As I am taking some time off for the summer, I thought I’d share some reader questions and my answers. I don’t claim to know everything, but I can share what I have done!
Question:
Answer:
I believe it’s worth it to at least try so you can get rid of things knowing what it can actually sell for, and how much work is involved. Because I sold on ebay A LOT before blogging, I fully understand the work involved and that helps me be willing to donate something that would only bring me ten dollars or less for three hours of work.
I hope that makes sense! Also, go ahead and donate little stuff that you don’t intend to sell. (If you’re like me, that stuff gets stuck in the waiting pile and the pile becomes overwhelming.) If you’ll do that, you will likely see the overall task as less overwhelming.
You can also read my post with more details on whether it’s worth it to put something on eBay here:
Craigslist is another place to sell. You don’t have to have people come to your house. You can meet them at the fast food place across the street from the police station or wait till you have a man available who can go with you. I wouldn’t sell jewelry that way, but most people who want to buy a vacuum cleaner or used kids clothes aren’t scary.
What a great idea to meet near the police station!
Wait so needing money means you don’t have the right to work to get the money? I’m not sure how having debt means one isn’t entitled to sell their belongings. I’d think it was just the opposite.
I don’t think that’s what the asker meant. I think she was concerned that he/she shouldn’t donate what could make money since they do need the money.
craigslist or Kijiji are both great options… there’s another cost to having ‘stuff’. It was this ‘cost’ that got me over guilt about giving things that may be worth something away.
I had a very hard time getting rid of stuff, until I started thinking that just having ‘stuff’ was actually costing me money. With the price of housing, ‘stuff’ pays rent / square foot in my head. I had a room full of things that ‘may be useful one day’ (really, the room overflowed into the rest of the house too). Given the cost of realestate in my area, that room was worth about 50K. No matter how useful the ‘stuff’ was, it wasn’t worth 50k. That room was more valuable as a useable / peaceful space.
And as a side note: the stuff was only useful if I could find it…. In the mess that it was???? no hope of finding anything. it was all buried in paper, in no particular order, and navigating through it was virtually impossible.
Hmmm, I’ve never heard of Kijiji. I’ll have to check it out.
And yes. I sometimes grieve over the years we didn’t use a HUGE room in our home that was full to the brim of stuff.
Another option is a Facebook buy/sell/trade group in your local area. Most towns and cities have them. Similar to selling on Craigslist, but you can see the buyer’s Facebook page and know their identity. After agreeing to sell, you then communicate details through private messaging through Facebook.