Selling vs Donating?

When we declutter our homes, it can be hard to face the fact that money has been spent (by us or others) on items that we no longer need or like and this can cause us some issues in letting go of them. This can be compounded by something called the Endowment Effect where we place a higher value on items that we own, thus making it even harder to let go!

One way that we can get around this is to sell these items, but before you merrily slap a price sticker on something, or take pictures to list it on the internet, think about this – is it going to be worth your time? Selling things can be a time consuming, not only the initial photographing and listing, but then answering queries and dealing with people who might just waste your time. This can be stressful and it may be easier to donate the majority of your items instead and stick with just selling the higher value ones. There is also the option of re-sellers, who take a lot of the stress out of it for you, but they do take a commission. Anything that you do decide to sell, give yourself a date that the item should be gone by, and if it doesn’t sell in that time, donate it instead.

Selling

For:

· Make Money Back

· Can be easier to let go when you feel there is a return.

Against:

· Time and effort taken to sell

· Things often sell for less than expected

· Can’t move on whilst the items are still in your home.

Donating

For:

· Feels Good

· Quick

Against:

· No return on money spent

Check out my resources page which has a heap of places for both selling AND donating: https://www.thetidycoo.com/sustainability