Leigh asked the following:

I’m great at decluttering but do you know my biggest obstacle? I have things that I don’t want to just give away because they are worth some money and now that it’s close to Christmas, I need that extra money. The only problem is that Ebaying those items is incredibly time consuming. I need some guidance with finding a way to either sell items quickly and easily or making peace with giving these items away to some one or some organization. I’m having real problems with this right now.

How about a high end consignment store? I’ve never sold anything to this type of store because frankly…I own nothing of value. I have however shopped at a local consignment store and found some very nice items at a fraction of the retail price. I don’t know how quickly items typically sell so this might not work for your Christmas budget.This route means too that you must make peace with the fact that the store takes a chunk of the proceeds. The store I linked above takes 50%.

I would encourage you to ask around and find organizations to donate it to. Take a deep breath, forget about the money spent and focus on getting the clutter out of your house. I find when I try to sell items, I feel guilty for buying it in the first place. Then when the item doesn’t sell for enough money, I feel guilty all over again. Donating just eliminates the guilt for me.

If you have children’s items, consider Grundy Mountain Mission School. Our church supports their mission and my son went on a short term mission trip there. They constantly need toys and clothing for the children.

I Googled to find an organization that takes household items in Leigh’s area. I found an organization called The Arc of Texas. From the looks of it, they sell the items and then use the proceeds to fund their programs for disabled adults. Another option local to Leigh is Caritas which helps low income individuals and families. I happen to know Leigh personally so it was easy to do a quick Google search. I just typed in “donate household items Texas” but it would work for any state or community.

I’ll admit that when I just want something gone ASAP or don’t want to take the time to contact an organization, I post it to Freecycle. I can usually find someone to take it off my hands within hours. We cleaned our garage on Labor Day and by the end of the day I wanted the junk out of my yard. I’m pretty ruthless with Freecycle people though. I post in the ad that if you can’t come and get it within 24 hours, don’t respond. I keep a list of people who have committed to pick up and then don’t show. In the future, I ignore their requests.

What is your method for getting rid of unwanted items?