Continued: Getting rid of stuff / Clearing out clutter! PART 2

[oneday]

Will do online research on 4 retro board games (sixties) to see if there is any interest from buyers.     

Good luck! I tried to buy a replica of my Mom's Mille Bornes (card game) from that era and it was *pricey*.

[slackmax]

Will do online research on 4 retro board games (sixties) to see if there is any interest from buyers.     

Good luck! I tried to buy a replica of my Mom's Mille Bornes (card game) from that era and it was *pricey*.

Have to correct myself. These games are from the 80's, not the 60's.  I checked on ebay and they are asking $10 to $34 plus shipping.  Tried to find what actually sold, for how much, and, as usual, could not locate that combination of clicks. They really hide it well, or I am just challenged in that regard, lol.

[PMG]

@slackmax There may be an easier way but I’ve found recent sales prices by clicking “sell one like this”.

I’d also suggest that you have nothing to lose. Right? You don’t have to do a lot of work and fine the niche audience to make top dollar. You can list them as a lot of vintage games at a price that will be a bit more than breaking even and see what happens. Maybe they’ll be bid up. Or maybe someone will get a great deal. Either way they’ll be out of your hands.

That’s how my trickle of eBay sales have been. I’ll send these things to goodwill if they don’t sell so I’ll really accept almost any offer.  It’s kind of nice to give someone a great deal too. I sold some fence posts via Facebook and all parties knew it was a good deal and all parties were happy with it. People got a little animated and happy to find exactly what they wanted/needed.

[slackmax]

@slackmax There may be an easier way but I’ve found recent sales prices by clicking “sell one like this”.

I’d also suggest that you have nothing to lose. Right? You don’t have to do a lot of work and fine the niche audience to make top dollar. You can list them as a lot of vintage games at a price that will be a bit more than breaking even and see what happens. Maybe they’ll be bid up. Or maybe someone will get a great deal. Either way they’ll be out of your hands.

That’s how my trickle of eBay sales have been. I’ll send these things to goodwill if they don’t sell so I’ll really accept almost any offer.  It’s kind of nice to give someone a great deal too. I sold some fence posts via Facebook and all parties knew it was a good deal and all parties were happy with it. People got a little animated and happy to find exactly what they wanted/needed.

PMG, thanks, I will try the 'sell one like this' option.

I don't have a current ebay account. They don't recognize my old account, for some reason, so I would have to start up a new ebay account.

Don't know if it would be worth the hassle for me.   

I hear you about being happy to give someone a great deal, and the win win situation.

Back when people actually looked at Craigslist, I would often get one single person responding to my ad, even after weeks, and I was happy to get anything for my item, and he knew he was getting a great deal. Win win.  And at Craigslist there was no paypal, no fees, and other ebay hassle.   

I've recently signed up for Facebook Marketplace, and am getting some strong customer interest one of my items. Local pickup, which I like. No mailing. And no fees (at least for how I use it).

Also, I am lucky to have a flea market just 10 miles away where I can rent a table for $5 a day, and get rid of stuff there, sometimes for decent money, usually for low prices, though, of course. But good to get rid of the stuff, and get some dough for it.

After I've tried selling something for a few months at the flea market, off to the donations it goes, lol. 

[oneday]

@slackmax it all counts! Drawers that are easier to find things in and put things into are a decluttering win, too.

I've been hesitant to report this here, but after your post, I'm definitely going to:

Two days ago, I took the sewing things out of the cardboard box they'd been living in and put them back in the cabinet in which they belong. This was a delayed bit of decluttering from my move in late Feb.

I didn't even get rid of the box, because I'd recently wanted a box for something, but can't remember anymore why. Box will live flattened behind my dresser for a few weeks. If I don't remember why I wanted it by 6/15, then it will go out for weekly trash collection.

Anyway, the upshot is that the walk in closed is a bit more cleared out. Decluttering win!

The box is gone!

I'm actually back to Inbox Zero as of this evening. Which will last for a while, but if my life gets stressful, that's probably something that will get less attention.

Been doing OK, dealing with most papers as they come in or within a few days. It feels odd to have paper piled around anymore, which I take as a good sign. However, the insurance company is not paying my doctor, saying they never received the claims. Doc says they were sent, but can't show proof because they didn't keep any. I've got a stack of claims papers that the doc is asking me to pay. I've got to call the insurance company, but don't wanna. Accountability: this weekend I'll look up the number for the proper department, call will happen on Monday.

