Has spring sprung in your part of the world or are you happy the cooler months are on the horizon? Now, Is the perfect time to declutter your home and maybe make a little cash to invest back into your life or your family’s life.
Reasons to declutter and sell some unwanted items.
There are many reasons to clean up your home and get rid of some unneeded items.
- Your clutter may be someone’s treasure.
- It is a way to make money to purchase what you need to invest in your life and your goals. If you’re like me you may have many goals you would like to achieve. Are any on this list of 100 goals on your bucket list.
- It could become your little side hustle, your step into entrepreneurship.
- You are more productive when there is less clutter around you to distract you.
- You create a happier space that is quicker and easier to clean. More time to enjoy your life.
- You lessen the burden on the family to sort and dispose of your possessions.
- Ask your children what they want and put a plan in place for the handing down of the chosen heirlooms.
- You let go of the past and hold on to the memories. The memories are what count. Declutter your home, and let go of the unused stuff.
We have moved around a lot. Yet, I look around and see the clutter that we as a family have accumulated over the years of staying in one place. How can one family have so much? Everywhere I look there appear to be things that are not used anymore. I don’t like to just throw things away. I like to donate to a worthy charity or sell. “Who doesn’t want some extra cash in their lives?”
8 Ways to Turn your clutter into cash to invest in your life.
Hold a garage sale. The advantage of a garage sale is it is a quick way to get rid of your clutter in one clean sweep. It is as easy as setting up your items to sell and putting up a few signs to advertise your garage sale. Don’t forget to advertise online too using a local garage app.
In Australia, the app is Garage Sale Finder and is a fantastic way to search for garage sales near you no matter where you are.
Locally, we have a garage sale trail. This is a weekend when many people have garage sales. Usually in October. You can advertise for people to come to your garage sale and find their treasure from your clutter. Carsten and I find this an interesting day as many people share stories from the other garage sales they visit that day and say what they look for in garage sales.
The disadvantage of a garage sale is the unwanted items. If you have decided today is the day to declutter and get rid of everything make arrangements to donate your worthy unwanted items to charity.
Make money from your old electronic games. Sell your electronic games back to game stores like EB Games or your local electronics store. Many game stores take back old games and resell them as ‘used’.
Get rid of your old phones. There is no reason to keep all your old mobile phones in a drawer. You can get paid for your old mobile phones. There are also many websites that will buy back your old phones, or you could sell it on eBay or Amazon.
“The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t.”
Joshua Becker
Sell your old books on Amazon. Sell your stuff on Amazon. There are two ways to sell things on Amazon one is via you listing your things the other by Amazon listing for you. Check Amazon in your country for details on the two ways to sell things on Amazon.
Sell your stuff on eBay. eBay is similar to Amazon where you can sell your things individually. The advantage with eBay is it is possible to sell a large variety of items. The disadvantage is large items may need to be sold locally for pick up. Another plus is there are many professional eBay sellers who will sell your items for a small commission.
Turn your cans and bottles to cash. In some countries and suburbs, it is possible to make money from empty drink cans and bottles. Recycle locations enable you to get a voucher or cash deposit for empty cans and bottles. The advantage is global. It means the items are being recycled and not dumped in landfills.
The disadvantage is that the recycling locations are widely scattered and not available to everyone. If you do not have a recycling cash depot near you, check out local community groups to see if you can donate the cans and bottles for reuse.
“When we clear the physical clutter from our lives, we literally make way for inspiration and ‘good, orderly direction’ to enter.”
Julie Cameron
Head to a consignment shop to sell your goods. If you have little time to sell your goods and have a local consignment shop, drop off your goods for the shop to sell. There are many different consignment shops some focus on clothing only, others on jewellery and others take almost anything to sell for cash. The advantage is it takes little time. The disadvantage is the high percentage some of the consignment shops charge to sell your goods.
Facebook is a great platform to sell your stuff online. Look for your local Facebook group. To find your local trading group on Facebook do the following;
- In the search field put in your local town name or area + buy, sell & trade
- Join group
- Follow the rules of the group
If you do not need to turn your clutter into cash to invest in your life and business and have items to get rid of think of local charities that you can donate to. A great website in Australia to look for a community to give to is: Give Now.
A quicktwo-step process for decluttering.
Cleaning and decluttering can be emotional. Remember this two-step process as you look at your items while you sort.
- If you know you don’t use it, sell it.
- If you think about selling it, sell it.
A parting tip. If you need items to sell, join the many people who attend garage sales and find items they need, they revamp and resell from turning someone else’s clutter into treasure.
Cleaning out and organizing can make you more productive and provide money to you and your family. If you declutter and sell your stuff, what would you buy?
