136 - Seeing potential in discards, are you in danger of Wishcycling?

Summary

You can see the potential in it. You know someone out there would love it, fix it up, give it a new life. So into the charity bag it goes — because that feels like the kindest thing to do. But what if that well-meaning donation is actually creating a problem for the very charities you want to support? In this episode, Heather talks about wishcycling — the habit of donating items in the hope that someone else will do the rescuing — and what to do instead when something isn't quite charity-ready.

Chapters

00:00
Introduction to Wish Cycling

02:52
Understanding Wish Cycling and Its Impact

05:33
Options for Responsible Decluttering

08:47
Finding Better Exits for Unwanted Items

Resources

Olio App
Decluttering Untangled Facebook Community 

Transcript

Heather Tingle (00:01.102)
Hello, Untanglers. Welcome back to another episode of Decluttering Untangled with me, your host, Heather Tingle. So today's episode is a short one, but I think it's a really important one. We're talking about wish cycling. Now, I'd never heard about wish cycling until this last week when I saw it mentioned in a newspaper article about how charity shops were struggling as everyone was putting their good items for sale on Vinted and leaving the rubbish to the charity shops.

So people were using the charity shops as a better option or a quicker option or a cheaper option or a better option than landfill. And someone wrote in the article that they were, people were wish-cycling. Now I have to say, I did find this article a little bit judgy. And, but I also see the point of view from the charity shops too, because you know, that is a hard job if you work in one of those charity shops. So we totally understand where people are coming from.

but I also see it from like the other side of it where we are the kind of person that is really careful with our resources. So anyway, what I want to go into today is a bit more about wish cycling and how we can find alternative solutions. So I guess first of all, we're thinking, all right, Heather, what the hell is wish cycling? So wish cycling is when something leaves your home via a charity donation bag or a charity shop drop off.

but deep down, you it probably shouldn't. It's broken, it's maybe stained, it might have got a hole in it. It's the kind of thing you wouldn't pass to a judgy friend or list on Vinted, but you put it in the bag anyway. Now, the reason for this is not because you are lazy and it's not because you're finding an easy way out. The reason why you are doing it, and I think this is the bit that the charity shop people didn't understand, is...

our point of view, which is it's because you hope someone will see the potential in it like you do. Someone else will rescue it like you intended to rescue it when you had it, but never got around to it and then figured that you could let it go. So you hope that someone will fix it up and love it like you do. Now get it because I really do. The intention is so good. You want it to have a reprieve. You want it to have another life. don't want it to be, you don't want to be the person who sends it to landfill.

Heather Tingle (02:25.73)
But what actually happens at the other side of that donation is the charities don't have the manpower, the space or the resources to sort through those damaged items. So holding onto things that won't immediately sell, they can't do. They don't have the money or time to repair things that need attention. Many of the clothes, for example, if it's got a little bit hole in it, will end up as rags. They won't be worn again. They won't be rehomed and they won't be sold. So as for rags or...

any other items they get put into a skip or taken to landfill, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of you trying to rescue it and give it a second life. And that is wish cycling, giving something to charity in the hope that, the wish that someone else will bring it to life again. Now, obviously that costs charities time and money in that process. And it's really rubbish for you too.

So that wish cycling is doing the exact opposite of what you hoped. Now I say this without any judgment whatsoever because I've definitely taken things to charity in the past I'm sure that weren't maybe good enough, but I did the best with my knowledge I had at the time. And also charity shops 10 years ago were in a different space to where they are now. Now they are very much run, especially bigger ones as businesses and they have to make money. They're not charities themselves.

They have to pay their bills. But knowing what I know now, I am definitely more disconcerting over what goes to charity shops and what doesn't. And that's all any of us can do. Like we cannot be perfect with this, but hopefully now we know a little bit more, we can work on that. So when you're decluttering, I would really love you to look at something, hold it up and ask yourself honestly, would I put this on Vinted? Would I resell this for a pound? Would I hand this to a friend?

who would judge it? If the answer is the friend would be like, no, or you wouldn't put it on vintage or actually, no, it's probably not good enough for charity. It's not charity shop ready and you might be wish cycling. So seeing the potential as let's face it, if we like stuff, which we do, we like ensuring we're careful with our resources. We don't like things going just to landfill. We can always find the potential in an item.

