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My house is full of stuff I don't want or need. Almost all of it is too good to just throw away, but not worth selling. Old clothes and charity shop stuff is easy enough to deal with, but what about the rest of it (e.g 5 crystal wine glasses, an assortment of old tennis raquets)? In this day and age, is it acceptable to simply skip it?
Car boot
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sales corner seems to be the go to for a few on here.
In this day and age, is it acceptable to simply skip it?
Why not try charity shops first just in case. There are about 6 charity shops near me and i take them stuff every month.
Only sometimes they refuse to take it.
I only take scrap, broken or faulty rubbish to skips.
I struggle with this too and could have written the opening post. I am always drawn to quality and hate throwing things away but just don't know how best to get rid. It's a shame eBay is such a cesspit for sellers these days, ten years ago it would have been the answer.
You could see if there's a Freecycle group in your area. People there will take items that they can use, or re-sell. The objective is to stop useful items from going into landfill, which seems to meet your criteria.
https://www.freecycle.org/
Freegle, Freecycle.
This is definitely charity shop stuff.Originally Posted by hogthrob
Yep. Or a stall at a flee market. Worked perfectly for us when we moved to a smaller house. We'd rented a stall for 2 days on Sat and Sun at a local flee market. 35 euros/day. We would have been happy with some items sold to cover the 2x35 euros. So, all was 'priced to sell'. At the end of the Saturday, we'd sold nearly everything for -in total- 480 euros. We skipped the Sunday.
Over here there are specialist 'movers' (I don't know another word for them) you can ask them for a valuation and they offer you a certain amount for the whole kit and caboodle. They also carry it out of the house. Downside is, that they know the value of items better than we do...
In the past once a load has built up, I've laid it all out on my drive, photographed it, and put it on Facebook marketplace and ebay as a carboot sale joblot for a nominal fee (collection only of course). You deal with the odd muppet but they are in the minority despite what some people say.
This saves multiple trips to charity shops, I say this because my town centre is pedestrianised and so it can be a huge pain carting stuff to them, it saves it going to the tip, and also of course someone who needs the money and is willing to put a bit of graft in can make a few bob for themselves and family out of stuff that's bugging me.
I eBay a lot of my clutter…just wait for the final value fee offers to come along. I’m fact, just this minute sold an old tennis racket.
Although, I think you need a critical eye on what is worth selling and what should be given
away or binned. For example, a graphite tennis racket that is from a major manufacturer might be worth eBay’ing. An aluminium or wooden racket needs to be taken to a charity shop.
Charity shops will take the better stuff.
I do quite a bits on freecycle but as always you always get people messing you around
I generally agree a day and leave the bits by my front door on the drive
We've just started the process with he kids rooms in preparation for some decorating, the amount of what is now junk that cost us a fortune years ago is quite something, Ive told my eldest he can use my eBay account to get rid of stuff if he wants, we went through a long 'discarded' Wii console box and for fun he put the games titles trough a Ebay search, one of the games has comparable listings for £60! So its worth putting in some effort if you can be bothered.
Cheers..
Jase
This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^! We have been clearing the MIL house with weekly trips to Heart foundation/ Mencap etc. Top tip is their “sorters” seem to volunteer on mornings, so if you rock up in the afternoon you will often be turned away. We have given them Wedgewood/ vases/ tea services. About once a month my wife gets a nice letter saying “ we have raised XYZ from your donations in this period.
I've found that a car bootsale can work well especially if you're willing to price low just to clear stuff out.
Facebook market place for bigger items, again if cheap or free things seem to go quickly.
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Sounds like similar stuff to the the one and only time I tried to sell at a car boot sale. I priced everything super cheap and yet was inundated with offers at a fraction of that and ended the day wishing someone had simply taken the whole batch off my hands free and saved me the trouble. Since then I've always taken stuff to charity shops instead.
This. My time isn't worth haggling with people for 20p. Life is too short.
I remember doing a car boot sale when I was about 12 years old. Even at that young age I realised it was a horrible experience. Specifically remember some old geezer haggling me down as a 12-year old, on one of those handheld 2" LCD TVs. I think I was brow beaten into practically giving the thing away...I felt bullied. Anyway, couple of days later, he's driving to my house to complain the reception isn't as good as he wanted. Vowed after that never to set foot on a car boot sale again...would rather landfill it!
Watching this thread with interest for ideas. Ive been passed a great deal of decorative china/ceramics. I’ve sorted through it, with loads being passed to charity. For the rest, eBay seems like too much hassle when each item only worth a few pounds. And a car boot sale doesn’t sit right with me when I know I will be haggled down to almost giving things away. Mixed lots at auction seem to also do quite poorly. Perhaps going back to a charity shop with the rest is the best option
I often put stuff out the front of the house with a sign saying FREE.
Even though I live rural usually things disappear to a new home in a day.
On Facebook there a re loads of local C.R.A.P Groups. Take a photo of item, stick a few words, nothing else to fill in (much simpler than a marketplace/ebay listing) Most things go within a day and because it's free once someone says they'll take it, I put it on the doorstep and it goes without me ever having to meet and answer stupid questions or have any human engagement.
