Needless to say, when you are moving abroad, you can’t
bring ALL of your personal belongings. I was lucky I could store some things at
my parent’s, but I still had to reduce the amount of stuff that I owned
drastically. But what to do with all of it? For those like me planning to move
abroad, minimalists-to-be or others that would just like to clean up their home,
a guide to get rid of (most of) your stuff.
1. Start on time
Time
is money, people. You can get a lot
more $$$ if you have the time to reject lower offers and wait for the right
buyer. If you are on a tighter schedule, it is important to directly start by
selling the most valuable things. Think of how much you want to receive and
raise the price with at least twenty percent, as people love to negotiate.
2. Tell your friends, family,
neighbors, colleagues, class mates…
Let everybody know you’re moving abroad and
selling pretty much everything you own. One quick Facebook status update or
Tweet can do the trick. With friends and family it is probably easier to
arrange a pick up date (like right before you move, so you don’t live in an
empty house for a month).
3. Sell online
Selling without having an actual store has
never been as easy as today. There are plenty of websites and platforms where
you can do this; find out which ones are the most popular in your area. In
Holland, we have the famous Marktplaats where you can basically sell anything.
This is great if you want to sell more specific and/or valuable objects.
Another option is Facebook: the best one for our city is For sale in Groningen. The great thing of this page is that it is
easier to find people who are willing to buy and pick up your things, since
every member lives in or nearby the city. Also, it is in English, so it is
accessible for foreign students, who are often looking to furnish their rooms
with little money. Many cities (at least in Europe) have these types of
Facebook pages.
4. Organize a “market”
This is a good option if you live in a
city, preferably in a central position. If you have too many things to sell
like clothes, kitchen supplies, books and house decoration, it will take too
much time to take separate pictures of everything, write the ads online and
schedule pick up dates. We thought a quicker option might be to organize a
little market in our own living room, since we live very close to the center.
We advertised the “event” on Facebook and we arranged most of our things as if
it would be a real market.
Some stuff, anyone?
We left our door open and we waited
patiently. And we waited. After one hour, nobody had arrived. We kept on
advertising on Facebook and finally people came in (some even travelled from a
different city!). In the end, we sold quite some stuff and it would have taken
a lot longer to sell it all separately online. A few tips:
- Only do this when you live in a city, preferably in the centre.
- Take pictures of a few items to show what you have to “offer” online.
- If you dare: leave your door open and put a sign on your front door saying you’re having a “big move out sale” today.
- Collect some change the days before, as most people tend to forget to bring the right amount of cash.
- Reserve at least half a day for it – we left our doors open between 13:00 and 17:00.
- And lastly: be flexible and willing to negotiate; throw in some stuff for free if you notice someone is on a shopping spree ;-)
5. Negotiate with new tenants
(gas stove, washing machine, big furniture)
If you have the possibility to contact the
new tenants, use it: they might be interested in
furniture or kitchen appliances. It will be a lot less of a hassle if you can
just leave things in their place and use it until you move out, and make the
new tenants happy with a good offer and less things for them to move/install/put
together in the house.
6. Donate or give things away
for free
Especially if you have a limited amount of
time to sell your belongings, there’s always the option of giving things away
for free. Every little thing that is not (too) damaged, which might not be
worth a lot, can make another person very happy. If you’re looking to give
things away for free, you can easily find people online that are looking
exactly for that thing you were considering throwing away. Besides giving things to friends and family, I donated a car full of stuff (books, decorative
items, kitchen supplies etc) to the local thrift store and several huge bags filled
with clothes and shoes to charity. Damn, I owned more clothes that I didn’t wear than the ones I actually do
wear... and let's not even talk about the amount of shoes I kept since I was 13 (not kidding).
7. Last option: trash.
All you have left now are things you want to
keep and things that are broken or that have no good use for anyone anymore.
This last category, obviously, can be thrown away. Bigger objects, let’s say a
broken oven, could be more difficult to get rid of. Online you should be able
to find special services or just people that will pick these items up for free,
as they can be useful for separate parts.
As I’m a “collector” (or a hoarder?), I
hate throwing things away. I tend to keep everything for memories or probable
usefulness. This experience made me realize I really had too many things that
were just taking up space (for example: I had 5 coffee pad holders… why 5!?), that
I can live with a lot less, and that sometimes it is just better to let go.
It’s all for a good cause, a fresh, new start. Although I can’t wait to stroll
around the markets in Barcelona to furnish and decorate the new house… A house
we still need to find! Soon I will update you on the apartment hunt, but first
I have to book a flight where I can bring a lof luggage ('cause 15 kilos is just ridiculous).
Getting rid of stuff, check. Next challenge:
packing bags…
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