How brutal are you with chucking things out?

[Frostythesnowman1]

I feel like my head is going to explode

I have 6 year old twins. The amount of stuff we have is just ridiculous. I want to have a massive sort out or clothes & toys, I’ve got toys they no longer play with piled up in the garage and bags and bags of clothes that no longer fit. I keep it because I think I’ll sell it at the next NCT sale or put it on Facebook/vinted but honestly I just do not have the time.

I’m borrowing a small van from work next week and I’ll be loading up all of the toys and visiting various nurseries/playgroups to drop off the toys (I have contacted them all previously)

I’m then going to drop off all the bags of clothes at the charity/clothes banks

i find the idea of this kind of liberating but I’m also terrified that I “should” try and sell it.

does anyone else sell stuff and if so how do you find the time? I work 3 days a week and we have full on weekends with the kids activities. On the days I don’t work it’s filled with housework and taking my elderly dad to hospital appointments.

I suppose my AIBU to ask permission from mumsnet to just get rid of it all and give zero fucks 😂😂

ps the money would be lovely if I did sell stuff but my experience with Facebook/vinted just sucks all joy out of me

Not really, charity shops are under huge pressure to meet targets and supermarket/ Primark is perceived as low value by the customer, the item is taking up a hanger that a higher value/ premium item could be on. It's all about making money. Braced for everyone saying their local charity shop sells Primark for a pound etc but it's the policy of our shop.

That’s why I was surprised as all our ours nearby are mainly filled with supermarket brands etc! £2-£3 mostly.

Yep depends on the charity and location, customers don't perceive supermarket brands as a bargain/treasure IE got this for £2 but it's only Sainsbury's etc, will probably end up back in charity shop or rag as perceived as low value / disposable. Sad but true

I am speaking with pretty good authority on this one. 4 kids 6 and under (one delivery pending) the amount of stuff we have managed to amass is frightening.

every 2 months I get a bag and go through the house finding bits of crap, plastic rubbish, broken bits and bin it. “Not high quality” clothes eg primark I donate on local free site as a figure it will do someone as a base wardrobe. “Medium” clothes ie in good condition I donate to charity shops. Anything in really condition (ie labels on) I set aside in a bag under the bed to pop on vinted. Agree with others I’m not piling the kids into the car for £3 so it needs to be worth it.

this last baby is a boy so I have 6 years of girl clothes in my attic. I am going to go through it and get my favourite items of clothing and get it made into a patchwork blanket for her to keep and give everything else away (when we had only one the quality of clothes was much better than it is now!)

I agree with others re the headspace is worth just letting the majority of stuff go. I too had to battle a bit of guilt but realistically the time, effort, car journeys and sheer hassle it takes to sell stuff is an added pressure that I can’t cope with so I view it as doing my family a favour A) by cleaning out and creating a more orderly space for everyone and B) giving others a helping hand.

I really would recommend local free facebooks sites and putting up stuff in bundles also benefit you as people collect

Good luck it’s hard but worth it

If you don’t need the money and/or the toys and clothes aren’t in top condition and branded items, then just take everything safe and sellable to charity shops.

But you can get some good money from selling branded stuff in good condition, ie well known branded toys in complete and boxed condition sell well on eBay as do bundles of clothes from high street brands, ie next or M&S again if good condition. May be worth sorting out the good from the cheap unbranded and put the more worthwhile stuff on eBay.

Any big things may sell on local Facebook groups or eBay local collection, I.e. bikes grown out of, small trampolines and climbing frames, slides,etc.

I’ve passed on clothes, toys and equipment as my kids have outgrown them and knew we were not having any more. Anything I haven’t given to friends has been donated to either charity shops or a local low price shop (not directly related to a specific charity).

Once the kids and I did a car boot sale of toys and divvied out the money so they each got an amount and ‘mine’ was used for ice creams, etc. during the summer holidays. It was fun as a one off but not something any of us wanted to repeat.

We are fortunate to not need to sell those things and I do wish (some) people would remember that the wonderful bargains they get are because someone else has paid full price (or sale) at some point and donated it.

“One in one out” is what we did after clearing the clutter of the early pre school years. It works brilliantly, and we still do it for our own stuff so house is pretty clear of clutter. We still have a loft full of stuff we’ll never use again, but we have a rule that for every item we put up there, we bring down and sell/donatr/throw two items which is working well.

I don't sell things, I am conscious about wastefulness though so I give things away on FB, try and pass them on. DD does have some collections of specific toys that I probably will sell on vinted for a low amount when she grows out of them. I would gladly give more stuff to charity shops but they don't seem to want it and the charity bags only ask for clothes. I've got a bag of clothes that aren't fit for reuse that I want to recycle somewhere too. I hate just throwing stuff in the bin

There are, they're called food/clothes banks. Nothing in the charity shop mission statement is about providing clothing to those in 'need' . Nothing / zero. They exist solely to raise funds for their particular cause/area of research

I have bought the book minimalista and I follow Madeline blogs on YouTube and you need to get rid of the guilt (as they say)

just get rid !

