sell or give away my excess belongings

I’d probably rather sell them than give away: I need money. I’ve been thinking selling the clothes I don’t wear on flea market in summer when I have time. There really are plenty of them; my wardrobe is full, but I only wear maybe a dozen of those clothes.

I’m in a bigger place than previously, but I’m still committed to this goal – I’d rather have the stuff I use immediately to hand, rather than hidden under piles of excess belongings, if I can.

There have been a lot of clothes swaps happening recently, which are good for getting rid of clothes, but far too easy to replace them with swapped clothes that will not be worn. Must remember to exercise caution with these!

Getting rid of electrical items is always a bit of a mare, so I am very fortunate to have an Emmaus store (http://www.emmaus.org.uk/) just down the road from me. I have been able to pop in and give them 2 TVs and a video player, and they should also be able to take my printer which I don’t use.

Then I need to find some time to put together a box or two of bits and pieces for the regular charity shop. Must try to be ruthless this time!

The house is still cluttered but:

We have Freecycled: a box of kitchen stuff, a hoover, an ironing board, 4 phones, a slow cooker

We have Ebayed: two coats, a suit, a clubbing top, 10 books and games

We have Amazoned: 2 books, with another 38 listed.

We have charity-shopped: 2 bags of books.

Still to get rid of: a spare toilet (Ebay), a load more clothes (Ebay & charity shop), some tools , old videos, a hi-fi (Freecycle), 2 more hoovers and a slate mantlepiece (?)

Not a very interesting update, but useful for me to clarify what I have achieved and where I’m headed next. No doubt when I get rid of the list above there will be more to go!

I have too much stuff and not enough places to put it. For a long while I have thought that getting a bigger house would help, but I’m sure I will just expand to fill it.

One of my big problems is I hate to throw things away – I can’t bear the thought of filling up landfills, especially if I might perceivably need the things in the future. This has been especially difficult when my income has been quite low and I’ve developed an extra strong need to hoard. But now things are looking up, and I can no longer bear the fact that no where stays tidy for more than a day.

So I’m going to:
Figure out Ebay
Figure out Freecycle
Be ruthless
Throw away the toiletries I don’t use and try to only buy ones I know I like and/or sample sizes