If you donate items to a charity shop and are a UK tax payer then don't forget to fill in a Gift Aid certificate (this is usually a one-off with a reference number issued for future use). Every item sold will enable the charity to reclaim GA and you'll get an annual statement which indicates how much your stuff has raised. It can be a surprising amount.
Another top tip is not to take your fifteen year old daughter along to help carry the bags from the car when you donate if you don't want to spend most of the next weekend bringing a knackered skateboard back to serviceable life.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Thanks for the replies so far. I'm very firmly in the time vs. reward camp when it comes to boot sales and listing on facebook marketplace etc. Freecycle and leaving outside sounds like a viable option though.
It's been said of course, but charity shops would be ideal by the sounds of the items you're looking to move on.
As for all the car boot haggling comments, isn't this easily resolved by pricing your items and simply having a no haggle policy? The price is the price, end of convo, easy! Whether it sells or not will depend on your pricing, not your haggling.
I’m not sure if they’re all like this but our local council tip has a shop for things which are too good to bin. I bought a chest of drawers the other week for £22.
From the look of it most of the stuff is donated when people pass away. Quite old style stuff but good quality. Could be worth loading up the car and getting rid of loads in one go. Nothing they don’t take - bicycles, lawn mowers, tables, glasses, dvds, the lot.
I'm happy go give anything of value to charity shops (and frequently do - registerd for tax etc.). It's the small stuff that troubles me. Then again, when I think about the amount of plastic recycling I put out, perhaps my junk won't make that much difference?
While I think of it, I have a couple of (very incomplete) cutlery canteens that have been sitting on a shelf in the garage for 10+ years. What to do with those?
I had to Google to find out what one of those wasI'd have thought a charity shop would stick a bunch of cutlery in a tin and charge a small fee per piece no problem. But I may be entirely wrong.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
Good luck with invoking a no haggling policy at a car boot sale. For most buyers it is ALL about the haggling regardless of asking price, you will then spend most of your time trying to explain to buyers why £2 is perfectly fair for some crystal glasses that cost £30 when the buyer expects to knock you down to £1 and insists that is fair. That is the embedded culture, it is something you either embrace as a buyer or (like me) don't want the hassle and would rather give the stuff away to a good cause. Remember you have to pay to sell too, so the first load of stuff you sell is essentially given away anyway.
That's a really good idea!
This is definitely still charity shop (or Freecycle/Freegle) stuff.
Thanks for this Philip, it does look like there is a local group so I will see how active it is.
I am not on FB but my daughter is and we have been finding new homes for some stuff, but it's hard going, even for free stuff!
That's my attitude completely.
I rather think that's the point of the policy. No need to explain anything. The price is the price is the price, so if you don't like my £2 crystal glass then keep walking. Much simpler!
That said, I'd definitely not bother personally.
You can make money at a boot sale if you've got the right stuff.
Unfortunately my wife loves doing them and I have to help heralthough to be fair on a nice sunny day it's quite pleasant chatting to people and I get to mooch around as well.
Stall cost is usually £10 - 12 and she always comes home with somewhere between £100 - £200.
Cheers,
Neil.
Used to use Ebay but give up on it now
Facebook market place is good and free sold my complete kitchen, an oven and hob and a couple of Nespresso machines no problem
N
We moved house (and country) the end of last year and decided to sell most of our belongings and buy in the new location. I don't know if it was the Cover effect but
1. we sold a lot of of our stuff with house / garage sales - we met a lot of local people that were mostly friendly. For example both our cars sold immediately to a local doctors family (after failing on the usual posts including SC!). We had previously done car boot boot but really for the effort there was little return (selling items for 50p doesn't add up to much).
2. Ebay was used readily as well - surprising what people wanted. Also investigate any speciality firms e.g. for garden furniture and statues or musical instruments etc. On ebay hold firm and don't accept lowball offers.
3. We did donate clothes to Charity shops (they recently actually emailed to say they'd made £50 profit on the sales so glad to help them). They generally did not take electrical good, guess H&S issues
Didn't know of Facebook Marketplace - but have bought off it recently.
Last edited by MartynJC (UK); 21st June 2022 at 21:11.
“ Ford... you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.” HHGTTG
I take everything to Barnardos- only local charity shop with off-road parking - then take what they don’t want straight to the skip.
It’s quick, benefits a charity and I get an annual letter for Gift Aid purposes
When housecleaning we used Facebook groups for large items of furniture - less interested in getting money and just want to get stuff gone.
And in practice about as effective as getting the whole of a Liverpool cup final crowd to sing the national anthem by telling them that is the policy
Last edited by thegreatdogwood; 22nd June 2022 at 08:17.
Not really, in my scenario there literally has to be two people involved for the haggle to take place, just don't be involved. Of course people will offer, but if you have the one consistent 'price is the price' policy it's simple. The moment you budge an inch, it's complex.And in practice about as effective as getting the whole of a Liverpool cup final crowd to sing the national anthem by telling them that is the policy
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