I talked about building my stockpile on Monday, well I need space obviously to fit everything. Plus in general we have a lot of unused items in our house. Here’s where an interesting question comes in…
Is it worth my time and effort to list things on craigslist and ebay for sale versus just donating it to Goodwill or the Salvation Army?
Should I take the time to list each individual book and actually mail it out? Do I set a time limit for things to sell and if they don’t sell then just dump them at a donation center? Why not do a garage sale?
Here’s what I decided to do as I make it my mission to declutter our home. I’m listing things and if they don’t sell, then I relist them substantially cheaper for 1 week on craigslist. Then I donate them period.
I donated all unused clothes because they weren’t expensive, mostly old navy, costco, etc. I also donated all very worn books to the library, since I bought a lot of my books at garage sales or used book stores. The new hardcovers I’ll try selling.
I can’t have a garage sale because I don’t have that much stuff to sell. Plus I know you usually don’t make as much through a garage sale as listing it online.
I have to admit, it’s a bit draining, and I’m getting to the point where I will just start dropping off bags of stuff like old dishes, old bags, etc at Goodwill rather than deal with it.
How do you determine if reselling something is worth it versus dumping or donating it?
6 responses so far ↓
1 JoeP // Nov 11, 2009 at 1:04 pm
How about you and a few neighbors get together and have a group garage sale? You can list it on craigslist for free, and then maybe split the cost for a newspaper classified. What doesn’t sell, donate to goodwill, your church, or some other not-for-profit that you feel good about.
We try to donate as much as possible, since we never really accrue enough to hold a garage sale. If we have a couple things that are in demand, they go on craigslist.
2 Colette // Nov 12, 2009 at 5:46 pm
It depends on what you have. I wouldn’t go to Craigslist for cassaroles and cha cha’s. It’s just not worth the driving around for those kind of things. If you have somethings that are collectable thought, eBay might worth the time to get a better price.
A group sale is a great idea because collectively you should be able to round up enough “stuff”. I had a yardsale a few weeks ago and made over $200.00. What I didn’t sell, I took to a charitable second hand store and got a reciept for a tax deduction.
But in the end, you have to decide what is more important. Your time, or the quarters, nickles and dimes that you make at a yard sale.
3 LAL // Nov 13, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Most of my neighbors don’t bother. They usually just throw it out.
Colette, I’m getting to the point where I can’t find the energy to sell stuff. I’ve done a lot of selling and donating thus far.
4 Thinkingaboutit // Nov 17, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I’ve never sold a thing. For me, it is find a claimant on Freecycle or donate to charity. Donating is easier than Freecycle, where I have about a 50% no-show rate, very frustrating.
5 eemusings // Nov 17, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I usually list them online for a short period, then if it doesn’t sell, I donate. Most of the stuff I have (usually old clothes) isn’t worth anything anyway.
6 LAL // Nov 19, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Thinking, I think maybe I should just give it away. I don’t sell old clothes, they usually have holes by the time I’m done.
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