to want to get rid of all my junk but feel undecisive about giving it all to charity when i am so very skint! Wwyd?

[notremotelyintofootie]

Hi,

first i will admit that i have been and probably still am a serial horder!

When i got divorced approx 8 years ago i cleared out a load, did some car boot sales and gave about 4 complete car loads to charity and a huge car load of baby stuff to womans aid... I still had a ton of junk though and moved house with some but had a garage so kept it in there... Often with a thought that 'it'll come in handy' etc... I also dont like giving away books and have boxes of them!

I had it reasonably under control, my house was cluttery but only me and ds so not too bad... Then i met my dh... He moved in with some junk but not alot and of course with dsd staying occasionally our house felt crampt...

I have periodically sold bits on ebay etc and given to charity shops but then we had dd who is now 10 months and moved to a bigger house in april, great but it has very little storage so i have a storage unit which is costing me £65 a month!

I did a car boot sale with ds (11) but it turned out most of the stuff we sold was his and i still have too much crap at home! I need to sort a space in my study to work on my phd but have no where to put stuff...

I have registered with the next nct sale for dd's bits (we were going to have another dc but dh not keen and i have agreed as we have no support here so might as well sell her stuff... )

I would love to sell the rest but dont have time or energy to be honest and i need dh's shift to allow him to have dd while ds and i go (need all the space in the car) and the weather is turning...

I am so tempted to just give it all to charity (and we have a wonderful local Childrens hospice we support) but feel torn as we are so skint and could do with the cash....

Arghhhh... Sorry its so long, any suggestions? What would you do? Should i just give it all away and be free of junk and invoke good karma?

I am in the same position. Currently toying between

car boot
having a yard sale
eBay
giving it away!

LOL so not much help to you. But I do want my gaarge back..

i would love to do a yard sale... Why oh why are they not popular in the uk????

I've often thought that there should be "professional ebayers" who could take care of this kind of thing for you, for a commission. Hmmmm. Off to check if such a thing exists...

ooh now that would be good.... Let me know if you find any!!!

There are ebay traders who sell your stuff for you. I was thinking o looking into doing it myself. They take a small cut of course. Have a look on the ebay site.

Don't feel bad about selling because you need the money, you sound a charitable soul and I am sure you willbe generous again when you are in less need yourself.

They do exist. There is a notice on the board in our local post office for someone who ebays all your stuff and takes a commission. I'm thinking of giving her a call but I need to have a proper sort out first.

I gave all first baby stuff - inc unused stuff that I bought because I thought I needed pre-MN to the local Surestart.
They then pissed me off by giving the toys and books to the profit-making nursery next door and bunging all the clothes (lovingly washed and ironed and posh) in the "spares" box in case someone wet themselves. I decided then that if I was going to be pissed off after giving something away - which I totally disagree with in theory btw - thn I should sell it on Ebay and give directly to the charity or spend it on shoes.

So maybe you could do the same - cos if you're iffy about giving it now you would be livid if the same happened to you - sell the stuff and give some of the money directly to the Hospice?

Have a yard sale or use freecycle
Give any to friends that they might like

It is worth getting rid of it quickly now that you have decided it has to go. £65 a month on storage is very £££.

Why not clear the unit, give it all to a charity shop and then save £££ every month?

If you want to get rid of it all in one go photo it and post is as job lot of car boot items on ebay.

If you are poor,it seems silly to be spending £65 per month on storage. I'd give the baby stuff to womens aid and the rest to charity. FattyArbuckle is right in that the quicker you do this, the quicker you will be saving money

I would get rid, I believe what goes around comes around. Only ebay things you are sure will go first time for more than 99p - gap and boden stuff, things that are easy to post. Unless you are going to clear a reasonable amount of money, or have loads of spare time, just freecycle/charity the rest. I like Lilyloo's idea of selling it as a car-boot lot.

I don't care if freecyclers go on to ebay stuff or charity shops pass it on: I'm only freecycling because I can't be bothered/know it will only go for pennies and I don't have that much time, they are welcome to spend ages listing everything and traipsing down the post office.

Also you could try getting a decluttering book out of the library or spend a few £ on one (Sue Kay?) to get you focussed.

thanks everyone. I think i am going to pull out anything really worth more than a tenner and give everything else exvept my books and baby stuff to charity to empty the storage place asap.... I am registered for the nct sale and can sell 75 items so will try that...

I must be strong! Oh i have 4 de cluttering books!