I have a basement at my house filled with boxes and boxes of stuff. Baseball cards, magazines, books, knick knacks and other collectibles. I have dedicated myself to sorting through each box and designating a purpose for each item: eBay, garage sale, thrift store donation, recycle or trash. I have found boxes of clothes that I had planned to sell on eBay long ago, and now they smell musty. I picked up each piece of clothing and decided where they belonged. I actually did a load of laundry of the clothing that had some possible re-sale value on eBay. Others went to a Goodwill bag. One box a day is my goal,and I done pretty well in achieving that.
This weekend alone I was able to get rid of two old, bulky television sets and a broken microwave oven. TIP: take the round glass tray out and list on eBay. There is a small niche market of buyers whose glass trays have broken and need replacing. They vary in sizes so one size does NOT fit all. Measure across the tray for the diameter. Keep the ring that the tray circles on and “throw” mention that in the listing. It may not be a fast mover, but it will sell. I bought a replacement glass tray last year at a cost over $50!
As I sort and sort I make sure to put similar items together in the garage sale section. I have accumulated about one half dozen boxes so far. I’ve made a few trips to the Goodwill box in the back of the parking lot of my local Safeway grocery store. I’ve recycled lots of old papers and tons of unusable boxes. I’m starting to see a difference. When I don’t feel like grabbing a new box, I make sure that I have put the contents to previous boxes completely away.
Tonight after writing this blog I will iron a couple of the clean shirts I plan to list on eBay. They are in great condition and are Polo by Ralph Lauren long sleeved button shirts. It’s all about deciding what’s worth the time spent on it. The garage sale approach is like the end of the line, one last ditch effort to make some money. If it doesn’t sell there, all the garage sale remains will go right to Goodwill and not back in my house.
Another important time saving strategy is to only touch each item once if possible. That’s why having all those categories works well with my sorting. It’s encouraging to see the progress I am making. Keeping the momentum and not getting overwhelmed is crucial. I may not be getting it done as soon as I’d like, but I am happy to say that Spring Cleaning in January is the only way to go! Recycle, remove or Re-sell! Slow and steady wins the race!
