Reselling versus donating

[Imackenzie]

Hoping we get to move this summer into a new house. And I realized I will be paying movers. As such I also realized I should dump as much stuff as possible.

But a lot of my hesitation has been I should resell and make money off of my stuff. But the time crunch is real. I don't think I should pay to move stuff we don't use or need. But the super frugal nature I had for years is battling with new acceptance of donating everything.

How do you balance it?

If you like the buzz of researching, pricing and selling stuff--like my wife does--sell first and donate what you can't sell. If it all seems like a giant PITA (me) hire a junk company to haul it all away to Salvation Army.

 

[disneysteve]

I always say "first come first served"

I will do curb alerts and make sure that I take down the listing as soon as I notice it is gone. When I do that, I won't respond to any messages regarding the item.

 

[ncbill]

Offer first to the kids & then other family...to keep or sell.

Then donate.

 

[livingalmostlarge]

I struggle with guilt over just donating but today I took a carload to a consignment store. Then whatever they don't want I will donate. That's my usual route is take it to a reseller and then donate.

This week alone I did a carload every day! I am inspired because movers are expensive. I am so excited the weight of getting rid of stuff is pretty intoxicating.

 

[ddk70]

You’re basically paying a "hoarding tax" to have someone else carry your clutter into your new home. Is that old stuff really worth the back pain and the moving fees?

We did a sale of items with a professional - came in organized everything sold it in one day. We barely made enough to pay for
Moving using a U-Haul a couple times ourselves. What wasn’t sold a “clean sweep”
Came in after the yard sale . He took everything which needed to be cut down and tossed into a dumpster. Broke my heart when my neighbor told me she heard the chain saw going. We were told no to be there and gratefully we listened. We didn’t have the luxury of time to donate more than just soft goods, which went to a local church.

Sizing down was the best thing we did after 30 years in the same house. Now we enjoy travel, socializing, recreation, spending time with friends and being with family.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We did a sale of items with a professional - came in organized everything sold it in one day. We barely made enough to pay for
Moving using a U-Haul a couple times ourselves. What wasn’t sold a “clean sweep”
Came in after the yard sale . He took everything which needed to be cut down and tossed into a dumpster. Broke my heart when my neighbor told me she heard the chain saw going. We were told no to be there and gratefully we listened. We didn’t have the luxury of time to donate more than just soft goods, which went to a local church.

Sizing down was the best thing we did after 30 years in the same house. Now we enjoy travel, socializing, recreation, spending time with friends and being with family.

This is the reason that I have cleaned out my own home, some of my family members and some of my friend’s homes so that only things that are truly garbage end up in the landfill. It really hurts my heart to think that people are throwing away perfectly good items.

 

[athena53]

I will do curb alerts and make sure that I take down the listing as soon as I notice it is gone. When I do that, I won't respond to any messages regarding the item.

That should have been my tactic (not answering e-mails, just taking down the listing when gone). I would have saved myself a LOT of grief.

I'm unpacked now, moving boxes are gone, and need to do some organizing but it's a good feeling to have pared down. I still have everything I need, a smaller assortment of items with sentimental value and enough of my familiar furniture that it feels like home.

One interesting item I listed was The Family Jug- from my great-grandparents' basement in Ohio after they died in the 1970s. It was between 3 and 4 feet high, classic grey stoneware with a blue cobalt ink inscription but only a number (the capacity?) and a few flourishes. Apparently the ones with folk art designs are worth a lot. Not sure how I ended up with it- I have 4 siblings- but they're halfway across the US and I didn't offer it to them. I have no idea how they'd feel but I wasn't going to drive it to SC.

My middle granddaughter, the one who over-shares, told me they're looking at bigger houses in a nearby town since they're expecting a baby in January. (I already knew about the baby and DS had told me they were thinking about a bigger house- right now they have 3 kids and 4 smallish bedrooms.) My instinct had been not to offer them anything I was getting rid of- their house is already full of Stuff, most of it from thrift shops since they're very good with money. I don't even want to THINK about de-cluttering that house so they can put it on the market.

 

[livingalmostlarge]

Another day and another carload. I feel slightly guilty because I feel like I should.be packing more. But at the same time dumping stuff means packing less. I managed to give away some stuff to friends as well! Win!

Trampoline, sofa, barstools, and hoping a kids table.

So I feel like I am winning because I am getting rid of junks

 

[COcheesehead]

Yeah, it's almost that bad. I always say "first come first served" but then I get a sad story from someone about how much they NEED the item and could I please hold it aside for them. Every time it goes wrong. But fine, OK. I'd once taken an item in for the evening and told a guy who wanted it that I'd put it out the next day at 9 AM. Apparently someone else saw the listing and grabbed it early.

E-mail via Craigslist from original guy: "Liar liar, pants on fire, I hope your house is struck by lightning and burns to the ground".

The item in question was a slightly-used cane.

No good deed goes unpunished

 

[disneysteve]

Another day and another carload. I feel slightly guilty because I feel like I should.be packing more. But at the same time dumping stuff means packing less. I managed to give away some stuff to friends as well! Win!

Trampoline, sofa, barstools, and hoping a kids table.

So I feel like I am winning because I am getting rid of junks

You're doing great. Nothing to feel guilty about. It's far better to get rid of the unwanted and unneeded items now before you waste time and money packing and moving them. Even if you are doing the packing yourself, you'd waste time and energy and materials packing up stuff that you have no use for. Getting rid of everything first will make the actual packing that much easier.

 

[livingalmostlarge]

I got rid of barstools, chairs, and 60 more kid books and lego sorting stands. More than 2 carloads of stuff. It's wild how much space opens up.