2024 Destash Dare to be Bare!

[delmar411]

Thanks. So people can actually sell on Amazon? I thought it was just for businesses? And I do sell on eBay. But it seems books don't sell very well. I have trouble with clothes too. I listed several nursing scrubs a couple of years ago, probably 10 different listings, and didn't get but 1-2 views per listing. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. But I will try there. Might also call around or post on Facebook and see if there's anywhere locally that buys clothes to resell. Even if we only get a couple of bucks per shirt, it will added up.

And yes, I do watch too many crime shows. But I also watch the news nightly and hear about murders, assaults, etc. Makes me not want to do Facebook. Plus, we tried to sell our couch on there when we moved last summer. We were asking $800, and a potential buyer DMed us telling us his bank told him he had to pay us $1,200 then we'd have to refund the $400 difference. Not sure if it was a scam or not. But he said he sent us money, and he called the police on us (he said) when we didn't send him the $400 back. My wife worked at the bank at the time, and she knew he didn't pay. But we got the cops called on us. That's why we're afraid to do Facebook marketplace, haha.

100% a scam. Those are the weirdos I don't even engage with. I only deal in cash. No apps, no sending money, etc. Plain cash. Sucks that you had to deal with one of them. I had a weirdo tell me that I WAS going to sell them something for the price they set and that was it. LOL I just blocked them and moved on. Internet is full of kooks sometimes.

But I believe selling on Amazon is relatively easy. There is a guy that frequents a local thrift shop who scans all the books each week to see if they are selling for a decent price. I've sold textbooks on there back when I was in college but I haven't tried in a good while. I buy used books off there all the time though.

 

[zanzibar138]

Thank you barkley! That is an excellent solution to some of my stuff in storage. I will definitely check on that. I am not aware of anyone helping veterans around here, but that is a great idea!

In Australia we have a thing called 'men's sheds', kind of like a community garden - a place in the community where people can gather who don't have room for their own shed, can't afford their own tools, need help with a project, or just for people who want to hang out and chat while they're working. Not just men these days of course! I donated basically the entire contents of my shed to the local one when I moved interstate - hand/power tools, home improvement supplies, lumber, fixings (nails, screws etc). They were stoked!

Don't know if there's anything like that in the US but if there are it's a great option for those type of items.

 

[barkley]

one of my FAVORITE forms of encouragement is returning to tv!!!! that's right baby-new episodes of HOARDERS never has one tv show provided me with so much encouragement to purge, purge, purge.

 

[snowwite]

Following for motivation! Goodluck to your goal.

Our kids are young adults and it is time to start a new chapter. There are boxes in our basement that haven’t been touched on over 10 years. Surely we don’t need this stuff lol.

We just purged half a dozen of those huge Rubbermaid bins from the attic. Still more to go. I wound up saving a few items to make sure my kids do not want them. The rest is getting donated.

 

[snowwite]

In Australia we have a thing called 'men's sheds', kind of like a community garden - a place in the community where people can gather who don't have room for their own shed, can't afford their own tools, need help with a project, or just for people who want to hang out and chat while they're working. Not just men these days of course! I donated basically the entire contents of my shed to the local one when I moved interstate - hand/power tools, home improvement supplies, lumber, fixings (nails, screws etc). They were stoked!

Don't know if there's anything like that in the US but if there are it's a great option for those type of items.

What a clever idea!

 

[snowwite]

I'm joining again this year. I didn't update much last year, but I purged quite a bit when we moved in June.

This year I'm making it a priority to really get down to "needed" items and a few decorations. My anxiety over the last year has been triggered by a lot of clutter around the house and then I get so overwhelmed I just shut down. So to combat that, I'm drastically reducing what's in my house.

I already have a bin of donate and a bin for a spring yard sale going and have started with our room. Specifically clothing. I found stuff from 2005 that hasn't been worn since then. Time to go!

I got rid of clothes I had saved for after I lost the baby weight. My daughter is 35 and I never got back to that size. If I did I certainly would not be caught dead wearing any of those 80’s fashion!

 

[disneyseniors]

In Australia we have a thing called 'men's sheds', kind of like a community garden - a place in the community where people can gather who don't have room for their own shed, can't afford their own tools, need help with a project, or just for people who want to hang out and chat while they're working. Not just men these days of course! I donated basically the entire contents of my shed to the local one when I moved interstate - hand/power tools, home improvement supplies, lumber, fixings (nails, screws etc). They were stoked!

