creative dehoarding ideas?

fiddlesticks

I am a hoarder.

My problem is that both that I hate things that have a use going to waste and if I have paid money for something with a function and it still has that function, I expect to get some of that money back.
I have managed to work on the 2nd aspect such that sometimes I can now give stuff 'free to a good home', the problem is finding that good home.
Unfortunely i used to volunteer in a charity shop and i had to stop afer 6 weeks as I was appalled by the amount of stuff they deemed 'unsellable' and chucked in the skip. I now find it impossible to give to a charity shop as I'm terrified my stuff would end up in the skip.

Part of me would like to shove everything in a box, label it Africa and stick it in the post so things get sold on the streets of Ghana or such. Obviusly that's not a workable plan!

I am aware that there are sites that with pay you 25p a lb, or whatever, for used clothes but, having checked them out, they don't take plus size- which all my stuff is, underwear, ot handmade- which some of my stuff is. I don't have the patience or organisation for mass ebaying although I guess I could list 1 shirt a month for a few decades.

I live in a small town where the freecycle network died through lack of interest, there are no carboots (even if I had a car boot to use) and I will be using gumtree to get rid of some of the excess plants.

Has anyone got any helpful ideas that I can use to free up my spare room?
Thanks

Si_Clist

No helpful ideas off the top of my head, but thank you for introducing me to the word "de-hoarding".

Love it

helcat26

Hi, I have this conversation with my Dad who does not understand that giving a charity shop something frayed, discoloured or bobbly is not helpful as they need to sort it and cannot sell it. But it still works as a towel he cries, yes but it has a hole in it I say.


So step 1 in my view would be an honest sorting of the stuff into categories based on condition.
Excellent - you might sell or give away
Poor- you might want to consider using for cleaning cloths, lagging pipes, chopping up and stuffing a cushion, ( making a cushion out of knitted jumpers is trendy now) etc


And the stuff that is not excellent or poor- get a second opinion and you will find it gets sorted further!


Other ideas-
you might batch sell on ebay- 5 shirts at a go.
if you have brownie groups in your village they sometimes want clean material for crafts
are there any groups of people that quilt?
could you do a car boot sale?


I admire the fact that you do not wish to waste stuff, good luck

helcat26

Cushion out of jumper


http://www.countryliving.co.uk/create/craft/news/a109/turn-an-old-jumper-into-a-cushion-cover/

tori.k

If your handy with a sewing machine why not upcycle some of your older clothing for yourself or to sell on.
Is patchwork quiliting something you could see yourself doing.

[Deleted User]

one of my grandsons volunteers in a Marie Curie charity shop and stuff they can't sell is sent to a recycling centre for 'ragging'

dandy-candy

When we cleared out my late fil house we put stuff out in the front garden with a sign saying "Free to take". Anything left went to the charity shop.
I've kept stuff myself planning to wring every bit of life out of it, but it ends up sitting around for decades "just incase I need it" I wouldn't worry about what happens to it after it leaves your home, and you don't know for sure if any of you items will end up in the bin at the charity shop. What matters is your home (and life) are decluttered.

PasturesNew

You could always put it on those freecycle pages. That way at least people will use what they come and take away.

NoGoodNamesLeft

You can sell clothing bundles on ebay and specify collection only so postage isn't too expensive. You could list about 20 items together with a starting price of 99p and specify that whoever wins them needs to collect.

fiddlesticks

Hi, I have this conversation with my Dad who does not understand that giving a charity shop something frayed, discoloured or bobbly is not helpful as they need to sort it and cannot sell it. But it still works as a towel he cries, yes but it has a hole in it I say.

I like your dad. :-) So what would you do with a towel in that condition then? Admittedly I don't have excessive towels to get rid of, thankfully.

I wouldn't worry about what happens to it after it leaves your home, and you don't know for sure if any of you items will end up in the bin at the charity shop. What matters is your home (and life) are decluttered.

Alas I am a hoarder so it does matter that they are not turned to rags, if I wanted them in the bin, I would put them in the bin myself. I find it hard enough to get rid of things as it is without knowing they are not going to a good place.

I can sew and knit, but not very well and some of the stuff thats taking up space are things I have already made that no longer fit or didn't fit to start with- in fact I've pretty much stopped knitting and sewing as the finished stuff simply takes up space and reduces the value of the materials. I have bags of UFOs (unfinished objects) in my craft room that I can't bring myself to unravel..

Upcycling would be an idea if I could upcycle them into something that didn't just take up more space and was sellable/ get ridable off. I have occasionally patchworked but its not a look I like really so again it would have to have somewhere else to go.

I think I'm going the have to go for the ebay option, even if I don't make a profit....As I said my local freecycle died and it's a small town - very few local listings on Ebay which would imply very few local users and car boots don't happen here.

PasturesNew

fiddlesticks wrote: »

So what would you do with a towel in that condition then?

Animal rescue shelters like them.