Any tips on having a major declutter and sort to sell on ebay/ car boot?

[LoveMyGirls]

Half of my attic is now in my living room and I'm going to sort it this weekend, looking at it now I think what have I done, what was I thinking?! Anyone ever done this? How long did it take you to sort it out?

I want to raise money whilst clearing the clutter so I'm going to sell stuff on ebay then car boot the rest and the broken/ ruined stuff can go to the tip.

i don't have any tips, but need to do the same, alrthough mine isnt in an attic (i live in a flat) its stuffed in cupboard, under beds and anywhere else out of sight. i really do need to get it sorted tho

be gratefu if anyone does have some tips on best way to get rid, and hopefully earn some pennies along the way.......

I'm also trying to do this, have been posting on this thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/good_housekeeping/886912-de-cluttering-what-do-I-keep

started ebaying 2 days ago, have been finding it really hard work to start with - seems to take ages to post each item, which is only worth it if you're going to make a substantial amount but I think you pick up speed.

Basically my strategy is:

• take small/low-value stuff straight to charity shop
• sell it (in this case I give it 5 days on ebay/gumtree, if that doesn't work a couple of days on freecycle or straight to charity shop)
• keep it (still far too much stuff I'm afraid)

I found car boots a bit soul-destroying to be honest, they take up your whole saturday and although the first hour or so is exciting when you're selling lots, you're stuck there for hours and invariably end up with half a carload still left. Having said that I did make a bit of money on the two I did, just didn't find it a very effective decluttering strategy.

But I'm no expert and i'm making pretty slow progress to be honest, will watch thread with interest to see what tips come up

So far...

I've stripped a pushcair and have washed, scrubbed and soaked it just need to wait for it all dry so I can put it all back together.
Folded one huge basket of clean washing, dumped another load on the sofa, got a load in tumble dryer, loads hanging on airers/ rad's and have 2 more huge loads to be washed.
A huge pile of stuff by my front door ready to take to the tip.
A big pile for charity shop.
My mums taken some books with her.
Sorted a pile of stuff for car boot. (whatever I don't manage to sell I will take to a charity shop.
Once I've sorted everything into piles and washed what needs washing and cleaning (pretty much everything as it smells of attic) then I'll sort them into piles (bundles of clothes for age/ season) and then box into months so I can sell them on ebay over the next few months in manageable piles because I don't have the space to have it hanging around waiting to be sold.
The pushchair I plan to either give to a friend if she wants it or sell on ebay/ car boot.
I also need to sell my wedding dress - any tips on where to sell it? I'm thinking of putting it on pre-loved?

I'm hoping to raise at least £800.

wow £800 thats quite a sum!!! will be watching to see how you get on.

please report back and let us know what does/doesnt work.

we are going away at the end of feb and I could do with selling som stuff for the spending money.

£800 is a lot but I'm hoping I can sell my wedding dress for a fair bit, it cost £1000 when it was new, it's been dry cleaned and I've only been married for 4 months and it's still being shown in the pronovias catalogue so I'm hoping that will raise the biggest chunk, then I think if I bundle the clothes into age/season and put them on quite cheaply they will collectively raise a bit too, a lot of the clothes are from next/ debenhams etc I've got a lot from river island etc too some of which have never been worn. I've done a couple of car boots over the years and I've come away with about £100 both times so it's worth a day to do that imo at least by then I'll know I've done all I can to sell it all.

If you work for a reasonably big company, check on the intranet to see if they have classified adverts.

I bought my sofa from someone at my company, and sold on my old one to another colleague. It's great - I used to use eBay but a couple of real pain-in-the-arse buyers turned me off it. This is like pre-vetted sensible buyers. Have just taken photos of a surplus rug to upload tomorrow, actually.

You could try here to sell the wedding dress, or a local dress agency.

Thanks for the tips. I'm am losing patience now. I'm back working tomorrow so my house needs to be back to normal, I'm tired of sorting clothes now. Think I'm just to pack everything away and start again another day!

Good idea. And next time, just bring down one load for washing so you don't get behind with everything else and burn yourself out.

The other thing to consider is, what's more important, to earn the money you're aiming for or to sort your house out?

It's easy to end up keeping hold of tons of stuff in readiness for the day you'll finally sell it, but if you can bear it, just getting rid and letting the stuff benefit someone else is a much quicker route to a clear head and extra cupboard space!

bookmarking... I need to do this too. 20 year old tennis rackets anyone?