Garage declutter options

[Jerry1]

I’ve been spending some time cleaning out my garage and I’m wondering what to do with some of the stuff I’ve accumulated over the years. I’m finding that there’s a lot of stuff that is still fully useful, just not to me. I’m wondering if there are any ideas on how to get rid of these things short of just tossing them. Examples of things that I’ve accumulated:

- Wire nuts, outlet face plates, old porcelain light bulb fixtures, and various electrical items.
- Clamps and connectors for a sprinkler system. Some connectors are still in the packaging.
- All kinds of screws and screw and drywall anchors galore. Similarly, many nuts and bolts.
- Various auto parts like fuses, bulbs, radiator flush kit.

When I’m done, I’ll just throw all this out unless I can think of a better idea. It’s just that it totally goes against my grain to throw out perfectly good items. Unfortunately, I know I’ll never use any of it. Any ideas?

 

[disneysteve]

Donate them to Habitat for Humanity. See if you have one of their Restore shops near you.

I don't think they want the auto stuff but you can donate that to the thrift shop of your choice.

 

[MC Rider]

Habitat for Humanity?
Curb or alley mart?

I also hate to throw out possibly useful stuff.

 

[6miths]

Hate to plug Facebook but they have Freecycle on MarketPlace. Or find some similar. Agree that Habitat Restore shops are a good place to give stuff. We frequently use the curb - magic!

 

[disneysteve]

Hate to plug Facebook but they have Freecycle on MarketPlace. Or find some similar. Agree that Habitat Restore shops are a good place to give stuff. We frequently use the curb - magic!

Plenty of good charities out there but Marketplace, Craigslist, Buy Nothing group, Freebie Alert app, etc. are also great options if you just want to be rid of the stuff.

 

[Lewis Clark]

Plenty of good charities out there but Marketplace, Craigslist, Buy Nothing group, Freebie Alert app, etc. are also great options if you just want to be rid of the stuff.

My wife belongs to a "Buy Nothing" group. It is perfect for giving things away, mostly small- or medium-sized. It is also good for requesting things you need that someone might be looking to give away. When I wanted a used tent, I found someone looking to give a tent away including with an air mattress.

We have given, and gotten, a few dozen items over the past couple of years through the group.

 

[jollystomper]

I echo the Restore and online/local "free stuff" methods. There is also freecycle.org, I have used the one in our area, and it was worked out.

Our community also has a spring and fall "Garage sale" at a local park, a lot of folks bring stuff there to sell on the cheap (or, by the end of the day, even give it away, they do not want to bring it back with them ).

We also have a good recycling place in our area that accepts metal stuff for recycling and pays by the pound.

 

[homestead]

You must keep all that stuff till you die, you may need one of those wire nuts someday.
Just kidding I have the same problem. Some of it is going to Restore.

 

[Jerry1]

I guess I’ll try the give away site on Facebook. I guess I just thought it wasn’t something someone would want, even for free, but I guess it’s worth a try.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Find the local Facebook page for your city usually with a 411 in the title and as long as it's free the resellers will be fighting to get it along with people that can actually use it. I had 30 private messages within 2 minutes on a Plasma TV and it was picked up within a half hour. Don't post your address, let them PM you for the info and only give it out to 1 person. Don't worry about answering everyone just the person you're giving it to. Once it's gone I delete the listing. Every time I list something, this happens and it's always a nightmare trying to choose who to give it to since I really want to give it to someone who really needs it but it's almost impossible to tell who the resellers are, everyone has a story of why you should give it to them.
I post a couple of photos, a brief description of item, approx location of my address and also say PM me only if your are available to pick up immediately, no holds and I then put the item outside the door once they're on their way so I don't need to deal with them. Your trash is someone elses treasure, you have no idea the amount of interest your junk will get till you try it. I'm currently clearing out everything in my garage and unused rooms that I don't need or will ever use.

 

[njhowie]

Don't put too much effort into finding a taker. It seems like you've got a bunch of small stuff. Aside from the light bulb fixtures, if it's not taking up a lot of space, just get a storage bin, toss it all in and then store in your attic, crawl space, basement or some other out of the way place. You know that if you just toss it all out, in a week or two you're going to need something you tossed and will have to go to Home Depot to pick up a new one.

Light bulb fixtures - set them out at the curb with a FREE sign and post to Facebook marketplace as Curbside Alert. If they aren't gone in a day or two, then into the trash. High likelihood is if you do need a fixture, you're going to want a new one anyway.

Whenever I put stuff out at the curb with a FREE sign, without even posting on FB, it's usually gone within an hour or two. I've put out DD's old bicycles from when she was small, some old (rubber cracking) tires still on the rims, firewood when we have trees that get cut down during the year. All of it gets taken.

 

[Texas Proud]

I bet you do not have anywhere near what my dad had when he passed... that was in 1980...

The garage had shelfs between the studs... over the whole garage!!! And bottles filled with things that had been separated... there was every size of nut, bolt, screw etc. etc... like a hardware store... I am serious... you could find almost anything if you needed it...

And there were larger items stored in the rafters!!!

We never did anything after he died... it was when my mom was moving in around 2014... It was interesting to find NEW things in packages for her 1965 Falcon that was sold back in 76 or so...

We just told the guy buying the house that we were not going to waste any time moving anything.. it was all his... I do not know what happened to it, but I bet it was a dumpster...

I usually give stuff that has value to people who do work here... I gave a really nice folding ladder to the guy who did some work on the house... we give used clothes and other things to the cleaners... usually not my stuff as I keep it so long but DW and DD give nice stuff...

With all the small stuff... just throw it away...

 

[CO-guy]

I'll echo others about Habitat for Humanity. You might need to bring it to them, but you'll know that it's going to help house people rather than adding to someone else's garage collection.

