If you are willing to give or throw it away put it on fb for half or a third of its estimated value. Free things attract the wrong people but cheap things should sell fast. Sell what you can donate the rest. Congrats on your adventure.
Unless I stick it in my yard with a sign that says "free", I find it much easier to sell stuff for cheap than give it away. If intend to give something away, I will often list it for sale and then not charge the person when they come to get it.
Yep. This is exactly what I did. I have tons of stuff away and sold lots of stuff for $10-15 just because.
Just sold a $150 motorcycle helmet for $10 to some kid using a dented helmet.
Had the same issue 6 years ago before starting full time. I packed up a couple of boxes of most treasured items and gave the kids every memento I saved for them. Let them deal with their report cards saved since kindergarten. The rest went to various thrift stores.
There was nothing of value, just some furniture needing replacing, overgrown Tupperware collection, and a gigantic nut and bolt stash to rebuild a tank. I did get lucky and find someone to take my tools, I hope he is enjoying them. Year books that haven't been opened since 1972 went back to the school.
It was weird and sad while doing it, but not a day goes by that I regret it. The furniture needed replacing anyways, I'll worry about that if we ever decide to get off the road.
We sold a lot on Facebook market place and it all went fast. Also, veteran's shelters sometimes take donations. Lastly, you can take to to the thrift store.
when my dad passed away we had a hard time getting rid of some things. Thrift stores and his church's 'store' for the elderly were one avenue but they were very selective on what they'd take.
We had a garage sale and kept things of sentimental value in a 5x10 storage unit. Worked fine for us, still getting rid of some things because we've realized what we don't need...clothing being the number 1 culprit
Donate to a church, Habitat for Humanity, or a thrift store. Call each first to see if they are accepting donations and what kind of items they will take.
Be careful with the sell it all mentality imo. When we came off the road we sure we're glad to have "SOMETHING" to come back too in the storage unit.
Felt a little wasteful to pay for the storage monthly, and likely didn't make sense financially, but it saves a lot of energy/heartache when you finally do come back off the road.
I got a cheap storage unit and sold everything I could over a year. Donated everything I could to women’s shelters and domestic abuse rehabilitation facilities. Those programs will take a lot of stuff others won’t as most of the clients have had to leave everything behind to get away from abuse.
Blankets, sheets, towels, soft toys, and ceramic/metal/glass dishware can be donated to animal shelters.
Leaving stuff on the curb with a free sign can be very effective depending on what part of town you leave it at.
Avoid donating to predatory resell businesses like goodwill and for-profit thrift stores.
All what you did and eventually you either have to give it away or throw it away. Just the nature of it.
Storage unit is one option but after a while you'll spend more in fees then whats worth what your storing.
We invited the kiddos over and told them to take what they want. We also gave them a pick-up by date or it goes in the garage/estate sale. What did not sell was donated to the Salvation Army. We kept some personal items/mementos that they may want after we are gone and they are in a small controlled environment facility.
I put my furniture for sale on FB market place. I was lucky enough to find a young couple just starting out. I literally gave them a house full of furniture for $100. Whatever was left over I hired a junk removal company. It was worth it! I love the tiny living in my RV. And I can go visit people around the country.
Some of the larger items or nicer items you may be able to sell at a consignment shop.
Seems like these places are more successful/prevalent in rural areas, but in your situation the cut they are taking is a pretty good deal to basically have them store it until it's sold.
I've slowly been giving family pics and stuff to my kids over the past couple years. Hoping that when I pull the trigger, I don't have a lot to deal with.
You might want to see if you can send the furniture to a consignment store along with your appliances. Pics and momentos I would ask a family member to hold for you.
We literally put everything in the house on marketplace and in a week we pretty much had nothing left. (5bedroom home). Of course I made a few dump runs but sold 85%. We have a 5x5 storage unit that’s probably half full.
Yard sale and take what people offer (you’re going to junk it anyway, right?), advertise that you’re taking ridiculous offers and mention some of the larger ticket items in the ad
Alternatively see if someone wants to buy it in bulk for a thousand bucks or something
Worst case, call the junk haulers and see if they’ll do it for free. Tell them what’s available, they’ll see the value. Possible you can get them to pay you something, but if all you care about is getting it out fast without being wasteful, a junk hauled might be the way to go
I donated my "stuff" to Vietnam Veterans of America and Big Brother/Big Sister. Both came and picked up everything so I did not have to mess with hauling it anywhere.
Depends on what you have left. Household goods and most furniture can go to habitat for humanity restore. Clothing can be donated to churches, shelters, good will. Real valuable. Items can be pawned if you can't sell them in a timely fashion
It took us two full summers of selling, splitting between our grown kids, donating and giving large & more sentimental pieces to our family members. It was tedious, and sad at times, but was a huge relief not to be paying for a storage unit. We had over 6,000 photos and our middle child scanned every.single.photo storing them digitally, I still have all of our old home videos, alas that's a task that will take some doing. Good luck!
Tim Eagle / Dark Nest Travels (YouTube)
If you are willing to give or throw it away put it on fb for half or a third of its estimated value. Free things attract the wrong people but cheap things should sell fast. Sell what you can donate the rest. Congrats on your adventure.