I am so ready for a good clear out. I’m doing it Wednesday as the girls are at school and I know there will be meltdowns and tears if they are here but we have stuff that they just don’t play with anymore

I took 2 bikes (from Halfords with stabilisers - one of them has the pole at the back to help guide the bike) to a 2nd hand store yesterday to see if they were interested but they weren’t, said they were only really interested in top of the range kids bikes such as frog bikes

I will put those on FB marketplace but it’s just bonkers to me. We paid £140 each for those bikes too.

Yes! Adding my voice to say go ahead and get rid.
You don't have to sell and so release the guilt of that too.

I sold something for £1 on Vinted which somehow came back to me. Think it was uncollected. Don't understand it but I thought why the fuck am I wasting my time with this?!

I've donated books, games, uniform, good quality underwear and socks to school who are grateful to accept.

Otherwise charity shop it.

Currently going through something similar myself. I’ve committed to listing 5 items I think are worth a bit more on vinted a day. I also have sorted the clothes in to ages and each day I lay out all the clothes from 1 age range and take a picture of them and list them as a bundle. I’m giving myself a month and anything not gone is being donated guilt free.

The charity shop can probably rag them for you if you tell them that's what they are.The value of rag is v low as the collectors are overwhelmed and it's ending up polluting waterways overseas. I read something about there already being enough clothes in existence to clothe the world but here we are.
Not applying this to you but many non clothing donations are fit only for the bin and the charity shop is paying for their waste collections so sometimes are overwhelmed

I think unless people really need the money there is zero point in selling stuff. I have always just donated my items. I volunteer for a charity and the amount of very good quality items donated has dropped, understandably as people are suffering with the cost of living so selling instead.

I am brutal and it will usually go in the bin

However years ago when mine were young I’d sell on FB by the bag eg take a photo of stuff laid out all together on the bed then say boys clothes to fit 1-2 yo that type of thing and it would always sell

You need to balance:
Space
Time / effort
Money

You can create space quickly and get no money.

You can get money but it takes time and effort.

Personally I value creating space and my time the most, So that means I take stuff to charity rather than Vinted/eBay it. I want the space more than I want a few quid!

I have regular clear outs. Like quite a few times a year. Some to sell, some for charity and some for the dump. My 2 also have a ridiculous amount of everything too.

It's hard finding the time (but u need to make time) to sell stuff but worth doing it. An hour here and there for photos and then u can list the stuff in the evening when the kids are in bed. Royalmail postage I print the label at home and they pick it up for free. No standing about in post office queues! Some of what I sell is new with tags or toys kids got but already have but not always.

Big things on Facebook marketplace. Some stuff won't make much money so I just send to charity shop. I kinda stick to the rule of if it's worth less than £5 it goes to charity shop. That will help get rid of lots! U can bundle up toys though too I've done that before, mainly baby toddler toys.

Check sold prices on eBay before deciding. Some stuff gets surprisingly gd money. Clothes are better sold in size bundles by season unless a particular item is designer or like a decent high street branded jacket.

I made enough over a few years to take the kids to Disneyland for 4 days staying onsite and spending money, was about £3k. That was less than 2yrs ago. I'm back up at over £2k again. If you're not needing the cash put it aside and do something nice with the kids.

When I felt like you, I donated it all. Since then, I’ve had the space and time to sell things as I go. I’ve made over £500 from Vinted this way.

Vinted. I'm on mounjaro so having to sell and buy clothes.. vinted tells me I've made over 3 Grand in a year.
I don't like clutter.. I'm always clearing out.

I didn't know there were clothes banks, I would rather give to them. I've taken warm coats, gloves etc to the homeless shelter but they list what they need and it doesn't include most of the stuff I am getting rid of. I do choose which charity shop I use though, always the local hospice which I have some connection with.

@tedibear Royalmail postage I print the label at home and they pick it up for free. No standing about in post office queues! Some of what I sell is new with tags or toys kids got but already have but not always.

I've been getting QR code that the Post Office counter scans & puts the label on for me but still have to go there & stand around waiting which has got worse since the closure of our main PO. I've been pondering about having the postie bring the label or printing myself. Is that hard to set up as I'm a bit of a tecchie pleb? Do the labels have to be sticky or can you sellotape them on? Thank you.

But if everyone did this landfills would be full up. Better not to buy so much in the first place.

I’ve had a purge and it feels so much better, no time to faff about on vinted or marketplace either. Once you’ve factored in your time there’s often no great profit anyway!

I live in North Germany and there are no charity shops here so I prefer to sell everything I don't want. I sell at car boot sales and twice a year I sell all kids clothes and toys at Kinderflohmarkts (NCT sales). I've made a bit of money over the years. I have the time as I'm a SAHM, DH is a high earner, I see my selling as a side hustle and like to feel I'm contributing money to the family. I hate throwing good stuff in the bin so selling is my only option, if clothes don't sell after a certain time they go in the textile recycling bin.