How to Sell Your Things and Make Room For New Beginnings

[social_warfare buttons=”Pinterest, Facebook”]

This is the classic travel blogger tale of how I traded in all of my material possessions to make space for my new life of adventure. I’ve also included lots of tangible tips for deciding WHAT to keep and HOW to sell the things you no longer need. 

Let me first start off by telling you: I love things and I love shopping. I legitimately get gleeful when I am wandering around a sale on black Friday or the aisles of Home Goods. I didn’t understand why you would ever put money in a boring savings account when you could buy something with it instead?

With this love for shopping comes a tendency to overdo it. I buy impulsively without thinking it over, and unnecessarily when I don’t actually need the thing and could really just appreciate its beauty without purchasing it.

Making the decision to move to South Korea and possibly travel the world meant that I needed to do some serious downsizing of my belongings AND reframing of my materialistic mindset

 

FROM MATERIALIST TO MINIMALIST

What do we really need? What is the purpose of having belongings? I would argue that the purpose of any belonging is to bring you joy. Whether that is by making your life easier by performing some vital function or just making your life prettier or more sparkly.

I think too many times I am guilty of buying something I don’t really love because I convince myself I NEED it. The area I do this the most with is clothing.

I’ll tell myself I need a black sweater to wear to dinner this Friday, and so I buy the first black sweater I see. Ignoring the fact that it doesn’t quite lay right over my hips or has some sequins I am not crazy about. Inevitably, I wear it that one time and then it ends up in the back of my closet because I didn’t love how it made me look or feel.

This is how I ended up with a closet full of clothes (two closets actually) and still very frequently felt like I had nothing to wear. I’m sure you know the feeling. Opening your closet door and staring guiltily at your collection of perfectly good tops that you can’t imagine actually putting on for one reason or another. There is no joy in that.

This is why, when it came time to go through and pare down all of my belongings I started off with my closets.

 

DOES THIS SPARK JOY?

First, I got some inspiration from minimalist guru Marie Kondo, the genius behind the book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up”. She also has a new netflix original series “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” which is equally brilliant. Her whole approach is to only keep items that spark joy for you. If you are experiencing any resistance to the idea of letting go of your belongings, I recommend this as a starting point for you too.

Next, I brought in a friend for back up. She sat there while I tried on almost every item of clothing in my closet and sorted them into two piles: “keep” and “donate”. She kept me accountable and wouldn’t let me put anything in the “keep” pile without first trying it on.

Side note: I decided not to go through the  hassle of selling any of my clothes because it seemed more trouble than it was worth. However, if you are interested in selling clothing, there are several options. You can look up your local Plato’s Closet. They buy back certain items of clothing for usually a pretty low price, but every dollar counts and can add up! You could also try a new online platform called Poshmark, which connects users together to buy and sell used clothing.

As I tried on each item of clothing, I would look in the mirror and ask myself ‘Do I love this?’ ‘Does this bring me joy?’ If the answer wasn’t a hell yes, then it was a hell no. My friend also noticed that she could tell based on my body language if I loved the clothes or not. I would change my posture and strut a little bit more when I was really feeling an outfit.

Anytime I would try to cling to some piece of clothing that wasn’t actually serving me anymore, I reminded myself how letting it go could clear the way for me to buy something I truly loved. Something I wanted to wear all the time. With this outlook, each item I got rid of felt like a new possibility opening up. 

I applied much of this same process and logic to all of my other items sequentially. Once I got in the groove, this became easier and easier and started to actually be fun. I tackled one room/ area at a time and worked my way slowly around my apartment creating pile after pile.

I also started a pile of all the things I wanted to sell, because I desperately needed some money to fund my travels. Which brings me to my next segment with all the tips and tricks for selling your things!

 

FB MARKETPLACE vs. CRAIGSLIST

I initially started by listing all of my big ticket items (couch, bed, TV) on Craigslist, but ultimately ended up  loving FB Marketplace. If I had to do it again, I would ditch craigslist entirely and go solely with FB marketplace. Here is why I love it so much:

• Posting items is such a quick and easy process. You can do it directly from your phone- which is so nice when you are posting lots of little things.
• There is a higher quality of users/ interested buyers. I found I was much more likely to get a response on an item and people were much more likely to take action (i.e. actually come and pick up the item) on FB marketplace than on Craigslist. They also stuck to the asking pricing more often and didn’t try to grossly undercut me.
• The interface is prettier and more user friendly.
• It organizes messages by item so you can easily see all the different people who are interested in one particular item.

