How to Get Rid of Almost Anything Don't head straight for the trash—here's how to donate, sell, swap, or recycle your unwanted items The key to finding happiness in your decluttering efforts is answering this question: Once you decide to ditch your stuff, what do you do with it? Unless your soon-to-be-former possessions truly qualify as trash, you won’t want to set them out at the curb on pickup day to clog up your local landfill. Instead, the key is to decide whether to give your stuff away, sell it, swap it, or recycle it. Here’s how to deal with a variety of items.