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What do I do with all this 'sellable' stuff?

post #1 of 34
1/16/10 at 12:08am
Thread Starter 
DH and I have tried to declutter, but it has just turned into moving clutter. We have 2 rooms in the house that collect it because we don't use them often enough to bother us.

Books-DH the book hoarder agreed to get rid of books, but he said he wanted to sell them. Its been 9 months and now I just want to get rid of them. What do I do?

Old cellphones-treos, maybe could get a few dollars on craiglist, but DH also has not taken on the task. I have tried a couple of times, but I cannot find the disks that go with them, or the chargers, they are buried in all the junk.

Toys-I feel like I constantly edit the toys. OUr newest baby is 8 months old and we have so many toys for her 'age'. How many toys does she need out at once? We have piles in every room of the house!

Lego Boxes-Dh keeps buying new lego sets for 4 YO DS. yes, they are a great 'learning' tool, but we have soooo many sets. He has kept all the boxes. They are currently in the guest room. Soon there will be no room in the closet for a guest to hang clothes.

Diapers-We CD now and have a few leftover diapers from our first kid. Do I keep them around just in case? So far we have not used any sposies since we started CDing. But IF we traveled I might use sposies.

I feel so overwhelmed with having 2 young ones and working. (DH is mostly the SAHD) The clutter really gets to me. There is crap all over our counters all the time. We manage to put toys away every night, but the baby toys are all over the place. The clutter does not bother DH.

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post #2 of 34
1/16/10 at 12:53am
garage sale? Craigslist? Ebay? And freecycle the rest? Good Luck!!
post #3 of 34
1/16/10 at 1:02am
you can sell your books on half.com. set a reasonably low price, and you will sell some of them. give yourself a time frame, that if they don't sell in six months, you donate them to the library for their annual book sale (and get a receipt for your tax deduction -- which can be seen as "making a little money back" on the books). but in the end, isn't the real value in using your home to live in, rather than to store stuff in?
post #4 of 34
1/16/10 at 2:26am
Are there any Ebay sellers in your area that will sell for you and take a commission?

I've heard that you can't save disposable diapers for the next kid- that they only last so long, but I have no idea if it's true.
post #5 of 34
1/16/10 at 2:35am
Books can be sold at a used book store.

Cell phones can be sold "as is."

Toys I would donate to Goodwill.

Lego boxes would be trash, IMO.

Diapers I would trash or give to a friend who would use them.
post #6 of 34
1/16/10 at 3:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Punchy Kaby View Post
Books-DH the book hoarder agreed to get rid of books, but he said he wanted to sell them. Its been 9 months and now I just want to get rid of them. What do I do?

Old cellphones-treos, maybe could get a few dollars on craiglist, but DH also has not taken on the task. I have tried a couple of times, but I cannot find the disks that go with them, or the chargers, they are buried in all the junk.
Do yourself a favor and drive them to the library. I also had this vision of selling all our old books. Well, they sat there for four years, and then I had a baby and there was no way I could take the time to sell them. I wouldnt make much and my time is for my baby. We dropped them all off to the library, totally filling all their outside bins and honestly, I havent even thought of them once since we did it.

I know there are charities that take old phones so they can give them to abused women, etc. That will make you feel good! As far as I know, they dont care about all the stuff that goes with them.
post #7 of 34
1/16/10 at 10:20am
i agree with the others. it's always an option to find a group garage sale too. for example, my MIL's church has a huge neighborhood/church wide tag sale twice a year. the winter one is tough to get into--people compete for tables in the meeting rooms of the church. it is *wild*.

anyway, we found that our local UCC had one, and so they hooked us up. we didn't even have to sit at the table. they would take 1/3 as a charitable contribution to watch it for us. how sweet is THAT?

and then, anything that doesn't sell, they would donate to charity for us--also sweet.

we were lucky that we got both into this and into one at MIL's church---one early summer, one fall. it was perfect!
post #8 of 34
1/16/10 at 11:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Punchy Kaby View Post
DH and I have tried to declutter, but it has just turned into moving clutter. We have 2 rooms in the house that collect it because we don't use them often enough to bother us.

Books-DH the book hoarder agreed to get rid of books, but he said he wanted to sell them. Its been 9 months and now I just want to get rid of them. What do I do?

Ask your library if they or the friends group accepts donations. If they do - great! doanting is good karma. For the most part, I do not think the hassle and procrastination involved in selling books is worth the money you get for them (which will be small). The exception might be University or Homeschool textbooks -but otherwise? Nah.

Old cellphones-treos, maybe could get a few dollars on craiglist, but DH also has not taken on the task. I have tried a couple of times, but I cannot find the disks that go with them, or the chargers, they are buried in all the junk.

A. throw them out
B. give yourself a deadline to find the stuff that goes with the cell phone (say, tomorrow) and if they are not found throw them out. Is the money you are going top make worth the hassle of finding all the parts, lisiting, and dealing with a buyer?

Toys-I feel like I constantly edit the toys. OUr newest baby is 8 months old and we have so many toys for her 'age'. How many toys does she need out at once? We have piles in every room of the house!

I probably would not want to throw out toys she currently uses. If she does not use them - donate them.

Lego Boxes-Dh keeps buying new lego sets for 4 YO DS. yes, they are a great 'learning' tool, but we have soooo many sets. He has kept all the boxes. They are currently in the guest room. Soon there will be no room in the closet for a guest to hang clothes.

OOOhhhhhh. Dump the peices into a box. If you can get a box with a grid in it for storing different pieces - great! Tht is The 4 YO job, btw, to sort pieces if he desires. Get rid of the boxes!!!!! A lego table is very cool if you can swing it. There will be less lego all over the place and it will help the builders.

