Hoarding - Springing Ahead

Byatt

pigpen wrote: »

Carboot = 20p

The money you get for the effort you put in is not worth it.

Fur coats don't sell, they haven't for years and years, people decided the methods for farming the fur was unethical and stopped wanting it. Rocking chairs.. there is a reason you see so many in the charity shop.. no one wants them! Taps.. old ones have different fittings so useless in modern homes.. weigh them in! ditto brass and copper. Tiles.. it depends on the age and size I've found.. imperial ones are bin food.. unless they are the specialist ones.

Fabric.. it is on freecycle here every 5 minutes.. people want what they want and unless it has a name or a specific pattern it isn't needed.. though bizarrely I have found it sells better and for more as FQ's than as a 'lot' I donated most of my stash to the local college just to be rid as it would not sell.

See.. my stash USED to look like yours!

My sister has my rocking chair.
My Edwardian cast iron roll top bath is going to be picked up by the next tat man down our street because while I think it is beautiful and about as practical as a bucket with no bottom it will not sell.. not even with the original claw and ball feet
My treadle sewing machine is going back to the CS from whence it came
The 140 y/o glass cabinet which was valued at £120 20 years ago is going to the CS too as soon as I can get it there.

It is only 'of value' to someone who wants it.. and no one does

Totally agree with this, I also got rid of things that were valuable in the sense I paid a lot for them and also as something that was considered "valuable" but no-one wanted to pay for it. Especially at boot sales, and flebay, well, don't even go there!

I have since found selling on FB pretty good, as I'm now getting rid of the small things in terms of taking up space, but no-one pays what I think I should get still, but if it sells for £2 and quickly, well that's £2...if it doesn't sell, then off to the CS. Now if I've had something a year and not used it, I know I'm pretty much never going to use it. So it goes, although I still struggle, I just brought in from the car something that was going to the tip, a metal strainer, as I was tidying my car today, I thought, oh that would be useful for...:eek:...I have no idea what for!

edit, I also have to say, for me, I had to get rid of things quickly rather than hang on to them for some hoped for recompense, once I started to get over the barrier and those days would come and go, well come and go in minutes or hours, and I *needed* to seem some progress, a making of space otherwise I would have just become frozen again. As many of us found, the process to getting rid was the hardest, once it was gone, it was gone...and apart from a couple of minor things I've not regretted it, and in most instances, I have completely forgotten what the items were.

The sense of peace I feel when I don't buy something from a charity just because "it might be useful" or "oh that's so pretty, it reminds me of..." is immense.

I can admire something, feel the love for it but still walk away from it. I picture in my mind where I would put it, and I can't think of anywhere, so I know I don't need it. And realise I don't even want it...

I have been doing this anti-hoarding for how long? Over a year? A year? And I still have stuff to do, it's getting there, but... and I can have people around for the most part, but I'm still a work in progress and always will be.

lobbyludd

bear in mind that if tableware or china search won't buy them there's probably not much of a market for them.....or if they will the price is probably very near the market value that you would realise when your costs are taken into account: their overheads are minimal so you have to weigh that against what it would cost you to sell in an alternative manner.

I don't know if your things are newish or very old but for example second hand clothes (unless vintage balanciaga, and even then in a very few specialist london shops) sell for very little - I had a friend who went into trading vintage clothes, and things he sold for 50 quid he'd pick up for a few pounds, even designer vintage clothing was sold very cheaply to the final seller.

similarly china, like cars, plummet as soon as the first owner buys them, it takes a LONG time for them to reach close to their original value, and even then only if they are a) popular/fashionable now and b) rare.

I'm not trying to make you despondant, just saying that, much of the stuff probably has no where near as much immediate resale value as you think and especially when dealing with debt it is often better to take a small amount of cash now rather than gamble on slightly more later, given the difference in interest accrual that could make.

