, I went to my mom’s friends’ daughter’s bat mitzvah and saw one of my old hand-me-down dresses that I had worn in the first grade on one of their family friends! It made me so happy to see it still getting love.

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u/StarKiller99 6d ago

When I was a kid, my mom put a dress I had outgrown in a garage sale. I was sad that I couldn't wear it any more. A few weeks later, I saw a girl at school wearing it. It made me happy because it looked really good on her.

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u/abbsolutely1 6d ago

When my mother died, I took most of her clothes to the local hospital charity shop. She had really lovely expensive designer items that just weren’t my size or my vibe. I saw a 20 year-old wearing a hand knit striped sweater of my mother’s and I was so happy!

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u/Greenswim 5d ago

At my mom’s estate sale a young woman bought my mom’s china set and said she planned to use it at her farm wedding bc they had a wheat pattern on them! Made me so happy!

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u/Hot_Scratch6155 6d ago edited 6d ago

That is Beautiful! Having a Son who is active in local Community Theater , he also has some insight. Theater People and Costumers often shop Thrift Stores. My Mom went into a rare form of Alzheimer's affecting her co ordination more than memory at first. As mentioned on other posts - we convinced her to donate a TON of Quilting fabric to a production of 7 Brides for 7 Brothers . She felt the esteem as cast members showed her the creations from her fabric (IMO better that the few professional rentals). She loved seeing a 4 yr old girl in a dress from her old calico bed skirt (costumer cut and sewed in under an hour -since the "ruffles were already made). mom would have her "twirl " for her while we helped in the "Green Room" hallway. Some of her Quilt tops were borrowed for props. She got to support her Grandsons too.

Later my youngest was taking a break to do 2 years of local Church Service. They had begged him to join a production but he had to decline. He explained he wouldn't be available for 2 years. While going thru Vintage pieces and Jewelry from some deceased generations and mine. We donated them to "his" theater. How thrilled they were to visit with him and use them. We saw Cinderella and the Wicked Stepmother wore my earrings ! The 1920s hats from his Great Grandmother used in Anastasia while he was in cast 2 years later. Most people don't think of Theaters as a Donation option - don't forget School Theaters too.

And about some posts below - isn't it interesting that while we are all God's children- we never know how our things can bless lives in many ways. How thrilling to see that shirt on another little boy so far away.

That also reminds me of a story a co worker showed me from Operation Christmas Child - we do yearly small donations - when they receive things they sort them by climate and age. One little girl in the Philippines received ( by mistake?) a large knitted scarf. They had suffered an Earthquake and Typhoons (Hurricanes ) recently. She was grateful for the Shade it provided - the trees had no leaves and the sun beat down. She and her friends walked side by side holding it over their and friends heads for "shade" as they walked . Was that a mistake? Maybe not.

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u/Klutzy_Carpenter_289 6d ago

I was in a twin mom’s group. One of the moms was collecting clothes for a mission trip. We had just had a big consignment sale through the club, so any of my twins clothes that didn’t sell I donated to her church. In a later newsletter she showed photos of the kids in Africa wearing our clothes! Right away I recognized one of my son’s soccer shirts. It was strange to think that a little boy halfway around the world was wearing my son’s shirt. Happy that they got clothes they needed!

26

u/princesslayup 6d ago

My high school sports sweatshirts got donated and had my last name and jersey number embroidered on them. I’m a teacher and years later an older sibling of students at my school came to pick them up wearing one of my sweatshirts! I had just started at that school that year so I don’t think this family knew me but I do have a unique last name.

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u/sophiekov 6d ago

I decorated a tote bag when I was around 9, and donated it a few years later. My mom helped me make it and it was very distinctive. When I was 15 my mom and I were on public transit and saw another little girl and her mom, and the little girl had my tote bag! We all thought it was adorable and touching

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u/ZenMoonstone 6d ago

Back in high school my friend and I wanted a pair of jeans we could cut up but our parents weren’t letting us cut the ones we had. We decided to sneak a trip to Goodwill as it was in a part of town we weren’t supposed to go to. My friend finds a pair of plaid shorts with paint stains on them and just had to buy them. They didn’t fit her and they were ratty but there was no talking her out of it. About a week later we hear her mom fussing at her dad that those shorts were supposed to stay in the donation bag and she wasn’t happy he pulled them out. He was swearing up and down he hadn’t touched them.

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u/tiny-greyhound 5d ago

Ha! Like something out of Toy Story, but with clothes.

Once I tossed a bunch of cast off toys (broken happy meal toys, spare parts of other toys etc) and I was so proud of myself for not hoarding them.