[Loretta]

I gave away 2 food items on my local Buy Nothing group. Will recycle some ginormous boxes Monday morning.

[Sibley]

Been doing OK, dealing with most papers as they come in or within a few days. It feels odd to have paper piled around anymore, which I take as a good sign. However, the insurance company is not paying my doctor, saying they never received the claims. Doc says they were sent, but can't show proof because they didn't keep any. I've got a stack of claims papers that the doc is asking me to pay. I've got to call the insurance company, but don't wanna. Accountability: this weekend I'll look up the number for the proper department, call will happen on Monday.

Oneday, I'd be willing to bet that the doctor's office didn't file the claims and are trying to say they did. Sure, call insurance, but then call the dr's billing person and ask them if they could resubmit the claims since clearly it got lost somewhere. IE, give them the out.

[slackmax]

Having good results with Facebook Marketplace. Got lots of interest in my cardstock stash. Made two local sales, $10 each, and, more important than the cash, got rid of a few cubic feet of clutter.     

[Sibley]

Having good results with Facebook Marketplace. Got lots of interest in my cardstock stash. Made two local sales, $10 each, and, more important than the cash, got rid of a few cubic feet of clutter.   

That's wonderful! You're reaching a completely different group of people too, which is helpful.

[AerynLee]

We're relatively clutter free, but the previous owners of our house left a ton of unusable crap. This weekend we filled up a full sized dumpster with piles of rotted railroad ties, a water heater and washing machine that are probably from the 70s, used laminate flooring, used bathroom tiles, old lathing, etc. We still have another smaller dumpster worth of stuff that we'll hopefully get rid of in a couple of weeks after we consolidate everything into the newly (mostly) empty shed

[oneday]

Yay @slackmax ! As @Sibley says, you have a new market. I hope you are able to move the cardstock at long last!

Re-organized the walk in closet and now don't need a half dozen baskets previously used for organization. Gave one to a friend and the others will go to the thrift shop when during the next donation period.

[slackmax]

Yay @slackmax ! As @Sibley says, you have a new market. I hope you are able to move the cardstock at long last!

Re-organized the walk in closet and now don't need a half dozen baskets previously used for organization. Gave one to a friend and the others will go to the thrift shop when during the next donation period.

Thanks, Oneday! 

And I just sold an old electric mantle clock for $45 to a local clock collector who is gonna love it.  Also on FB Marketplace.   

All the cardstock is gone!  Now I have discovered a lot of what I thought was cardstock is just colored regular thin paper. But I just found out people will buy that also!  Woohoo! 

[LaineyAZ]

Tossed out 2 worn out pairs of shoes, and am donating a puzzle, artificial flowers, books, and some clothes to the Goodwill when they open at 10am. 

I've realized that, being a morning person, it's more effective for me to do this sorting and decluttering in the morning when I have more energy and focus.
Afternoons are for naps or reading or watching movies or other quieter retiree stuff, of course ...

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Gave away a giant stack of games the kids no longer play via Buy Nothing
-Attempted to give away a few clothes that no longer fit my husband, but no takers. I've noticed mens clothing doesn't move/moves very slowly on Buy Nothing. It's largely a group of women. Will add to the donation stack instead
-I have an incredibly ugly but functional pair of shoes. I only wear them on international trips, for travel days. Pre-COVID, I made 6-8 international work trips/year. I'm planning to FIRE next year, and am committed (to myself) to make zero more international work trips. It felt like a big step when I put the shoes in the donation pile yesterday.

[LaineyAZ]

Has anyone else noticed that rearranging things in your home can lead to more decluttering? 

I've found that my brain gets used to seeing things in a certain location every day but when I shift items around, even in just one room, it sets off some re-thinking of the whole area.  On the flip side, it's made me realize that some things I thought I needed to buy were actually unnecessary after the place was rearranged.

I haven't been one to move things around much but I've realized that it's good to shake things up periodically.

[shadowmoss]

I try to empty out the motorhome twice a year, before moving between my summer and winter spots.  I'm changing motorhomes next month so there will be much clearing and packing and decluttering.

