The Pros and Cons of Selling Your Clutter

What I love about organization is that it allows for you to see what you have in each category of your home, so you’re less likely to buy duplicates or overbuy items that you don’t need. Seriously, during every single client appointment there is a moment where clients realize that they:

• Have way more stuff than they realized

• Have bought duplicates of items over the years because they didn’t know where to find the original

• Were holding on to so much that they no longer use or need

During the decluttering process, it’s important to take note of the items that you are discarding and determine if they are in sellable condition. Between yard sales and apps that make it easy to sell items, your clutter could easily turn into cash! But, is it worth the effort? It depends…

Depending on the type of item that you are selling, the juice might not be worth the squeeze. For big ticket items, like furniture, antiques, collectibles, designer clothing/shoes, and more that you want to sell online, the time that that it takes for you to photograph the item, input item details, and negotiate any pricing could easily be a couple of hours of your time.

For items that you want to sell in person, consider the time it takes to load your car, drop off items, and then discard or create a plan for what to do with any items that are not accepted.

There are so many great apps and sites available that it makes the selling process relatively easy, if you’re up for the task. And if the end goal is to just rid your home of clutter, there are so many donation spots to either come pick up your clutter or for you to drive and drop off so that it’s out of your house immediately.

For those ready and interested to go the selling route, here are some things to prepare in advance. You’ll want to include these details in the listing if you are posting online, and you should disclose these items if you are selling/consigning in person. Having this information on hand will make the process smoother and avoid a lot of back and forth/follow up during the selling process, which can add extra time to the process and make it so your clutter is sitting in your home longer than necessary.

• Take clear photos from multiple angles

• Document and disclose any signs of wear and tear or damages

• Provide as many details as possible, including color, dimensions, style or item #, original retail price

• Provide clear pickup instructions (i.e. available only for pickup on X date at X time; available for delivery within 20 miles for an additional $25; cash only, etc.)

Okay, so where should you try to sell your clutter? Here are a few sites and apps that can help:

• Craigslist

• LetGo

• Freecycle

• Facebook Marketplace

• Nextdoor

• Poshmark

• thredUP

As we wrap up January, I’m curious: did you take the first month of the year to tackle any organizing projects in your home? I loved following along with everyone’s progress on social media, especially for those who participated in my January organizing challenges on Instagram and tagged me (@rachelorganizes) to share your progress and befores/afters.