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

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut One can buy solid fine wood furniture on the used market for about the same price as cheap particle board laminate stuff that is new.

I don't doubt that. I hope I can find quality used furniture where we're moving, that may take some sleuthing, but undoubtedly worth the trouble.

[ABQ2015]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack I don't doubt that. I hope I can find quality used furniture where we're moving, that may take some sleuthing, but undoubtedly worth the trouble.

If you are still planning to move to North Carolina, that is where most of the US furniture makers are located. There are many factory and outlet furniture stores, especially between Hickory and Charlotte. And I assume that good used furniture would also be plentiful.

[LiveBelowMeans]

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

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack At least at the end of our driveway most items were gone by noon same day, only one item had to go out for 2 days. I never saw who took any of it, I assume it might be contractors, landscapers, maids who work in the neighborhood but who knows, maybe it's rich folks!

One of my friends has a few rentals and has been known to pick up free roadside furniture...nothing upholstered, but tables, desks, chairs, shelving units, etc.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiveBelowMeans 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

I've used Craigslist to get rid of free stuff, too. Things do go fast and for that reason people claim stuff quickly then decide later if they really want it or if they even have a way to pick it up. I can't even recall how many times I went through a whole list of claimees before one actually showed up with adequate manpower to haul stuff off. It does work eventually, but when possible I just drop stuff off at Goodwill or the Salvation Army to be done with it.

[Bamaman]

In our community, all we have to do is leave unwanted items out by the curb and Dumpster Divers will remove virtually anything by morning. While little money is being left, I don't have to deal with garage sales, and hopefully some poor person will make good use of "the stuff."

With my parents' generation passing the last 10-20 years, we've got a ridiculous inventory of unneeded or unwanted furniture. I ended up with room equal to 4 double car garages of just family belongings that are not needed.

[Jerry1]

It would be cool if someone would do a documentary on what happens to all the stuff that is given to Salvation Army, Goodwill type places. I've read a little bit about how most of the clothing goes into a recycling pipeline. But, they still sort through everything (probably checking pockets) to determine what small fraction they might be able to sell. I fear that these organizations are just way points for our stuff as it travels from us to the landfill.

More impressive is that they seem to handle it. I know we have sent off a lot of stuff and judging from the responses of this board, I imagine a very significant amount that they deal with. I think we all have visions that they absorb it and dole it out to those in need or sell it through their thrift shops, but I think that only a small percentage goes that route. Bottom line is that I'm thankful for what ended up being a path to get rid of our stuff and the work they do to help people. In my case by taking stuff off my hands, no questions asked.

[NW-Bound]

It is indeed hard to give away good stuff sometimes.

My neighbors up at my high-country boondocks home bought a California-king-sized mattress, and got a regular king-sized one delivered. They called the vendor, and they sent him the right one via UPS, but never came pick up the first one. I don't remember the brand, but he had back pain, and bought what he thought was the best on the market.

Now, he had a spare mattress standing in his bedroom, and no way to get rid of it. He posted a note at the community bulletin board at the rural post office, and someone called once but never showed up to take it.

Out of desperation, this couple asked me for help in getting rid of it. It so happened that my son was buying a home, and could use it. He rented a U-haul trailer, and came pick up that brand new luxury mattress. The elderly couple was so thankful for it.

[Hamlet]

Aquariums and related equipment are another item that usually doesn’t have a lot of resale value. Unless you want something very specific or uncommon, it is generally much better to buy aquariums used than new.

A patient person can generally pick up aquariums very cheaply. Heck, once people find out you are in the hobby, they often start trying to give you the old tank they have collecting dust in the garage.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry1 It would be cool if someone would do a documentary on what happens to all the stuff that is given to Salvation Army, Goodwill type places. I've read a little bit about how most of the clothing goes into a recycling pipeline. But, they still sort through everything (probably checking pockets) to determine what small fraction they might be able to sell. I fear that these organizations are just way points for our stuff as it travels from us to the landfill.

No idea if it’s accurate but

Quote:

Landfills Only 5 percent of (Goodwill) donated clothes are sent here, but they contribute to the 12 million tons of U.S. textile waste that end up in landfills annually.

https://www.simplemost.com/what-real...ill-donations/

This seems to paint a different picture, and explain why we often see ‘western clothing’ in remote parts of the world https://slate.com/human-interest/201...nate-them.html

[Moemg]

When I bought new furniture the store had a deal with habitat so when they delivered my new furniture they took the old furniture to Habitat and I got a write off .

[NW-Bound]

My neighbors next door got divorced. They sold the home and left behind a fairly good set of washer and drier.

The new people moving in got their own washer and drier that they wanted to keep. They thought they could sell the left-behind washer and drier for a bit of money. People called about it, and never showed up.

Now, they got desperate too with the things taking up space in the garage. Somehow, my wife learned about it.

Yes, my son is the happy new owner of that set too, free of charge.

[robnplunder]

I have been getting rid of things for a while for the eventual downsizing.



The good (sold on EBay): golf clubs, silverware, media (CD, book, etc).
The middle (donated): cloths, shoes, toys, kitchenware, houseware
The bad (thrown out, paid to rid of, e-cycled): Furniture, old technology stuff


Buying? I vowed to buy only things I can consume: food, shoes, clothes, toilet papers, .... DW has issues with this and still buys things we will have to eventually donate, throw out, resell, etc..

