Comments on: Goodbye Clutter, Hello Cash

By: Claire from DC

Claire from DC — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:37:13 +0000

In three months we received about $700 from half.com and amazon.com. I sold my lawschool books (was never going to look at them again) and my husband sold a bunch of video games that he’ll never play again (I’m sure that would apply to kids too). Also, books that we had received as gifts and never touch? They’re out of here!

By: Scribhneoir

Scribhneoir — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:42:50 +0000

Craiglist doesn't really work too well in Ireland, perhaps a few hundred people in Dublin, probably mostly American students and others living there. We use ebay but you do need to be careful about working out your postage carefully so as to not undercut your margin. We use freecycle quite a bit too, it's popular in Ireland. I find that when you live in a rural area you may need to join a few freecycle groups in the areas surrounding you. Good luck with your decluttering Rachel. Scribhneoir´s last blog post..the new book that I am reading

By: Rebekah

Rebekah — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:06:00 +0000

I’ve sold a ton on eBay. Two years ago I went to Dave Ramsey’s FPU. He motivated me to sell even if what I made wasn’t much. I prayed for buyers and put every cent made toward our car & medical debt. Momentum built as I saw the amount of our debt diminish. We went from *barely* making it each month to now being debt free (besides the mortgage) and having a healthy emergency fund.

My more recent sales income have been ear-marked for our mortgage. With the interest saved, each dollar applied to principal is almost tripled. This really encourages me, even when a sale is low.

eBay is a lot of work, but will yield much better than a garage sale.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:33:44 +0000

Books sold on Amazon- esp textbooks, other items given away on freecycle,craigslist, and to area thrift stores as well good clothing to collections my synagogue does for charities. I am going to attempt to sell some coins and dolls on ebay- once we get photos taken of them. yard sales- we have joined in community yard sales to support people who have a lot to sell. I always have something I can sell- but nothing for which I would create a yard sale or pay for a table. I just put out a card table of stuff -priced at a dollar or two- to give people on the street something else to look at as they wander around. I think last time, everything I sold went to neighbors.

By: Cara

Cara — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:15:37 +0000

Oh... and Craigslist has proven to be very successful for me lately (buying and selling), but you do have to watch out for the scam artists. Cara´s last blog post..One Small Step

By: Cara

Cara — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:01:53 +0000

I have had success with both eBay and garage sales. When I did a garage sale, I involved two other couples to increase the amount of stuff, therefore making it more attractive to potential buyers. We also split the price of the newspaper ad. We tagged and initialed each item and the cashier took off each sticker as an item was sold. We all came back with at least $100, one couple made out with around $200. Not bad for a day’s worth of work!

eBay is great for selling pricey items and if you have a bunch of items to sell at once. It can be time consuming, so it’s not good for little drips and drabs.

By: Amanda L

Amanda L — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:25:11 +0000

My husband’s old boss owns an auction. My husband worked part time at Lowes several years ago and we got over $19,000.00 worth of merchandise for $700.00. The manager told my husband he wanted the stuff gone and told him to take it all for $700.00. My husband made about $300 of it back that day from various co-workers. Then, it all sat in storage (for free) at a friends house for about 2 years. A couple of weeks ago, he loaded it all up and took it to the auction. So far we’ve made about $500 on all the stuff. We’ve made our money back and then some. We had everything from light fixtures, to toilet seats, to duct tape. I think my husband should get the award for “best bargain” shopper. To wrap my point up, check for your local auction. Make sure they don’t charge a No Sale fee, or buyers fees. You can find auctions in your area at http://www.auctionzip.com/

I’m now collecting things from my house that we don’t use anymore or have not used in a while to take to the auction to help raise money for our “baby fund”. We aren’t sure if we are going to pursue private adoption or infertility treatments. We are just banking some cash waiting on the Lord to direct us.

Amanda L´s last blog post..Responsibility…Accept It!

By: Jeri Dansky

Jeri Dansky — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 01:58:36 +0000

Usually I give things away, but I’ve sold things on craigslist on behalf of a client, and that worked really well; I’ll probably use it again for other items with enough value to make it worth the time. I priced things reasonably, so I sold them at the price I listed.

For the casual seller of just a few things now and them, eBay seems too complicated.

By: Juliet

Juliet — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:36:38 +0000

I enjoy giving stuff away. I don’t feel the need to be compensated for old clothing or books or toys. Goodwill does a great job of distributing these things. I’ve had luck selling more substancial items (like furniture) on craigslist and I received a crockpot from freecycle this week! As we all get more aware of the strain all our stuff is putting on the planet and as our economy continues to decline, I see things like freecycle getting much more vigorous, as it should!

By: SavvyChristine

SavvyChristine — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:33:50 +0000

I find that as a relatively recent college graduate (12/06), most of my stuff is too junky to be worth anything on Craigslist or Ebay or garage sales. I'd love to sell off some of the books Mr. Savvy and I have collected, but that falls into the "don't declutter his stuff" territory. Whoops. SavvyChristine´s last blog post..Common Sense at Work