It's only worth money if you can SELL IT ... it's costing you money to store and haul around. It takes time and effort to sell.

It might be worth more, faster, as a tax deduction than as a sale.

I sold some things on Craigslist if I thought they would go quickly, but the bulk of my stuff went to a local charity and as curbside freebies ...

Lazy is exactly right.

And the other issue is defining "worth a lot of money". Does that mean you paid a lot for it? If you bought something for $500, got good use out of it for 20 years, and it's still beautiful/functional, it might still be "worth" a lot. But you've also gotten your money's worth out of it. Donate to someone else who will be able to use/enjoy it.

If something is worth a lot because it is an antique, or rare, and you want it to go to a good home, that's a different ball game - with a potentially smaller market.

Author and decluttering expert, Brooks Palmer, says that even expensive clutter is still clutter!

Have to agree that it's only worth what someone will give you for it, and you have to find that right person.

I like to donate such items to charities that support causes that make me feel good. Then it's more like giving away a charitable donation than losing money.

Also, I've been lucky to have some really great thrift store finds over the years. Some stuff I let go hoping it will be someone else's great thrift store find- imagine the happiness they feel when they find and buy the item.

The only thing I've ever gotten stuck on were some hand painted needle point canvases- no longer made, but highly sought after. I just couldn't bring myself to donate them, knowing that there are people actively searching for them- even though someone else had given them to me. Fortunately, they didn't take up much space. Then I found out that a friend did some occasional selling on ebay, so I asked her if she would sell them for half the profit. She did so, and made a profit of $180. Win-win.

Through ebay, you can find people local to you who will sell your items for part of the proceeds. It sounds like a great idea (and they are sanctioned by ebay- can't think of what they call them at the moment), but I had no luck in finding someone near me who could sell such an item, or would take just one or two items.

I have given many things to friends who really liked items I no longer wanted, but that I felt had considerable value. Example...my Beatle album collection. A friend thought they were all so super cool, and of considerable value, and he didn't think I should just donate them.
Instead, I gave them to him to enjoy and cherish. He has a turntable and said that he would play them.

They are out of my house, and now at a loving home. I don't care how long he keeps them or if he would even sell them. It was just a relief to me to have the big stack of them our of here and in another home.

Sometimes it isn't just all about the $$$.

Sue

Donate! We can't take a write off on our taxes, but someone will be sure to get good use out of them. Just passing it along....

talley_sue,. thank you for your words of wisdom! I have been feeling that I am not a good steward by giving away things I don't use but I love your application of that Leviticus verse.

Thanks, Talley_Sue :) You know I hadn't thought much about it before, but that mindset came to me after DH and I had a couple of hard years in which we frequented thrift stores and found things we needed, in great shape, for far less than at a conventional store. It helped us out, and since the items were in good shape, it supported our dignity a bit. In some ways, it's just passing on the favor and being grateful for where we are now. Your passages and thoughts are right on the money, but I didn't realize it until now.

My mother is one of those who thinks everything she has is worth money and someone should be happy to pay her for her precious things. This is to the point of delusion and greed at times. I don't want to hear about how much her VHS tapes are worth, simply because they don't make the format anymore (need an eye-rolly icon here).

When I downsized, I had to get rid of quite a bit. I let my friends take what they wanted, and donated the rest to charity.

Wonderful article! Thank you for sharing it, Talley_Sue.

I learned a great lesson about the value of stuff when my DH's family disposed of his parents' estate. My MIL was moving to an assisted living facility after my FIL's death. She was convinced that many of her furnishings were very valuable. Same was for the contents of her formal dining room china hutch. The stuff was purchased at upscale stores in the 50's-70's. She prided herself on keeping an immaculate and well-appointed home. As a result, most of the "valuable" things were put on the estate sale per her wishes in spite of some relatives' interest in this or that item.

When she was out of her house and in the retirement facility, the estate sale agent invited the family to come over before the sale day and buy whatever they were interested in. I was surprised by the low price tags. My MIL's cherished Italian Provincial couch, always covered with plastic, was only $40, for example. The agent explained that the style was unpopular. In short, my DH and I bought the couch, two wingback chairs, a console table and a few porcelain figurines for about $200. His siblings bought a few more items for a pittance of money too. After we loaded the furniture into a truck, the agent commented that we helped him a good deal since there wouldn't be many buyers for this kind of stuff. And we all got pieces that were of sentimental value to us.