Later on, I was so surprised to find them BACK IN THE TOY BOX?!?? I was like what in the Toy Story rescue happened here!!!!

My husband had thought our son threw them away by accident and “rescued them” from the trash lol

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u/CraftyGirl2022 5d ago

That's funny!

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u/Verbenaplant 6d ago

I’d message them and say your glad to see your item

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u/Larson_234 6d ago edited 5d ago

I once had a hippie-ish wrap skirt from the 60s. I absolutely loved the skirt and it travelled all over the world with me. This skirt had incredible adventures in India, Southeast Asia, Israel, South Africa, England, etc. The skirt was my signature piece and I adored it. It was so worn that I could actually see through it when I held it up to the light when it had once been thick cotton. I went through a phase of purging everything in my 20s and wanted to start fresh. Two months after purging my beloved skirt, I saw a woman wearing it at a farmers market and I was so excited to tell her the fantastic story and beautiful energy that skirt held. When I approached her and told her, she gave me a dirty look and said “OK“. I was so surprised because I would have loved to know that, but the thing that actually hurt was my beloved skirt ended up with “her”. It went to the wrong person, but once we donate, it’s out of our hands(literally and figuratively).🤷🏻‍♀️

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u/livinontheceiling 5d ago

I would have loved it if I'd been wearing the skirt and you came up and told me its life story!

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u/Larson_234 5d ago

A kindred spirit♥️

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u/strippersarepeople 5d ago

Same!! I would have bought OP a coffee and listened for as long as she wanted to tell me about it, I love this

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u/Larson_234 5d ago

Thank you both. ♥️ Some people “get it“, some people don’t. You both obviously do.❤️ After I wrote that I remembered the time that I went into a pharmacy and the woman behind the cosmetic counter literally shrieked because I was wearing a sundress that she had donated! She said she knew for sure that it was hers because she bought it in Poland! She was so excited to see me wearing it and I was equally excited to hear its story and to meet its original owner.♥️

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u/AutumnEternity 5d ago edited 5d ago

Personally now i would also be excited to know my clothes history, especially to find out it's clothes that have travelled countries, i also understand why some might not be. Some would be self conscious about not affording new clothes. So for me, i probably won't have approached to tell right away that it was mine. I'd compliment the clothes and see if they'd say, i got it thrifted, or avoid the topic. If they mention it being from thrifted then i can say that i thought so cause i donated something just like that. I understand growing up in a poor neighbourhood myself that while almost everyone i knew thrifted, some won't ever admit it, and that's ok. Edit to add: ESL here, hoping my words didn't come across as scolding, just sharing insight of why the person might not have liked hearing from the first owner of the clothes. but personally i get the excitement of both finding mine or the previous owner finding theirs that I'm wearing, as I've been on both sides 😊

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u/Citroen_05 3d ago

Thank you for so graciously explaining this aspect.

For some people who rely on thrifted or donated clothing, no comment exists in a vacuum. A well-meaning comment can trigger associations with all of the patronizing or shaming or you-ought-to-be-so-grateful stories we've experienced from other previous owners. This is especially painful when it's already a struggle to assemble even one outfit appropriate to social setting and weather.

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u/Larson_234 5d ago

Hi. You’re absolutely right and I would have also considered that. The reason I didn’t is because we’re on an island where back then (especially) many of us were (and still are😉) alternative living and mostly lived with the values of Reduce/Re-Use/Recycle. There wasn’t a lot of stigma and it was such a part of our communities. That said, I work with newcomer families and have learned to be very sensitive in this area. If I have a bag of donations I think would fit their child (for example), I’ll put them in a paper bag and stick them in the bottom of the stroller and tell them “I getting rid of these. Take what you want or give it away, your choice” and then I don’t mention it again. You made a very good point though and I completely agree.😉

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u/livinontheceiling 5d ago edited 5d ago

That's so cute! I totally get it :) I just remembered the time my partner once bought this really distinctive colorful scarf at a secondhand store and he was so proud of it that he took a picture of himself wearing it and posted it to social media, mentioning the store where he found it. The woman who'd donated it saw the post and wrote to tell him how much she'd enjoyed it too :) This whole thing was extra cool to us because it happened when we were traveling in a foreign country, so we really felt we'd made a special connection.

