As many of you know, at the beginning of 2024, I decluttered my house and got rid of everything except for a few mementos, photos and some camping gear. While doing this, two things took me a lot of time. First, it took a long time to figure out where everything should go. I know, I could have just called a company to come and take everything and get rid of it for me, but that is not my way. I wanted to try to get some money for some of my items, and I did not want to PAY money to have someone else do what I could easily (HA. HAHA. HA!) do myself.
 |
| Things to keep |
If you don't mind paying to have this done, you can call a junk removal company. My friend in the Bay Area used this local one, who actually promises to recycle, sell or donate at least 80% of the items, which I find important. In fact, that is one of the reasons that I was so particular about finding where to take things; I did not want it to all just go in a landfill! However, in the end, it took me much longer than I had hoped.
The second thing that took me forever was selling things. I had this entrepreneurial dream that I would sell all of my crap and make millions of dollars. This is why I am not an entrepreneur. The time it took to take photos, figure out prices, list and monitor (and sometimes haggle) probably netted me about $2.00 per hour. I will give a short summary about this at the end of this post.
First let's talk about furniture. This is probably where I thought I could do the least amount of work to get the most amount of money. These things are large, I did not have too many of them and the price point is a lot higher than a pair of jeans or shoes. I had some good pieces, not in bad condition, no pet wear or chips or stains or cracks. I started by putting them on Facebook Marketplace. Ideally, I wanted to try to get a little bit back for this, but the work that is involved can be massive. Luckily, I was working from home two days a week at this point, as you really do have to have a certain amount of availability. However, I did leave quite a few items on my porch for people to pick up and I figured if they stiffed me, I didn't really care that much. P.S. None of them stiffed me. I ended up selling about 25% of my furniture.
But what to do with the other 75%??? The places in my local area where you can donate furniture are VERY PICKY! Also, I would prefer to have someone pick it up, so I don't have to load it twice into a car. However, that was easier said than done.
First, I scheduled a pick up with Restore (Habitat for Humanity). However, they basically rejected 75% of my things, even though when I filled out the form for the appointment, it said that they would take the items that I had. They will take new building supplies and like new household items, but "like new" means basically new. Also, I didn't have any of these, but if I did, I would have returned them to Home Depot for cash. They don't take anything that has patterns, has been painted, or has ANY tiny cracks or dirt spots (my couch had one tiny water stain on one arm). However, they did take my push mower (no motor, like the old fashioned kind) and my corded power tools (as long as they worked and were in a case etc.). They also would not take a kitchen table unless it had six matching chairs.
I ended up trying to get another company to pick up the rest but the wait times were horrible (pro tip: plan early, even if that means eating in camp chairs in the living room) and in the end I had to get Broski and his truck involved. We started by going to Salvation Army, but lo and behold, even though the website said that they took furniture, they would not take it, and so we ended up going to Out of The Closet, who is also picky, but not as picky as Habitat luckily! In the end, they took the rest of the large things, but Broski and I had to (a) make two trips (b) load and unload everything ourselves.
 |
| Broski helping me give away furniture |
Here is what I would do differently. I would start by taking what I could get for the furniture. I often would haggle and then the buyer would back out. I don't know what I was trying to prove, but I should have prioritized getting rid of it over making money. In the end, I gave it away for nothing so the $50 I was offered would have been better! Second, after I sold what I could sell, I would have put the rest on the curb with a "free" sign! I ended up doing this for a few left over items at the end and they went fast!! Even people driving by would stop and pick through stuff, which was surprising to me. I also don't really love having all of my goods out on display for the whole world to see, but believe you me, by the end, I could not give two flying trucks who saw my stuff; I just wanted it gone! I would definitely tell past me to get over myself and just put it on the curb. Then I would have donated (or trashed) what did not get taken, and saved myself the work.
