Preparing for our move has provided my wife and I a great opportunity to evaluate a heap of “stuff” that has been sitting dormant within the house for a long time. Some of it is stuff you might only use once a year, while other stuff has been unused for much longer.
We are currently working our way through a lot of our stuff, trying to decide if we should keep it at the new place, try selling it online before we move, or just dump it (as in, there is just no way someone would ever want this stuff).
The way I see things – if we haven’t used it for a while, there is a good chance that we don’t need it, so it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to keep it and then pay a moving company to shift it into our new house where it can sit and collect more dust.
Some examples:
- We have 3 Christmas trees! I don’t even really like Christmas – so having 3 trees is beyond crazy. We bought 1 when my wife and I first moved in together, my wife had another really small one, and more recently my wife’s parents dumped another one on us that they didn’t have room for in their new house.
- Old CD’s – We have hundreds of old CD’s, which I haven’t listened to in years. Even if I wanted to listen to them, I would probably just play the .mp3 version on my computer or ipod.
- Old DVD’s – Same as the CD’s. There just isn’t a whole lot of reason to keep these things.
- Baby clothes – Because we have always planned on having more than 1 child, we have held onto a lot of the baby clothes that my son no longer fits into. I’m happy about this, however, I think we have far more than we will ever need.
- Documents / Papers – The reason we have a lot of these is for taxation purposes. We don’t want to one day get audited and not have everything we need. The problem is that there is so much and it takes up a lot of space. I think i’ll have to go through this and dump a lot of it.
Anyway, there are a few things we are looking to sell online as well.
Some examples:
- An old CRT TV. I have seen these going on auction sites for up to $100, so this is something we will probably sell.
- The DVD’s and some of the CD’s will probably get boxed up and sold off as a “buy a whole box” style of sale.
- I have a BBQ that I’m in two minds about. It’s not a very good one, but there is nothing wrong with it. So i’m still torn as to if i’m going to sell it or not.
Anyway, hopefully we can make a little bit of money by selling some stuff, rather than dumping or moving it all.
My husband and I needed to move as cheaply as possible when we changed states. But we had a few things that would’ve cost more to replace than to move.
So we settled on the cheapest option, which was a moving cube. It was 6 ft by 7 ft by 8 ft. (Sorry, too lazy to do the metric conversation.) Everything other than some clothes had to fit in there. Including a queen bed, two dressers and a couch.
It’s amazing how quickly you find that stuff you “had” to bring with you is actually not that important. We just went to a thrift store down here to replace the coffee table, and we were able to find lamps on Craigslist and… well, you get the idea.
Good luck with your move!
Abigail @ipickuppennies recently posted..In which I complain about good deals
I’ve gotten into the habit of going through my “stuff” quarterly which helps keep the accumulation under control. Living in an NYC apartment, it’s kind of a necessity to keep the clutter to minimum, there’s just no space!
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life recently posted..4 Things to Know About Making Money
We live in a condo so it forces us to be minimalists because there isn’t a whole lot of space to hold onto things. I think selling the items on eBay or craigslist is a great way to make some money before you move.
Mrs. Budgets @MrandMrsBudgets recently posted..August Recap and Monthly Budget Report
Having just gone through a major home-declutter, I feel your pain! I find it’s impossible to tell what will sell and what won’t. I sold a bunch of VHS tapes at a garage sale a few weeks ago. At 25 cents each, they didn’t make me a fortune – but they did sell. Going through the painstaking process of sorting through your “stuff” will give you a greater awareness of the burden that future purchases might become – and that awareness will be another force for frugality in your lives. Good luck with it all.
Prudence Debtfree recently posted..Correcting Priorities: Debt-Reduction = Means Not End
Totally agree about the baby clothes point. We just moved countries and while I was going through the same process ‘Dump, sell or keep’, I came across so many of my child’s babb clothes. And then I was like you know what, what’s the point of them being stocked up in boxes anyways I should just give them to charity and maybe someone else can make better use of it. So that’s what I did.
Haha we have 3 Christmas trees too. We can’t imagine getting rid of any of them since we set them all up in different parts of the house during the holidays.
Tony @ Investing Track recently posted..How This Correction Will Play Out – Part Two
I am married to someone who loves to keep stuff and it kills my soul. I would honestly get rid of half the stuff we own if it was up to me…I’m slowly working on it 😉
catherine recently posted..If You Want to Reach That Goal, Lose the Yoga Pants
I agree…Sell it or trash it if you can. I’m all for purging during a move.
Brian @ Luke1428 recently posted..How to Prioritize What’s Important When You Make a Budget
Get rid of all of it!! I uploaded all my CDs onto google play. Scan the documents, or just trash them. Unless you grossly misstated your tax return, they can’t audit you beyond 3 years. Digitize everything! Decluttering is very therapeutic.
Mark@barebudgetguy recently posted..Bare Budget Report – August 2015
Everything you don’t need, do the following in this order:
1. Yard sale/garage sale
2. Craig’s List (can be done in conjunction with the above)
3. eBay
4. Donate whatever is left over (get receipts for the tax deduction)
Also, don’t forget the library as a place to donate books, CD’s, and DVD’s (and it’s worth repeating again, get a receipt)
Fred recently posted..Umbilical Cord Blood Breakthroughs – Time for Cord Blood Stocks?