Get Rid of Your Stuff: Make Money, Declutter Your Life, and Help Others

A couple years ago I suggested we all make and save money by getting rid of our junk. The idea was to simply sell stuff you don't need/use, make money off the sale, and save money by canceling outside storage (if you were paying for any -- personally, I didn't have any, but I did have a lot of stuff to purge.)

Well recently Parade magazine hit on the same topic and they listed suggestions for purging your clutter as follows:

• Sell it -- ebay, Craigslist, yard sales


• Trash it


• Give it away -- Regift, charities, "free" section of Craigslist

They also list 10 things to throw out today as follows:

1. Computer printouts
2. Paper copies of paid bills
3. VHS tapes, cassette tapes, or old video games
4. Home gym equipment
5. Worn-out linens
6. Hair accessories from years past
7. Outdated cell phones
8. Extra coat hangers
9. Reminders of past hobbies
10. Single-use kitchen gadgets

Here are my comments on this subject:

Twice a year (in the spring and the fall), we go through our clothes and ask two simple questions:

1. Have I worn this in the past year?

2. If not, do I foresee that I will need/use it in the near future?

If the answer to both of these is "no", then we either pack it up and donate to the Salvation Army or sell it at our HUGE church kids' clothing sale (our church gives the seller 70% of the proceeds and 30% goes to the church.)

In addition to this, we go through the "problem areas" in our house once a year where stuff seems to accumulate. These include:

1. The basement -- This includes both the furnished part as well as our three storage areas.

2. The garage -- AKA the wasteland of all outside items (tools, bikes, gardening equipment, etc.)

3. The pantry -- Our pantry is the size of a large closet/small room and is full of shelving. We use half of it or so for food items and the rest is a hodge podge of other items -- soccer referee gear, paperwork, arts and crafts, and so on.

There are a few other places we clear out too, but these are where 90% of the stuff we have but don't need/use resides.

We clear out our stuff for a few reasons:

1. To decrease clutter. It just seems to make life a bit nicer when parts of your house are nice, neat, clean, and not packed to the gills.

2. To help others. We don't want/need the stuff, but others might. We give away stuff that's in good condition. Anything that's useless or in very poor shape gets thrown away.

3. To make money. This is mostly for our kids. They sell some of their stuff at the church sale so they can...buy more stuff. :(

That's how we handle "stuff" in our lives that seems to accumulate with no real help from us (Does it actually breed and multiply? It seems like it sometimes!) How about you? What do you do in your war on accumulated stuff?

Comments

[Lance @ Money Life and More]

I like your idea on the clothes front. I will have to try that out.

We recently moved and when we were packing we set aside everything we decided we should probably get rid of and had a yard sale. After the yard sale whatever didn't sell went to Goodwill.

[Arimack]

We make our boys go through their toys before any major gift giving event (Christmas, Birthdays, etc) and ask them to select items they don't play with anymore. Typically, newer toys that are chosen from their rooms get moved down to the basement and selected basement toys are given to charity. This is especially well timed around Christmas as it allows us to talk about those less fortunate than ourselves and how we can help. We have the boys join us on the trip to the charity and have them unload their donations.

[PennySaved]

Wire clothes hangers can be recycled at some dry cleaners. Also I used to donate some to a nursing home my friend lived at. They never seemed to have enough.

I thought outdated cell phones could be donated so some organizations that give them to abused women who need a way to call 911 if needed. Or they can be recycled as electronics equipment.

[Jetgirl]

I agree with the article and FMF. I really enjoy getting rid of things that we don't need/use, and unless it is completely unusable, I enjoy donating items several times a year.

I am curious about how others feel about paper copies of paid bills. This is something I do based on what I learned from my parents. I will go through and get rid of things once a year and shred the older documents. I keep all IRS paperwork, but should I really get rid of the paid bill paperwork? What about pay stubs? What about insurance for which you get no ID card? All of this paper is worth shredding and being rid of?

[Sandy]

One thing I learned years ago is that after you purge your closet of clothes you don't wear anymore, to then turn all your hangers around backward on the rod for the clothes you're keeping. After you wear an item, turn the hanger back around the right way. You'll be shocked how many hangers are still backwards at the end of a season - even after you did what you thought was a thorough purge of your clothes at the beginning of a season.

[PD]

Sandy, great idea! Very simple and effective.

[Jo]

We are in the midst of a cleanup right now. I'm almost done with my clothes. (My hubby has VERY few clothes so all his stuff fits in his side of the closet and dresser drawers...whereas me when we moved from an apartment with a big walk in closet to a house with a small closet I had taking over 3 closets.)

I dividing them between Keep, Donate, and Sell at a JBF (Just Between Friends) consignment sale (it's a sale mainly of baby/kids items, maternity, etc...anything that doesn't sell automatically goes to charity).

Our next step is to go through our pictures (artwork) and boxes in our basement and garage.

[Kelly@All-FinancialNews]

I usually do the same thing with clothes- ask myself if I've worn it in the past year (I usually skip the second part because if I haven't done this, then I most likely won't in the next 12 months either) and bring it to my local GoodWill. These unworn clothes usually make up the majority of my "stuff" and I always feel good about the thought of giving someone in need clothing that would otherwise just be sitting in my closet. But you know what? I just cannot bring myself to throw away my VHS collection. Just too sad.

[BD]

All of my stuff fits in a regular-sized bedroom. I tend to keep things only if they have a use, or they can make me money (ie - my art stuff).

If you want to get rid of your unnecessary stuff, watch a few episodes of A&E's "Hoarders" (you can watch for free on the A&E website). I've noticed that my friends and I cannot watch that show without throwing out something of ours, and cleaning in general.

[Mama Squirrel]

Why would we get rid of our VHS tapes and cassettes? We still have a VHS player and cassette decks (and a couple of Walkmans), and lots of our old tapes still work just fine. We also have a turntable and LPs.

[Kelli-Money Help]

I highly recommend selling your stuff on Craigslist. I have had much success with the site in getting rid of unwanted items and I like they do not charge me to list my items or give them a profit from what I sell like ebay.