My organizing clients ask me all the time about selling or donating items that they no longer want or need. I know it is difficult to accept that most of what you paid a lot of money for years ago is no longer valuable. There are exceptions to that for sure. Here are some helpful downsizing tips.
- Contact an estate auction house and discuss with them how they can help you. Many of them will take almost everything you no longer want. You can usually choose whether you want to send everything on consignment and receive payment post-auction or they will give you a flat amount up front.
- Determine what is worth selling and what is not. You can look up almost anything online and see what other people are selling and for how much. Trying to sell $5 or $10 items individually on your own is going to be too time consuming.
- Consider how much time you want to spend trying to get money for your items. For example, if you don’t have a lot of time to prepare for your move, trying to organize a yard sale is probably not the best idea.
- Most Professional Organizers are huge fans of selling valuables online on sites such as Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace. You do have to take photos, write a description and post your items, then deal with all of the messages that come in, arrange for delivery or pickup of your items and make sure you get your money. For larger, more valuable pieces this can be worthwhile. Most items will sell for 25% to 50% of what you paid for them.
One final word of caution. Once it’s time to let go of your possessions, please try not to agonize over where your items are going and how much you are getting for them. I know it’s difficult to let go but the goal is to have your unwanted stuff go to someone who does want it so that it is no longer cluttering up your life.