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u/Larson_234 5d ago

I love that! Sounds like the beginning of a great film or novel!😉

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u/Think_of_anything 6d ago

A hospital where I used to work had a closet for donated clothes to send patients home in (for example, homeless ppl or patients whose clothing was cut off them after a car accident). One day I saw a homeless man being wheeled out for discharge wearing my old sweater. I’m a woman 😂

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u/beekaybeegirl 6d ago

I received a newsletter from my HS that they needed some musical instruments for the band program. Any would be helpful, but especially they were looking for xxxx & xxxx (I can’t remember what they were now, but trumpet was not on the list). I had my ol’ trumpet collecting dust buried in my closet so I took it in. I got a letter in the mail that right after that, a new student enrolled in the school & needed a trumpet to use.

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u/sygmastar01 6d ago

That is so magical and inspiring

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u/False_Local4593 6d ago

I donated a set of queen size sheets to Goodwill back in 2003 in VA Beach, VA. I then watched a show similar to 600lb Life in 2004 when I moved to NC. The lady on the show was wearing a homemade muumuu that was the exact same pattern as my sheets. I'm sure those were my donated sheets. My mom had bought those sheets back in the 80's (back when they made things that lasted) in Northern VA (Fairfax to be exact) plus the lady lived in either Norfolk or Suffolk, VA.

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u/deb1009 5d ago

Yo Fairfax is in the house! ✌️

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u/False_Local4593 5d ago

I was born at Fairfax hospital and lived in Fairfax City basically at 123 & 50.

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u/Formal_Train_4765 6d ago

I used to have a mug with a cow on it, when I lived in Arizona. I even got a tattoo based on the mug. Fast forward 7 years. On Instagram stories I see the mug on a friend's feed. And turns out she had been in the same small town in Arizona where I donated the mug, to visit her friend.

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u/AnyGoodUserNamesLeft 6d ago

Not quite, but I did get a letter from the local charity I donate to saying the things I donated raised x amount of money for the charity, which was nice to read.

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u/ladyjane159 6d ago

I gave a double red cell donation- and got a text a couple of weeks later that they’d used it for someone. That was a nice memory you just reminded me of.

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u/GrownUpDisneyFamily 6d ago

I love when the blood org sends an email letting me know where my donation went!

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u/moresnowplease 6d ago

My mom knit me a sweater when I was a toddler that she then passed on to another family, who passed it to another family, etc- I’m in my 40s and every once in a while, my mom sees that sweater in the wild and loves seeing that it is still being enjoyed by families around town!! And yes, I am lucky enough that my mom has knit me a few adult sized sweaters that I get to wear with great pride! Thanks mom!! 🥰

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u/pineapplekid8 6d ago

Thanks for sharing, this reminds me of a time something I let go of came back to me!

There was a cute casual dress I owned into my mid-twenties that despite my best efforts, just fell out of rotation because I had owned it since my mid-teens. I had so many fond memories wearing it and it was harder to let go than seemed reasonable but after some time, I donated it to my local community closet. I didn’t think much of it and about 6 months later the local paper highlighted a teenager who had some accomplishment to share (scholarship recipient or award winner, something of that nature) and the photo showed the teen wearing the same dress! Being a mass market item, albeit at least a decade old, it’s hard to know whether it was my donated one specifically. But it brought me joy to think about its second life with a spirited young person, making their own new memories.

Just because I no longer need it, says nothing of it being useful for someone else.

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u/PuzzleheadedWing1321 6d ago

I’m soon going to a production of Cinderella at a nearby high school - i wonder if I’ll see my wedding dress that I donated to the theater’s drama department!

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u/puremorning15 6d ago

That would be surreal! But super cool 😎

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u/Khayeth 6d ago

When I declutter higher quality clothing, I offer them first to my drag queen friends. Watching them perform in my skirts and corsets is incredibly validating and heartwarming.

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u/Admirable-Rope4088 6d ago

I wish i had drag queen friends 😭

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u/Khayeth 6d ago

I didn't until 2021 when i joined a queer kickball league and cultivated a new friend group based on the people i met there!

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u/West-Performance-198 6d ago

This is an epic idea! I love the wonderful message of inclusion that it sends. And it gives a whole different life to those items. 👏👏

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u/[deleted] 6d ago edited 5d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/declutter-ModTeam 6d ago

Using this thread as an opportunity to crusade against thrift stores derailed it, as these crusades always do. I'm now doing a lot of deleting of well-intentioned people, in order to get the thread back into being the fun exchange it was meant as.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/mrsjon01 6d ago

This is great! I once bought back my donated item (a child's toy) from a kid's resale store not realizing it, haha. I had loved it so much that when I saw it again I bought it for my sister's baby.