I did sell soem things on ebay (and made a couple of 100) but they were cherry picked things that I had researched had sold well on there (I looked at the sold for prices), but much more has been given away (or binned) because the space was more valuable to me than the diminishing returns for my time would have been. This has also saved me money as in the process I have discovered things that I have bought multiple of (not being able to find the ones I already had), and I'm working through using them up.

good luck with china search!

greenbee

I've been lurking for a while, and reading your stories has helped me to get my own environment under control.

It seems that most people initially struggle with this feeling that their stuff must be valuable, but there is so much of it that ebaying etc is impossible.

dktreesea - if you really can't bear to charity shop stuff, then you need to get a system in place. So sort stuff into different selling categories if necessary.
* Stuff you are prepared to CS you can get out of the house sooner, so bag it up and put it in the car/outside ready for your next trip to the CS
* Stuff you are prepared to bin, straight into the wheely ready for the next collection
* Freecycle/freegle - always worth a go, as you can just leave the items out for collection once you have a taker.
* Car boot stuff into crates/boxes and when you get to e.g. 10 boxes you do a car boot and stop off at the CS on the way home. Carbooting may make you realise that the CS is the best option
* ebay/FB - set yourself targets of how much to get rid of. But you may need to clear out enough space to have room to photograph things

Pigpen is right that stuff like fur coats doesn't sell well in this country, but you might find a dealer who will take them off you. Otherwise you need to look at selling them online to places where they still wear them (really cold places...) I have a fur-lined leather coat that I inherited and have been told that I need to sell it in Russia :cool:

Sometimes it's not the stuff you think is valuable that actually is. I nearly sent a picture to the CS as it has been in the box room for 30 year. Luckily my mum recognised who it was by from a newspaper article and it's now at an auction house waiting for a specialist sale later this year...

lobbyludd

5 mugs in cs box and have dismantled 3/4 of the extremely "rustic" (i.e. rotten 40 year old) fence. DD has her birthday party here a week on saturday and as they are tots I need to make the garden tot-safe. Some of it burned in chimenea, half of remainder to tip, and play house floor dried out and lifted onto bricks so it won't rot.

Am going to cheat and put some things into loft and shed until after party, but AT LEAST I CAN!!! 2 months ago I wouldn't have ahd that option.

dktreesea

Most of the stuff we have was bought for the business. DD says the house is like a warehouse, which is kind of strange that it got that way because we actually have a warehouse. What's here is the stuff too valuable to keep in the warehouse.

Pigpen, can't say I agree with you about vintage fur coats. They sell well at auctions. So do Ercol rocking chairs. Most of the auctions for this kind of thing are down south. Incidentally, if anyone likes vintage clothing and lives around london, Kerry Taylor's auctions are worth a look. It's just finding the time it takes to get this kind of thing organised.

What I've found over the years, and is the main reason for The Hoard is when you buy, you tend to buy a lot at once. It's more efficient to buy that way, especially if buying at an auction or from private collections. But when you sell, it tends to be piece by piece.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Lovely to see that people are still getting the stuff out the door and very interesting and informative to read about de-cluttering via selling.

In an earlier version of my life when I had a car, I used to do quite a bit of buying and selling, principally around the bootfairs, and my brother is an online bookseller who sources a lot of his stock from bootfairs.

What I noticed even 15 years ago, was that it was getting harder and harder to get more than a couple of quid for anything, as the whole country was becoming awash with cheap new goods from China etc.

Brother is regularly rung by people who have collections who want to sell off en masse. He's usually stock-heavy and not in a position to shell out a large sum at once, so will kindly try to point them towards other booksellers in the area. They often tell him that they've already approached them and been turned down.

I think a fair amount of people are holding onto "collections" with a firm idea that they are valuable and can easily be liquidated in times of hardship. I think this is wishful thinking, generally.

Very few things are extremely valuable, although these generate the newspaper stories. We hear about the innocuous blue-and-white vase which turns out to be a very rare piece of Chinese porcelain, or the unregarded daub hanging in Granny's house which turns out to be valued at a couple of hundred thousand.