My advice is FB Marketplace all the way. Don’t even waste your time and energy with Craigslist.

 

LISTING AND SELLING

The blog post that served as my main inspiration during this time was this one by Be My Travel Muse. It is a goldmine of solid tangible advice about navigating this crazy process. Using her ideas as a launching point, I was able to fine tune my formula for selling.

First, I did market research. I browsed through items similar to mine that were currently listed on the market place. This helped me figure out my starting price point.

Next I would create a beautiful post. This meant taking GOOD pictures and making sure the item looked pristine. I used my DSLR camera for most of my bigger items to get high quality images. I took pictures from multiple different angles, made sure there was adequate lighting, etc. I cleaned and/or vacuumed the item and sometimes even staged them (i.e. with my couch I put all my favorite throw pillows and blankets on it to make it look cozy). Do not underestimate the power of high quality images.

Then, I would use some fun and fancy adjectives in titling my post. “Elegant and Cozy Couch w/ Reversible Chaise” catches the attention more than “Grey Couch- barely used”. Here are some adjectives you could use to jazz up your titles: elegant, chic, vibrant, luxurious, polished, woven, lovely, handcrafted, sleek, rustic, colorful, patterned, stylish, modern, bright.

 

THE PRICE IS RIGHT

When I was finally ready to post, I would price the item at whatever I decided during my market research phase. Then based on my responses (or lack thereof) I would adjust the price accordingly.

If I got tons of inquiries about it, I would simply raise the price. I would message back the interested buyers something like “I actually have a TON of people interested in this item. Would you be willing to pay _  “. Usually at least one person was willing to pay $10-$15 more than my initial asking price.

If I didn’t get any interested buyers in 24hrs or so I would (begrudgingly) lower the price by about $10 and repost the item.

Disclaimer: There were times I held out and did not lower the price, with my TV for example. People KEPT trying to undercut me on the price with my TV, but I didn’t cave partially because I was stubborn and partially because I thought it was a fair price. Finally, on the day before I had to be out of my apartment someone messaged me about the TV willing to pay asking price- and within an hour they came to pick it up. It was magical and I was so glad I waited.

If you have the time, I would definitely suggest being patient and waiting it out instead of lowering the prices immediately. I however, had to do this whole process in a week and half, so usually it was worth it for me to get rid of items even if it meant losing $5 here or $10 there.

OTHER WORDS OF WISDOM

Make yourself available, as in plan to stick around your place as much as possible while selling your things. It was much easier for my buyers when I could just say “I’ll be home anytime after 1pm for the whole week so stop by whenever”. There were times when I would lose out on a sale because I wasn’t at my apartment for someone to go pick it up. Especially if you are trying to do this with a time deadline, I would make it a priority to be home during this time.

Although I never ran into a Craigslist killer during my purging process, safety is a real thing to consider. Be smart and protect yourself and your privacy as much as possible.

I waited to give my address out until the buyer was essentially en route. Since I lived in an apartment building, I just gave the building address and not my actual apartment number. I met them at the front door and if they were buying a smaller item I would just bring the item to the door with me. That way they never even knew which apartment I lived in. If you live in a house or town home you could consider giving out the nearest cross streets and meeting the buyers there.

Trust your gut feelings. If you are meeting someone at the front door and they feel sketchy to you for whatever reason, listen to that. You don’t have to take them into your home. You can make up some reason why you are not able to sell them their desired item. “Someone else actually just came to pick it up, I’m sorry!” ” I decided I can’t part with it”. It is ok to be flakey for your own safety.

All of that being said, I honestly never felt unsafe around any of the myriad of people who came to pick up my various belongings. Most of them were incredibly nice and friendly. It was fun to talk to them and hear how they were planning to use the things they were buying from me.

It took about a week and half of being in almost constant communication on Facebook and meeting up with people from all over the Pittsburgh Greater area, but I was ultimately able to sell every last thing except my handmade headboard and my old wooden desk.

Now, everything I own fits in my tiny Honda (which I am not yet ready to sell) and I am moving ever closer to my travel dreams.

What things are you holding onto that are no longer serving you? What could you let go of to make room for new possibilities? What tips do you have for selling your things in a smooth and painless way?