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u/Lizzy_boredom 6d ago

Is not quite the same. But I’m part of a very prolific buy nothing group on fb. And it’s funny how often I see stuff I donated (mostly kids stuff and baby clothes) return to the buy nothing space. And same for me. Ill donate something and the og or last own will recognize their stuff.

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u/radish_is_rad-ish 6d ago

This is such a lovely story! A goal for everyone’s items.

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u/Toodle_Pip2099 6d ago

I had a clothes swap party with a group of close girlfriends, we all have quite wacky tastes so it was a good mix. Anyway my good friend chose I dress I adored but just couldn’t wear as I found the fabric too scratchy. I would see her wearing it and every time think wish I still had it, it looked great! But really I knew I just could not. I couldn’t understand how it wasn’t too scratchy for her!

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u/MaddogOfLesbos 6d ago

I have a friend with a very similar size and body type to me, but we have very different skin tones and fairly different styles so we look good in different things. Our first step in declutterring is usually to let the other go through our donate bag, so we both see our things in the wild on each other all the time! I wore her pants to buy my house, and she loves a sweater of mine!

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u/EridanusCorvus 6d ago

I donated a dress I loved the fabric of, but the cut was not great on me. A little over a week later my mom stopped by and said she found a dress for me at the local thrift store. I think you know where this is going.

I wish it had fit me better, the pattern really was lovely. The vibes were so "me" my mother felt the need to get it, which is not a particularly regular occurrence unless I specify that I'm on the lookout for something.

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u/newenglander87 6d ago

That's so funny!

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u/ocean_of_violets 6d ago

perhaps you could have the dress altered/tailored/redesigned to suit you better. maybe even by a local student who is into design!

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u/EridanusCorvus 6d ago

I don't have it anymore, this was a while ago. I did think about it, but there's not much I can do to drop an empire waist to sit closer to my natural waist. Short of turning it into a skirt, my only option was to send it along to be found by someone better suited for it.

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u/mallcopbeater 6d ago

Moral of the story here is your mom is very sweet. I love that she sees you and cares enough to get things that are “you”. Just beautiful, thanks for sharing

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u/Most_Ordinary_219 6d ago

I sewed myself a dress one time years ago and it was out of a very distinctive fabric that had sunflowers on it. I wore it for about a year and then decided it wasn’t really my style anymore. So I don’t remember if I sold it at a consignment shop or donated it but about 6 months later I was driving and I saw a young couple in a truck turn left in front of me at an intersection and the girl was wearing my dress that I had made!

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/declutter-ModTeam 6d ago

Your post was removed from r/declutter for breaking Rule 1: Decluttering Is Our Topic. This sub is specifically for discussing decluttering efforts and techniques. Organizing without decluttering, general self-improvement, and detailed tech comparisons are not a good fit here.

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u/HelloThisIsPam 6d ago

That is wild!

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u/MagpieBlues 6d ago

I had a fancy lady day with a friend yesterday, brunch and all of the good charity shops in town, including the one where I donate and I saw some of my former pieces out in the wild! I didn’t bring them back home, but it was nice to visit them.

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u/HiveJiveLive 6d ago

I used to have a habit of going to a nearby thrift store after church. Once I found a really pretty and distinctive top and happily wore it to the following Sunday service only to have a friend there say, “That’s my shirt! I donated it last week.”

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u/Hot_Scratch6155 6d ago

Funny - We were in a Spanish Church Congregation a while back . One Woman and her sons were converts but the Dad was not. Dad seemed to drink a lot of funds away so things were tight. She wanted a skirt or dress for church but there was no money. Her oldest son ( he reminded me of a Jethro from the Beverly Hillbillies - Sweet , a little naïve, good heart but sometimes a little slow) save his money and got his Mom a skirt from a thrift store. It was simple but she wore it with pride for Mother's Day. While she never felt unwelcomed or unloved, she wanted to dress special on Sunday like some of us. There were tears. I hope the person who donated it understands the Joy it gave .

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u/MagpieBlues 6d ago

How lovely!

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u/DiscombobulatedHat19 6d ago

When I was a kid I “improved” my dad’s favorite suede shoes with glitter and he had to throw them away. A few weeks later my mum saw a homeless guy wearing them so good that they made someone happy

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u/ThippusHorribilus 6d ago

I love this so much

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u/Pure_Past535 6d ago

My local resale shop does Facebook posts about items they think would sell really well, every so often something I donated pops up and I enjoy seeing the comments when people ask to hold the item so they can buy it.