But mostly, mostly, valuable things don't slip carelessly through their owners' hands into the hands of the unaware. Stuff isn't valuable just because it's old or rare. A nineteenth century book can be valued at a fraction of a 21st century hardcover novel, or even a 1970s childrens' annual. And can be completely unsaleable.

Stuff has to have a demand, and be in sufficiently restricted supply that the demand will drive the price up, before it is worth spending a lot of time to realise the value.

Yesterday, I had to give myself a stern talking-to in a charity shop. Yeah, I know, what was I doing in there in the first place? Errm, I was passing on my way home from work and ....and..... well, I'm weak-willed.

Anyroad, I saw a stovetop stainless steel kettle just like the one I already have for a fiver. Wow, paid £18 for mine a few years ago, probably they cost more now, I should buy this for when mine dies the death and then I'll save money.........!

Then I had a reality check; I don't have any space for a spare kettle. Stovetop kettles last for yonks and mine is showing no signs of wearing out. I may have to find houseroom for this spare for 10+ years to save £10 or so and that's just not worth it in a small home.

So I walked away. But it was hard. Only when I got home did I have the more evolved thought; If I bought that when I didn't need it, it's then unavailable for someone who does need it. Which is selfish, when you think about it.

Hokay, time for brekkie. Have a lovely day, peoples.

pleasedelete

Hi. Sorry I also disagree. Moorcroft, troika and rocking chairs all sell well still (sold a Victorian rocking chair a few months ago). . Maybe not what they got at their height but solid sellers.

Fur coats seem to fly out of the charity shops that sell them. Some get a couple of hundred on eBay- lots don't sell. Weight is an issue for international postage.

Again with fabric (and curtains). Sell on eBay. Parcelforce delivery even on rolls isn't expensive. list it and see.

My second hand taps sold for £169 last year. Rest of bathroom metal fittings got another £150. But they were an expensive brand.

Spinning wheels sell on eBay or auction. Anything crafty is quite in at the moment. Again age and wood affect the price.

Brass and copper isn't great on prices but you can sell it. probably depends on it is is mock 1970s horse brasses or Georgian warming pans.

Do you have an eBay professional seller near you? They sell on commission. They take it, photograph it, list it and you get a percentage.

If you don't need the money then donate the items via gift aid to a charity. For example if you contact oxfam and explain you have valuable items they will collect and sell. You get a gift aid receipt back and so you know how much they get. risk with local shops is they won't know the value or they will get sold cheaply for resale etc.

pleasedelete

To add. I used to be a bit of a hoarder. I grew up in an antiques shop. The stuff in our house constantly changed and so when I grew up I didn't want a different chair in my house every month.

I then got the contents of a relatives house who was downsizing.

In 2001 I found eBay. 10,000 sales (including an odd purchase) later I am clutter free. I also lost the urge to buy as i just don't need it and know I will only sell it later, not been to an auction for 12 months And that was my birthday treat to myself (did buy 9 boxes of books last time for £8 and sold I book alone for £150! )but space matters more than money and the time it takes distracts me from my business which makes more money (so 2 hours spent doing eBay means 2 hours not working and charging a client). Not been to a car boot to buy for 2 years.

Selling the stuff ypu currently have and getting money can be more addictive then hoarding it. The trick is not to rebuy anything just because it may be worth a few pounds more that it is selling for.

Most things will sell. You just have to accept that for some including china and antiques you might not get as much for them as you got when you bought them a few years ago. But if you had spent £100 on a night away 10 years ago it would have been gone immediately and you would have a memory. Spent £100 on a piece of china which you have enjoyed owning and now it might get £50. You are not selling for a loss in my mind as things are not bought to make money but to use and enjoy and if you get something back it is a bonus. If you keep it for 10 years it might be worth £100 again but with interest etc that is less. You might break it next week and have nothing. It might only fetch £20 in 10 years.

pleasedelete

I did once come home to find out my parents had sold my bed whilst I was at school.

Our entire house was always for sale. The business and house were at the same property.

whitewing

I love this thread, I learn so much and see so many perspectives.

Jojo did the very first post on 9th June last year so we are nearly at our anniversary!