Don't know if there's anything like that in the US but if there are it's a great option for those type of items.

I have only lived in 3 different states, and I've never heard of anything like this before. What a wonderful idea!

 

[easyas123]

one of my FAVORITE forms of encouragement is returning to tv!!!! that's right baby-new episodes of HOARDERS never has one tv show provided me with so much encouragement to purge, purge, purge.

Everytime we catch one of those shows we always wonder if/how long it takes the person to revert back to hoarding things or if they were able to take advantage of the therapy and break the cycle of it all.

 

[barkley]

Everytime we catch one of those shows we always wonder if/how long it takes the person to revert back to hoarding things or if they were able to take advantage of the therapy and break the cycle of it all.

i wish they would do it like 'homestead rescue' and show a 2 or 3 month video follow up vs. just a small notation at the end of the program. hoarding is a difficult and complex mental issue.

 

[robinb]

I have an external motivation. We just bought a new couch and Stressless recliner. I have a teak buffet in our living room that needs to be moved upstairs but the bedroom has a bunch of stuff. I need triage the stuff in the bedroom and the stuff in the buffet. My couch is delivered in 2 months and the chair in three, so I have time.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

Thanks. So people can actually sell on Amazon? I thought it was just for businesses? And I do sell on eBay. But it seems books don't sell very well. I have trouble with clothes too. I listed several nursing scrubs a couple of years ago, probably 10 different listings, and didn't get but 1-2 views per listing. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. But I will try there. Might also call around or post on Facebook and see if there's anywhere locally that buys clothes to resell. Even if we only get a couple of bucks per shirt, it will added up.

And yes, I do watch too many crime shows. But I also watch the news nightly and hear about murders, assaults, etc. Makes me not want to do Facebook. Plus, we tried to sell our couch on there when we moved last summer. We were asking $800, and a potential buyer DMed us telling us his bank told him he had to pay us $1,200 then we'd have to refund the $400 difference. Not sure if it was a scam or not. But he said he sent us money, and he called the police on us (he said) when we didn't send him the $400 back. My wife worked at the bank at the time, and she knew he didn't pay. But we got the cops called on us. That's why we're afraid to do Facebook marketplace, haha.

That's lunacy, and definitely a scam! The police here have been warning people to meet in public, take someone with you if you can, and make sure someone knows when/where you are. But honestly, people are nutso. I recently had one who didn't like the price I'd had on something, and threatened to come find me and hurt me when I wouldn't take his "offer". I blocked and reported him.

I'm also super paranoid, but my Facebook is as locked down as I can get it, I don't use photos of me, my family or my property for my profile or background pictures, and my last name isn't on there. As long as you keep safety in mind, you'll be fine. And if you're worried about it, set up a second account just for dealing with this stuff.

In Australia we have a thing called 'men's sheds', kind of like a community garden - a place in the community where people can gather who don't have room for their own shed, can't afford their own tools, need help with a project, or just for people who want to hang out and chat while they're working. Not just men these days of course! I donated basically the entire contents of my shed to the local one when I moved interstate - hand/power tools, home improvement supplies, lumber, fixings (nails, screws etc). They were stoked!

Don't know if there's anything like that in the US but if there are it's a great option for those type of items.

This is AWESOME! I've never heard of this idea, but we need it here! I suspect someone would just steal everything, but I really do love the idea.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

Dropped a few books off at the little library (5 I think). Threw out a couple diamond painting I enjoyed doing but am never going to bother to frame and hang up. 2 old eye liners and a mascara.

Let's call it 15 items.

 

[zanzibar138]

Just about to do a run to the op shop. Got a small package of ornaments, glasses, clothing and unwanted gifts. 13 items to the op shop, 2 turfed.

15 items total gone.

 

[weewuvvdisney]

Where is the best/safest place to sell stuff? I've got clothes, books, DVDs, purses (wife's) and other stuff I'd like to sell and get out of my house/out of boxes that have been packed in a closet since we moved in 18 months ago). But I'm afraid to sell on Facebook marketplace because I hear of people getting robbed, shot, killed and/or assaulted whenever they meet to make the swap (I guess I watch too many reality crime shows). I do have an eBay account. But what about local type places (I'm north of DFW)? Do they buy these types of things? Like clothing resale shops, books stores like Half Price Books (for books, CDs, DVDs, etc)? Just looking for some ideas from you experienced destashers.

Does your City have safe transaction areas? There are several Police Stations in our City that have 24 hour camera surveillance in their parking area where transactions can be made. Haven't used them yet but probably will be in the near future.

