Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Less Stuff! More Money!

It's time for me to deacquisition, hardcore. I have too much stuff. The clutter in my bedroom, in particular, is beginning to make me crazed. Additionally, I have very little slack in the ol' budget this pay period, and a weekend spent at home decluttering might be just what the doctor ordered for my sanity and my checking account both (I do have one coffee date, but that's it).

Clothes with tags still on (I know there are at least three or four pieces, and none of them came cheap) will go on eBay, as will four pairs of new, non-fitting, and never-returned shoes (bought 'em more than a year ago) and maybe a couple of Christmas gifts that aren't my style and/or are redundant. I'm hoping to make $200. What I can't decide is whether this counts as non-salary income that should be added to the grad school stash or whether it is best used getting myself some newer, non-scraggly clothing.

Speaking of scraggly, there's also lots to give away--I think a bunch of my clothes are starting to look like they've seen better days. So off to Goodwill they'll go.

I'd be really happy to have a little less stuff and a little more money in my life.

9 comments:

SavingDiva said...

I'm also working on cleaning out my closet...it's been a slow process!

Unknown said...

Clothes mining is my project for this weekend.

A couple months after sweetie moved in we had a huge yard sale with friends. We probably didn't make as much money as we could have, since we priced things to move rather than to get as much as we could for them, but it was such a relief to have so much of our duplicate stuff out of the house it was completely worth it. All that extra stuff lying around makes me claustrophobic.

Anonymous said...

If I may, I'd like to suggest "freecycling" some of your stuff. The idea is to eliminate good things being thrown away, and allow people to get things they need absolutely free. Join a local online community, post what you want to get rid of, and people contact you if they're interested and then you arrange a dropoff. Check out http://www.freecycle.org/

I personally had two inkjet printers and an old cathode ray tube computer monitor sitting around taking up space. I posted them and within fifteen minutes I got a reply. The interested parties came right to my door and took my junk! That's easier than taking it to the dumpster.

Note that I am in no way saying you shouldn't use Goodwill or the like; I just wanted to let you know about another option.

Anonymous said...

I like the title of your blog - very laconic and inspirational. :) I've got the exact same problem. :(

Anonymous said...

I vote that the $$ you earn from returning, etc clothes should go to better-suited clothes; especially if you will also be sending items to Goodwill. It's not wrong to smarten your wardrobe up just a bit, especially when you're working; and $$ for grad school applications or whatnot can come out of other side income opportunities.

Meadow

Kim said...

It seems to be "that" time of year. I too need to clean out the clutter in my closet, bedroom, living room...all that stuff that I haven't put away after being gone over the holidays. It seemed like little things, a duffel bag here, a new sweater there -- but suddenly I find every surface of every room covered in piles! Eep!

Anonymous said...

Bronx Chica- Yes I did the same thing but last week. I'm happier now!

PiggyBankBlues said...

purging my closet and eating the pantry are perpetually on my still-doing to-do list...

Milena said...

I totally feel your pain. I have a pair of boots where the right one is too tight and I refuse to throw them out or give them to a narrow-footed friend. Anyways, I've got a cleaning technique that works for me - maybe you'd like it.