De-Clutter to Prosper!De-Clutter to Prosper!

Did you know that you partner with your living space? When you create the space you want, it allows you to become your best self. And while you’re de-cluttering, you can earn income from your unwanted items.

Jon and I have been extremely preoccupied this weekend with de-cluttering our Fulton County home. We want to list it in on the market within the next ten days, so we have a lot we want to do. We’ve been painting, cleaning, remodeling, repairing, and removing unwanted items. Jon is taking items we’re keeping to the farm. Rather than being bored with the various tedious tasks, we’re feeling the excitement of our upcoming move.

A couple years ago I took a class in De-cluttering and organizing from Melody LeBaron. We interviewed her in a previous podcast. She teaches that when you create rooms that are efficient and functional, the room will support you in completing your tasks. The energy of the room is more conducive to helping you do your best work. This will help you prosper! In fact, clearing up the clutter in your home can benefit your physical health, mental clarity, and emotional balance. Just try it in one room and see the difference it makes.

Jon and I are finding that we need to “let go” of our attachment to this clutter that will not serve us in our new rural environment. Rather than identifying with our possessions, we are releasing what they once represented to us. An added bonus is that they are earning cash for our new move to the farm! Five years ago we moved to our current home. Prior to listing our house we release the clutter from our previous marriages and the combining of households. Within a few weeks of the clearing of clutter, we had listed our house, sold it, and closed. I’m convinced that things moved quickly for us because we took that first step of clearing out the clutter. You can hear Tricia Molloy talk more about that here.

We’re using a variety of resources to turn our clutter into cash. These include Half.com, Craigslist, and EstateSales.net. We’ve been really pleased with our results! In our new house we won’t have the built in bookcases we’ve enjoyed here, so we’re letting go of a lot of books. We’ve donated a dozen or more boxes to our local library for their fundraiser and several more to various charities that pick up from our front porch. These donations will add up to a nice tax deduction for 2010. Before I donate any non-fiction books, however, I check out their prices at Half.com. This is a very user-friendly service where I buy most of my books and sell most of my books. Since January, I’ve averaged $50/week or over $200 a month from my book sales. Half.com is owned by eBay. Check it out the site if you’re not familiar with it.

Craigslist has also been very good to us lately. Jon has really impressed me with his resourcefulness. For example, when he purchased new tires for his truck that were good for snow and mud, the tire dealer wanted to charge him a $20 “disposal fee.” Instead, he put them in the back of the truck. A couple days later, he sold them for $200 cash! This week he sold the brand new laminate flooring that he pulled out of our farmhouse. We’ll be replacing it with hardwood flooring. The family that bought it for half price were pleased, and we recouped enough cash to pay for a portion of the new floor. We’re in the process of selling the vintage crystal chandelier that came with the farmhouse, too. Today Jon contracted out a plumbing job on Craigslist. We had a couple toilets that needed adjusting, and Jon doesn’t touch plumbing. This plumber came out on a Sunday and charged half what our regular plumber does. The toilets are running great, and we paid him with cash we got from a sofa we sold on Craigslist.

On Wednesday I’m meeting with the owner of a local Estate Sale business. There are many in the Atlanta area. You can find out what is offered near you at www.estatesales.net. Once we move out of the house, the estate sale organizer will help us sell whatever we have left. This includes furniture, appliances, jewelry, clothing, household items, exercise equipment, electronics, and any remaining books. I hate having yard sales and really don’t have time to deal with them right now. This person will come in, price everything, stage the sale, advertise, and take a percentage of the sales. Anything left will be either sold after the sale from a warehouse or donated to charity for more tax savings.

Besides making some extra cash and feeling good about making progress toward listing our house, it feels really nice to know that other people will use, enjoy, and appreciate these items that we no longer need. We’ve also been giving items to family members and friends as gifts, which is nice, as well. And, of course, by re-purposing and recycling, we’re being more sustainable. As we move into our new rural lifestyle we find ourselves cruising Craigslist for farm items that may come in handy.

I hope you will share your stories with us. What experiences have you had with de-cluttering and re-purposing?