Afterwards, I replaced a lot of old furniture in our house by selling the old pieces through CL or consignment stores, often for less that $100 an item, and using the $$ to buy things in the style I wanted on CL. In the end, it cost us about $300 to replace our dining room table, get a nicer bookcase and china hutch instead of a single huge crudely made bookshelf, buy two swivel armchairs, a long ottoman and coffee table to complement the MIL's couch, console table and wingback chairs, a second couch, a pair of bergere chairs and a table lamp to go with the second couch, two chandeliers, two wall sconces, a vintage vanity, a long dresser, a chiffarobe and a wall mirror. DH was quite impressed. :-)

Now I'm shopping for a fine china set, perhaps even two sets. I've already made a list of dinnerware/glassware to sell. We've received a number of nice but mismatched pieces as gifts over many years. Mikasa, Royal Worcester, Waterford, Staffordshire, etc. As much as we appreciated the nice gestures, the things sit unused and it would be best to replace them with a more coordinated set. In a way, it would be a joint gift from all the people who gave us the presents before.

There's very little investment value in the stuff unless it's a very high end art or super-luxury brand that sell for huge sums on Sotheby's. Not much sense in paying high retail prices when CL, garage and estate sales, and consignment and thrift stores are overflowing with stuff at rock-bottom prices. As my DH puts it, buy it for your enjoyment, not for resale value. If you don't need it anymore, sell it cheaply or give away.

I think the question of 'value' is so nuanced! That's right -- it's only worth what someone will pay you for it. My family has been in either antique and used furniture and book business over many years. They will not pay you the price that you think it is 'worth.' The dealer has to move it, store it and wait for a buyer -- that special buyer who wants exactly that item. There is the option of taking it to auction and getting more. Even then, unless it is an auction directed exactly to the category of your goods -- fine china, vintage jewelry, mid century modern -- the buyer who wants your item may not show up and it will go for peanuts. So what are your items 'worth'? It may be worth a lot to the dealer who can afford to WAIT for the buyer or who says to himself, "Alice Smith asked me to find her a Waterford teacup and here it is -- I'll offer a little more, after all I have to make a profit." The dealer is playing fair with you and your item isn't 'worth' any more than he will pay you. So you can sell it to the dealer for less than its 'value' and be done with it. Or you can try to sell it on Craigslist -- for less than its ''value' and be done with it. Or find an ebay seller and take what you get and be done with it. Or give it away and be done with it. It is only worth something to somebody who WANTS it! It's value to you is nothing and, unless its the Mona Lisa you will probably never get its 'value.' I hope that makes it easier to decide what to do!

This is what I always find when trying to buy versus selling something. When I need to sell something such as a (just an example) fine china set, I pretty much have to just give it away because "no one is willing to pay for china because no one wants china anymore" but yet if I were to want to buy a fine china set, I'd have to pay hundreds to buy it...why is that? Just thinking out loud but don't you all find this to be true? Drives me buggy!

Are you looking to buy a new fine china set? Because you can't compare used and new.

One of the big, big advantages of buying new is that your selection is huge, the styles are up-to-date, and you can add lots of extra pieces. When you're buying used, you're buying in a thrift store, so selection is limited to whatever it is they happen to have. And that design has automatically got a huge risk of being out-of-date (sometimes that's an appeal, but most often not), because it's the rejct of someone who got it a long time ago; most people don't donate their 3-year-old china, so it was probably "new and in style" 20 years ago or more. And you are stuck w/ whatever pieces are available to you. It is not easy (sometimes not even possible) to buy completer pieces.

I was encouraging my DD to look at thrift stores for things like mixing bowls, dishware, glasses, when she sets up her first apartment (or if she needs stuff for the apartment she'll have the last year of college). But she'd have to be willing to live with what her selection is. She's thrifty enough, and she likes the idea of vintage, so she'd probably be OK.

The reality of CL is that things that are priced right for the market don't remain on CL for long. They get sold, although the timeline may vary. Sometimes it's a day or two, and sometimes it's a week or two. On the contrary, overpriced items languish for weeks or months. They end up making a big share of the ads on CL.

