The Great 'De-junk your house the MoneySaving way' Hunt

MSE_Martin

Where to start? De-clutter and make cash.

So you want to clear out your house and make money at the same time. So where to start? I want to tap MoneySavers experiences at de-cluttering and the best way to cash in on it.

For example, for old mobile phones you can get rid of them at speed for cash - see Recycle your old mobile for cash.

So please list

• Where you'd start
• Any top tips
• Where you'd go to get the cash.

Also read The Golden Rules of Ebay Article

Martin

Wings_of_Ambition

Hmmmm, 9 hours and no replies. Well I better break the silence.

I decided that my hoarding had gone too far when I moved into a shared house last year. Everyone else turned up in a car, with the back seats laden with their goodies. I had to hire a large van. I ebayed a few things throughout the year, but still managed to fill a van when I left.

I started by looking at what I hadn't used in a long time. I always used to say "It might come in use one day", but I realised that it probably wasn't going to, and so did one of two things with it - attempted to sell it, or sent it to the charity shop/recycled/freecycled it.

I found I had some strange things that sold really well. Coming from an aviation background, I set up an ebay account specifically to sell my aviation stuff. I sold lots of old maps, pilots clothes, and one of the most succesful things - old meal trays! I took a bit of time writing up each auction, and it seemed to pay off.

Next to attack was old paperwork. The loft was packed full of it. If it contained personal details, I shredded it. If not, I either put it in a box if it could be reused (i.e. had only been used on one side - the moneysaving part of this) or recycled it if not. I found I had old holiday brochures, receipts from things I didnt even have any more, and just loads and loads of useless bit of paper. I remember chucking it out of the loft over a two hour period, and when I looked down, I couldnt see the stairs anymore! I also found back issues of old magazines which I intend to put on ebay shortly.

Books went on Amazon. Unusual stuff on eBay. I found old jiffy bags and bubble wrap which were very useful for packaging up sold stuff.

I'm sure there's more, but cant think of it at the mo. Will update when I remember!

WoA

gizzie121

I really want to get my daughter a Wii for her birthday in March, so my husband and I decided to sell the stuff we don't want anymore on ebay, to raise the money for the Wii, instead of trying to find it out of his wage.

I thought it would take a few months to make the near on £200 to buy one, but we made over £200 on the first batch of stuff!!!!! I was gobsmacked.

I need a new scanner too! So that's the next goal. Need to raise around £100.

Can anybody tell me though if it's difficult to sell stuff on Amazon???

christwigg

This is my first ever post, but it's a subject very close to my heart.

I keep myself de-cluttered by trying wherever possible to operate a one-in-one-out policy with everything that comes into the house.
If I buy a new CD, I sell one I haven't listened to in years.
If I buy some new shoes, I throw away the most worn-out pair.
It keeps you at a sort of steady-state of "stuff" in your life.


My golden rule is then to check absolutely everything on eBay before disposing of it. The weird and wonderful things people will pay good money for never ceases to amazes me even after 7 years of selling my old and unwanted stuff on eBay.

Always do your research by checking 'Completed items' theres no point listing something if 20 other people have recently failed to sell the same thing for 99p.

If you sell everything for 99p and are honest with postage then you'll quickly find you're spending a lot of time and not making a single penny.
Listing fees, final value fees and Paypal fees take a huge chunk when you're selling for very low prices.
Yes there are alternative auction sites and alternative payment schemes, but if you want access to the majority of buyers then unfortunately theres not much you can do to avoid the eBay/Paypal double whammy.

I often think '10p listing days' are a false economy as the site gets saturated with multiple duplicate items and prices drop.
It can really pay to hold off until you're the only person selling an item at one given time.

I recently found there can be a good market in selling certain broken electrical items for 'spares or repair' (again always check 'Completed Items' for clues) Just this week I got £14 from a digital camera with a cracked LCD that wouldn't even power on, I had almost put it in the bin !