 |
| Free stuff! Going, going, gone! |
Bulky trash. Speaking of trash, our garbage carrier (WM) let's you do one free bulky pickup a year, and they will take things like tires, mattresses, some electronics and furniture. I would have done this earlier, although I wanted to have everything sorted so I didn't end up with a bunch of trash at the end, so the timing was tricky. However, I think going through the garage and making a big pile early would have been better. Or if I wanted to do it at the end, I should have scheduled it sooner. I wanted to wait until the last minute, but only then did I learn that they schedule these a few weeks in advance, so I could not get it when I wanted it. I ended up going to the WM facility with a load in my car, which actually was not too bad. However, you do have to have a local address in order to do the disposal for free (you can dump for a fee otherwise), and I also had to schedule this (but could do that a couple of days in advance).
 |
| Taking a load to the dump in my huge car. |
Clothing and Shoes. Like the furniture, I did not want to just give it away, especially since I had some pretty high end pieces (I used to work in the fancy shoe department at Nordstrom, and some of my shoes were >$600 retail. I got them on sale though! I swear!). Why is it that if you spent a lot on it, you are more loathe to give it away? Or is that just me? Anyway, I put a bunch of them on eBay and FBMP, and same story as above, sold maybe 25% of them. We do not have a good consignment shop in my area (they want current styles, certain brands etc.) However, the good thing is that you can send a box to ThredUp, and they will try to sell your items and if they sell you will get a (measly) commission. I sent about six boxes to them in the end, and then gave the rest of the things to Salvation Army.
 |
| Typical week's worth of donations |
What I would have done differently. I was afraid to list things in multiple locations, but I should have tried to do that. I found that some things sold really well on FBMP and others were better to list on eBay so you can get a broader audience. Also eBay was way easier, as you just box it up and put it in the mail rather than having a person come over, or flake on you, or having a huge back and forth before they decide to buy. However, they do take a larger cut from you, but maybe it is worth it!
Electronics. This one hurt a lot. I used to be big into photography, and still am, but I no longer use my DSLR or the four different lenses I had for it (and lights and flashes and diffusers etc.) But they all cost a lot and once again, I did not want to give them away for a pittance. So I tried FBMP and did not have a lot of luck, and finally got desperate and put them on Ebay and did not get a lot for them but I did end up selling everything camera related. I also disposed of many an old cell phone and laptop by taking them to the Hazardous Waste drop off.
 |
| Sigh...tear...😢 |
...to be continued!!! In the interest of time (this got to be too long!), stay tuned for tomorrow, when I will go over a few more examples of where to take things and will also do the big reveal...what was my time worth??
Have you ever done serious decluttering at your house? What tricks did you use to get rid of stuff? What's the weirdest thing you have ever sold?
This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. P.S. This is a draft I started in June 2023! Speaking of purging!
I am trying to sell about everything is some sort of value or not. The key is to not half it sold on a specific date. I sometimes have my listings up for half a year or more.
ReplyDeleteBut that is not always feasible. When we moved things had to be gone by a certain time and that is always tricker. I would agree with selling and not trying to haggle if you really need to get rid of it. Even for 0$ it may be the better option because other wise you pay for recycling, pick up something.
Currently I have 24 things online to sell. I should put some more online. It does take a while to list but I have managed a rather good workflow.
I never sell clothing on ebay or such because it's not worth the time and the back and forth. I use a service similar to yours where I send it in and then they see or recycle and I get a tiny amount of money back.
Looking forward to your next post tomorrow.
I agree with you completely! I had a whole timeline written out, and I started selling about a year (very few things) before I needed to leave. This way I also had a schedule to lower it after a certain amount of time if it was not sold yet, so that I could be totally done about a month before I moved out. However, as the months got closer, I did ramp up the items and in the end I probably listed about 70 (?) items on eBay and I sold 45 of them. You are right though, most of what was not sold was clothing and even the clothing that sold was only so-so. However, shoes did okay, plus they are super easy to box up and ship out! I had one day a week I would list things and then a different day of the week that I would lower the price if the item had not sold after a certain time. It also sometimes helped to delist and then relist items to lower the "days online" count.
DeleteI did put some books online, but that was not too hard, as there really is not a lot of haggling for them, and you can just leave them there for a long time.
I am here for this post and part 2! I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that you got more than $1,000 but way less than $10,000.