I monitor china on CL in my area now. There's a bunch of ads asking high prices like $800 to $3000 for 8 to 12 person china sets. Sure enough, 90% of those ads have been sitting on CL for over a month. On the other hand, there were a few nice sets priced in the $90-$200 range and they were gone within a week.

The truth about being "up-to-date" is that being "up-to-date" lasts only for a short while. Once two or three years have passed, the things become just another bunch of used stuff. In this sense, "up-to-dateness" is irrelevant for me.

Right now I'm looking for pieces that work with the china and crystal I already have, and that fit my personal style. I like Art Nouveau styling, so my Mikasa Classic Flair china set is perfect for me. It was discontinued in the 90's, but is that really relevant?

With my home style, table style and the kind of guests we have, being up-to-date doesn't really matter. I do know that my parents love using my fine bone china cups and vintage sterling silver spoons for their morning coffee when they visit us. My out-of-town SIL likes to take her pick of a nice cup from my dining room hutch collection when she visits us. In fact, she gave me an antique Art Nouveau pendant as a gift.

When I leaf through Architectural Digest, I see lots of vintage pieces. Basically from every era- the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, even 70's or 80's. Anything works - MCM, Art Deco, Arts & Crafts, glitzy 70's, 19th century Victorian, etc. Be creative and stay true to your own style!

What quasifish said: I like to donate such items to charities that support causes that make me feel good. Then it's more like giving away a charitable donation than losing money.

I donate to my local hospital's thrift shop. The benefit goes directly to my community that way. I might be in that hospital some day! Get a receipt and put it on the taxes if possible.

I've never understood the idea of "collectables" like figurines or teddy bears. Buy it if you personally like it. Is there really that much of a market to sell it later on? It really seems to be a generational thing with some of the now older genration. They passed that thought onto their kids who all stand and guard the stuff at the garage sales or estate sales.

My own kids probably won't have that much stuff to fight over. They'll be forced to bring in a dumpster because they'll recognize that I'm not a 'stuff' person and my stuff is limited and has no real value. If someone broke into my house, there really wouldn't be much of value to steal... a few pieces of jewelry and some loose change, but that's about it. The rest of the 'stuff' just doesn't hold any real value.

Adellabedella (BTW, your name reminds me a lot of a children's book character that DD read from time to time; ) ) Interesting thoughts about collectables. In thinking about it, I can say that people I know from my parents' generation (baby boomers) definitely had more defined collections than most people in my generation. Wonder if that is just my experience or if collectables were a sign of their times. My mother makes references to her precious collections frequently- all her belongings seem to be categorized into one collection or another. Perhaps it is because her generation was the first to acquire things of that nature-- thinking about doll of the month, thimble of the month, plate of the month clubs, and so forth.

Not to say I don't have a few collections, mostly started after I left home-- I think I was so use to having collections around that it was second nature to display a collection of something or other. Unfortunately (or fortunately), most of them don't interest me much and I've been getting rid of them or doing other things with them, such as putting collectable figurines in with various holiday decorations. Most have been boxed up more than they've been displayed.

To the OP though, I was reading something interesting last night where the author was discussing value versus cost. How valuable something may be is offset by the cost of keeping it. The example used was a woman who had a drawer full of very expensive bras that did not fit so she never wore them. They were apparently incredibly valuable at over $100 each, but the cost was that she didn't have room for more bras, so she relegated herself to wear the same dingy, worn-out bra day in and day out. I thought that was an interesting perspective.

Here's a tactic:

After having my second child, the weight didn't fall off automatically as it had with my first. I found myself in an odd situation:

- I had a closet full of clothes one size too small.

- I wouldn't get rid of them because I'd paid good money for them, I liked them, and I wanted to wear them!

- With two small children, losing the weight just wasn't a priority.

- I wouldn't spend money on new clothes -- not when money was in short supply, and I had a whole closet of clothes. How wasteful!

- So I was wearing the same few things -- the only things that fit -- over and over, and I was irritated with the whole situation.

I brought home a couple copy paper boxes from work, and I packed up the clothes that didn't fit -- and I labeled them "to be donated on ______, a date one year in the future. Then I stored them on the top shelf of my closet. I told myself that if that date came and went, and I wasn't any smaller (that is, I still wouldn't be able to wear the clothes), I would donate the boxes ... without even opening them.

