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Looking for places that accept bedding donations (duvet, pillows, mattress cover). Any suggestions?
Not sure your uni has a swap shop or donation bin setup but a lot of them do, might be worth checking your old campus or emailing the SU. Also some of the big animal rescues like Battersea or Mayhew will take old duvets and pillows for bedding in their kennels, just call ahead first to see if they need any. The British Heart Foundation furniture shops sometimes accept them too but call your local one on the high street, they're picky about condition.
fwiw there's a place called St Margaret's House in Bethnal Green that takes bedding for their homelessness outreach. They're a bit specific about it being clean and bagged up but they'll take duvets and pillows no problem. also the London Animal Trust in Woodford Green always needs bedding for their rescue animals, just give them a ring first to check they've got space to store it
Try contacting some smaller charities or local churches. They often have networks for distributing donations that larger organisations might not. Also, check if any community groups on Facebook or similar platforms in your area are accepting bedding donations.
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What are some innovative ways to anonymously compare rental prices in a city?
SpareRoom's "rooms wanted" ads are underrated for this. people post what they're currently paying alongside what they want next, so you can scrape a rough sense of going rates by postcode without anyone knowing you looked. it skews young and flatshare heavy tho, so not much use if you're after 2-beds in zone 2.
Another one is just the depozit or tenancy deposit scheme data. not public-facing, but your council's housing officer can tell you median rents from deposit registrations if you email them under FOI. takes weeks, but its proper anon and nobody clocks u.
Rightmove and Zoopla only show asking rents, which are often 10 to 15 percent above what a place actually goes for, so they're a poor benchmark. The trick I've used is the ONS Price Index of Private Rents, which breaks things down to borough level and is genuinely anonymous since it's aggregate data, no listing or account needed. For something more granular, the London Renters Union runs a rent reporting tool where you submit what you're paying with your postcode and it maps it against others nearby, though the coverage is patchy outside the inner boroughs.
the openrent "rent check" thing is decent for zones 3-4 where the unions tool barely reaches. also worth checking the london.gov.uk planning portal for new build applications, they list "affordable" and market rent figures per unit in the viability assessments, which is basically the developer telling the council what they expect to charge. bit of a faff to dig through but its public, anonymous & nobody knows ur looking