More Decluttering- In time for the Holidays

Now that you've rested. We have so much more to do to tget the whole house ready. Your house will be so streamlined by the time you have guest over for the holidays.



Yesterday our decluttering let us help others. Today's decluttering will hopefully make you a few bucks. Everyone can use some extra money this time of year. So let head to find CDs and DVDs. Go through them. In this day and age I can't imagine why anyone would need either one- but I realise some people have emotional attachments to these items. Grab all your CDs and download them to your iPod (or at least your favorite songs) and get ready to get rid of them. Now take a good hard look at your DVDs with DVR and TiVo and the internet you can pretty much watch any movie at any time without needing to clutter up your house with DVDs. Plan to get rid of them all- if you have one or two that you feel you must keep ask yourself: How often do I watch this? When was the last time I watched it? and If I lost it, and wanted to watch this movie- could I find it somewhere (ie: OnDemand, internet, Tivo )? Your answers to these questions should tell you whether you really need to keep it.

Now take all those CD and DVD and list them on www.half.com . It will only take a few minutes to set up an account and listing the CDs takes seconds. You enter the UPC code from the case and it will bring up the disc and the last "sold" prices, you then choose the "condition" of your CD and decide your own price, and boom- You're done! Sit back and wait for emails that say "You've made a sale on half.com" You ship out the CD (or DVD) and half.com reimburses the shipping cost. They pay you on the 1st and 15th for what you have sold in that period. I have used this site for over a year and I am very happy with their service.

Let's take a second look at the stuff you cleaned out yesterday. In your closet did you find anything that you won't wear but just couldn't donate because it was worth too much. Maybe a designer label, or something you only worn once, or you never wore it and the tags are still on. This could be clothing, purses or shoes. These would be great items to sell on ebay. All you need is a digital camera to take a few pictures and if you price it well- it will sell on ebay. I have used ebay for about a year and have had great success selling children's clothing, gently used shoes (kids and adults), toys, exercise equipment, safety gates, purses, anything and everything. It is all stuff that I would have otherwise thrown away or donated and instead I have been able to make a few bucks, and it goes to someone else you can use it instead of the landfill.

Now lets tackle the kitchen. I would love to say empty all your cabinets like we did in the bathroom yesterday, but really that is a huge task, so let's not. Instead, open each cabinet and give it a good scan. Is there anything in there (be sure to look deep in the back of the cabintets too) that you can get rid of? Chipped plates, tupperware with no tops, that fondue set you never even opened, that set of mugs that are not microwaveable so you never use them. I am sure as you look into each cabinet you can find several things you no longer use (or never did). Pile all this stuff on your table. You should know by now I am not going to say throw it away. First, see if there is anything you can repurose. Maybe those mugs are pretty and you could use one in the bathroom to hold toothbrushes or Q-tips. A basket or bowl could be used to hold mismatched socks- put it ontop of the dryer to put them in when folding laundry. All the stuff that is left, take to a thrift shop or Good Will. They will take casserole dishes, bowls, mugs, serving pieces, decorative trays. Thrift stores may pay you a little for certian items. Remember it isn't about making money as it is about getting rid of the cluttter.

The last way to pick up a few bucks - and clean out-before the holidays is for those who have a skill or craft or small business. This is the time of the year for all those "Holiday Boutiques" and "Craft Fairs". These usually cost about $20-$40 for a space and some provide you a table, for others you will need to bring your own table. Two standard card tables will work well. If you do not have tables, do not run out and buy them. Ask family, friends and neighbors if they have a card table you can barrow for the day. In most cases, you can easily barrow one rather then dishing out more money. As it is a bit late in the season, registrations for these fairs has probabaly happened already. But look in your local papers for ads for the sales and reach out to the contact person to see if space is still available. If they have space they are ususally willing to accomodate, since the more vendors they have the more money they make. Some fairs will allow you to sell household stuff (kind of like a yard sale)- but ask first, some will not be happy if you are selling junk. If you can sell household items-- clean up all the nicer stuff you have gathered from around your house, make sure to take a nice table cloth to make your table look nice and price low. $40 is alot to pay to try and make a few buck so ask a friend if they want to split a table with you. If you have some hand-made crafts to sell, this is a great place to sell them. As well as any home-party type business. If you have a home business, this is a great time to clean out old inventory (returns, exchanges that you still have)-- sell them here and get them out of your closet.

The last idea isn't for everyone but hopefully if you have gone through your CDs and DVDs, pulled out stuff to sell on ebay, and cleaned out the clutter in your kitchen cabinets- you have decluttered and maybe made some money in the process.

Tomorrow I have some ideas for decluttering Kid's stuff- this is where most of my home's clutter comes from!