How I Made More Than $400 By Decluttering My Home
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A few months ago we did a minimalist challenge with the goal to de-clutter our home. The idea is simple, for 30 days you let go of items you no longer need. Starting with only one item on the first day and ending with 30 items on the last day.
What is minimalism?
A few of you might be new to the notion of minimalism so I’m going to start with a short definition. According to the Minimalists (you can listen to their awesome podcast here), minimalism is about living with only what you need and what you care about.
The idea is simple, get rid of anything that you don’t use or doesn’t bring you joy.
The benefits of minimalism
The reason this lifestyle is becoming more popular is that it has a lot of benefits, here are a few of my favorites:
- Save money
- Make money
- Reduce stress
- Become more intentional
- Spend less time cleaning
- More space
- Become more confident
- More focus
- Be happier
In this article, I am going to share with you how you can make money while decluttering!
What to do with your clutter?
When you are letting go of things you have four options:
- Give them to someone in needs
- Exchange with something you need
- Throw away broken and unusable items
- Sell them and make money!
We gave a lot of things to goodwill but only after we tried to sell them and nobody was interested. We also exchanged our Keurig for a TV which we ended up selling at the end of the month because we realized that we wouldn’t use a second TV.
How to make money with things you no longer need?
Books, CDs, DVDs
Most of you know that I am obsessed with books, you just need to see this post and this one to understand 🙂
So imagine the number of books I have at home. Seriously I have a pile of unread fictions next to nightstand, a pile of unread non-fiction next to my Papasan chair and two bookshelves full of books. I’m not talking about my husband’s collection of psychology, meditation, and philosophy books that are scattered all around the house.
It was hard to let go of my books, I really treasure them. But they were taking too much room and dust.
How I reviewed the books:
- Unfinished books: I started this book five months ago but didn’t finish it yet, will I really open it and finish it one day? (The answer was always no for this category)
- Unfinished series: I started this series a few years ago and put it on hold, will I read the last books of this series? (I only kept one series that I know I will finish)
- Finished books: I finished and really loved this book or series, I am ever to read it again one day? (I might have let go of half of my books with this question)
- Not started books: Am I going to read this one day? (Most of the time the answer was yes)
After filling a couple of boxes with books, DVDs, and CDs, we bought them to Half Price Books to sell them.
It’s really easy, you leave the books to them for a few minutes so they can go through all of the items and they will give you a quote for how much they will give you for the lot.
Then you get a ticket that you can exchange for cash or books at the register. Obviously, the point here is to get rid of clutter so we tried really hard to stay away from the other books in the store.
Clothes, Shoes, Bags
I think I spent most of my time decluttering in my closet, honestly, I think I got rid of 7 boxes and bags of clothes, which is kind of scary when you think about the fact that I arrived in the USA with only two pieces of luggage in 2011.
My problem is that when I am stressed, I shop. And I have been stressed a lot the past few years, so I shopped a lot.
Lately, I have been doing a capsule wardrobe which honestly changed my life! I am more confident and I love going into my closet to find clothes I actually like.
You can read my article about creating a capsule wardrobe here.
So what did I do with all of my bags and boxes? We took the car one afternoon and did all the consignment stores in Seattle.
The first time you will do this, you will honestly not make a lot of money because the easiest items to let go are usually good for trash. But the more you will go back into your closet, the easier it will get to let go of nicer things that you do not need anymore. That’s when you will start making money.
All you have to do is going to Google Maps and search consignment shops near me and then bring your clothes, shoes, and purses.
Everything else!
Where we made most of our money was by selling items on the app OfferUp. We sold a TV, two single bed spring boxes, and more. You can basically sell anything on this app!
All you have to do is take a picture of the items with your phone, write a short description, set a price and that’s it.
GET THE JOY OF LESS AUDIOBOOK FOR FREE!
Learn more about how to declutter every room in your home with the Joy of Less by Francine Jay. You can read my book review here!
I’m so excited to let you know that Audible offers 2 FREE audiobooks to the readers of Hello Peaceful Mind.
Here’s how you can get your free copy of The Joy of Less:
- Subscribe to the 30-day Audible free trial by clicking here
- Click here to get the Joy of Less audiobook
- Select Buy with Audible Credit, you should have received 2 credits for subscribing the previous link
- Then you will be able to listen to it online or on your phone!
Further Reading
- 14 Important Life Lessons From The Minimalism Documentary
- Minimalism Challenge: How to have Fun Decluttering your Home
- How To Minimize Your Closet and Boost Your Confidence
- The Best Audiobooks That Will Change Your Life
- How To Stop Unwanted Emails, Mails, And Phone Calls
Over to you
What are your best tips to make money while decluttering? And how much did you make by selling your unused clutter?
Share your best tips in the comments!
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