ReplyDeleteI am so not a seller. Even when I was young and broke I couldn't get motivated to sell things and just donated them. When I moved in with the Hubs, I think it was before FBMP/Buy Nothing and it was also before WFH so it would have been too stressful to meet up with people. I took this approach to getting rid of the goods:
- Invited everyone I knew to "shop my house for free". I didn't get a lot of takers because I was a person with stuff trying to push stuff onto people who had stuff.
- Hauled box after box to Goodwill
- I lucked out with furniture! There was a charity that picked up furniture to rehouse homeless people. They had quite the list of rules and regulations, and when I set up the appointment it sounded like they would only take a few things. But when they got there suddenly they weren't using their rule book and took practically everything.
- Stuff that didn't make the charity place's cut went out on the curb, and boy oh boy did it all go quickly. Now that I think about it, the rejects were mostly furniture that I "saved" from the dumpster when I was young and broke.
In the end the only thing that I couldn't lose was my piano, because I drew the line at having to pay someone to take it. We found a place for it in the new house, and it got a lot of play over the years. But now no one plays anymore and I sometimes think about listing it on a Buy Nothing group. The thing is that I'm going to have to get rid of it at some point, which will either be now or at some indeterminate point in the future when I might be even less excited about doing it. TBD.
You did get lucky with the furniture! I didn't mention this, but I did kind of do the same thing with "shopping my house" and I gave some big stuff to friends and family. However, like you, they did not want much, as they all had stuff too! And were trying to get rid of their own stuff! But I was like, BUT THESE FORKS ARE from Macys! Hahah.
DeleteMy advice to you about the piano is that the best day to do it was yesterday and the next best day is today. The last thing you want is for it to hold up some decision you are making, like traveling the world or selling your house or turning your living room into a big cat playhouse or whatever. If it is already gone, you can do what you want with a easy mind. Also, it could take six months (hopefully not!) to get rid of so you may as well start now. And one thing that I had to tell myself is (1) I have not been using this item for the last 10 years, why do I want to keep it!? and (2) if I really change my mind later, I can buy one (or get one for free) off of FBMP!! Keeping it for "just in case" is so easy, but not really necessary in most cases.
I have done a few big purges. The biggest was before moving in with Phil. I did this February purging challenge where you get rid of a number of things associated with the day of the month. So 1 thing on the 1st, 2 on the 2nd, etc. I think it sums to 435 things. Most of what I got rid of was books. I ended up donating them to an org called ‘books for Africa’ - they were brought to literacy organizations in Africa or something like that? It seemed like the best home for my books.
ReplyDeleteWe got rid of a lot of stuff after we were done having kids. I sold some on FBMP but now I mostly just give it away if I can. I just want it out of our house! Luckily there is a family down the block that has a baby this summer so they have taken a number of our things like our crib and car seats the boys have outgrown (which can be recycled at target twice/year but it’s nice to pass them along when they haven’t expired yet).
That is my favorite way to get rid of things. I would rather get no money but know that it is getting some good use out of it by someone who needs it. I am 100% for that. I am loathe to buy new stuff now, as I am sure there is someone with that stuff sitting in their garage doing nothing, and I would hate for it to just go to a landfill. This is a separate post, but my advice to anyone buying a bike would be to shop Craigslist and FBMP instead of buying a new one. Some of these fad or short lived things are expensive (bikes/kids) and the people are getting rid of some good things! Kids clothing is a great example, as you know, that stuff adds up, but there is no need for fully new items every few months! I am so glad that you have found a community of people who you can swap stuff with and wish I could find the same but for bikes and hiking, as that stuff adds up too! K had boxes in her garage of 1 yr, 2 yr, 3 yr etc. for so long and I asked her why she was keeping them and she said that she was waiting for a friend to have babies! Luckily her brother had a kid and that kid is getting a lot of great stuff! I am all for it.
DeleteI've gone through several declutterings, and I've not had the problems you've had overall, but I've also not had the deadline or mass volume you did, either.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best resources for me was a charity, Vietnam Veterans of America. They come to the house and load it into their truck and leave a receipt for tax purposes. I've donated dishes, pots and pans, clothing, shoes, small furniture like side tables, games, a shelf stereo, and other items.
