Decluttering, what sells, what doesn't (and things I'll never buy new again)

[Music Lover]

Our city, neighborhood has many "estate sales" advertised. Many sign up for the e-mails to find out dates/times/locations. There are lines outside these homes before the opening times. Only so many people are allowed in at a time. I've been to a few and thought "seriously?"

About 20 years ago I was living by myself. A co-worker/friend had a very messy breakup that resulted in him moving out within a day....he left with nothing more than a suitcase with his clothes. I rented him a room for a few months while he looked for his own place.

He found a place, then went to an estate sale and furnished the entire place (except for a mattress and bedding which he bought new) for about $1000. He then gradually replaced the estate items with things he bought over time, and later told me that by having the stuff initially it allowed him the time to shop around and look for deals for the things he really liked.

 

[W2R]

I got quite a bit of my furniture back in 2002 when I bought my house (not this house, the previous one).

This is one advantage to buying a "used" house. Sometimes you can make a deal for the furniture too, if the sellers want to downsize for some reason. I was able to see what the furniture looks like, in place, in the house. Since the prior owner had died I was able to just make an offer to her heirs to buy what I wanted and it was well received. I got a nice 1970's bedroom set (minus mattress) and dining room set, along with a refrigerator for a total of around $1,000.

About 20 years ago I was living by myself. A co-worker/friend had a very messy breakup that resulted in him moving out within a day....he left with nothing more than a suitcase with his clothes. I rented him a room for a few months while he looked for his own place.

He found a place, then went to an estate sale and furnished the entire place (except for a mattress and bedding which he bought new) for about $1000. He then gradually replaced the estate items with things he bought over time, and later told me that by having the stuff initially it allowed him the time to shop around and look for deals for the things he really liked.

Wow, terrific! I should have checked estate sales, but didn't.

When I moved out of my prior home in 2015 I gave the dining room set to the Salvation Army and moved the bedroom set to my dream home where it is still in place. The frig was a casualty of Katrina (oh well), and was hauled off at that time.

Much of my other furniture I purchased for nearly nothing at antique/junk shops here in New Orleans. I did buy my easy chair at a very high end furniture store, though, and paid more for it than for all the rest of my furniture combined. To me it was worth every cent.

 

[sengsational]

No Future in Burglary

No wonder burglary is down... mostly they can't fence what they take! I'll bet if you removed things you can't legally buy or legally buy easily (guns, drugs, etc) the burglary stats would be unbelievably low. I think they've pivoted to being porch pirates.



I don't get why anyone would want to stop a home invader with any kind of force. Shoot, I'd try to get him to haul off the treadmill, hehe!


EDIT: A new business opportunity: burglary for hire. Ah, but that would not be fair to the insurance company. Never mind.

 

[MichaelL]

I successfully used craigslist free category to get rid of big items quickly. There is a large group of people who follow that category real-time. I would get 4 to 5 calls within minutes of posting decent items. There is something about free that drives people. The item would typically be gone in under 2 hours. It was not worth waiting days to find the right buyer to pay $50 for the item. Jmho

In my experience these people are looking for things that they hope to resell.

 

[travelover]

There's a market for old eyeglasses? Wow, I have about 8 pair of them lying around my house. How did you, where did you sell them? Thanks.

I sold a bunch of old alarm clocks collected by a great uncle. Most people wanted them as period props, even though many didn't work. I was amazed that they sold.

 

[samclem]

In my experience these people are looking for things that they hope to resell.

That would be fine with me--same as the folks who pick up large items (appliances, etc) at the curb and resell them or scrap them. They are doing me a service and somebody else will benefit if the item is re-sold. They are usually quite polite.

 

[ziggy29]

In my experience these people are looking for things that they hope to resell.

If it means I don't have to deal with hauling stuff away or paying someone to do it, so be it. If I am willing to give something away, I don't care what someone wants to do with it -- I just want them to get it out of my hands and off my property.

 

[MichaelL]

That would be fine with me--same as the folks who pick up large items (appliances, etc) at the curb and resell them or scrap them. They are doing me a service and somebody else will benefit if the item is re-sold. They are usually quite polite.

