Michael We don't exactly live large in a small city apartment, so we have to save space and always make sure that the old junk we no longer use disappears quickly. That's why every six months we go through our wardrobe and ruthlessly sort things out. The old T-shirt that keeps getting pushed further down the pile and hasn't been worn in six months? Out it goes. The pants that are too tight? Goodbye. Or the old computer monitor that's still good but has been replaced by newer technology? It all has to go.

But where to put it? There is no liquid market for used clothing or household items on eBay, and selling them through local internet forums like Craigslist or a self-organized Garage-Sale" often involves more work than one willing to put up with. Therefore, it makes sense to drop off items you no longer need at one of the many places for donations. So-called thrift stores accept donated items and later sell them for a modest profit in their stores. Depending on the organization, the proceeds then go to a good cause.

Goodwill is one of the most professionally run thrift stores with more than 3,200 branches worldwide. What I particularly like about the store is that it is run with an iron hand. The employees are on the ball. If you come in with stuff, someone immediately rushes over, takes it, and the form for tax deduction is already prepared. You simply write down how much the individual items are still worth, and that's it. I've never stood at the drop-off at Goodwill for more than five minutes.

Furthermore, Goodwill pays extreme attention to cleanliness; the stores are spotless like boutiques, and there are no homeless people hanging around treating the place like their living room. The fact that Goodwill's leadership is criticized for high earnings (Wikipedia) is laughable, in my opinion; good leadership personnel simply costs money. Moreover, they don't just throw the proceeds at some aggressive good-for-nothings who would just run to the next drug dealer, but rather support projects that reintegrate socially unfortunate individuals to return to the workforce. This is not a given in San Francisco, where the motto "a lot of money helps a lot" leads to tax money being aimlessly showered on the homeless, but things have been going downhill for decades.

However, Goodwill by no means accepts all donations. Old household appliances like refrigerators or dryers are rejected as they likely take up valuable sales space, and they also turn away mattresses and large pieces of furniture. I even had trouble getting rid of a few still good-looking Ikea shelves; I had to drive around a bit, but eventually, a thrift store in the Mission District took pity on me and accepted them for free.

Now, retail space in San Francisco is really expensive, and it's next to impossible to recoup that through sales in a thrift store. However, some commercial buildings also stand temporarily vacant while their owners look for new tenants, and that's when Goodwill steps in and sets up a so-called pop-up store, a kind of temporary sales area that springs up like a pop-up book, with a sales floor separated from dilapidated building parts only by curtains. For example, a year ago, the sporting goods store "Sports Authority" on Folsom Street in San Francisco's SoMa district went bankrupt. It had operated a huge department store, and suddenly, a Goodwill pop-up moved in, which has been bustling there for half a year now. We've already donated items there twice. The store is always packed, and items sell as quickly as they arrive; it's pure joy to watch the hustle and bustle. We even browsed the small furniture section, saw some beautiful pieces that almost looked antique, but unfortunately, as I said, there's no space in our home —- maybe in another life!

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Smoke Cover Above the City
  	Top product: Air purifier by Levoit
  	Annoying Voices: Vocal Fry and Upspeak
  	Exchange coins with Coinstar
  	Large companies ordered to pay for the homeless.
  	New job for Angelika
  	New room antenna and SlingTV