If you’re looking for eco living tips, selling your unwanted stuff is high up on the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ scale as one of the more Earth conscious things you can do, instead of either hoarding them or dumping them in the bin. Check out our post for some tips on the best ways to deal with selling your unwanted bits and bobs.
*this is a collaborative post*
When you’re peering into the overstuffed rooms and cupboards in your home, it can feel extremely overwhelming when you’re thinking about having a clear out and selling your unwanted/unused stuff. I completely understand and sympathise. With that in mind, I’ve put together what I hope is a post of useful tips to help combat the overwhelm.
Tips for Selling your Unwanted Stuff
Tackle one area at a time
When it comes to clear outs and organising, if you’re easily overwhelmed it’s absolutely vital you don’t try and tackle everything at once. Trust me! All that happens is you end up emptying everything out with the best intentions, and then you realise just how much of a mess you’re in and it causes instant overwhelm.
Instead, tackle a small area first. Tell yourself you’re going to start with just ‘that shelf’ or ‘that chair over there’. This not only makes it a more achievable task to begin with, it also gives you boosts at each step as you complete them.
Write a ‘to-do’ list
One of the best ways to keep that overwhelm in check, is to write a to-do list. To-do lists are great, because not only are they helping you keep track of everything you’re achieving, they also help exponentially with clearing out your very busy mind. This helps to keep that overwhelmed feeling at bay.
As you manage to tackle your to-dos, you’ll get that little buzz of a task completed. You’ll also be able to visualise your achievements too!
Choose where to sell
If you’re going to sell your stuff, you’ll need to know where! Options are getting better and better as the second hand market is booming!
It may depend on what it is your selling as to where you choose to list, but some of our favourite options are:
- EBay
- Facebook Marketplace
- Depop
- Vinted
- Your Local Car Boot Sale
Some of them, like Depop and Vinted, are more gear towards selling clothes. But places like EBay and FB Marketplace are great for most things. If you’re wanting to avoid postage costs and the hassle, then FB Marketplace really is the place to list! With it filtering results closest to you, it means quite often people will opt to come and collect! Bonus!
Plan your Price
When you’re selling second hand it’s important to plan your pricing. Check similar listings on your chosen platform, and perhaps consider listing at the same price or slightly under if you’re in a rush to sell.
It’s not good to undercut yourself, but it’s also important to stay realistic! People want to be eco-friendly, but they also don’t want to spend more on something second hand than they would to get the exact thing new!
If you’re listing somewhere and it doesn’t sell after a while, then you can consider lowering the price. With places like EBay you can opt to allow people to send you offers too, which can help for those people wanting to buy who are sitting on the fence because of the price.
Package it Up
In our attempt to keep things as eco-friendly as we can, try and opt for eco-friendly packaging where possible! It’s not always easy or available for everyone, but if you are able then you absolutely should do! If we can swap new, plastic packaging for more eco-friendly options like re-used packaging or paper/cardboard, then we are keeping things as minimal footprint wise as we can.
Plan your trip to the Post Office
Another way to keep selling unwanted items both as organised and eco-friendly as possible, is to try and wait until you have a bundle of items ready to post at the same time. In these days of instant gratification, sometimes you’ll get the odd buyer who won’t want to wait an extra day, but quite often if you say ‘I’m posting out on…’ people are completely okay with it!
This keeps your unwanted stuff selling footprint a lot smaller!
Celebrate each small achievement
Listen, I’m the queen of overwhelm. My brain says if I can’t do EVERYTHING then it won’t let me do anything. So I completely understand that it’s not always natural to celebrate small achievements. But I really want you to celebrate every time you manage to list/sell/post ANYTHING. By treating each bit of sorting, listing and posting as a win, your brain will get that boost it needs, and tackling more will feel achievable.
I hope you’ve found our tips for dealing with both the organisation and where to list your unwanted stuff useful! I know it can seem easier to just bin it, or put it off completely, but just remember that when you ‘bin it’ it has to go somewhere!
L xxx
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