Donating is totally In!

As the year 2012 is almost coming to an end, I tend to clean my apartment and see what things I can throw out. Usually I end up giving 2 bags of clothes to the Altkleidung Sammlung. There are several Altkleider Sammlung containers in Hamburg, which makes it super easy to donate your clothes to the ones that need them. This is a super opportunity, as you are not only giving your clothes away for a good cause, but you are also creating space in your closet for the next spring and summer collection. (I know… I am a little fashion monster)

Anyway… This year I have decided to organize my books and to toss out the ones that I have read and won’t read again. I have managed to fill a huge bag. However, I wasn’t sure what to do with them. One option was selling them on Amazon. But once I have checked that people offer the same books for only 1 cent, I was not motivated to put them all online and wait until someone would be interested in purchasing my books. So I kept looking for other ideas.

Another option that I have found, was giving my books to the library (Hamburger Bücherhallen). You are able to bring your used books to the central library, which is at the Hühnerposten between 07:00-14:00 (Mo-Fri). I was planning on doing this until Monday night… because on that night, I found a new little book store at Hamburger Meile. It was full of second hand books and as I love books, I of course had to go in there.

My Book Box 2012

As this store did not look like a normal Thalia or other bookstore, I’ve asked the woman what the concept of this store was. She told me that people can donate their used books and that this store sells these books. (Prices range between 2-4 Euros, depending on their thickness). The money that they receive, goes to a good cause in Hamburg. E.g. Obdachlose in Hamburg. Once I have informed myself more about this online, I brought my books to the store on Wednesday. The store owner was super happy with all the English books and I was super happy that I’ve managed to get rid of my books, knowing that they would not be thrown away etc. This so made my day. 

And thus, I would like to share this idea with you guys, as I know that lots of you probably have old things that you would like to get rid of. So if you like to donate your books, check out the second hand bookstore at Hamburger Meile or check online what other options there are. These projects are not that big yet, but I think that they are great and that we should support these kind of projects. So before you resell your books or throw them away, think about whether you would like to donate them for a good cause. :)

Xoxo

M