Carers UK Forum

I had loads left over as I like to buy in bulk and be ready for anything. I must have spent a small fortune on them but they seemed more of a challenge to get rid of than I anticipated.
I decided not to give them to the care home, District Nurses or the care agency as no one could be bothered to go to Dad's funeral. Plan B , I tried to sell new packets on EBay, the first I charged £7.00 for and after having to chase payment and cover postage costs made a huge 14p. The next packet was even larger so I charged £9.00 but had to pay £14.50 on postage so that wiped out the first profit and cost me some more.
Then I spent a freezing morning lugging them off to a car boot sale at 6.30 in the morning- they all came home again.
Then I tried listing them on gum tree for less than half price of shops- zero response.
This morning I went into town and drove round the back of Oxfam ( I felt a bit sorry for them with all the bad publicity they have had) rang the bell twice and could hear people banging and crashing on the other side of the door but no one could be bothered to answer so I drove off into the next part of town, parked and went to the second Oxfam shop to find they were closed for renovation today. I walked all the the way up the High street to find the next couple of charity shops had closed down, crossed the road and all the way back down with my arms dropping off by now , went to Age UK who would only take the complete unopened packets and not the ones that had one or two removed (out of 40 ) so I lugged them on to the next charity shop. Finally they are gone

10/10 for persistence, Henrietta. I had trouble getting rid of S's incontinece pads as a child when he moved to pull-ups. same problem when he didn't need the pull-ups any more either. Like you with a lot of effort I managed to give a few bags away. I think there are still some in the loft ...

Melly1

The local food bank took our leftover supplies. I emailed to find out (almost expecting the answer 'no') and they said they had found takers for these products in the past, so 'yes please'.

Rats - found some more of them in the shed. (inco pads not rats!)

Henrietta wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2018 5:03 pm

Rats - found some more of them in the shed. (inco pads not rats!)

Whatever you decide to do Henrietta, please do not lose your wonderful sense of humour

The charity shop I volunteer in (connected to a local Hospice) will always take them providing the packs haven't been opened - we've always got customers wanting them. Plus one or two of our local (privately run) care homes will take them too.

I used to buy them from the shop regularly when I was caring for Mum - even at £4 or so a pack they were a heck of a lot cheaper than buying them anywhere else !.

The hospice that mum was in had said they'd take unopened packs and also mum's spare catheter supplies.

Local hospice, respite, day centre, care home, food banks off the top of my head.

Charity shops can often be unable/willing to accept hygiene products due to in-house legal/safety policy.
if you are really passionate about a particular cause it never hurts to ask them anyway. Just make sure they are doing something with them and aren't just accepting out of politeness.

Has to be unopened packs as generally speaking once you break the packaging its classed as contaminated. Doesn't hurt to wipe down the unopened packs if they've been stored for a while as well. (takes only a moment and they just look fresher)