 

[weewuvvdisney]

We have still a lot to pass on. During Covid, we were able to pass on 8 boxes of toys, books, kids craft things to someone who works with under privileged children in our area. Still have some more to go through. Were fp's for years so accumulated so much. DD & I drop off our clothing at a women's shelter. Hubby's clothing goes to another group. Household items that are good can go to the store that sells them. The money is used to train unemployed people how to work in retail. We keep a couple of boxes for each group handy and once the box is full, we take it. Furniture we put outside our house and it is gone rather quickly. But, we still have some much to do.

 

[zanzibar138]

Got another box ready to go to the op shop, but not going to count the items until I've taken it!

We are able to organise 2 free junk collections per year through our local council, for items that don't fit into our regular rubbish bins (not sure if this is just an Australia thing!). I've just organised one but the first available date was 28 March! At least that will give us plenty of time to get organised! We'll be able to use this to get rid of an old mattress, some large plastic containers that have seen better days, old mops and brooms and our old fridge (we are getting a larger fridge from my grandparents who have just moved into a home). Plus any other items we might find in the next couple of months.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Decluttering is high on my list of things I want to do this year, but need motivation to actually accomplish - so here I am.

My personal challenges are keeping things for sentimental reasons and what I call "counterproductive successes" - when something I should not, by all logic, have kept in the first place does turn out to be useful / the perfect solution to a problem....and encourages me to keep other things "just in case" - especially craft stuff and containers.

Counting individual items kind of stressed me out the last time I tried it, so I'm just going aim to do something at least five days a week - whether it's a whole closet or just the papers on the fridge (what I did today, while listening to this video.) -

I loved the idea in it about stuff being not a permanent resident, but something you hire to do a job. (The middle gets a little ad-heavy, but the skit at the beginning is hilarious!)

 

[Sadeesmom]

Decluttering is high on my list of things I want to do this year, but need motivation to actually accomplish - so here I am.

My personal challenges are keeping things for sentimental reasons and what I call "counterproductive successes" - when something I should not, by all logic, have kept in the first place does turn out to be useful / the perfect solution to a problem....and encourages me to keep other things "just in case" - especially craft stuff and containers.

For sentimental items, have you tried the container method?

Decide ahead of time how much space you want to dedicate to just sentimental "stuff" - it has no other purpose, no one else cares about it/sees it the way you do. Whatever that space is (a shoebox, a tote, a shelf in a closet, whatever), that is how much stuff you keep. It makes you prioritize what is really important. Over time, I went from a storage trunk down to a small tote to now a shoe box sized Rubbermaid tote that fits inside my nightstand.

This method should also work with craft or other hobby items.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

Despite the snow, they picked up garbage today so....I trashed a cloth bin my cats tore up in the office (I had a replacement in the basement), a suitcase that got moldy in the basement unfortunately, 5 rather large pieces of white vinyl table cloths that I use to use when I put the Christmas village under the tree, but now I put it somewhere else and I haven't used them in years, 2 burned out light bulbs from aforementioned Christmas village, cleaned out fridge and cabinet of outdated food (some lime juice, small piece of cheddar that got lost in the back of fridge, outdated bbq sauce). I'm not keeping track of the number. Just trying to be more mindful of pitching where I can. I have a bag of clothes that needs to go to Goodwill and I am sure I can contribute more items. Might be a good snow day project to clean out drawers and closet.

 

[robinb]

I'm not counting the items leaving my house. That's too much trouble and not really motivating for me. I worked on my guest bedroom 3 hours last week. I set a timer for 20 minutes and reassessed how I felt when it went off. Sometimes I would work for another 20 minutes and sometimes I would take a 20 minute break and go back at it. I put things into 5 piles: DH's pile to go through, keep, donate, give away or sell, trash. I took a donation tote to Goodwill on Tuesday! I'm deciding on whether to keep or donate some shoes with a little wear on the soles. I don't want to dump garbage on the charity to take care of.

I also now have ANOTHER external motivator. We have a 100+ year old house and my inside stairs are showing some settling of the house. The house is built on landfill and it's old so it's not a shock. Anyway ... I have to add/replace supports to hold up and raise the staircase a bit. While they are there wrecking my basement, I am having them replace the other three wooden supports for the rest of the house. It's just as expensive as it seems. I have to clear 5-6 feet around all the supports and the remnants of my Amazon Marketplace book business is next to one of the supports. Guess who's going through a couple hundred books in the next 2-3 weeks?