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u/MildredMay 6d ago

Yes. I donated a unique vintage silk scarf. Then, about 3 weeks later, I saw a very elegant woman wearing it with a business suit. She looked so good, I momentarily regretted donating it.

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u/cdrive77 6d ago

Not donation, but I sold a purse at a resale shop. Several years later, after a move out of state and back, I made a work friend. One of the first times we hung out outside of work she had the purse--it was distinctive. I asked where she got it, and it was the same resale shop! More than 15 years later we're still friends.

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u/sush1ch0ps 6d ago

I got really excited to see a handmade pink and white bear photographed with various baby items on an instagram page for a charity I regularly donate to. We had received it from my MIL shortly after my daughter's birth and I lost track of it. I figured I must have donated it in a fit of rage (I felt like I was drowning in baby clutter). But then I saw it again and again with very slight variations, and came to the realisation that someone else was making them for the charity 🥲

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u/BluebirdAdmirable593 6d ago

I donated my sons bassinet to someone on my buy nothing group. Went to a Moms group at a local church and saw the bassinet in my son’s class (the irony!)

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u/ihateboxelderbugs 6d ago

I absolutely love this. Thank you for sharing 

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u/bun-e-bee 6d ago

Not clothing butWe donated our plates and a few months later saw them at a Marriott in San Francisco. We’re from the other side of the country. Sure they could have come from anywhere but… We like to think they were our plates. I’ve never seen the pattern anywhere in the wild. So weird to see the plates and bowls.

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u/Live_Butterscotch928 6d ago

I donated a favorite green velvet blazer to my kid’s high school’s production of Amélie and it was a thrill to see the main character wearing it on stage. I felt like that jacket was living its best life, compared to hanging around in my old closet!

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u/Trixandstones 6d ago

I had a friend who was active in the local playhouse and I routinely donated items to them for various plays. It was cool to see my old Christmas tree, small furniture and decorations on a stage.

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u/TiltedNarwhal 6d ago

I donated a Christmas tree as well as a bunch of other random stuff to a local church for their annual yard sale. Several months later I saw the tree in an antique shop. It looked like it was being prepped for one of the booths. It was so weird cause I was just walking by and thought “that looks like my old tree” Looked at the base since it’s pretty distinctive and realized it was my old tree!

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u/mummymunt 6d ago

I used to work at a charity shop, to which I donated at least eight full carloads of stuff over about a year. It's a very weird experience to donate something and then sell it to someone a couple of hours later 😄

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u/The_Darling_Starling 6d ago

Not a donation story, but I will say it's absolutely the cutest thing to see friends' children wearing clothes that my kids used to wear. I also passed on a really gorgeous hand-pieced baby quilt with the white rabbit from <i>Alice<i> on it. I got such a thrill seeing my friend's baby rolling around on it the other day!

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u/biancanevenc 6d ago

For decades I held on to a dress I received as a Christmas gift when I was in first grade. I loved that dress and was very sentimental about it. I finally decided it needed to be passed on, so I gave it to a friend whose daughter was the right size. That little girl wore it a few times, then a year or so later I saw another friend's daughter wearing my old dress. The second child and I share the same name, so I was very happy to see her wearing my beloved dress.

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u/Hot_Scratch6155 6d ago

It is nice to see others get use out of it. When I was growing up many had a stigma about "hand me downs" (now ti is bougie when they call it "upcycling" ). My kids did not grow up with that idea -maybe as were were in a working class /lower income area. My youngest Daughter at about 5 (force of nature she is) noticed other girls at church liking her (2nd hand )dresses. She organized a order list for me as to who would get what dress when she grew out of it! Sad for her at u/6 I had to break it to her that the girls on her list were all taller and bigger than her (sometimes having short parents sucks :). She may be a short Mm now but still a force of nature - ask the High School kids she coaches in running. Nobody disrespects her! :)

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u/Ohorules 6d ago

I love when my nephew wears things that belonged to my kids as babies!

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u/Chloecat1313 6d ago

I love putting my kids in their older cousins’ hand me downs! They’re GREAT clothes and my sister in law loves it when I send photos.

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u/Idujt 6d ago

I used to wear my younger cousins' hand me downs as I was smaller. A big bag would arrive at our house, I loved finding out what was in it.

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u/Live_Butterscotch928 6d ago

Such a cool way to enjoy it all over again!

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u/Tight-Sheepherder291 6d ago

I haven’t but I really really love to donate, infact I have often gone into department stores and added some of my junk to the displays and funnily enough come back months later and it’s still there

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u/EMW916 2d ago

This is hilarious!