Another way I've gotten rid of things is our twice-yearly garage sale at our lake community. My brother participates every time, and I put stuff in his sale and help him out. I've unloaded a ton of stuff there; it's always well-attended by surrounding communities, including the Amish. You'd be surprised at the stuff people are looking for and will buy.
Finally, I've also just boxed up or loaded up things in my car and taken them to our local Goodwill. They are so happy to have whatever I bring. Last time, I brought old, old books and some wall art that I'd gotten sick of looking at.
I'm so sorry about your photography stuff. That must have been heartbreaking. It's too bad you didn't know of a school or community college that would have been thrilled with that as a donation.
I remember you mentioning the Vietnam Vets when I was in the process of doing this, and I looked them up but they were not in my area sadly! That would have been nice. Salvation Army used to come and pick things up, and when I moved away from San Francisco, they came and got all of our stuff and took it away in a truck, easy-peasy. I don't know if it was the pandemic that made them more picky or what.
DeleteMy neighborhood used to also have a street-wide garage sale and I think it also went away after the pandemic, or maybe due to the invention of FBMP??? I am not sure what happened there, but that is a great way to get people into the neighborhood and get rid of your stuff! I always felt kind of hesitant to stand out there hawking my wares like a peddler!
We used to sell a lot of things on Kijiji (like Craiglist), but now we mostly donate things. We're fairly minimalistic, so unless we did a big move I don't think we'd have big things to get rid of? In that case, we'd likely list on Kijiji and also tell everyone we know they can come and take a look/take anything they want. The thought of moving fills me with a cold dread and I'm hoping we don't move until the kids are out of the house so it's much less chaotic!?
ReplyDeleteThe weirdest thing we sold was likely a crystal carriage. Someone gifted it to us - my mother-in-law, maybe? There was zero chance we were ever going to use it, but John put it on Kijiji and a collector wanted it right away. I think we made $35 off it? Which, at the time, to two extremely poor newlyweds was a very big deal!
Fun fact: one of the ways we stayed afloat when we were bootstrapping our businesses was by having John buy tech on Kijiji, upgrade/fix it, and then resell it. That has completely dried up now with Facebook Marketplace (which we don't have) and the change in economy etc. But for a season, it was a huge part of our lives. Like Tobia he would just keep cycling things; sometimes stuff sold in a day, other things were a year. He had a folder with all the pictures and a word document with all the write-ups so he could just repost things when they were getting "stale."
I love John's (and yours of course) resourcefulness. It is the little things like that which make a difference! That is exactly what I did, keep a file and repost. John would be probably laugh at me, as I sold an old (2007) Nokia palm pilot thing (it came out before smart phones had totally taken off) on eBay for like $40 and now I am realizing that someone like him likely bought it and re-sold it for twice the price. Who knows. I was so surprised that someone still wanted to buy it.
DeleteWhat is a crystal carriage? Like a tchotchke? I am picturing Cinderella's carriage; is that what you mean? People buy weird things. WE buy weird things. I had a small bobblehead collection that was gifted to me and I got like $40 for one of them (and gave the other five to Goodwill)!
Um. No. We are in a stage where we are getting more furniture because when we moved into our house, we didn't have a lot. Our town does bulk waste pickup ONCE A MONTH and I realize how lucky we are because you would not have had to move that furniture yourself here. Free stuff on the curb here does go fast, so that's a pro tip, I think, especially for bulky furniture items.
ReplyDeleteI know that places with colleges really do this a lot and you can get some good stuff if you are willing to drive around in May/June and pick it all up! Once a month bulky pickup is golden! We can take it to the dump if we want but other than the once per year free, it will cost us!
DeleteRestore is very picky! We got rid of a lot of our furniture from the old house that way, though, because it was all in really great shape and our couches were all leather. I also gave away a ton of things on our buy nothing page.
ReplyDeleteI probably could have done the Buy Nothing page, but I think in my mind, at the beginning at least, it was going to be easy to sell? I was obviously delusional!
