Organizing Household Donations for Taxes

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

18 Mar 2008 09:12 AM

This morning, while the kids were occupying themselves, I thought I would conquer a little bit of the spare bedroom upstairs. This is a room that needs a lot of work. Eventually, it will be turned into a bedroom for our youngest son, but right now, its proximity to the attic stairs, as well as its need of repair, has turned it into a sorting or holding room. As we fix up other areas of the house, we will put furniture or other items from the project room into that bedroom. It will probably be the last room we clean, repair and decorate.

In the process of diving in to that room I came across some clothing that is outgrown by my daughter, as well as some other small items that just don't fit in well in our new home. So, I started bagging these things up for donation to local charities.

I thought I would share my strategy for organizing our donations. First, I will collect the donations in boxes and bags. I try to keep like items together. This makes it simple to designate certain things to certain charities or friends. I have a space in our garage for these items. When the items outgrow the space, which is roughly the size that will fit comfortably in the back of our car, then I know it is time for the next step, which is recording the items for tax purposes.

I used to put all of the items in a computerized spreadsheet, but I found it much easier to keep a notebook instead. At the top of a new page, I list the date. Then below, I have two columns. The first is for the item description, and the second is for the item price. This is the value that can be truthfully claimed for taxes. It is not the original price of the item, but what it might be worth to the charity. Our library sells good condition hard cover books for $2 a pieces, so I can with confidence assign any donated books that value.

When tax time comes, I simply add up the values to get out total donation amount.

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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