I agree. I just want it gone too. I found just it interesting when people were buying things from me but didn't show much interest in the use for the item, just in the price. I then figured out then they were going to resell it.

 

[ivinsfan]

In my experience these people are looking for things that they hope to resell.

That's all good. I had a friend from church with two daughters a little younger then mine. I asked if she was interested in outgrown clothes and coats. So for many years I would bring her those items. She worked on the farm and cleaned houses for extra money, they didn't have much.

After a few years of this I heard from someone in the know, that my church friend took cast-offs from her cleaning homes and along with 90% of I stuff I gave her had lots of yard sales to try and raise cash. Did I care, no. They were struggling financially and I didn't care if she used my items for her kids or sold them.

... she was a great lady, with a nice family. She worked her butt off and died a long slow death from ovarian cancer at 52.

 

[Jerry1]

In my experience these people are looking for things that they hope to resell.

Yep and good for them. That's a fair deal. They come and take it away and spend the time converting the item to cash that I decided wasn't worth my time. I like it when I see people being resourceful.

What I have a problem with is the garbage pickers. Sure, they can have it, but many of them are down right disrespectful. For example, breaking something down to get only the metal and leaving a mess to clean up on my yard/curb.

 

[W2R]

Here, the re-sellers hit the garage sales an hour before they are to begin (8 AM at the earliest according to local regulations). It must be annoying to the sellers to have them ringing the doorbell at 7 AM. But anyway, they pick through everything quickly, buy the good stuff and put it in their truck, and are on their way to the next garage sale.

Doesn't bother me, as a garage sale customer (not seller), since I usually look for different items from those that are good for resale.

 

[Midpack]

Yep and good for them. That's a fair deal. They come and take it away and spend the time converting the item to cash that I decided wasn't worth my time. I like it when I see people being resourceful.

What I have a problem with is the garbage pickers. Sure, they can have it, but many of them are down right disrespectful. For example, breaking something down to get only the metal and leaving a mess to clean up on my yard/curb.

We put a large Tupperware container out for free with a bunch of hangers in it. A [-]lady[/-] woman came up and dumped the hangers on our front lawn and turned to go to her car. Unfortunately for her I was watching and I came out and told her to pick up the hangers or put the container back. She did, but she was baffled at my demand...probably told her friends what an a-hole I was.

Here, the re-sellers hit the garage sales an hour before they are to begin (8 AM at the earliest according to local regulations). It must be annoying to the sellers to have them ringing the doorbell at 7 AM. But anyway, they pick through everything quickly, buy the good stuff and put it in their truck, and are on their way to the next garage sale.

We had a woman show up shortly after 7am while we were still putting stuff out. We weren't happy about it, but if she bought something, that was our purpose. After combing through everything, she picked out a couple items that totaled $12. She told me she was on her way to work and didn't have money on her but would we hold the items and she'd come back with money after work.

We politely declined.

We've reluctantly held two garage sales and made quite a bit to be honest. And some buyers are decent, but there are quite a few who are not (can we use your bathroom - um, no). Now we sell, donate or trash everything, no way we'd bother with a garage sale again. What we did sell went for bottom dollar, we've made a lot more on eBay even after fees...

 

[ivinsfan]

We put a large Tupperware container out for free with a bunch of hangers in it. A [-]lady[/-] woman came up and dumped the hangers on our front lawn and turned to go to her car. Unfortunately for her I was watching and I came out and told her to pick up the hangers or put the container back. She did, but she was baffled at my demand...probably told her friends what an a-hole I was.

We had a woman show up shortly after 7am while we were still putting stuff out. We weren't happy about it, but if she bought something, that was our purpose. After combing through everything, she picked out a couple items that totaled $12. She told me she was on her way to work and didn't have money on her but would we hold the items and she'd come back with money after work.

We politely declined.

We've reluctantly held two garage sales and made quite a bit to be honest. And some buyers are decent, but there are quite a few who are not (can we use your bathroom - um, no). Now we sell, donate or trash everything, no way we'd bother with a garage sale again. What we did sell went for bottom dollar, we've made a lot more on eBay even after fees...

Well after reading this I realize there are a few advantages to living way out in the country and no garage sales is one of them...