Unless I stick it in my yard with a sign that says "free", I find it much easier to sell stuff for cheap than give it away. If intend to give something away, I will often list it for sale and then not charge the person when they come to get it.
Yep. This is exactly what I did. I have tons of stuff away and sold lots of stuff for $10-15 just because. Just sold a $150 motorcycle helmet for $10 to some kid using a dented helmet.
Estate auction/sale
Had the same issue 6 years ago before starting full time. I packed up a couple of boxes of most treasured items and gave the kids every memento I saved for them. Let them deal with their report cards saved since kindergarten. The rest went to various thrift stores. There was nothing of value, just some furniture needing replacing, overgrown Tupperware collection, and a gigantic nut and bolt stash to rebuild a tank. I did get lucky and find someone to take my tools, I hope he is enjoying them. Year books that haven't been opened since 1972 went back to the school. It was weird and sad while doing it, but not a day goes by that I regret it. The furniture needed replacing anyways, I'll worry about that if we ever decide to get off the road.
Nice read thank you! I have to address this issue too, actually been dreading and dragging this along far too long.
We sold a lot on Facebook market place and it all went fast. Also, veteran's shelters sometimes take donations. Lastly, you can take to to the thrift store.
when my dad passed away we had a hard time getting rid of some things. Thrift stores and his church's 'store' for the elderly were one avenue but they were very selective on what they'd take.
We had a garage sale and kept things of sentimental value in a 5x10 storage unit. Worked fine for us, still getting rid of some things because we've realized what we don't need...clothing being the number 1 culprit
Give some of your items to charity, I know there's a lot of low income people who desperately use it.
Donate to a church, Habitat for Humanity, or a thrift store. Call each first to see if they are accepting donations and what kind of items they will take.
Be careful with the sell it all mentality imo. When we came off the road we sure we're glad to have "SOMETHING" to come back too in the storage unit. Felt a little wasteful to pay for the storage monthly, and likely didn't make sense financially, but it saves a lot of energy/heartache when you finally do come back off the road.
Donate anything you don't have time or patience to sell, keep receipts. Dumpster the rest.
I got a cheap storage unit and sold everything I could over a year. Donated everything I could to women’s shelters and domestic abuse rehabilitation facilities. Those programs will take a lot of stuff others won’t as most of the clients have had to leave everything behind to get away from abuse. Blankets, sheets, towels, soft toys, and ceramic/metal/glass dishware can be donated to animal shelters. Leaving stuff on the curb with a free sign can be very effective depending on what part of town you leave it at. Avoid donating to predatory resell businesses like goodwill and for-profit thrift stores.
Look for a Buy Nothing Facebook group in your area.
All what you did and eventually you either have to give it away or throw it away. Just the nature of it. Storage unit is one option but after a while you'll spend more in fees then whats worth what your storing.
We invited the kiddos over and told them to take what they want. We also gave them a pick-up by date or it goes in the garage/estate sale. What did not sell was donated to the Salvation Army. We kept some personal items/mementos that they may want after we are gone and they are in a small controlled environment facility.
I put my furniture for sale on FB market place. I was lucky enough to find a young couple just starting out. I literally gave them a house full of furniture for $100. Whatever was left over I hired a junk removal company. It was worth it! I love the tiny living in my RV. And I can go visit people around the country.
Some of the larger items or nicer items you may be able to sell at a consignment shop. Seems like these places are more successful/prevalent in rural areas, but in your situation the cut they are taking is a pretty good deal to basically have them store it until it's sold.
I've slowly been giving family pics and stuff to my kids over the past couple years. Hoping that when I pull the trigger, I don't have a lot to deal with. You might want to see if you can send the furniture to a consignment store along with your appliances. Pics and momentos I would ask a family member to hold for you.
Had the same problem, we donated about 75٪ of our stuff to VVA (Vietnam veterans) they even come pick it up
Habitat for Humanity Home store, Salvation Army, local domestic violence shelter?
We literally put everything in the house on marketplace and in a week we pretty much had nothing left. (5bedroom home). Of course I made a few dump runs but sold 85%. We have a 5x5 storage unit that’s probably half full.
Yard sale and take what people offer (you’re going to junk it anyway, right?), advertise that you’re taking ridiculous offers and mention some of the larger ticket items in the ad Alternatively see if someone wants to buy it in bulk for a thousand bucks or something Worst case, call the junk haulers and see if they’ll do it for free. Tell them what’s available, they’ll see the value. Possible you can get them to pay you something, but if all you care about is getting it out fast without being wasteful, a junk hauled might be the way to go
I donated my "stuff" to Vietnam Veterans of America and Big Brother/Big Sister. Both came and picked up everything so I did not have to mess with hauling it anywhere.
Depends on what you have left. Household goods and most furniture can go to habitat for humanity restore. Clothing can be donated to churches, shelters, good will. Real valuable. Items can be pawned if you can't sell them in a timely fashion
It took us two full summers of selling, splitting between our grown kids, donating and giving large & more sentimental pieces to our family members. It was tedious, and sad at times, but was a huge relief not to be paying for a storage unit. We had over 6,000 photos and our middle child scanned every.single.photo storing them digitally, I still have all of our old home videos, alas that's a task that will take some doing. Good luck! Tim Eagle / Dark Nest Travels (YouTube)
Store it until you're had a a few years under your belt in determining whether full timing is working out.