[Scuba]

We have downsized and upsized and downsized again a few times. For us, we’ve had good luck selling appliances and high-end electronics, as well as unopened wine & liquor we didn’t want. Furniture is difficult and requires a huge discount to move it, but we did get maybe 15-20 cents on the dollar selling nicer pieces to a consignment store. We’ve never tried to sell clothing. Jewelry is the worst. I took several pieces to three different stores to try to establish a market value. I had paid around $15K over the years for them. Two out of three jewelers said they didn’t think they could sell them so no thanks. The best offer I got was pennies on the dollar.

One time we bought a used treadmill for a home gym we had. After renting a truck and struggling to get the treadmill upstairs, we noticed an almost identical brand new treadmill in a retail store a few days later. :facepalm

Funny story - at a garage sale we had, we were selling a group of framed photos of Hawaiian flowers for $15. A woman with a very strong unique accent came by and offered $5. We said no. A half hour later, a man with the exact same accent came and offered $5. We told him the same thing we had told his wife - $15, take it or leave it. He finally bought them. I guess they thought we wouldn’t know they were related.

[FIREd]

I had to declutter a couple of times over the past 8 years. My experience has been that most household items (including pieces of furniture, no matter how nice) are not worth the time that it takes to sell them. I gave them all away and took a small tax write off.

I have had luck selling some good quality items on specialized websites or collector forums:
old smoking pipes
fountain pens
anything carrying a "luxury" brand name
nicer watches

Some of those items can have a residual value in the hundreds or even the thousands.

I tried to sell vintage sterling silverware but no one wanted it. I ended up selling it by the pound to be melted.

[zinger1457]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry1 It would be cool if someone would do a documentary on what happens to all the stuff that is given to Salvation Army, Goodwill type places. I've read a little bit about how most of the clothing goes into a recycling pipeline. But, they still sort through everything (probably checking pockets) to determine what small fraction they might be able to sell. I fear that these organizations are just way points for our stuff as it travels from us to the landfill.

Not sure about the accuracy of the story but in the Anthony Bourdain 'Parts Unknown- Kenya' episode there's a discussion with a group of locals about how the textile industry in Kenya has been decimated by the import of used clothing from the USA, thousands of jobs have been lost. Apparently much of the clothing collected by the charity groups in the US gets sold in bulk to overseas distributors, supposedly a multi billion dollar industry. The clothing then gets dumped in countries like Kenya to be sold in markets at a cost that the local textile industry can't compete with.

[H2ODude]

Kind of related, but maybe not. In late 80's and early 90's I was in charge of utilities for a major metro area, including solid waste. The rage was recycling and charging people for how much garbage they set out. (Do you have any idea what the logistics would be to weigh and charge a resident for their garbage, and who would put theirs in the neighbors?). Anyway....

One of the common theories was that the wealthy set out way more garbage than the non-wealthy. Hence they should be charged more for their consumption (don't recall how that could be implemented by anything other than property tax at local level, which when I left was actually how it WAS funded). However, and I have no statistics on this, if you cruised the poorer areas the amount of junk and garbage at the curb was way more than the wealthier areas. Why? Because all the mildly used toys, clothes, furniture, etc etc that was donated to charity ended up down the economic chain where it was finally spat out in lower income areas. This was in the days before automated pickup and it was stunning what was left out at the curb of an apartment or rental when someone was moving out.

Not making any condemnation of anything here, just an observation that stuff of modest value ends up at the landfill eventually. May be crude but once figured that just about anything you buy ends up there or the sewage plant eventually. Yeah, I know, you can compost some of it or recycle it. But the recycle markets have sort of collapsed lately. I also always wondered about the net environmental cost of adding all the recycling vehicles to the roads. Most econ evaluations about landfill vs recycle costs were loaded with questionable assumptions and factors. FWIW I recycle all I can, but in my heart I doubt it makes much difference,.

[DFDubb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinger1457 Not sure about the accuracy of the story but in the Anthony Bourdain 'Parts Unknown- Kenya' episode there's a discussion with a group of locals about how the textile industry in Kenya has been decimated by the import of used clothing from the USA, thousands of jobs have been lost. Apparently much of the clothing collected by the charity groups in the US gets sold in bulk to overseas distributors, supposedly a multi billion dollar industry. The clothing then gets dumped in countries like Kenya to be sold in markets at a cost that the local textile industry can't compete with.

I was going to mention this very episode. It was really well done and very interesting.

[MichaelL]

I inherited my parents household full of furniture, art, china, carpets, etc. The only things that sold quickly for good money where the original Danish Modern teak furniture pieces that they had bought in Germany in the 1960s. There is a craze in Los Angeles for Mid-Century Modern and a dealer drove out to Palm Desert to pick them up. A few nic nacs sold when my brother held an open house and invited my mother's friends over. The contemporary furniture was unsellable. Same for the art and china that came from Germany. No one needs another curio cabinet. Pianos have gone out of style and my father's original Steinweg from Germany didn't get any offers. Art and decor items have an age group that they appeal to. Things that my mother liked are out of style now and it does't matter how nice they are, they won't sell. No one wants a china tea set or ornate silverware. I found out that in Palm Desert the consignment store went out of business because there wasn't a market for the stuff that the old people left behind. Children who inherited their parents houses were just leaving the furniture in them when they sold and letting the buyers deal with it. My dad had his household items valued at $135,000 for insurance. I offered them to the buyers for a fraction of that and was told that they didn't want them for free. My brother was attached emotionally to it all so I told him it was all his to do with what he wanted. When the stuff didn't sell he paid $5,000 to ship it to San Diego and 5 years later he still has most of it.

[Jerry1]

I have seen/read about the cloths moving to Africa. I’ve also heard that they no longer appreciate the cloths the way the used to. They used to be of higher quality is what I recall being one of the issues.

Still, wondering what happens to everything else. The amount they deal with must be massive.