[Prairie Gal]

Gave a couple of fans and a Rubbermaid bin to DS as he is making a swamp cooler for his apartment. Tried to give him some lamps, but be wasn't interested.

Not much else happening in the de-cluttering department. I have a bunch of stuff set aside that needs to go to the thrift shop. Will try to do that soon. Not feeling very energetic lately.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I've started adding things to my eBay closet from around the house, that I will either sell or donate. We're heading out of town in a few days, so it doesn't make sense to list anything now. But, items are gathered & ready when I return. I did make one eBay sale (the rest of the listings are now paused), so a makeup sample is on its way to a new owner. I also returned a gift my husband didn't want/need.

[oneday]

@shadowmoss keep us updated, especially if you declutter anything noteworthy.

@LaineyAZ yes! Not exactly the way you describe. But I've moved from an apartment to a small house, and the different layout accommodates a different arrangement of stuff. After almost 4 months here, seems like everything is arranged.

So anyway, last weekend I finally arranged the walk in/only closet. It was partly done, but a lot of it was just piled. Now it looks great! I'd been keeping baskets and other organizing tools to see where they would be needed, and there was an excess of those at the end. This week I shared them with my hobby group, and they all got taken...about 6 baskets re-homed! Saved me a trip to the thrift store :)

[slackmax]

Has anyone else noticed that rearranging things in your home can lead to more decluttering? 

Whenever I make myself dig into a cluttered up area, just to see what's there, I end up rearranging it.  So, decluttering leads to rearranging, lol.

[shadowmoss]

My mom got angry at the manager of her senior apartment at the same time I was helping a neighbor here in the rv park sell his 5th wheel.  She ended up buying it and we have been moving her for 3 weeks.  She is 90, but still drives.  My main feelings about it have been that I am so happy she is the one sorting through everything and it's not me clearing her apartment after she is gone.  Still a lot of stuff but much less.  Especially kitchen items, furniture and books.

At the same time frame, the door broke off my refrigerator and it was one too many things wrong with this motorhome I've lived in for 4 years.  I ended up committing to buy my manager's motorhome from the same era (late 90's) while borrowing a dorm fridge from the parks excess inventory.

Karma works.  The day before we had given that manager Mom's hospital bed for his bedridden uncle they take care of.  He made me a good deal in the motorhome.  I then gave him the rolling hospital bed tray  I had gotten last year after a neighbor down in my winter park died.  The service there  had declined to pick it up and family was going to trash it as they had flown in to clear things out.  It all works out.

So far I have put out 3 pieces of my clothing to donate and filed some medical papers that were in a messy pile.  It's a start.


My current motorhome will be put in the small storage lot.here.and I will pull the items in my expensive storage units and store them in it, which will mean finally sorting through everything there.

This is apparently the summer of moving.

[Shinplaster]

We can finally drop donations off again, so I did that this morning.   Kitchen things I don't use enough and have no room for in our new house, a few clothes that are too big now, and the drapes the previous owner left for us.   It was nice to get that stuff out of the house.   I need to do another pass in the kitchen to weed out the extra mugs and glasses too.

[oneday]

@shadowmoss you know they say to everything (turn, turn turn) there is a season. You are living in the moving season, I guess.  I love the serendipity of your karma swaps!

[slackmax]

Interesting reports there, people!

Here, I sold another $10 worth of paper, woohoo!  to a Facebook  Marketplace buyer.  She was a no-show on our first attempt. Gave her another chance, and we connected.

Besides the paper, I was able to use up 2 appropriately sized cardboard boxes I was saving for something like this, to hold the paper.   

This Facebook Marketplace thing is working well for me, so far.

Thinking about taking some stuff to the flea market this weekend, but I wonder if people will be doing other things, since it is a holiday weekend.   

I was stuck inside my house for a few days, since I wanted to temporarily keep miles off my car, so I roamed around the house, cleaning here and dusting there, recycling this and that, throwing out a few things.   

[Loretta]

I successfully gifted some electrolyte popsicles to a Buy Nothing lady who actually showed up when she said she would!  Yay!

[Prairie Gal]

I took a big load of stuff to the thrift store that had been accumulating, so that feels good to have it out of the house and garage. At the last minute I threw in two lamps that I was planning to try to sell, but decided I couldn't be bothered.

