To wonder how you get rid of your clutter?

[PastelPompoms]

We are in the process of decluttering the house. There is lots I want to go from clothes to toys, towels etc.

I am finding it hard to let go of some things that are new e.g. clothes with labels still in etc. I have tried selling but not much had much luck and I’d rather the things just went than hung around waiting for someone to collect who never shows. I am planning to donate to charity and then take the rest to the tip that’s not worth the charity shop.

How do you get over the thought of losing money by giving so much away? My DP wouldn’t be pleased to know I was giving it away rather than selling due to the money that was originally spent and I think that’s making me hang onto more than I want to.

I can’t think of a better way to try and sell it than eBay or Facebook though.

It won't help you now but it sounds like you need to buy less in the first place. Give/throw it away this time and buy less so you're not in that position again.

I’ve ordered a free bag from I Second That. You fill it with clothes, they list them for 100 days and give you a commission for everything that sells.

List on eBay for low start prices. BNWT clothing for £4.99 or £9.99 for bigger brands. Bundles. Job lots.

Changing my mindset to thinking ‘the money is already spent’ helps me to let go of things.

Depending on the kind of things you're selling there's also depop and shpock.

Ive definitely been guilty of buying things I never use and then getting rid of them a few months later still with tags on. I was ruthless and donated it all or binned it and tried not to think of the waste of money. I'm much better now after totting up a big declutter and being horrified at how much money I would have been as well throwing away

Please don't bin it, take to charity shop, the landfill is just too much to bear if the clothes still have labels on

Read Marie Kondos the magic of tidying, it will really inspire you to declutter!

Your loss is when you buy it and don't use it. Throw/give it away. Next time before buying anything, stop, you don't need it.

Remind yourself you’ve already spent the money and you’re not losing anything by letting it go.
If you haven’t worn it, you haven’t worn it. Holding on to it won’t make up for the money already being gone.

I’m in the same position op, just clearing the attic after about 20 years. We’ve done about 7 trips to the tip, 20 bags of clothes to charity and put a sign out for people to take what they want and am still not finished. It all feels like such a waste, in hindsight I wish I’d bought less and saved the money. I’m more strict with myself now.

Car boot in one go and then charity shop remainder. Be ruthless

Clothes that are not fit to sell can be sold by some charities for rags . It gains them a few pounds rather than going to landfill . Label the bags clearly as clean rags then they don’t have to sort through them .
I work with a guy who took 3 carloads of clothes and books to the tip. We asked why he did not donate them to charity and he said I have paid for them I am not giving them away! So selfish . If selling on e bay/Facebook you need to be realistic what people will pay even for new items .

@ButtWormHole

That’s useful. Never heard of that .

What about books ? We have boxes of books from a house clearance. Many good quality.

We had to empty a parent's house and that process alone changed our views completely on what to keep and what to pass on.

We don't need as much as we think.

Charity shops can sell fabric that's not in a good condition and make money from it, plus it means it gets recycled.

Why do you have so much stuff around that's never been used??

@ButtWormHole

I’ve ordered a free bag from I Second That. You fill it with clothes, they list them for 100 days and give you a commission for everything that sells.

List on eBay for low start prices. BNWT clothing for £4.99 or £9.99 for bigger brands. Bundles. Job lots.

Changing my mindset to thinking ‘the money is already spent’ helps me to let go of things.

Do you have a link for I Second That please? I couldn't find it when I googled it.

You need to stop buying so much - why do you have loads of clothes that never got worn?

I’d just charity shop it if I was you and organise what you have - start fresh!

Whenever I get new clothes I make sure I’ve something to get rid of at the same time so I’m not just adding to the collection !

We have things under control now have gone super minimalist tbh - only have things we mostly bar having a nice telly, PlayStation, stereo, laptop etc - all dvds and books are gone Except some sentimental ones (both have a kindle and use streaming services)

First sell, dump or donate everything you haven't used for a year. So that's clothes, stationery, tools, gadgets, whatever it is you hoard. Then once that is done its one in one out - come on we know this stuff!

How I got my head around giving stuff away was this...

How many hours would I be prepared to pay a cleaner to help get my place straight?
How much would that cost? £50? £100?
If I could SELL everything on Ebay, how much would I realistically get?

I realised I would spend more on a cleaner than I'd get for selling it, so I may as well just give it away and get the same result that I would be prepared to pay for.

Hope I've explained that in a way that makes sense.

The way to get clutter free is behaviour change though. You need to be getting rid of more than comes in the house. That's tough when you have people "hoarding by proxy!" by that I mean people giving you stuff that you wouldn't normally have in the house. In my case, it's two sets of grandparents that buy my DD more than she wants or needs or insist on giving us 'presents' throughout the year that I would then feel guilty taking straight to the charity shop.

There's some good clips on Youtube that can help with mindset change. Search 'minimalism'. It's not about everything being white and bare, more having what you NEED and makes you happy, rather than just 'stuff.'

I'm mid decluttering, but it's definitely making me happier.

The money is already gone. Keeping your house full of stuff you aren't using doesn't reverse that.
It sounds daft but you have to emotionally let it go iyswim.

We recently had an extension done and used that to motivate us to be ruthless! We hired a skip. Binned gadgets, small appliances, clothes, ornaments, everything. If it wasn't being used, out it went. My husband emptied the entire shed! It was full of stuff he "might need one day" . The bin liner full of assorted cables from tech we don't even have anymore was another "might come in handy" stash of his 🙄 and that went too!

While you are doing it it feels hard but when it's done you'll feel a stone lighter!

If your DP isn't happy that you would give it away what does he suggest?
It's quite a bit of effort versus profit to sell clothes on ebay unless they are designer.
Can you reframe it as making a donation to whatever charity it is and hoping that will help someone out? I'm in the middle of decluttering too, have got rid of quite a lot of stuff, I have never done one in, one out, i just kept up the 'one in' side of things!
I picked 3 charity shops and divided up my stuff among them.
I'll never be Marie Kondo (found her super annoying) but I don't want to be, I don't mind a bit of stuff, just not the amount I had previously.

Thrift plus is good. Send for a free bag, fill the bag with good quality clothing. They sell it for you, keep a third of the money for their expenses, a third to your nominated charity, and a third to you. It was on dragons den. I've used it a few times.

The other thing I do, is leave things outside our house with a notice, free help yourself. Or use freegle.

Charities still accept books, and clothes that are not good enough to sell goes in their rag section for collection.

Please don't just throw things in a skip. Lots of people will be glad of the stuff and it's bad for the planet. Upcycle . . .

I have been doing a lot of clearing out as I am moving and have had to de-clutter a lot. I have a house with a lot of passing footfall so I left out a lot of stuff for people to help themselves to. That gave me a lot of pleasure. Apart from Facebook and eBay you can also sell things on craigslist. For furniture British Heart Foundation do collections.

And I have been to the dump about 10 times. We need to book in advance but I managed to fit two trips into each hour long booking. Thats been very satisfying too.

The other thing I do if I'm not sure whether to let go of the item, is take a photo. The reason we keep stuff sometimes is because of emotional tie to the object, usually memories. You still have the photos as reminders.

The money was lost the minute you bought the thing and didn’t use or wear it. Now you are also losing space, as well as money. By giving away or binning you are getting the space back, so it’s a win.

The other option is to start using or wearing it of course!

I had a big garden sale and priced items to sell from 20 p upwards and got rid of nearly all of it and made over £200 .I knew I sold some items cheap but I got rid of it all !