DeleteI have not done much of this with my own things, which is why my house is so cluttered. I try to declutter but get overwhelmed and give up. I need to give myself bite sized chores, I think. And like you, if something was expensive way back when, I have a lot more trouble letting it go for less money. It's foolish, but there we are.
ReplyDeleteWe did clean out my Grandma's house in 2021 when her sister moved to a care facility (my Grandma had died 5 years earlier), and it was hard. We ended up selling some things at a consignment store, donating some things locally (I don't remember where even) and throwing a LOT away. We had an amazing realtor who took care of a lot of this for us, because we didn't live in the same town as the house. So we had family come and go through things, take what they want, and then we just said, 'whatever you want to do with this is fine with us'. She got the dumpster, she had her brothers take things to the dump, she even cleaned the house herself for sale. It was quite a relief.
I think what my friend did, which was pay the guys from Nixxit, is probably the way to go. They will recycle it or donate it for you, and you can be assured that they are not just throwing it in a dumpster, but that you also don't have to worry about where each thing goes. I know many a person who has had things in storage for years and is paying a couple hundred dollars a month to store something that is probably not even worth that much! It makes the couple hundred that the Nixxit guys charge all of a sudden seem reasonable!
DeleteI get what you are saying re decluttering being overwhelming. It is so much easier to set it and forget it, until you have to do something with all of it at the same time! I was actually very good at decluttering every year, but I still had a ton of stuff!
People call our local dumpsite "Macy's" because everyone sets anything of value off to the side for perusal. I've gotten some great things there! And I've also donated a few things. We also have a wonderful thrift store where I buy and donate items. I haven't done a big decluttering like you did. I probably should!
ReplyDeleteI think Macy's is a great idea, because I loathe contributing to the landfill and if someone can use it, that is the best scenario. Of course it would be tempting when you are dumping to pick stuff up, which kind of defies the point a little! But such is life.
Deleteevery time we move to another country, I either give things to people or throw away. I can't deal with sorting things out and sell them. given that we ship things, some things that I don't use but too valuable to give away, i still ship them.
ReplyDeleteI am guessing that your company pays to ship them? If so, that would make it hard to decide. However, if I had to pay for it myself, I probably would just give them away!
DeleteI have some serious decluttering overdue. As the kids get older they have outgrown certain things (toys, clothes, sports equipment, furniture). I keep saying we should do a garage sale and deal with whatever is left. We have done this before we moved to our house and the kids outgrew the toddler phase. Made the move a lot easier. I can't think of anything weird though.
ReplyDeleteIt would definitely make a move easier, as there is already so much to do when moving! For me, the timing of quitting work and leaving my house made it so that I needed to have everything out before I finished work (maybe THAT was bad planning!) so I did a lot of stuff early, but I still had a lot to do in the last days!
DeleteThis is such a huge undertaking. I am on the same page as you - I would want to get something for my things. I would say our biggest declutter was during covid when we took on the basement. We had a HUGE bin of Beanie Babies. It took some convincing for the kids (even though most of them were older) to part with them. I let them keep a few special ones. I'm in awe of you getting rid of your stuff. Wow.
ReplyDeleteI know, I hate to just give it away, but sometimes I think the peace of mind may be worth more than the money. However, I am probably still going to try getting money for it first!
DeleteSuch an interesting post! I am constantly decluttering. I always keep a bag in my closet for Goodwill donations. I try to keep to the "one in-one out" rule, especially for clothes. I have a certain number of hangers and if I start running out of hangers, I know it's time to donate some clothes. I have been somewhat successful selling furniture on FBMP - just sold my mom's old fridge + my spin bike this month, actually! With my old couch, I think I sold it to Goodwill? Or maybe Salvation Army? One of those places. They just came in and took it - barely even looked at it!
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky that they didn't really critique your couch! Mine seriously had a tiny water mark on it, and if I were buying a couch at Goodwill, that would not bug me. But they would not take it! I like the one in one out rule, and kind of have that with my things now! I obviously have no hangers, but it is temping to buy new stuff sometimes but I tell myself I can, only if I get rid of something else!
Delete