Cashing in on Clutter

I had grand ideas in the beginning of the year; I was on a mission to purge our house of unwanted clutter.  With a list of areas of the house in hand, I began tackling little projects to clear clutter from our home.  Our recycling bin was overflowing.  Items we no longer needed or used were sorted into piles, stuff to pass on to other people, and stuff to be sold eventually in a yard sale. 

I made it through about half of my list, and thusly about half of the house.  I had a small mountain of outgrown clothes and toys to pass on to my sister-in-law for my niece to use.  There was another small mountain of baby items to be passed on to my best-friend who is expecting her first child, and three large totes of random things to be sold.  These piles sat untouched until just recently, cluttering up my bedroom where they had been stored.

A couple of weeks ago, my best-friend came and picked up the baby gear that I had set aside for her.  It was bittersweet to see my son’s crib and highchair leave our house, and knowing that he’s growing up and that we no longer need them. However, the huge relief I felt to have that empty space!  That little area that was suddenly cleared was so inspiring. 

I moved forward and boxed up the hand-me-downs for my sister-in-law, and another set of hand-me-downs for my cousin.  I loaded them into the trunk of my car and delivered them to their respectful new homes.  More clear space!!  Suddenly, my bedroom was no longer feeling like a thrift store!  I was elated! 

Up to this point, all of the clutter that I had given away hadn’t brought in any income.  The reward I received was merely the fact that I was helping out people that I loved.  There was still that mountain of “to be sold” stuff that was occupying my bedroom though.  I’ve had prior luck with posting and selling things on Craigslist, so I posted a few of the things there.  It wasn’t the right market though, and people viewing the posts were all over the state so making an actual sale of a $5 item wasn’t easy.  I started poking around Facebook and found a local group made up of people in my area with things to sell.  I posted a few items, and within minutes I had people making offers and arranging to pick-up the items that I listed!!  In the past week I have sold $50 worth of clutter!  I was surprised by some of the things that sold; old VHS tapes (yes, apparently there are still people that own and use VCRs!), as well as some original PlayStation games! 

A few quick pictures, five minutes spent posting them to Facebook, and now I have $50 in my pocket and less clutter in my house! 

Craigslist still has its merits for some items.  It has worked well for us when selling bigger items, like vehicles, and appliances.  For smaller items, I’m sold on using Facebook to access local buyers.