IMO, the benefit of Facebook Marketplace, etc. is that you might be able to get someone to come to you to remove the stuff. Although inviting strangers to my house would be a negative for me.

 

[Jerry1]

Don't put too much effort into finding a taker. It seems like you've got a bunch of small stuff. Aside from the light bulb fixtures, if it's not taking up a lot of space, just get a storage bin, toss it all in and then store in your attic, crawl space, basement or some other out of the way place. You know that if you just toss it all out, in a week or two you're going to need something you tossed and will have to go to Home Depot to pick up a new one.

That’s what I’d end up doing anyway. In two weeks, I won’t even remember what’s in the bin (out of sight, out of mind). I agree, it’s not a lot and doesn’t take up a lot of space but there’s just no reason to keep any of it. All I’d be doing is leaving it for my daughters to eventually throw away.

 

[AudiDudi]

35 yrs ago I put a perfectly good woodstove out at the curb with a "works good - Free" sign on it . It sat there for 4 days. I put a 4 sale $50 sign on it and it was gone the next morning. No, it didn't sell.

 

[old medic]

35 yrs ago I put a perfectly good woodstove out at the curb with a "works good - Free" sign on it . It sat there for 4 days. I put a 4 sale $50 sign on it and it was gone the next morning. No, it didn't sell.

ROTF.... Years ago I work for a guy that maintained several apartment buildings, and had a collection of appliances to rob parts from.... We cleared out the garage and the 1st load got to the transfer station and they wanted $5 apiece so they came back. we piled everything out in the yard and put up a sign "for sale: and a #.
Never received a call and every piece disappeared over the weekend.

 

[Luvtoride]

I’ve been spending some time cleaning out my garage and I’m wondering what to do with some of the stuff I’ve accumulated over the years. I’m finding that there’s a lot of stuff that is still fully useful, just not to me. I’m wondering if there are any ideas on how to get rid of these things short of just tossing them. Examples of things that I’ve accumulated:

- Wire nuts, outlet face plates, old porcelain light bulb fixtures, and various electrical items.
- Clamps and connectors for a sprinkler system. Some connectors are still in the packaging.
- All kinds of screws and screw and drywall anchors galore. Similarly, many nuts and bolts.
- Various auto parts like fuses, bulbs, radiator flush kit.

When I’m done, I’ll just throw all this out unless I can think of a better idea. It’s just that it totally goes against my grain to throw out perfectly good items. Unfortunately, I know I’ll never use any of it. Any ideas?

Go into the irrigation system installation business? I have similar perfectly good hardware that I would hate to just toss. I don’t think Home Depot or Lowes would buy it back.

 

[athena53]

IMO, the benefit of Facebook Marketplace, etc. is that you might be able to get someone to come to you to remove the stuff. Although inviting strangers to my house would be a negative for me.

Totally agreed on FB Marketplace, etc. I use Craigslist under Free Stuff. I live alone so the item is at the end of the driveway and I delete the listing as soon as it's gone. Also agreed on holding items aside for people- frequently they don't show up and one time someone else got there early (I hadn't removed the listing) and the guy expecting to get it got positively nasty (via Craigslist PM- he never had my contact info).

I discovered early on that if you carefully list a bunch of unrelated items individually and put them all out on the same day they all disappear when the first person shows up. A bit annoying- most likely resellers- but it's a good way to get rid of a few items for which you don't want to create a listing. Just put them out with everything else.

 

[Koolau]

My last (personal) garage, I donated almost all my tools/ramps/jack stands, etc. to a charity. That stuff sold like hot cakes for them. My parking structure doesn't allow anything in your parking space other than your motor vehicle. You can't w*rk on your own car there either. Bummer - well, not that I do that kind of stuff anymore.

 

[More Cowbell]

Locally, Habitat for Humanity is closing their ReStores and no longer accepting donations. I had donated stuff there during our remodel.

 

[albireo13]

I have put all sorts of good stuff on Freecycle …. tools, HW, shelving, cabinets, etc. nothing.
It has been weeks.
I hate to fill the landfill but I just may.

 

[MC Rider]

You must keep all that stuff till you die, you may need one of those wire nuts someday....

That's me. I have had a collection of hardware and whatnots for years. I save extra parts that come my way and salvage screws and bolts sometimes. It's more useful if you own a house vs rent. A while back Dad gave me his collection. He's 88. That more than doubled my collection size. I am procrastinating on organizing all that, it's a bit much. I also now have a pretty good collection of hand tools, and a few more power tools. Those are semi organized. Tools Tools Tools!

 

[nafddur1]

Virtually all of my tools, hardware, yard stuff, etc. got relocated to my basement workshop when I relocated from MA to VA 7 years ago, leaving only a couple things (air compressor, floor jacks, bike, garbage cans) in my garage.

 

[aja8888]

Virtually all of my tools, hardware, yard stuff, etc. got relocated to my basement workshop when I relocated from MA to VA 7 years ago, leaving only a couple things (air compressor, floor jacks, bike, garbage cans) in my garage.

Nice, but some of us have no basement.

 

[Sojourner]

I'm in the Freecycle camp (or just post on my local neighborhood Facebook page that it's free, come and get it), but I've been wondering recently whether this isn't just a "diffusion of responsibility". Especially when it comes to stuff that is pretty clearly of marginal value, isn't it better to figure out a way to properly, responsibly recycle the stuff rather than hope the next person will ultimately do that? For example, a 15 year old digital camera. If I were to "freecycle" it, wouldn't that just create a scenario where the recipient (probably) ends up using it for a short time and then tosses it into the trash once they realize it's virtually useless? Wouldn't it be better to keep it out of the landfill ultimately by taking it to an electronics recycler myself? Food for thought, IMHO.