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I have a similar view on most gifts. It would be ungrateful to throw them away, but annoying clutter in my life to keep them. What can you do? I have started a

I have a similar view on most gifts. It would be ungrateful to throw them away, but annoying clutter in my life to keep them. What can you do? I have started asking for "non-perishable consumables" such as light bulbs, tinned foods, and wine, whenever someone asks me what I want for a gift.

vorpalhex 5y ago
Donate unused or lightly used gifts so that they may find use with someone else, and don't spend a moment more on them. You do the gift giver no favors by merely warehousing their gifts.
- jessaustin 5y ago
  From TFA: Boxes and paper grocery bags pile up along the hallway, full of things to be gotten rid of. But the thrift stores and donation drop-offs are still closed, or have limited hours. And you know that most of those things don’t get sold. The flaw is in the object. The original gift didn't improve your life. Passing it on doesn't improve anyone else's life. Once upon a time thrift stores might have made sense, and for a very specific class of durable yet useful objects they might still, but the corkpull (and most similar gifts) is not in that class.
  - vorpalhex 5y ago
    You (and the article) have made an error in generalization. Take the time to go into your local thrift store and observe what people buy. Better yet, ask your elderly wine drinking family their opinions on wine opening devices.
    - jessaustin 5y ago
      I've been to thrift stores. They no longer allow after-hours drop-off. They are quite selective about which items they will take. They certainly wouldn't waste their time and shelf-space with the "corkpull" mentioned in TFA. I have installed an under-cabinet jar-opening vise for my mother, which I only ordered because she specifically asked for it. No one in the family would dream of foisting it off on Goodwill if for some reason she didn't need it anymore. Admitting that trash is actually trash and throwing it away is the first step in living a life that produces less trash.
dylan604 5y ago
Package it back up, rewrap it, and then give the item/gift back to the person that gave it to you. Passive aggressive gift giving
mindslight 5y ago
You might want to remove light bulbs from your list - LEDs and CFLs last an extremely long time, and you'll end up with a collection.
bertjk 5y ago
There are many local grassroots neighborhood groups now from which you can easily find people to take a lot of your items. Look on Freecycle.org, or look for "Buy Nothing <your town name>" on FB, or just post things for free on Nextdoor. I've used these gotten rid of so many random doodads through these venues, and each time it feels great knowing that whoever picking up actually will likely use it. My impression of charity donations is that they dump a lot of their donations if they don't immediately see things as being high enough quality to resell.

vorpalhex 5y ago

Donate unused or lightly used gifts so that they may find use with someone else, and don't spend a moment more on them. You do the gift giver no favors by merely warehousing their gifts.

jessaustin 5y ago
From TFA: Boxes and paper grocery bags pile up along the hallway, full of things to be gotten rid of. But the thrift stores and donation drop-offs are still closed, or have limited hours. And you know that most of those things don’t get sold. The flaw is in the object. The original gift didn't improve your life. Passing it on doesn't improve anyone else's life. Once upon a time thrift stores might have made sense, and for a very specific class of durable yet useful objects they might still, but the corkpull (and most similar gifts) is not in that class.
- vorpalhex 5y ago
  You (and the article) have made an error in generalization. Take the time to go into your local thrift store and observe what people buy. Better yet, ask your elderly wine drinking family their opinions on wine opening devices.
  - jessaustin 5y ago
    I've been to thrift stores. They no longer allow after-hours drop-off. They are quite selective about which items they will take. They certainly wouldn't waste their time and shelf-space with the "corkpull" mentioned in TFA. I have installed an under-cabinet jar-opening vise for my mother, which I only ordered because she specifically asked for it. No one in the family would dream of foisting it off on Goodwill if for some reason she didn't need it anymore. Admitting that trash is actually trash and throwing it away is the first step in living a life that produces less trash.

dylan604 5y ago

Package it back up, rewrap it, and then give the item/gift back to the person that gave it to you. Passive aggressive gift giving

mindslight 5y ago

You might want to remove light bulbs from your list - LEDs and CFLs last an extremely long time, and you'll end up with a collection.

bertjk 5y ago

There are many local grassroots neighborhood groups now from which you can easily find people to take a lot of your items. Look on Freecycle.org, or look for "Buy Nothing <your town name>" on FB, or just post things for free on Nextdoor. I've used these gotten rid of so many random doodads through these venues, and each time it feels great knowing that whoever picking up actually will likely use it. My impression of charity donations is that they dump a lot of their donations if they don't immediately see things as being high enough quality to resell.