The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: Taryl on July 22, 2013, 12:02:24 PM
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We're finally in a postion to renovate our 100 yr old home (with cash!!) and get rid of so darn much "stuff"- some good, some bad, some worth some bucks.
Do I donate the lot for a huge tax deduction? We don't have much in the way of deductions due to good financial practices and a big donation might help.
Or, wait until our neighborhood's fall garage sale and make a few hundred dollars? Is it worth the effort to earn about $250 which has been my average garage sale profit?
I could sort items by value and decide how to farm it out, but I love my full time career, the associated salary and health insurance. Due to a lot of MS fatigue don't have much energy left at the end of the day.
All comments are appreciated!
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Taryl - Going through the same thing as we prep our house to sell (and then downsize).
It's not worth the physical stress and effort if you are already battling MS. Be kind to yourself and do whatever is the least effort. Do you have a local MS charity you could work with? That might be very gratifying for you!
Keep us posted - I need the inspiration
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Last time I put the effort into a garage sale I really didn't feel like it was worth it. Whenever I start to think about doing one, I find I do better by just putting everything worth more than $5 on craigslist on a Saturday morning and then just spending the time connecting with people on there. Anything worth less than that gets donated to a rummage sale that supports a particular cause. Unless you really enjoy spending a morning watching people pick through your junk, I suggest this method.
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I did a yard sale one time, made about $300. As we were selling large furniture, an old mountain bike and plenty of stuff new in package, felt sort of cheated and won't be doing that again. It was a whole lot of effort (especially as the husband and I were working night shift at the time - too damn early in the morning for us!) for not much payout, but that's my experience.
I'd agree that it might be easier to do the Craigslist thing for stuff you want to get some decent money out of. But I'm in the "donate it" camp from now on myself.
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i vote for donate.
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Donate that stuff! I think yard sales are such a pain and don't produce much except stress and frustration.
Maybe for the items that are worth something, you could list them on craigslist and see what happens? That way you may make a little cash with not a lot of effort.
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Donate.
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I vote craigslist for anything of moderate value. If you can't sell it there, donate it with the rest of the stuff.
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Garage sale is code for "my garage is unusable for months while I pile more crap up, stocking up for the big day until eventually I can't take it anymore and start hauling stuff to Goodwill."
At least it is in my house. I vote for donate.
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If you're worried about tax deductions chances are you won't qualify. You need to be able to itemize, rather than take the standard deduction, to get any value from donations. On top of that, if you donate more than $500 worth of items, the rules become a lot more stricter. You can donate for the good feeling it gives you, but don't count on the tax deduction unless you've really looked into it in advance.
Personally, I say sell the good stuff at a garage sale or on craigslist/ebay and donate the rest because someone will want it, but it just isn't worth your time to find that person.