Diapers-We CD now and have a few leftover diapers from our first kid. Do I keep them around just in case? So far we have not used any sposies since we started CDing. But IF we traveled I might use sposies.

I would keep a few. You never know.
If you end up with a lot to donate - I would pick one catch-all store that takes everything a bring it there. Some organisations will even pick up. If DH does not care, you will end up being the project manager on this. I am sure it makes you feel resentful (it made me resentful for years) but eventually I decided if I wanted to live in a nice house, I was going to have to be the one to make it so.
post #9 of 34
1/16/10 at 12:59pm
Give yourself short deadlines: If x is not sold by garbage day or by the weekend, out it goes.

I sometime would rather sell something than donate it but knowing myself, it would just sit there forever so having a deadline soon gives me a time frame to get it done (or think about getting it done), then out of my life it goes.
post #10 of 34
1/16/10 at 1:09pm
http://ultimatemoneyblog.com/ebay-cr...st-or-goodwill

I read this guide and there's some good info here. I personally figure if it's not worth selling for $5 or more, I donate it. It's not worth the stress of selling it!
post #11 of 34
1/16/10 at 2:18pm
Honestly? I don't try to sell it....otherwise I'd end up with a house full of crap that I haven't yet sold.

I just give it away, consider it good karma and hope that I won't get myself back into the mess again.

I always figure my donating "good" items that could be sold will come back to me somehow one day...perhaps in the form of an awesome thrift store find
post #12 of 34
1/16/10 at 2:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Punchy Kaby View Post
Books-DH the book hoarder agreed to get rid of books, but he said he wanted to sell them. Its been 9 months and now I just want to get rid of them. What do I do?
Just say, very mater-of-factly: Look. You said that you were going to sell this stuff -- have you done any work towards that goal?

Ask him to give you a timeline -- when will he have it gone by? Tell him that you aren't prepared to live with all of this junk lying around forever. Agree with him on a time that you both can live with, and agree about what will happen when he misses the deadline. Set specific goals, and specific consequences for when the goals are not met (like, if it's not all gone in 3 months, it's going to the salvation army) or whatever.
post #13 of 34
1/16/10 at 3:17pm
You're not going to get much sympathy from me when it comes to selling.

Books - Donate, without a doubt. Selling is great, you feel you got a return on your 'investment' but you know what else is better? You've just sent off a free or low cost library to your community. How cool is that? Someone out there will be very thankful indeed. (BTW, your DH sounds like mine)

Cell phones - Screw the small parts you can't find. Send the cell phone as is to a phone recycling plant.

Lego boxes - Recycling bin! NOW!

(We love Lego over here too and the boxes always go to recycling bin after opening)

Toys - Donate for sure! Do you have a children's hospital where you are? I know children's hospitals love toy donations as the kids tend to get bored with the same old stuff occupying 100% of their time day in day out. We are sending off 8 bags of toys tomorrow! It will definitely make some kiddos over there smile!

Diapers - One or two extra diapers? That's okay to keep on the side. I would keep them in just in case.

You can do it mama!
post #14 of 34
1/16/10 at 3:22pm
Donate it to a thrift store, get a receipt, and claim it on your taxes next year.

We have a few places around that accept old cell phone donations.Z
post #15 of 34
1/16/10 at 4:16pm
Unless you are cash strapped, just let it go. You will not regret it! I mean all of it. What is more important, a little $ or your home as a sanctuary for you? Pack up the books this weekend and then drive them to a donation location. Go through the toys and keep the good ones. Get rid of anything missing pieces, broken, or that is just a duplicate or lame toy! I did all of this recently, and now I need to do it with clothes. It was an eye opener for me, but I didn't keep anything to sell, I just donated.
post #16 of 34
1/16/10 at 4:16pm
you can find cell phone recycling boxes at the post office, library, places like Best Buy or any place that sells cell phones.. they typically try to reclaim them and use for emergency phones for those in need, or else they are recycled. If you still kept the box it came in, cell phone boxes now come with a bag to mail in your old phone for reuse.
Don't waste your time selling stuff- all the time and effort, along with the excess time that the items spend in your house is not worth it. Think of the minimal financial profit when all is said and done- your time is worth more than that, I bet.
post #17 of 34
1/16/10 at 6:04pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you all for telling me to just DONATE IT! I know it will feel so good to get it out! I did give away a few books to friends today .
post #18 of 34
1/16/10 at 7:19pm
I think donating is the way to go too. I had a garage sale this summer that was a lot of work and I made a whopping $75. I donated it to the 6th grade field trip fund so I guess in that sense, it was worth it, but it was a huge pain! I had a lot left over, which I then had to rebox and then it sat in my basement for a few months. I finally got a flyer from Volunteers of America or somewhere saying they were sending a truck around to pick up stuff on X date. That was finally enough motivation for me to get it out of my house.

I need to set myself a deadline for getting rid of a bunch of books I have. I could sell them but I am too lazy to (obviously!)
post #19 of 34
1/16/10 at 8:26pm
http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/
post #20 of 34
1/17/10 at 8:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SubliminalDarkness View Post
Books can be sold at a used book store.

Cell phones can be sold "as is."

Toys I would donate to Goodwill.

Lego boxes would be trash, IMO.

Diapers I would trash or give to a friend who would use them.
when/if you find the chargers, you can sell those separately

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Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Decluttering, Organizing, & Simplifying › What do I do with all this 'sellable' stuff?