I think I’ve mentioned a time or two how much I am bothered by owning stuff. I often go through these periods where that feeling surges and I’m compelled to get rid of everything. At the same time, I have some strong pack-rat tendencies that have me saving things “just in case” and because of sentimentality.
Add to this the fact that I’m so tired (always) that I often don’t have it in me to do anything about any of the stuff. There’s a whole section of my basement devoted to things I know I’m going to sell… eventually. Then there are the bins of things to go through, combinations of stuff from our old house, keepsakes, and stuff of my mom’s. When I get to thinking about all that, I start getting overwhelmed.
Also, selling stuff is an enormous pain in the ass. Craigslist means that I’m getting emails from randos. I’m not dealing with ebay. It’s too cold for a yard sale, as that is primarily an April through October thing. Usually, my go to is to sell on the Facebook online sale pages. There are tons of them where I am, which is great, but it’s a lot to maintain listings of so many things. Don’t even get me started on all the pictures I have to take and all the listings I have to create in the first place.
I finally got my act together and listed all of my jewelry for sale. I don’t actually like wearing jewelry and I never wear it so every day that I look it, I’m bothered by it all. I sold five necklaces this past week. It was wonderful.
I took a bin full of my kid’s old clothes to a resale shop and made $35. Trying to sell each individual piece would have taken me forever. I probably could have scored more money selling everything separate, but who has that kind of time? Not me.
Then I listed a ton of toys on Facebook. I now have four shopping bags of stuff sitting by my front door waiting for buyers over the next few days. I have a few pending sales. This makes me very happy.
I still have so much more to purge, but I’m so pleased by my progress this weekend. I hope I can keep up this momentum.
This is yeah write’s nomo writing challenge Day 8.
Yay, you!
Thanks!
Oh, good for you! We are finding tons to get rid of, now that we’ve dragged it all into a new house. 🙂 I’m thinking the local FB sales pages are the way to go, but I’m not looking forward to the listing work. We did take a chest of drawers to the consignment shop today!
Moving is the worst because of all the stuff! I’m hoping my next move will involve no stuff 😉 The listing work is tough but when it pays off it’s so great. Good luck!
I just did this with all my clothes, it felt so good! (Thanks to Marie Kondo I went from feeling like I had nothing to wear to the opposite without getting anything new!)
I haven’t Kondoed yet. I did a huge clothes purge a few years ago and I haven’t really acquired too much since. But there is going to be an entire post here devoted to my wardrobe and how I feel about it, so you’ll have to stay tuned!
I have so much to purge before we try to sell our house next year. I’ve heard the FB sale pages are a great way to do it, but haven’t tried yet.
It can be a total pain – people say they’re interested and then they don’t respond or I’m sitting here waiting for people to pick up stuff b/c they are late – but mostly it’s been a good experience. Now that they’ve streamlined the listing process and it holds your sale items up top instead of having to scroll to find them, it’s easier to keep track.
I would like to sell everything we own so the next time we decide to move I can just pack in one afternoon 🙂
Good for you! Moving twice in the past 5 years has really helped with purging, although I still have way too much stuff. I’m hoping to tackle my closet this week. It’s out of control (I blame my Stitch Fix addiction.)!
My closet is in pretty good shape. The worst part of my clothes situation is that I have stuff I’ll need if I continue to lose weight so I need to save it but that’s so annoying. Stay tuned for wardrobe post though!