Three: The money’s gone.
If you’re already following along with my series, “Make a Start on Decluttering”, then you can skip this intro. Go straight to👇🏻 Three: The Money’s Gone.
But if you’re new here, are you overwhelmed by your stuff, struggling to keep your house tidy, or finding it hard to focus on what’s most important to you? This is for you.
I’ll be releasing these posts over the next few weeks, and while there are practical, how-to tips in each post, the focus is on changing your mindset, and reframing how you look at things, to make decluttering possible.
I have personal experience. I have twice been overwhelmed and had to fix it. Let me tell you I’m not going back for a third try! Not a chance!
Three: The Money’s Gone.
Are you ready for a hard truth that applies to any item you have bought but no longer want?
You’ve already wasted the money.
I’m sorry. It was wasted way back when you originally bought the thingamajig.
Or when you bought too many thingamajigs that you didn’t need, want, or have time to use, maintain and love.
This is such a sticky aspect for people when it comes to decluttering. I’ve felt the nasty pinch of reality myself. It’s hard to accept that the money is gone. It’s hard to accept that you wasted it. That the mistakes were yours.
However, since the money was wasted when you bought the item, you are not wasting it now by getting rid of it.
It’s the truth. However there is one catch that gets declutters when it comes to accepting the money’s gone, and that is when they try to tell themselves,‘If I can sell the thingamajig, I’ll make some of that money back.’
It’s not completely wrong. But let’s unpack it.
On selling.
For any item you decide to sell, you will put in physical time, mental energy, and endure some amount of difficulty. That has to be weighed up against the dollar amount you believe you’ll get back for your efforts.
Prepping and manning a garage sale means holding onto a load of stuff until you’re ready; it involves setting up a display, an early morning, advertising, and pricing items, among other jobs.
Creating a listing for sale online involves photographing the item, adding info to the listing, and sometimes working out postage and messaging with potential customers.
In the meantime, you still have all the items you intend to sell in your home or, worse, you are paying to store them elsewhere! You haven’t really decluttered your home of those items until they are removed altogether. Until then, you’re still responsible for them physically and mentally.
The Endowment Effect
When you decide to sell, you may come up against the endowment effect. It refers to our habit of overestimating the value of our belongings, and it’s very common.
Because you paid X amount for something and you really loved the item, or think it’s super-useful (even though you didn’t use it very much), you are prone to overestimate how many strangers out there in secondhand land will feel similarly about it. And how much they’ll pay!
It’s unfortunate, but it’s true.
It sounds like I’m saying you shouldn’t bother trying to sell any of your decluttered items. But honestly, I’m just asking you to weigh up whether it’s worth it and to be honest about it. Kidding yourself will hold you back in pursuit of your goal.
Down the track, when you’ve already completed your major declutter, will be very different. At that point, selling a few items here and there is a minor job in terms of scale.
Now. What’s your other option?
On giving items away
If you’ve thought about it and realised that you won’t be doing yourself any favours by trying to sell, congratulations. You can now reach freedom at a much quicker pace!
The options then include donation, giving away to friends and family, or dumping. Sometimes you can even try placing items of furniture out in the street for people to take if they want them (though please adhere to regulations).
When I moved into my new place in July of this year and found it was smaller than expected, I had very little secure storage other than inside my home. I wanted to move towards really living as fast as possible, so I made a choice that seemed hard at first. I put myself in the giving-away mindset and decided to try selling only a few things.
I focused on the prize — a home with just the right amount of stuff. Less stress, easier cleaning, and calm. Beautiful calm.
I started with weekly trips to the op shop and regular dump trips as well. That way, I was getting the stuff out of my home as I went. There was very little to give away to friends and family because, let’s be real, most people are like us and have too much already.
You know what I found in the end? I found that most of what I was trying to sell wasn’t even worth the effort. It wasn’t!
And I wanted my life back. So, more and more I chose to donate and skip the hassle.
Out goes another load!
While still in the process of decluttering, I can already feel that I made the correct choice. I’m so grateful for what I’ve achieved, and my personal feeling is that people wanting to do a major declutter will be better off cutting their losses, as I did.
But, ultimately, the route you take is yours to choose.
Strategy:
Here are some questions and points to help you decide quickly and concisely whether you will sell or donate.
Is the item’s resale value high enough that the time and effort to create a listing will be worth it?
Do you know from experience, or through investigation (checking eBay prices, for example), that it’s a popular item that will sell quickly?
I estimate I’ve resold under .5% of my decluttered items over the years, and I think the two questions above are, by far, the most important things to ask yourself when weighing up sell versus donate.
Let me tell you that the relief you get from being honest and admitting it’s not worth the effort is priceless because 🤗 then you can get rid of those items almost immediately.
A related question: Are you in danger of deciding to keep items if you don’t remove them from the house immediately?
For me, the answer was yes. I’ve been caught out many times before, and I’m telling you the items I kept weren’t loved, they weren’t needed, and 99% of the time they weren’t even useful to me.
Is the item small enough that it won’t take up much space while you attempt to sell it?
Do you physically have the space to store it?
Or is the item hardy and able to be stored outside or in your garage in the meantime?
Be honest with yourself and realistic about the time and effort involved in trying to make a bit of money back.
Also, if you decide to rent storage space, make sure that cost is factored into any decisions on whether it’s worth selling.
If you’ve got a lot of items that you believe could sell, and if you live in the right area, a garage sale might work. Ask some friends or neighbours if they have any experience or advice to offer about whether that route will be worth your time.
Clean, clear and organised feels good.
Hopefully the questions above can help guide you.
My own decluttering journey is taking longer than I expected (and certainly longer than I wanted), but I must share: not for a moment have I regretted this process.
It’s been so worth it, because the relief and calm I feel, even now - partway through - is priceless.
That’s why I’m writing this series in the hope of helping you if you are just beginning your journey.
Here are the links for part one and part two of Make a Start on Decluttering, or you can read my other decluttering posts here (just scroll down to see them).
Good luck, and please let me know if you are stuck on any aspect of doing a major declutter. I’ll do my best to offer advice.
Thanks for reading, lovelies. I’ll be back shortly with part four.
Morgan x 💝
P.S. I’d love you to join my email list for (very occasional) news. Most emails are a wrap-up about my fiction writing, with some links to blogs I’ve written (whether it’s decluttering, writing, or simply life). Plus, occasional sales offers and competitions. I might run another competition in December or in early 2026, by the way. 😉