I also dropped off a box of baby clothes at the women's shelter.

[nessness]

Can I join you guys? I recently read a book on minimalism and am halfway through another, which have been really inspiring to me. I'm not sure if I want to be a full-on minimalist, but I definitely want to declutter a lot and work on my packrat tendencies.

Yesterday I donated three grocery bags of clothing and a big cardboard box of board games, DVDs, and a few other things. I also gave away a bird bath on my Buy Nothing group - it wasn't a great bird bath so I wasn't sure anyone would want it, but I had five people ask for it.

I also scheduled a bulky item trash pickup - we get one free one a year through the county. Unfortunately they stopped accepting treated wood this year though, so I'll have to figure out something else for the rotten fence boards that my husband replaced.

[oneday]

@nessness there are all types here!

Frustration - listed an old printer/scanner for free and got ghosted. Long after the meeting time passed, the person emailed to meet again, saying their phone had died so they couldn't navigate to the meet point. I just don't have the energy to deal with the possibility that they won't show a second time. Waiting for another person to be interested...

[slackmax]

Welcome, nessness.

Oneday, I hear you about the ghosting. It seems the people who say they will pick up  free stuff are the worst ghosters.

Here in my decluttering, I took a lot of household stuff to the flea market, and made $41. Woot!  Not a fortune, but I got rid of a lot of stuff. Notably a big pillow.

In the small items category, I got $10 apiece for 2 vintage HO scale model train cars. That's $20 I would have lost out on had I just donated them.   

It was fun to see my regular customers again, and my fellow vendors. The vinyl record vendor played Grateful Dead music all day, which I enjoyed, fortunately.

 

[Captain FIRE]

@slackmax do you think you are honing your radar better for what sells?  It seems that you spend so much time trying to sell these items, but your time is worth something too.  Maybe if you get a better sense for what sells, you can stop spinning your wheels on hauling the other items over and over to the flea market (and paying the fee).

[slackmax]

@slackmax do you think you are honing your radar better for what sells?  It seems that you spend so much time trying to sell these items, but your time is worth something too.  Maybe if you get a better sense for what sells, you can stop spinning your wheels on hauling the other items over and over to the flea market (and paying the fee).

Here's the thing, Captain FIRE. I enjoy being there. It's a social event for me. I don't know why. I guess everyone's different, right? Some people would hate it, of course.  But for me it's a very low risk 'adventure'. 

Yeah, I have a better sense now of what will quickly sell. But a lot of stuff sells "eventually". I have a beautiful hand crafted wooden oriental horse drawn carriage miniature that many people look at and ask about, but do not buy, even at $5.  I'd say that's going to sell eventually. I don't mind hauling it, and other stuff, back and forth (well, maybe there's a little bit of frustration, yes, lol).         

And, like everything, it's more complicated than one might think, which makes it interesting.  I personally am unable to sell a wicker basket, no matter how beautiful it is, to a typical customer, for any price, even for 50 cents.  BUT....  I have been able to sell wicker to another vendor. Why is that? Who knows. It's one of those interesting things.   And the vendor only wants to buy big baskets, so I have donated about 20 small and medium wicker baskets already, happy to be rid of them.

And demand for something comes and goes. I was about to donate thousands of sheets of paper since no one wanted to buy it, and suddenly people want paper.
I've already sold  $50 of paper this Spring and Summer. Woohoo! Glad I held onto it.

In case you are wondering, no, I do NOT hope to find additional caches of sellable stuff lying around my hpuse, lol. I'd rather not have the hassle. Doesn't make sense, I know. C'est la vie.

[MayDay]

I had a productive weekend. Both kids were gone and I deep cleaned both rooms. we also got rid of a piece of furniture from DD's room. She is a bit of a hoarder so when she gets a home I am going to try to tempt her to get rid of more by offering a room makeover (a few new things like curtains or shelves or a picture for the walls, and a little rearranging) if she agrees to release some items.

For now I filled one Rubbermaid tub for each kid with stuff I think they should get rid of, but It's their choice.

For my own self I went through the linen closet and a few other places and decluttered. I finally released a pair of boots that I've wanted to get rid of for years and held onto for some reason.  They were never very comfortable.

[Sibley]

Replaced a bunch of switches and outlets on parent's new house. Many of the old ones were burnt.

