Decluttering: How to Get Rid of ALL Your Stuff

So you jumped on the train and KonMaried your house, but now you have piles, and piles, and piles of stuff everywhere. If that sounds about right, read on to find out how to get rid of all your stuff that you’ve decided bring you absolutely zero joy now.

While we didn’t actually follow the Marie Kono method of tossing all of our clothes on the bed to see if it brought us joy, my husband and I did go through every single room, closet, drawer, and cabinet in our house to purge and downsize for our upcoming move.

Purging your house isn’t easy, and it doesn’t happen overnight. Our sitter actually come over several times to watch the kids so we could have some uninterrupted hours/days to go through everything.

I won’t go into detail on how we purged our house. You can read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kono, or watch “Tidying Up” on Netflix. But I will share how we actually got the stuff out of our house.

Embrace the Mess

While the end result is so freeing and fantastic, know that life will get messier before it gets cleaner.

We essentially had three piles in every room while we were going through it: a trash pile, a give away pile, and a sell pile.

Our trash pile gave me the most anxiety, because we had trash bags everywhere. They were filled with papers, stuff we knew we couldn’t give away, and just other stuff. The trash bags stayed in the hallway until we made room in our garage for them.

Don’t be fooled by the picture above. Y’all, that was just a fraction of it. We had so much trash that we had to call a company to come pick it up. (FYI, if you’re in San Diego Happy Hauling SD came out the same day I called them to pick up our load of crap stuff; I highly recommend them.)

If we didn’t have a company pick it up, it easily would’ve taken several weeks to get rid of it all in our normal trash. We made sure we were content with being finished with the whole house before we had them haul away the trash; I didn’t want to have to do it again (i.e. pay again) a week later.

The Sell Pile

If we didn’t want to throw it away, we had to decide if we wanted to give it away or try to sell it. Unfortunately, yard sales don’t work well for us where we live, so our “sell pile” was much smaller than I admittedly wanted.

We’re only hanging on to those bigger ticket items, and even then, I have a deadline for how long I’m hanging onto them. If they don’t sell by the end of the month, they’re being donated. (Anyone need a motorcycle, by the way?)

It’s way too easy to keep hanging onto things, just because I think I can make some money off of it. Hence, the strict deadline.

Places Online To Sell Your Stuff:

Here are some options for you if you want to sell some of your things online. I like things with little to no fuss. I didn’t want to relearn a new system (ebay), and shipping things are out of the question.

I just wanted to post once—maybe twice—and be done with it. Also, I never meet someone to sell something at my house. There’s a strip mall near my house, and I always meet people there. Local fire stations and police stations are other great options.

• Make a Facebook album and sell to your family and friends
• Offer Up
  • An app I’ve had decent luck with. Although, fair warning that people will always ask below your firm asking price.
• Craigslist
• Facebook Marketplace
• Facebook Groups
  • I’ve found several specific “yard sale” or “classified” groups just for my zip code or area of town I live in.
  • If you have kid’s clothes and time, this could be a great option. Ask around with your mom friends and mom groups for local consignment sales.
• Consignment sales.
• ThredUp if your clothes are in good condition.
  • Order a “clean out kit” and they’ll send you all the info. Then, whatever doesn’t sell, they’ll donate. Note: the bag they send is about half the size of a trash bag, so maybe save this option for nicer items.

Giving All The Things Away

This pile is where things really added up. We were at the point where we just need things gone, and want them all out of our house ASAP, so I did something similar like above. I gave myself a time limit to give things away, and whatever was left would be donated in one big batch.

Since we had so much stuff, we needed an organization to come to us. If you have to make more than one trip to drop off your donation, just schedule a pick up from some place and have them get it for you. You’ve already done the heavy lifting, so now let them come to you.

We debated between donating to the Salvation Army and Vietnam Veterans of America, and went with the VVA only because they could come pick it all up faster. Neither of them were same day pick-up, so keep that in mind. We waited about a week, and even then we had so much stuff they had to pick up on two separate days.

Where to Give Your Things Away

I asked readers in my Facebook group where they donate things to, so I’d like to thank them for contributing to this list. There’s definitely not a shortage of places that will take your things; you just need to figure out what the best option is for your situation and stuff!

• Family and friends.
  • Start with those closest to you and see if they want your things. You can post pictures on Facebook, or if you know the person well, just ask if they want something.
• Buy Nothing Group on Facebook.
  • These groups are all the rage in our city. You find one based on the exact area where you live, and then you give things away to your own hyper-local community.
• Women’s Shelters
• Salvation Army
• Good Will
  • a reader left two articles about Goodwill, and where items go. Here and here.
• Vietnam Veterans of America.
  • VVA will come to your house to pick up your things. But if you have more than 15 bags or boxes, you’ll have to split your pick up day into two days. Benefit: they come to you!
• Habitat for Humanity
  • Some locations will come to your house to pick up larger furniture items.
• Airman’s Attic
  • On Air Force Bases
• Local churches
• Senior Centers
• Hospice Centers
• Food Bank/Food Pantry

Getting all of those unwanted things out of our house feels amazing. So much so that we’re already planning on going through our home one more time before our move actually happens.

How do YOU get rid of your stuff?

Okay, now it’s your turn…how do you get rid of your things after you declutter? If there’s a specific place you sell or donate to, let us all know below!