Treat all jiffy bags / bubble wrap / cardboard boxes you see like gold dust.
You can easily get all your packaging requirement completely free of charge, helping you as well as the environment.

I don't consider myself a serious seller by any means, but recently I got a surprising message that I had received over £4000 into my Paypal account since I opened it 7 years ago and I had to confirm I wasn't a business !!

Finally remember eBay isn't the answer to everything.
Don't forget your local charities and freecycle groups for a warm glow in your heart rather than in your pocket sometimes.

patwa_2

Hi, could I join?

I'm looking to buy a computer which I will do anyway, but I'm being pressured to clear out this room and get rid of stuff I no longer need, bulk buys that I bought to sell but never got around to it, etc.

Two blocks I'm having, which I know are totally ridiculous but can't get around:
1. I'm not prepared to make a loss, even though half the stuff will never sell near it's buying price.
2. I'm unwilling to risk listing fees, etc for items that might not sell.

Both stupid, I know they're both inevitable, but just can't get around it.

Trying to start out with free listings, local paper, gumtree.com, scot-ads, etc. No luck so far.

SavinginUnison

Every summer I take a car load of items that we no longer use to the local car boot. Every summer we make about £200 between the four of us and we make space in our small home, we downsized six years ago and it is challenge to keep enough space for us and our collection of pets.
I have tried e bay but with little success. I sent some stuff to the local sale room and was pleased with the result.
I think that this year will be another year for a big de clutter as we want to buy a Mac laptop - actually we have it already on interest free from PC World until next January so we will be looking for stuff to sell to fund it. We have £200 towards it already from our £2 saving.

We have some silver and I don't know how best to sell it as it was specially made as gifts for relations (who have gifted it to us over the years and now it lives in boxes in the loft)so it is quite personalised. I suppose I could get it valued and see what people would pay for it.
Any ideas?

SavinginUnison

I forgot to say that a couple of years ago we sold our old (working) betamax video player with a collection of betamax videos at a car boot for £50 ! We nearly threw it away. The guy who bought it was thrilled to find one and we had a great day out with the proceeds.

r.mac_2

i have used amazon for both buying and selling second hand books.

There is definately a market out there (fiction, non-fiction and academic) and I have found it very easy to use. The best thing to do is go online and look at their 'marketplace' guidelines.

Good luck!

yezdi

An alternative to ebay is the ibootsale which is currently free. Have managed to sell a few things...

hayhyde80

i used to do carboots every summer, but last year i found i didn't make much and was annoyed that people wanted something for nothing!!

i have to have a clear out every couple of months as have a 2 bed flat, no loft space, hardly any cuboards and two children under 4, they get so much (clothes, toys and books!) i ended up saying to people if you don't want it for that price i will ebay it and get more!, and i did. the only trouble with ebay is i do get addicted to it and end up down my local post office nealry everyday and with two children it becomes a real chore.

i found just before christmas a lot of the toys sold and for nearly the new price which i was really amazed!, plus in argos i saw that they had fisher price dolls for half price (4.99 instead of 9.99) and only one person on ebay was selling them!, so i cleared out two local towns and made the usual full price plus more!!

i also sell things on friday ad. i have found that if on ebay they sell for under £53 then it is free to advertise on friday ad for things under £53.

i know a friend of mine cleared her loft out and sold an old argos catalogue on ebay for a fair bit of money! but i would just end up keeping everything and end up like step toe and son!!

also at the mo early learning centre are doing a book amnesty where if you take in up to 10 books they give you a voucher there and then for 20% off early learning to spend in february......thought might be of use. i took in 2 lots of 10 books that my kids no longer look at or outgrown and got two vouchers. I think it ends though the end of january so be quick!

circuit

i have had a clearout this week - it feels great to get rid of stuf i've been carting around from shared house to shared house over the years. luckily we have a charity car boot sale coming up in leeds this weekend so i have a great incentive to get rid of things. (info on the car boot is here if anyone wants to donate their clutter!!: http://www.brudenellsocialclub.co.uk/category/news/).