Removed the fridge, stove, dishwasher, and microwave. Have given the stove, microwave, a couple old sump pumps, and various other scrap metal to a scrapper today. He did the heavy lifting at least. The dishwasher is up as available to anyone on FB, and if I don't hear from anyone it'll go out for trash day this week.

The fridge we can "sell" to the electric company, just need to find the program and schedule a pickup.

Also decluttered a bunch of wallpaper. Mom was removing ivy and filled a couple trash bags.

[draco44]

Fridge deep clean day! Strategic cooking was involved to use things up, but some other stuff just had to be thrown away or recycled.

I also successfully gave away various gift wrapping supplies on Buy Nothing. I save and reuse bags/bags, etc., but stash acquisition had far exceeded my ability to use that stuff up.

[lazycow]

My daughter has released 6 large paperbacks for free, which someone is picking up today. She bought the series and only enjoyed the 1st book. Lesson learned: borrow from the library next time!

Rang the local e-waste centre and they will take my broken vacuum in exchange for a gold coin donation. The vacuum repair shop wanted to charge me $15 to dispose of it themselves. Hell no.

Am contemplating actually tossing a pair of knee length, Camper boots I have worn for 16 years. They have been resoled, and had the zips replaced but the sole has now completely come away from the leather and I think it is time for a new pair. Which is sad, as they were very expensive and extremely comfortable and I know I won't find anything of a similar quality. But no point keeping them if I can't wear them!

[mspym]

@lazycow do you have a cobbler that could replace the soles again or is there nothing there or the sole to be attached to? I love a hardwearing boot so I'm always inclined to repair if possible.

[nessness]

I finished decluttering my living/dining room today (except the secretary desk, which needs more work but is at least hidden) and it looks great! Finishing a room is super motivating.

I also removed everything from one kitchen drawer, which was mostly storing random junk and, for some reason, six boxes of band-aids. I moved some plates and bowls there to give my kids more independence in getting meals and snacks - they couldn't reach them where they were before.

I had a bit of decluttering derailment yesterday, when my aunt gave each of my kids a large shopping bag full of stuff. I know she gets a lot of joy out of shopping for them, and she's given them some great stuff, but she does this every few months and it's just too much - even my 6-year-old told me she doesn't need that much stuff.

I packed a few of the things that they hadn't shown much interest in away this morning, before they had the chance to decide that no, that troll doll was actually their favorite thing in the world. And I worked with them to organize part of the playroom and pick some things to get rid of, so overall the weekend was probably net neutral for kids stuff.

But now to get my aunt to stop giving them so much stuff. Anyone have any tips for how to do this tactfully?

[draco44]

@lazycow - Sorry to hear about your boots. I had a similar issue and sadness once about having to dispose of a pair of boots after a decade of service and repairs. If the boots really can't be repaired again (doesn't hurt to ask a cobbler!) see if you can find a shoe/boot recycling drop-off point before tossing. I heard of one Australian program called the ASGA Save Our Soles Footwear Recycling Initiative but don't know details or what else might be near you.

@nessness - That's a tricky one. I've seen iterations of that question about gift giving come up before, like on this thread: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/mini-money-mustaches/how-to-talk-grandparents-out-of-buying-crappy-toys/ See if that has some wisdom that is helpful to you.

The aunt may have no idea her behavior is upsetting you. Have you ever spoken to her about her gift giving patterns in the past? If not, and you don't want to continue the option of simply accepting her behavior and dealing with the stream of gifts as it arrives - which is a valid option depending on your goals and family dynamics, but clearly isn't your ideal situation - some manner of conversation is needed setting boundaries and expectations. Those boundaries could be many different things. Maybe you want to establish a firm "no physical gifts" or "no physical gifts except at birthdays or major holidays rule." Maybe you tactfully try to redirect the gift giving desire by suggesting specific gifts you actually would be happy for your children to accept. Or encourage financial contributions to a bigger goal such as a summer camp or college fund. Express appreciation for the past gifts and the love for your children that they represent, then explain why the current situation isn't working for your family and describe what you'd like to see happen in the future. It sounds like you have a positive relationship overall with this aunt, so if you are calm and clear in your messaging, the conversation may be smoother than you are imagining.

[Raenia]

I'm not sure whether to count this as a declutter win or fail...

