Thursday, June 25, 2009

Stump the Organizer!

It's Thursday and it's time to post your organizing questions. Thanks to Cindy for posting her excellent question about meal planning. If you missed Cindy's question and my response, it' here: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=30422473&postID=5685808849892372046 This afternoon I am headed down to Boy Scout camp to enjoy family night so I'll answer questions on Friday morning.
Don't forget about the upcoming Letting Go and Lightening Up class series. You can save up to one-third of the price if you act before July 1. Here is the link to my website to find out more about the class http://clearspaces.org/workshops.aspx. If you ever heard a friend say "I wish I could get more organized!" this class may be the answer she's looking for.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

From an anonomyous reader's message to me: if you want to make money from the items you no longer want, what can you do?
The garage sale is a possibility, of course. Some people make a fair amount of money with garage sales. Others do not. Before undertaking a garage sale ask yourself
1) Am I willing to do the work to sort, display, and price items? Your chances of making money are improved if some thought and creativity go into the display.
2) How will I handle haggling? Haggling is just part of the garage sale process and if will cause you duress to go through it reconsider having the garage sale.
3) How will I feel about having all of my items out in plain view of my neighbors and friends? If you will feel a little too exposed, reconsider having a garage sale.
4) Will I be up to cleaning up after the sale? It's a fair amount of work to clean up after a garage sale. Word to the wise: schedule a charity pickup to arrive after the sale.
Other options: Ebay and Craigslist listings to sell your items. There are Ebay drop-off stores that list and ship the items for you for a percentage of the sale. Two in the St. Louis area that I am familiar with are Cardinal Auctions and StopNDrop Auctions. I am not endorsing or recommending these businesses because I have not personally done business with them.
A physical auction house - example Ivey-Selkirk and Peper Auctions - may be a possibility for items in good shape - especially collectables and higher-end items.
Consider if the tax write-off from a charity donation may be valuable to your financial bottom line. Even though you will not bring in money, the write-off may allow you to keep some more of your money.