Why You Should Sell Your Unused Items

Have you ever taken the time to look at everything you own and really notice it?

After moving three times in two years, I came to really value everything we had (mostly because my back hurt from lifting it all). I started to pay attention to every piece of furniture, piece of clothing, dish, and keepsake that we packed, unpacked, and moved again and again.

We had a hard time getting furniture, dishes, silverware, etc. when we were first married. In the first few years of our marriage, we got a lot of stuff from shopping at auctions and getting hand-me-downs from relatives. At the time, I didn’t even know it was going on. As we started our new life together, we were just happy to have the dishes, couch, dresser, etc.

I felt like we went through everything and got rid of a lot of stuff every time we moved. No matter how many times I did this, it seemed like we always had a lot of “things.”

After our second move, I decided to get rid of between 25% and 50% of our things over the course of a year. Even though I didn’t want to be too harsh, I knew we had to get rid of some of our “stuff.” After our third move, I did the same thing, and what I learned along the way surprised me.

So, what happens after you sell your unused items?

Your house will take much less time to clean

Something about a clean house gives you a sense of calm and peace, like when you watch the sunrise with a cup of coffee. Everything is in its place, the room is clean, and it smells good.

BUT, for this space to be clean and free of clutter, it has to be cleaned first. If you don’t like cleaning your house, you’ll probably put it off as long as possible.

At some point, the laundry piles up, the dishes pile up, the dust builds up every day on your furniture, and you don’t even want to know what’s under the toilet seat. At that point, it’s just too much to think about doing anything about it. Now, imagine getting rid of 25% to 50% of the “stuff” in your home. How would that appear?

With 25%–50% less furniture to take care of, knickknacks to dust, and things taking up space in your home, it will take you 25%–50% less time to clean. How strange! Cleaning will take 50% less time!! What could you do if you had a little more time? I know! NOT. CLEAN. Hallelujah!

Look at your home right away. I bet you can think of 5–10 things in the first 10 minutes that you don’t need. Are you sick of cleaning off that bookshelf full of books you’ve never read? Sell it! Get the books sold! You never have to worry about dusting it again. Did you hurt your toe again on toys that were left out in the living room? Move them! Cut down on the mess so you don’t have to pick things up as much.

Get your time back so you can do the things you WANT to do with it.

When you sell your stuff, the most obvious thing that happens is that you make money

Because of the internet, there are a lot of ways to sell your things. You can sell things on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, a Facebook group for your area, Craigslist, or a good old-fashioned garage sale. With all of these places to sell your stuff, you don’t have to worry that no one will want it. There will always be someone who wants to buy what you are trying to sell. You won’t believe what people are willing to pay for.

This is a great way to pay off debt, build up an emergency fund quickly, or save for a trip. Over the past two years, we’ve made about $3,000 by selling things we didn’t want or need. Depending on where you sell things, you might not have to do much at all to make a good amount of money.

You might be thinking, “Okay, I get it, I should sell my things.” What if I don’t have anything to sell, though?

If you think you have nothing to sell, you haven’t looked hard enough or you don’t want to make money enough. You have to want to sell your stuff for your mind to be fully open to the idea. I wanted money because we were using it to pay off our debt. Also, you don’t know what people want until you try to sell it.

Some of the items I’ve sold the most quickly were the most silly ones (an old broken lamp, a Coca-Cola wooden crate, an old wooden ladder, a picture we had made into a canvas, a broken rocking chair, a rusted coffee cart, an almost rusted out little Weber charcoal grill, a cracked pedestal sink, a cheap coffee table I got second-hand in college). Don’t give up on something before you’ve tried it. You might be surprised to find out what people want.

Tip: We live in the age of “Fixer Upper” and do-it-yourself projects. If you have a dresser, chair, desk, coffee table, end table, or mirror that you don’t like or aren’t using right now, SELL THEM! Everyone seems to be looking for cheap furniture that they can “flip” or fix up. These things always go the fastest.

A new perspective on material things will be created

Think about where all of your things came from as you look around your house. Are all of your “things” things you bought yourself? Gifts from your friends or family? Used clothes from family members? You will probably find that you have a mix of all of these sources.

If you’re worried that selling something that someone gave you will hurt their feelings, don’t be. This is how you live and where you live. You decide if it’s good for both of you. If it’s not, you don’t have to feel bad about selling it. No friend or family member would want you to be stressed out by keeping something you don’t want.

When you’re getting ready to sell your things, you’ll probably go through all of your furniture, small items, decorative items, and clothes. You could also look at the things you have been saving or putting away. This can be hard to talk about because it’s about things we care a lot more about.

Do you have a lot of “memories” from your childhood stored in boxes in your attic or basement? This is perfectly normal, and I did it too! By nature, we like to hold on to good things, and memories from childhood are full of happiness and reminders of a time when things were easier. At first, this area might be off-limits to you, but in the future, you might come here to look for things to sell.

If you decide to sell memories and keepsakes, don’t sell anything you don’t feel good about. It took me years to touch my keepsakes, but I did it because I wanted to get out of debt so badly. I had a lot of American Girl dolls and accessories when I was a child. These were the original dolls and accessories from when the company first started, which are now highly sought after by collectors.

I decided that we needed the money more than I needed the dolls, and that once we got out of debt, I could buy my daughter all the dolls she wanted. I gave up this thing, and it was really hard. But my complete (and perfect) Led Zeppelin LP collection is still very much off-limits.

This will be hard, but once you start selling your stuff, you’ll change the way you think about material things. You’ll see how simple and peaceful it is to have less “stuff.” Everything has a price in dollars. Once you know how much your stuff is really worth, you will be more careful about where you spend your hard-earned money.

Once you’ve worked hard to get rid of things you don’t need and made money from them, you won’t want to go back.

If you can start to get rid of the “stuff” in your home that’s getting in the way, you’ll have more time on your hands because you won’t have to clean as much (YES! ), you’ll have better shopping experiences in the future, and you’ll make extra money along the way.

You want to begin now?

How to Start Selling Your Unused Items

Walk around your house with a pen and paper and make a list of everything you want to sell. Think about whether you could live without the item, whether you would miss it, whether you would be sorry to sell it, etc. Once you have your list, go over it with your partner one more time. Have them read this post if they need help getting started.

Once you have your list, you can decide where the best place where to sell unwanted items. For example, Craigslist may be a better place to sell large appliances or pieces of furniture, while the local Facebook Marketplace in your area is probably a good place to sell smaller furniture and knickknacks (eBay – just make sure you look into rules for selling, shipping, etc.). Then start selling and start making money!

Pro tip: If you’re selling things to pay off debt, you should look around your house and ask yourself two questions to figure out what you should sell.

Are you using the thing right now?

Do you plan to use the thing within the next year?

If the answer to both is no, get rid of it. No regrets! Pay that debt off!

Start today, take a walk around your house, and think about what you could sell to clean less, make money, and not miss it. I bet you have a lot more of these things than you think.