Visited my dad over the weekend to go through some things that were left/stored at his house, as he is tentatively planning to downsize and wants to clear out a lot of stuff.  We sorted everything left in my old room, his bookshelves, and the basement storage.  I was surprised by how much stuff there was - I'd forgotten that we saved a lot of children's books and toys in storage for my future progeny.

Now a lot of that stuff, as well as some books from Dad's collection and some of the stuff I'd left in my room, are piled in bins in my living room. Fail! On the other hand, nearly as much stuff wound up in trash bags or donation boxes, and of course all of it is out of Dad's house. Win? Probably some more things will migrate to donation, as I unpack on this end.  Since I only had the day, anything that was questionable I kept to look at again later.

[SunnyDays]

I'm not sure whether to count this as a declutter win or fail...

Visited my dad over the weekend to go through some things that were left/stored at his house, as he is tentatively planning to downsize and wants to clear out a lot of stuff.  We sorted everything left in my old room, his bookshelves, and the basement storage.  I was surprised by how much stuff there was - I'd forgotten that we saved a lot of children's books and toys in storage for my future progeny.

Now a lot of that stuff, as well as some books from Dad's collection and some of the stuff I'd left in my room, are piled in bins in my living room. Fail! On the other hand, nearly as much stuff wound up in trash bags or donation boxes, and of course all of it is out of Dad's house. Win? Probably some more things will migrate to donation, as I unpack on this end.  Since I only had the day, anything that was questionable I kept to look at again later.

Sometimes it feels like a failure during the process, but until you get to the end, you can't really know.  As long as there is a net reduction in stuff, even if it's been shifted around, in my books, that's still a win.

[Raenia]

I'm not sure whether to count this as a declutter win or fail...

Visited my dad over the weekend to go through some things that were left/stored at his house, as he is tentatively planning to downsize and wants to clear out a lot of stuff.  We sorted everything left in my old room, his bookshelves, and the basement storage.  I was surprised by how much stuff there was - I'd forgotten that we saved a lot of children's books and toys in storage for my future progeny.

Now a lot of that stuff, as well as some books from Dad's collection and some of the stuff I'd left in my room, are piled in bins in my living room. Fail! On the other hand, nearly as much stuff wound up in trash bags or donation boxes, and of course all of it is out of Dad's house. Win? Probably some more things will migrate to donation, as I unpack on this end.  Since I only had the day, anything that was questionable I kept to look at again later.

Sometimes it feels like a failure during the process, but until you get to the end, you can't really know.  As long as there is a net reduction in stuff, even if it's been shifted around, in my books, that's still a win.

You're probably right - at the moment, it feels like fail since there's more stuff in my home, but it's still a net decrease of stuff.  I would have needed to get the things from Dad's eventually, anyway.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We have officially emptied our vacation house (we close in 2 days) & made the 12 hour drive back yesterday. We didn't even to rent the trailer we'd planned on - we fit it all into the back of our car. I'm pretty happy with that. We sold the house fully furnished, but had to remove all of our personal items.

-We donated a bunch
-Gave away things to my family that they could use (pantry items, spices, alcohol, etc)
-Brought the remainder back in our car

I have a few items to list on eBay, but I'd say that's less than a handful. Today we'll unpack, & see what we have left in terms of duplication.

[nessness]

Thanks @draco44! I gave it some thought and decided to let it go for now and reevaluate in the future - my aunt is going through a lot right now, including my uncle recently being diagnosed with a serious illness. So if it takes her mind off things to pick out things for my kids, I can deal with that a few times a year.

[MountainGal]

Over the 3-day weekend, I focused on clearing kitchen counter space:

~3 things we use, but not daily, were put into cupboards
~1 item was washed and put onto the donation/re-gifting shelf
~I made homemade cold brew coffee so the large Mason jar is off the counter
~Finally made chocolate macadamia nut clusters so those ingredients are out of the fruit bowl.  Now fruit is housed in said bowl.
~DH repaired my wristwatch band, so that's off the counter
~I polished my work shoes, and the polish was put away
~I dusted the main room and put away the dusting spray
~The small toy a neighbor kiddo left behind was returned yesterday
~I really would like to put the slow cooker away, but now that it is 90+ degrees, I'm using it several times a week.
~Still need to put 4th of July decorations back into storage

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@MountainGal - good work! Also, yum on the chocolate macadamia nut clusters.