Suddenly I had space in my closet. I could see what I actually had that fit. Getting dressed and doing laundry was easier. And I was able to add some new items to the closet without guilt because I could see that they really were needed.

Approximately a year later, I was forced to admit that I still wasn't able to get into those clothes -- and I took down the boxes. I was tempted to look inside, but I had taped them shut to prevent just such temptation. I knew that if I did, I'd be forced to say, "Oh, but that purple dress. It was such a favorite. I will just save it!" But that would've turned into, "That sweater looked so good with the dress -- just it too." In all honesty, I couldn't really remember what I'd packed away. So I donated the boxes without breaking open the tape.

another thing about donating things--the sooner you donate them, the more likely they are to find a new purpose in someone else's life. The clothes won't be out of date; the plastic won't have yellowed.

WTG, mrspete!

Amen to that talley_sue, and to combine your thoughts since it's relevant to my pending charity pick-up tomorrow... kids clothes have lots of plastic-y decals on them these days. I've noticed that with DD's outgrown clothes, even if only stored only for a year and inside, the images often start sticking to themselves and cracking. Doesn't happen if they are washed and worn regularly. It strikes me odd how things often age badly when they aren't used, even if they are well stored...???

Some fabulous ideas in this thread!

I've just read this article: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up on Retrorenovation.com. More good ideas in it. When I went to my library website to put a hold on Marie Kondo's book discussed in the article, I discovered there were 692 holds on 111 copies of the book. Whoa! Really shows the magnitude of the problem.

My small achievement of sorts: I recently got a few clothes as a gift from SIL. My principle is that once something new comes in, something old must leave the house immediately. When I scouted my closet for clothes to dispose of, I came up with 5 pieces only. Everything else was worn regularly, and my closet had about 15% of free space, which was great. My DS's closet is about 75% full - thankfully, he isn't a clothes horse!

I realized a long time ago that it made me feel good when there was some free room in our closets, cabinets or drawers. Now none of our kitchen cabs and drawers is more than 90% full. Also, no random stuff sitting on the floor or surfaces in the house, although I tend to fail in about 30% of the situations. Still need to work on the garage and some other closets, though.

All of the above posts have wonderful insights into the true "value" or "cost" of clutter. Another way to figure the cost: Divide the square footage of your home by its present value. Every bit of clutter (i.e., things that are of no use to you now) that you are storing in your home is costing you that much per square foot.

To follow up on sail_away - emptiness can have more value than whatever stuff is being stored. My inspiration photos all have an abundance of emptiness.

"Also, no random stuff sitting on the floor or surfaces in the house"

Oops! That's me!

The abundance of emptiness is what makes homes seem upscale.

Sell on eBay or Facebook sites or donate. It does not pay to hire people to list eBay items you would get little.

mrspete, good idea about the clothing. I did get rid of most of it that no longer fit, but a few things I was really attached to, stayed. Then, I did lose some of the weight (3 years later it is still off) -- and I can wear my wonderfully awesome winter jacket every year now! (But I'll never get back down to my absolute ideal weight -- so I'm glad that other stuff's gone!)

In general -- I'm seriously trying to de-clutter now. My place was getting towards a mild stage of Hoarders -- I'm tagging the furniture I'll take with me when I move, and will be selling or gifting the rest. I'm looking at the knick knacks, and plan to keep only those I really enjoy. I'm trying to purge the books.

Re valuables to purge: E-bay works wonders. I don't think the profits are as good as 25 years ago when I helped my parents purge their valuables prior to downsizing into an apartment. But something is better than nothing! And if you do give a gift to someone who say, appreciates and will use (as mentioned somewhere above as an example) an entire collection of Beatles LPs, at least you know they're being used/appreciated in a second home.

We offer first to family/friends.
If nobody wants it, it goes to charity.

My MIL was sure her house stuff was worth money. It wasn't.
However, family members were happy to take the big furniture, so she didn't
feel bad. Oddly, the various tschotskes DH and I couldn't stand, made her
several hundred $$$ from an estate liquidator. Who knew, LOL?

There is a wonderful charity here
run by our city. They collect ONLY business clothes - cleaned, pressed, on
hangers - suitable for job interviews. Low-income residents can go to their
various training classes, which include what to do/not to do on job interviews
and how to properly fill out job applications.

For those attendees who don't have nice clothes for interviews,
the charity allows them to pick two outfits for free. When my DH and I retired,
we brought them enough to fill an 8' clothes rack.

