2018 Decluttering Thread

[scfr]

On Friday I listed 5 items on the neighborhood FB garage sale page. 2 sold over the weekend. On Monday any that remain go in the donation bag and get delivered to the local charity thrift store.

[comicguy]

Not much happened yesterday but was able to thin out a few things


7/8

8 expired items from freezer/fridge/pantry - trashed


8 items left the house

1323 items of 2018 or 65.55% of goal

[snafu]

There is a lot of chatter about the meaning of 'expiry' dates on packaging. Apparently these dates mean different things on different products. I've been so confused I've called the 1-800 for clarification where you get more yadda yadda than facts. Different countries have different standards for expiry. The nutritionists here confirm some level of nutrition is lost but best to check packaging for damage, open for smell, proceed to minuscule taste, finally does it look ok. What do you think seems to be the standard.

[disneysteve]

There is a lot of chatter about the meaning of 'expiry' dates on packaging. Apparently these dates mean different things on different products. I've been so confused I've called the 1-800 for clarification where you get more yadda yadda than facts. Different countries have different standards for expiry. The nutritionists here confirm some level of nutrition is lost but best to check packaging for damage, open for smell, proceed to minuscule taste, finally does it look ok. What do you think seems to be the standard.

I think it depends on the product. "Best by" is entirely different than "expires on". I think the former is pretty meaningless. If it still looks good, smells good, tastes good, that's fine. An actual expiration date is a bit more significant and you need to be more careful about using that stuff past the date.

I think it also depends on whether or not it's a perishable item and how it has been stored. If you brought it home from the store and froze it, the date is worthless. If it is a non-perishable item, the date is probably worthless too.

[disneysteve]

I just listed one more item on ebay.

I packed the item that sold the other day and either DW will take it to the post office tomorrow or I will on Wednesday.

Only 1 of my current ebay auctions has a bid but I have numerous things listed that I didn't really know if they would sell or not but I took a chance. Heck, it doesn't cost anything but my time.

Here's a question for you all. What do I do with items that are all good quality things that don't sell on ebay but are too good to give away? It's all little stuff so I don't want to start with Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace or other in-person sales. It's also not worth doing a yard sale because we'd only get pennies on the dollar for those things that way. If something is worth $20, people will only want to pay $1, if that.

We're actually looking into hosting a charity event for a group we belong to probably next spring. As part of that event, we would do raffles or a live auction so I could box this stuff up and save it all for that. At least it would support the event and the money would all go to a great cause.

Any other ideas? The problem with ebay is the shipping often kills the deal. People might be willing to pay $20 for something but not when you tack on $8 shipping.

[james.hendrickson]

I just listed one more item on ebay.

I packed the item that sold the other day and either DW will take it to the post office tomorrow or I will on Wednesday.

Only 1 of my current ebay auctions has a bid but I have numerous things listed that I didn't really know if they would sell or not but I took a chance. Heck, it doesn't cost anything but my time.

Here's a question for you all. What do I do with items that are all good quality things that don't sell on ebay but are too good to give away? It's all little stuff so I don't want to start with Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace or other in-person sales. It's also not worth doing a yard sale because we'd only get pennies on the dollar for those things that way. If something is worth $20, people will only want to pay $1, if that.

We're actually looking into hosting a charity event for a group we belong to probably next spring. As part of that event, we would do raffles or a live auction so I could box this stuff up and save it all for that. At least it would support the event and the money would all go to a great cause.

Any other ideas? The problem with ebay is the shipping often kills the deal. People might be willing to pay $20 for something but not when you tack on $8 shipping.

What about donating the unsold items for a tax deduction?

[disneysteve]

What about donating the unsold items for a tax deduction?

That’s what I’ll end up doing though with the new tax changes I don’t know that we’ll actually get a deduction.

[disneysteve]

I relisted an unsold item on eBay tonight (plus adding a new item) and already got a bid on it. This is the 3rd time I listed it and I dropped the price a bit each time. I’ll be happy just to get rid of it.

[creditcardfree]

Here's a question for you all. What do I do with items that are all good quality things that don't sell on ebay but are too good to give away? It's all little stuff so I don't want to start with Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace or other in-person sales. It's also not worth doing a yard sale because we'd only get pennies on the dollar for those things that way. If something is worth $20, people will only want to pay $1, if that.

There really isn't something in between Craigslist and a yard sale. Either you put in the work with Marketplace and get more or you do the yard sale and get pennies. For me I'd just donate and know that you put something that will get used into the world for someone else to find and treasure.

Maybe I'd post on my personal Facebook page and give to someone I know that is interested, if donating to charity wasn't an option.

[disneysteve]

There really isn't something in between Craigslist and a yard sale. Either you put in the work with Marketplace and get more or you do the yard sale and get pennies. For me I'd just donate and know that you put something that will get used into the world for someone else to find and treasure.

Maybe I'd post on my personal Facebook page and give to someone I know that is interested, if donating to charity wasn't an option.

I think I'll just start packing those items up together to be used for donations to future charity events that we participate in. I'd rather do that than just give them to Goodwill (even though that would get them out of the house faster).

[MooseBucks]

I think I'll just start packing those items up together to be used for donations to future charity events that we participate in. I'd rather do that than just give them to Goodwill (even though that would get them out of the house faster).

This is an issue my wife and I recently ran into. We had done 2-3 yard sales with mixed success and then just decided to list everything that we placed a value of $10 and up on Facebook marketplace and have donated all the lower value items. If it doesn’t sell on marketplace after two weeks we’ve been donating it to goodwill to just get it out of the house.

[scfr]

Here's a question for you all. What do I do with items that are all good quality things that don't sell on ebay but are too good to give away? It's all little stuff so I don't want to start with Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace or other in-person sales. It's also not worth doing a yard sale because we'd only get pennies on the dollar for those things that way. If something is worth $20, people will only want to pay $1, if that.

Are there any local FB swap or sales pages? I sell occasionally on FB, but only in a local group. I don't list broadly on FB Marketplace. Because it's a local group, I'm basically dealing with neighbors which makes for really civil transactions compared to more broad Marketplace transactions (I've heard some nightmare stories about those). You could try listing as one big lot on FB rather than trying to sell small individual items. If it sells, it sells. If it doesn't sell quickly, donate it. That's my personal style. The only things I would hang on to would be items I thought might sell later because they are seasonal (for example, holiday decorations).

[comicguy]

Worked on a couple of projects around the house and was able to use up some supplies

7/11
1 sanding sponge - used up
1 tube of caulking - used up
1 partial can of primer - used up
1 paint stirrer - used up
1 paint roller - used up
3 paint brushes - used up

8 items left the house

1331 items of 2018 or 65.95% of goal

[comicguy]

7/12
2 paint brushes - used up
1 paint roller - used up
1 mini-fridge - to son’s house (4 items)

7/13

2 bars of hotel soap - used up (every time I think we have used the last of the hotel soap I seem to find more)
4 grocery bags of old paperwork - brought to local shred event (6 items)

10 items left the house

1341 items of 2018 or 66.45% of goal

[scfr]

This is a different type of decluttering because it's not a physical thing, but this morning between DH & I we closed 4 bank accounts that we had opened for the bonuses. That frees up a little bit of time and is 4 fewer things to keep track of. I have a 5th account to close in another month or so (can't close yet without incurring a penalty). Those 5 accounts combined earned us $800 in bonuses, so they were GOOD clutter, but they have served their purpose so it is time to let them go.