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

Beautiful_smile!

Wings_of_Ambition wrote:

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

Thanks Wings of Ambition and all of you. I found myself in your situation or WORSE! I am a HOARDER and need help!!!! lots of old bookd I have been collecting for years. lots of old pottery, lots of pictures on my walls! and of course my loft y beyond believe. Can somebody please help me to declutter and explain how to sell it on E-Bay? will appreciate it.
Regards, Yolanda

Beautiful_smile!

Wings_of_Ambition wrote:

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

Thanks Wings of Ambition and all of you. I found myself in your situation or WORSE! :eek: I am a HOARDER and need help!!!! lots of old books I have been collecting for years. lots of old pottery, lots of pictures on my walls! and of course my loft y beyond believe. :money: Can somebody please help me to declutter and explain how to sell it on E-Bay? will appreciate it.
Regards, Yolanda:beer:

harlequeen

I have loads of books and now must make room for others. I have joined 2 websites to this end.

1 http://www.bookcrossing.com A community which leaves books, appropriately labelled for others to find and register, I can track where my books go.

2 http://www.readitswapit.co.uk This isn't quite so helpful in decluttering as its a book swapping site, so for every book I send out, I get one back! but at least I haven't read that one. Its a great way of trying new authors without too much expense, and if you don't like a book you've swapped, swap it again for something else.

Hope this helps some book lovers.

Harlequeen

corris3

Hi I'm a hoarder but trying to do something about it.

First step for getting rid is free ads in the local paper, followed by ebay then car boot, then charity shop/ charity furniture depot and finally the local tip, plus a couple of days shredding every now and then to get rid of all those hoarded bills, circulars, flyers etc

Some things you have to keep though like bubble wrap, brown paper, small boxes etc for ebay.

Worst job of the year is tidying the garage because then I often find the stuff I've allocated for recycling, carbooting etc... I suppose it is out of the house but just not got rid of .

mrsausages

Can I give a push to Freecycle? Although not strictly a way of making money, it certainly can allow you to save money. (For those not aware, it is a forum where you can advertise unwanted items for others to come and take away).

For example I recently moved into a new house to find that the previous owner had left and old fridge in the kitchen. £15 for the council to remove, time and hassle to take it to the tip (which I'm guessing may not be free for long). One post on the local Freecycle group and a nice lady came and took it away from me. I couldn't have sold it - it was a bit smelly, the light didn't work and the handle was missing.

My garage is stuffed full of the contents of the old loft. Much of it will go on Freecycle and save me the cost of a skip or 20 trips to the tip.

Peter.

shanny_3

harlequeen wrote:

I have loads of books and now must make room for others. I have joined 2 websites to this end.

1 http://www.bookcrossing.com A community which leaves books, appropriately labelled for others to find and register, I can track where my books go.

2 http://www.readitswapit.co.uk This isn't quite so helpful in decluttering as its a book swapping site, so for every book I send out, I get one back! but at least I haven't read that one. Its a great way of trying new authors without too much expense, and if you don't like a book you've swapped, swap it again for something else.


You can sell books on Greenmetropolis .com - it is a great way of recycling books.

shanny_3

mrsausages wrote:

Can I give a push to Freecycle? Although not strictly a way of making money, it certainly can allow you to save money. (For those not aware, it is a forum where you can advertise unwanted items for others to come and take away).

For example I recently moved into a new house to find that the previous owner had left and old fridge in the kitchen. £15 for the council to remove, time and hassle to take it to the tip (which I'm guessing may not be free for long). One post on the local Freecycle group and a nice lady came and took it away from me. I couldn't have sold it - it was a bit smelly, the light didn't work and the handle was missing.

My garage is stuffed full of the contents of the old loft. Much of it will go on Freecycle and save me the cost of a skip or 20 trips to the tip.

Peter.

I heartily endorse this - I have just got rid of an old lawnmower and some dumbells on our local Freecycle.

madmoys

harlequeen wrote:

I have loads of books and now must make room for others. I have joined 2 websites to this end.

1 http://www.bookcrossing.com A community which leaves books, appropriately labelled for others to find and register, I can track where my books go.

This looks like fun, I'll be freeing some of my books later.
Thanks

System

This is truely an interesting thread, ironic too!. During the last few years and a couple of moves, we actually given an incredimal amount of items to charity shops. In fact recently due to our hoarding, we asked(the Red Cross) if they would send a lorry to collect as we had about a dozen black bags & boxes of items which were the result of the "I might get in to those again one day" syndrome. Now, with the possibility of yet another move in the next 12 months, I am compiling a list of items that actaully I would prefer to make money on, ie lawnmower, shredder, ladder etc.

BUT, this is a big but. We don't drive. Plus we live in a road which isn't used much, so any passing trade, dosen't!. So when I'm ready, I will place notices on nearby roads, drawing attention to the fact there will be a garden sale and where it will be and then divert traffic to ME.

joelwood

gizzie121 wrote:

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

I've sold books and electrical items (MP3 players and dictaphones) on Amazon before.

I'm not sure if it still applies, given the change in postal costs, but Amazon failed to account for the P&P sufficiently to cover the costs of posting a large (and heavy) academic textbook. For books, Amazon calculates the P&P, charging this to the buyer and paying it to the seller. As such, I was slightly out of pocket on the P&P.

Be aware when selling electrical items on Amazon. I'm not sure how they managed it but I received numerous unsolicited emails from people of very questionable backgrounds. You've more than likely heard it before but they tend to originate from Uganda, asking the seller to ship the item to Uganda in return for a very large cheque.

Other than that, Amazon works well.

In fact, something well worth noting is that some of Amazon's electrical items appear to be priced far higher than other available sources. I noted that Amazon was selling Dictaphones for £70. I managed to source these, albeit refurbished, from America for approximately £15 per unit. After import taxes and postage, I brought six units at an average cost of a little over £22.

I sold these through Amazon as visitors to the site saw Amazon’s price, contrasted this with mine and decided to buy from me. Also note though that if an item is refurbished then you have to declare it.

Refurbished goods tend to be those that have been returned to vendor within, for example, 14-day money-back periods. Things like Dictaphones and mobile phones have to be 'cleared down' to ensure there's no inappropriate content remaining on them and can only then be sold on as refurbished. These items tend to be in as new' condition.