My MIL just passed away and I realized many of her clothes also
qualified as "interview ready". DH and I cleaned out our closets
again. His was clothes that had gotten too small or shrunk (he's fond of 100%
cotton and some of that stuff shrinks more than others). I had hung on to some
of my favorite work clothes, including some designer stuff, but finally decided
after five years of retirement it was time to pass them along.

So there went another 8' clothes rack out of the house last
week!

We also sorted through our books. We have around 2-4,000 books
at any given time. Out went a load of those yesterday to the local library for
their monthly sales. But the core of our collections remain: my art books, his
hobby reference books, and the fiction novels we deem worth keeping and
re-reading. Of these, only the art books are worth anything, and only to
collectors.

After I sorted through my art books we asked a couple of friends
if they were interested in any that we planned to get rid of. They took two
paper bags full. They were happy and so were we! Our collection is valuable
only to us, especially since much of it is out of print.

I used to give very elaborate dinner parties in the '70's. I had
six different sets of interchangeable dinnerware and handmade bronze flatware,
with lots of serving pieces collected from various places. Entertaining has
changed and nobody does this stuff any longer.

The main part of the dinnerware was
a classic Mikasa bone china with an embossed gold rim, in a service for 12.
None of my Millennial friends was interested in it, but fortunately one of our
younger Boomer friends was complaining about her grandmother's soft-paste
china. Such patterns can't go through the DW so she had to hand-wash it, so as
a working mother (she was the breadwinner, in fact) it was too time-consuming
to use often.

She was familiar with our china and
said she would be thrilled to have it. Made her ecstatic, and opened up space
for new plain china for us.

Yes, I still have the bronze
flatware. Nobody else wants it, like silver it has to be kept polished or in
bluecloth. Doesn't take up much room in a drawer.

Oddly, one of the modestly valuable
things I own might someday be thrown out by some relative who doesn't realize
what they are. Back in the psychedelic '60's when impresario Bill Graham
presented unknown local bands at the Winterland ballroom in San Francisco, for publicity they did not
only posters, but fliers and postcards. I have half a dozen pristine, unused
postcards of concerts listing Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Cream, Moody
Blues, Blue Oyster Cult, etc., stuffed in a box in the garage.

I donate high dollar stuff to the Bethesda Gently Used Store. It is a way of helping a good charity without giving my money. I donated a knife collection of 20 pocket knives and the lady said you should sell these, they are at least $10 each. I told her I don't want to bother with it and I enjoy them getting the $200 more than I would if I got the $200.

About 15-18 years ago I helped my parents downsize via eBay. I took their items, photographed, and posted. Everything except one item (which it turned out, the ONLY one I seriously wanted for myself) sold. And sold at prices far higher than they expected. (Mom would mail out the items before the check ever arrived, though I told her not to, but fortunately she never got nailed....)

Recently, I looked at the same items on eBay with the current climate.

Nope, things are NOT moving the way they did back then.

But they do (usually) move.

With so many things I own that I want to downsize from -- that someone is willing to give such things a loving and happy home is nearly all I care about. If something I value can help someone else, somewhere.. okay, fine. Yes, it would be nice to make a profit. But the thing is, I don't want the clutter in the new abode, and some (but not all) of these items will provide little resale value. If someone can value the item -- it is SO much easier for me to part with something deemed sentimental!

BTW, do the eBay work yourself. I did it for my parents because, well, they were my parents - but DO NOT HIRE it out. The profits are not the same today. It is even easier today to use eBay than then. Paying to have people help you -- No.

Seriously, if you think you cannot navigate eBay, for this get a friendly relative or best a computer-savvy friend, and feed him or her in a nice dinner. Same with Craigs List.

Consignment shops are my favorite way to get rid of stuff that still has value. I have one that I use for clothing, one for furniture/home décor, and another for kitchen stuff. They all have a split (say 50/50), which works for me since they are having to deal with the buyers and all I have to do is drop off the stuff and wait for the check to arrive in the mail. I've never had anything not sell, but if something didn't sell, I can either go pick up my unsold items or let the consignment shop eventually donate them. I also sell on Ebay and on Craig's List. Another idea I've been looking into are those big "pop up" sales where an organization will hold a consignment type sale usually lasting only a few days.