 

[Teacher Terry]

We have done some garage sales and put in the ad no early birds and stick to it. We only donate now or use Craigslist for large items.

 

[robnplunder]

No garage sale for us. We usually play golf during daylight time. I guess "doing" a garage sale could be fun but playing golf (with DW) is a pretty high priority for me. Instead, it's hassle free for us to donate. Thrifty store truck comes around once a quarter. The only caveat is that they don't take everything.

 

[ziggy29]

Ah, garage sales -- where you can offer a $20 bill for $10, and someone will show up an hour before you open, tell you it's overpriced and offer $3.

 

[travelover]

As a garage sale buyer, I've found whole subdivision sales to have by far the best deals. Not only are there often a dozen sales within walking distance, most of the stuff is just out to get rid of it as opposed to make a buck. The worst are people that have permanent "garage sale" signs and basically earn a living off reselling stuff they bought at a good garage sale.

 

[Scuba]

Ah, garage sales -- where you can offer a $20 bill for $10, and someone will show up an hour before you open, tell you it's overpriced and offer $3.

Yeah, one time we had a garage sale and a woman commented that we needed to cut our prices because we were charging more for things than other garage sales did. I politely told her that it was because in general our stuff was in way better condition than many garage sales, and she didn’t have to buy any of our stuff if she thought it was too expensive. We made over $10K, although we sold a lot of furniture for ridiculously low prices.

One strategy that worked well for some larger items - people who made lowball offers were offered the opportunity for us to put their name, phone number and offer price on a list. When the sale ended, if the item hadn’t already been sold to someone else, we called them back. This worked much better than I expected.

 

[RunningBum]

Ah, garage sales -- where you can offer a $20 bill for $10, and someone will show up an hour before you open, tell you it's overpriced and offer $3.

LOL, and then they'll have to come back later to pick it up.

 

[aja8888]

The town we live in does not allow private garage sales. Once a year, the township takes over a multi-level public parking garage near a movie theater and allows a large group (residents) to sell their stuff. You have to apply for a permit for the day and are allotted a parking space or two to set up your stuff. works well and the town has been holding the sale for 25 years or so.

 

[zinger1457]

The town we live in does not allow private garage sales. Once a year, the township takes over a multi-level public parking garage near a movie theater and allows a large group (residents) to sell their stuff. You have to apply for a permit for the day and are allotted a parking space or two to set up your stuff. works well and the town has been holding the sale for 25 years or so.

I guess that would be fine if you're just selling small knick knacks but to me one of the big benefits of a garage sale is the buyer comes to you so that you don't have to haul your junk around to sell it.

 

[michelek]

Owning several vacation rentals and also downsizing and also staging new houses has us constantly selling old items. I find that everything will sell for the right price. Make a great ad ( excellent photos) on Offer Up, Craigslist and Marketplace , eBay etc, and lower the price by $10 per week. We always find the market price. Our trash is always someone else’s treasure. Just have to find the right price and be patient.
Biggest hurdle is convincing DH to adjust pricing- he’s a bit of a pack rat. We still own a sickle and a tree cutting two man ax from his grandfather (upstate NY farmer from the Old Country) - I don’t see us every using them they are indeed dangerous just having around! Extremely sharp and rusty!

 

[COcheesehead]

There's a market for old eyeglasses? Wow, I have about 8 pair of them lying around my house. How did you, where did you sell them? Thanks.

Ebay, but they should be designer frames.

 

[NW-Bound]

We put a large Tupperware container out for free with a bunch of hangers in it. A [-]lady[/-] woman came up and dumped the hangers on our front lawn and turned to go to her car. Unfortunately for her I was watching and I came out and told her to pick up the hangers or put the container back. She did, but she was baffled at my demand...probably told her friends what an a-hole I was ...

Once in walking around the neighborhood, we saw a CRT TV put out on the front lawn with a bottle of wine on top of it, along with the sign that the deal was that both had to be taken.

The next day, walking through that street again, we saw that the wine was gone, but the TV remained.

 

[sengsational]

...., but the TV remained.

This is why we can't have nice things, hehe! But I admire the giver's faith in humanity.