My favorite: My local animal shelter will gladly accept towels and blankets to line cages. Keep in mind that some of these methods might require you to spend money on gas or postage, though. You can often recycle old electronics.īasically, if you get to Googling, you can probably find a creative way to liberate yourself of stuff. Nice business attire could go to a charity that helps disadvantaged men and women seeking work, and those old bridesmaid dresses (depending on how old they are, of course) might work well for a teenager who otherwise couldn't afford a prom dress. Habitat for Humanity will often accept extra building materials such as leftover paint or extra tiles. Even if they don't enter the collection, they could be sold to raise funds. Overrun with books? See if your local library or schools would be interested in taking them off your hands. Some of them might even make you feel good about yourself. If you're lacking time and motivation or you know that your stuff isn't worth the trouble, you still have options for making it disappear from your life. Still, if somebody's willing to pay you and pick up something that you'd otherwise have to figure out how to haul away yourself, it could be worth it. Craigslist isn't as easy for buyers to search as eBay, and since it's free and doesn't require any sort of registration, you're kind of on your own. It's a good option for large items, like that treadmill mocking you from the corner of your bedroom. It's free, and it's for locals - meaning the buyer will probably want to come to your house to pick it up. You might have a hard time figuring out how to price an item but allow for some haggling room. It's more like the classified ads in a newspaper (which people still use, believe it or not). Many people prefer eBay for small items like clothes and toys - shipping can get expensive fast.Ĭraigslist has become a popular way to sell stuff, but it's totally different from eBay. Then you have to take the item to the post office. You have to decide things like what type of payment to accept and whether you're willing to ship overseas. Furthermore, eBay charges you for the listing and takes a cut of your sales. Long-time sellers have the advantage because they know the best ways to work the site, and people feel more comfortable buying from someone who's been around longer. Selling on a site like eBay has drawbacks, though. Plenty of potential buyers are waiting by their computers, and you can get paid fast. If you have no clue what your item is worth, you can view completed listings to see the going rate. Lots of people sell things through eBay, and it's very user friendly. You have a lot of options for selling, so I'll just look at the two powerhouses. If you have a gut feeling that you have an antique or something truly rare, get it appraised before you ask way too much or way too little. You could sell a piece of furniture that's well-made and in need of refinishing but probably not a cheap one that's falling apart. Yes, there's currently a wave of nostalgia for old toys, for example, but yours probably isn't worth selling if it's not in good condition. You might feel ripped-off because the thing you want to get rid of was a birthday gift, and it would feel really good to make some cash, wouldn't it? First, though, you have to take a realistic look at what you have. Here's how to divide and conquer when it comes to that stuff taking up space around your house. Do you sell them on Craigslist or eBay? Use Freecycle? Find a niche charity? Recycle them? How do you know which is the best option? And we're back to square one, with that pile of "go" stuff slowly melding, by virtue of inertia, back into "keep." Garage sales are still a way to go, but you need to have a significant amount of stuff to make it worth the time and effort.īut thanks in no small part to the Internet, there are more ways than ever to say adios to your things. Thrift stores, like those run by Goodwill Industries International Inc., are an easy option because you can just bag or box up your stuff and drop it off. I don't want my stuff, but I don't want it sitting in some landfill, either. Happily, that first option isn't used nearly as often anymore because there are so many alternatives. There was a time when we didn't have many options for re-homing our belongings: Basically, we could throw them away, cart them to a thrift store or hold a garage sale. Once you do, you're faced with the overwhelming number of ways you can dispose of it. Figuring out what to keep and what to get rid of can be stressful enough (which is why I'm going to assume that you've already divided up your stuff into "stay" and "go" categories).
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