Let Oxfam Ireland help you make a life-changing start to 2007

Oxfam Ireland Press Release
11 January 2007

If the New Year brings with it the urge to redecorate, downsize, extend or even sell up and go travelling - Oxfam Ireland’s CLEARURGEAR campaign could help make your dreams a reality.

CLEARURGEAR is aimed at increasing the quality of stock donated to Oxfam’s 44 shops across Ireland. From fruit bowls to frying pans, Oxfam can use the money raised to make a real difference to the lives of the world’s poorest people; while you can reap the rewards of clearing your conscience as well as your clutter.

CLEARURGEAR offers a hassle free way to get rid of all those bits and pieces that hang around and never get used. If there is stuff in your house you’re keeping because you think it’s too good to throw out, those are exactly the types of items Oxfam Ireland can sell to raise money for its work overseas. To make life even easier Oxfam Ireland will arrange to collect your goods from your house, at your local park ‘n’ ride and even in your workplace.

Trevor Anderson, Oxfam Ireland retail manager said: “Everyone can help us in the fight against the injustice of poverty and suffering in poorer countries by donating quality goods they no longer use. We’re looking for everything from T-shirts to teapots, so if you don’t need it and think someone else could love it, we want it.”

Oxfam Ireland offers these useful tips to help you clear your clutter…

Use the 12 month rule - If you haven’t used or worn clothes, kitchenware or homewares in one full ‘life cycle’ then it’s unlikely you will. Plus clearing out once a year makes a big move or change much less traumatic.

For every item you buy, give away the equivalent – that crockery set may look tired to you but it could be just what someone else is looking for.

Before putting your home on the market arrange to store all the stuff you don’t use. The less cluttered a house looks the more aspirational it appears (and the easier it is to keep show-home clean!). This way you’ll also see what you really want to take with you and what you can live without.

Don’t keep items with ‘negative’ emotional energy attached. It may be a beautiful piece of furniture but if all you can think about everytime you look at it is your ex then let go of it… and the baggage.

Trevor Anderson added: “People who have already cleared their gear have been amazed at how much potential they, and even would-be buyers, could see in their house. Letting go of some of those old pieces could be just what you need to fall back in love with your home and increase its value!”

Find out more at www.oxfamireland.org/clearurgear, or visit your local shop to find out about collections in your area.

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Oxfam Ireland is an independent member of Oxfam International- a group of thirteen non-governmental agencies dedicated to fighting poverty and related injustice around the world.

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