-I sold two vases I brought home from our vacation house. I listed them on Facebook Marketplace, and sold them in 10 minutes, so perhaps I had the price wrong ;-)
-Unpaused my eBay listings, now that we're back from some traveling. Sold two tshirts & a book. Packaged those up using recycled packaging, and they are ready to be dropped off at the mail box

I have a bunch of stuff sitting in the closet, waiting to be listed & donated. I'm going to try and get at least 3-5 items done per day.

[oneday]

Frustration - listed an old printer/scanner for free and got ghosted. Long after the meeting time passed, the person emailed to meet again, saying their phone had died so they couldn't navigate to the meet point. I just don't have the energy to deal with the possibility that they won't show a second time. Waiting for another person to be interested...

Ghosted again! I can't rule out the possibility that it was the same person getting revenge on me for not trying to re-schedule with them the first time. But also, absolutely no basis for this whatsoever (outside of my own demented imagination).

[Captain FIRE]

Time to get serious about cleaning house!  Got the first draft of renovation plans from our architect, and while the renovation is at least 8-12 months out...better to start downsizing items we don't use now rather than scrambling later or pay to store later.  And with lead time, ideally they can be rehomed rather than just trashed. 

Game plan: Two passes through each room before reno time.  Averaging at least one item or group of like items out per day.

First out from the laundry & closet room: shower head replaced by a free low flow shower head ~6 years ago.  4 pairs of hotel slippers never worn from 5 & 7 years ago.  Curling irons that haven't been used in...15+? years?  (Yes, it's that bad of stuff I've never used/haven't used in years and I didn't even realize it.)  It is frankly amazing how much stuff the eye just glazes right over.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Set a goal to list five things on eBay today, and five things on Buy Nothing. I also donated another five items. Progress! Maybe I can convince the Buy Nothing folks to take some zucchini with them when they pick up. Win/win

[draco44]

Frustration - listed an old printer/scanner for free and got ghosted. Long after the meeting time passed, the person emailed to meet again, saying their phone had died so they couldn't navigate to the meet point. I just don't have the energy to deal with the possibility that they won't show a second time. Waiting for another person to be interested...

Ghosted again! I can't rule out the possibility that it was the same person getting revenge on me for not trying to re-schedule with them the first time. But also, absolutely no basis for this whatsoever (outside of my own demented imagination).

The ghosting is indeed so annoying!

I had a number of things listed on Buy Nothing this week and tried an experiment that worked well. I offered two pick-up times, and managed to schedule three people for the same pick-up time one day, and another three people at a different pick-up time the next day. Day 1, all three people showed roughly on time, within a time spread of 20 minutes. That felt amazing! A masterwork of efficiency. Day 2, only 1 person out of 3 turned up. Grrr. I'm giving one of the no-shows a second chance today, and if that fails, will look for another donation option.

I like this strategy and will try it in the future. All the "almost there!" texts on Day 1 seemed less annoying and more like I was overseeing a race since my total time invested in the situation was so condensed.

[oneday]

Frustration - listed an old printer/scanner for free and got ghosted. Long after the meeting time passed, the person emailed to meet again, saying their phone had died so they couldn't navigate to the meet point. I just don't have the energy to deal with the possibility that they won't show a second time. Waiting for another person to be interested...

Ghosted again! I can't rule out the possibility that it was the same person getting revenge on me for not trying to re-schedule with them the first time. But also, absolutely no basis for this whatsoever (outside of my own demented imagination).

The ghosting is indeed so annoying!

I had a number of things listed on Buy Nothing this week and tried an experiment that worked well. I offered two pick-up times, and managed to schedule three people for the same pick-up time one day, and another three people at a different pick-up time the next day. Day 1, all three people showed roughly on time, within a time spread of 20 minutes. That felt amazing! A masterwork of efficiency. Day 2, only 1 person out of 3 turned up. Grrr. I'm giving one of the no-shows a second chance today, and if that fails, will look for another donation option.

I like this strategy and will try it in the future. All the "almost there!" texts on Day 1 seemed less annoying and more like I was overseeing a race since my total time invested in the situation was so condensed.

That is a really great strategy!