Heather Tingle (04:51.458)
The problem comes is that most others don't. And the people running the charity shops definitely don't. So if you're not sure if something's good enough for charity, do you have that friend that's got a slightly higher threshold for what's appropriate to send to charity than you do that you could ask? I do. I have someone who works with me who's really good at going, no, charity shops will put that straight in the bin, have that, okay, then it's coming home with me and I will find a better exit for it. So if it's not good enough,

That gives you two options. Now, before I share these two options, I want to be really clear on this that there is not a third option. Keeping the item is not an option. I know it feels like a safe ground that the item is not releasing its potential if it is sitting in your home, still not being used, still not having its potential brought out. It is just taking up space and energy. So we're going to move it on. But the question is, how do you do it? So option one.

is to let it go. Bin it, tip it, landfill it. Yes, it's gonna make you feel bad. Yes, it's gonna feel uncomfortable. And I know it feels like that's the wrong answer. But if the item is the end of its life, letting it go cleanly is more honest, more helpful to charities and a quicker win for you than passing the problem on. And if you are already struggling with clutter,

If you are low on time or energy, if the act of decluttering is already taking everything you've got right now, option one is not a failure. Option one is absolutely the right thing to do. It is okay to let it go. You can absolutely give yourself permission to let it go. In fact, if that's where you are right now, you get a full HSIO from me, which Heather says it's okay moment from me because that decision takes courage to do and it is hard, but it's probably the right thing for you to do.

Option two is to find a better exit. Now, this can only be done if you have the time and the energy and the mental head space to do this and not everybody does. So finding the right exit, so a clever exit, takes a bit more time and patience. It may mean that something hangs around your home for longer and it is not right for everyone or every situation or every item.

Heather Tingle (07:15.768)
But when I'm working with clients and we come across items like this that aren't charity ready, this is what I love to dig into. So me and someone I work with, we have a whole day a week where any discards from the previous week's clients get taken to the individual charities or get washed if they need washing or get sorted or, you know, we figure out the right exits for the right things. So there's so many options other than charity shops, depending on what the item is.

My personal favorite is Olio, which is a zero waste app to give things away. Local craft groups, hobby groups, repair cafes, little independent communities, history groups. They will often take things that charity shops can't shift. Even things like special collectors, people who collect certain items. So I had a load of old postcards that charity shops refused to take. And also the client didn't want to just put them in the bin.

No good for recycling. We tried companies to see if they would want to resell them and we got absolutely nowhere. But a local history group that as a gentleman that collected those old postcards, absolutely was dead happy to get them. So it can work really well if you find the right exit, but that does take time and effort and expertise really in all honesty.

but knowing that something's gone to someone who genuinely wanted it, that feeling is worth its weight in gold. Like that is worth the extra effort if you have the capacity for it. If you're stuck on this option two and you genuinely can't think of a good exit for something, come over to the Untangled By Tingle Facebook community and post in there. Tell us what you've got. Please don't try and give it to the group because we're trying to let go of stuff, not like swap it between us. And I guess between all of us we'll probably

we'll probably have a good idea of something that you can, someone you can contact or a specific type of group that you might be worth approaching. The community is really great for this. It's really brilliant for different minds knowing different things. Cause you know, I don't know everything contrary to popular belief. So that's a really good way to do it. But the key thing is charities need us to think before we donate. They need things that will sell quickly, that are clean and they're in good condition.

Heather Tingle (09:39.822)
Anything that falls short of that needs a different plan. It may be you get someone to help you by taking something to the laundry to get them washed and dried before they go to the charity. So because it's a step too far for you. It may be that you ask someone to find a different exit. It may be that you can ask us to get a better exit or it may be that you need to put it in the bin and that's okay too. So next time you earmark something for charity, just do a double check that you are not wish cycling.

There you go, something that you've learnt today. So until next time, remember you're not alone, you are not lazy. Be kind to yourself and keep untangling.