Getting Rid of Household Items

[SunDrop 59]

In waiting for my blasted divorce to be finalised (at least we've now past the official point of no return where my ex is concerned! lol) I decided to concentrate my energies in trying to get rid of anything I know we will not be taking with us and don't actually need. I have a couple of books I definitely want to keep, and a very large quantity of scrapbooking supplies that I'll have to sparse down because frankly, it would be like taking coals to Newcastle.

Obviously kiddy wants to keep all her stuff (even though she never goes near most of her teddies, dressing up or board games anymore) so I need to be tactful and gentle about this and encourage her to part with a lot of it, 'giving it to a child who doesn't have all these things' might help encourage her too - especially just before Christmas.

I wish we had a 'yard sale' culture because honestly, the thought of trying to pack it all into the back of the car and car boot sale it all is frustrating, but I would if push comes to shove. I've thought about advertising an open house closer to the time, by packing up everything we are taking with us and simply saying' if you see it, you can buy it' and having a 'till' at the door and helpers in the house. We don't live in a big house by any stretch of the imagination, so I'm not too worried about one or two items going missing.

CDs - I never listen to anymore, since the advent of iTunes, but I'll probably burn them to the hard drive and then sell them in a job lot to one of the local exchange places. Same with the xbox and games, which are different regions from the US so useless there.

I don't mind giving stuff to charity, but with the cost of this entire process and the ability to work for several months on the other side, I'd rather cash in as much as I can!

What's everyone else done/ doing?

[treehugger 23]

I don't mind giving stuff to charity, but with the cost of this entire process and the ability to work for several months on the other side, I'd rather cash in as much as I can!

What's everyone else done/ doing?

It helps that I don't have any furniture, just lots and lots of 'stuff'!! Anything I'm not keeping I'm giving to the various medical charities nearby - clothes, books, dvds, etc, and as I take really good care of my things everyone's been very happy - most is 'as new' lol. I have a lot of stuff that is more to do with memories than anything else, and I'm not that keen on getting rid of that. I aim to fill suitcases when I visit, and then just ship what's left when I make the final move. A friend who moved recently, albeit from East Anglia to Lancashire, suggested that I use those vacuum packs in order to get the volume down - I might try that

[*JG* 2]

Do you have Craigs list there? Ebay? Or like a bargain box in the local newspaper?

I've bought and sold on all those.

[Gemmie 142]

Books I listed on amazon, but bucause I left it so late, only one of them was sold.

My friends helped themselves to what they wanted, which wasn't really much...a book here and there, some clothes.

Everything else: I sorted things into YES, NO and MAYBE piles (that I wanted to take with me). The YES things were packed immediately or at least put next to a suitcase. The NO were taken to the local charity shop if none of my friends were interested. The MAYBE things were left until the last minute and then I became ruthless. Did I really need it? Did I have the space? Would I be upset if I didn't have this once in the US? Most of that pile was thrown in the NO pile and given to charity/friends. And I have to say, I don't miss the things that I didn't take. I took clothes, DVDs, a few books, precious gifts and scrapbooks, and that's it.

I know it sucks that you don't get any money back (unless you're very organised and can sell everything far in advance), but if you're like me - when you're that excited about finally leaving, who cares.

Edited November 20, 2009 by Gemmie

[Jay&Jo 4]

i spent an afternoon back in july listing all my dvds on amazon....!!! its november and i've probably cleared 75% of them. some only go for £1 or £2 but others you get lucky and can sell for like £6 or £7!!! ultimately you get a better price than computer exchange (for example) but its just the time it takes to list them all...

Gemmie: i like the idea of yes, no and maybe piles... maybe thats what i'll do this weekend

[treehugger 23]

Gemmie: i like the idea of yes, no and maybe piles... maybe thats what i'll do this weekend

Seconded Am about to tackle another pile of papers this very second!

[Justine+David 218]

Since you get a free checked item when you fly internationally, every time I'm flying out, I'm just going to have my carry on, bring an empty suitcase, and then take a suitcase (or two) full of his stuff. I know it won't be everything, but we can get some of the heavier stuff out...

[rebeccajo 14]

It's been four years and we are still shipping stuff......

Well, not a lot. But my husband couldn't part with his comic book collection when he moved over. He brought a few of the best in a suitcase when he arrived. The rest stayed in his brother's attic. When we were home in March this year, we boxed up the remainder of them. It ended up being six boxes. They were the red boxes you get at the PO over there - medium sized ones I think - about the size of a large boot box.

We shipped three of them back to the US while we were there. 120 freaking pounds. The other three are still at his brothers. I guess we'll ship them in another few years whenever we get back..............

Edited November 20, 2009 by rebeccajo

[FrostyMist 1]

I'm trying to sell as much as I can at places like Amazon and Ebay.

When it gets closer to the date for me to leave (assuming I get my visa) I'll offer the rest of my stuff to family, and if there's anything left over after that, I'll probably end up giving it away to charity stores. I'm hoping to make at least some money out of getting rid of my stuff, as the money I do make will go towards paying for the things I do want to be shipped over.

[Jay&Jo 4]

my car is the biggest thing i want to sell the rest of my stuff doesnt really matter. i cant seem to find anyone locally who wants it, and webuyanycar.com wont give me a good enough price.. but there's still a bit of time left

[DIARD 1]

My fiance has dumped or given to charity shops and friends most of all the knik knak kind of stuff. I brought back guitars and a keyboard my last visit as luggage. As for the big stuff, he put it in the paper and has sold the washer/dryer. The living room suite hasn't sold so he called second hand furniture stores and is getting quotes for them to pick up and buy it. Hopefully he will have that gone on Monday. Some friends of friends have purchased some of the other stuff like tv stand, fridge etc. His brothers are taking his computer, monitor, computer desk and chair. So all that will be left on Monday, hopefully is his suitcases, a couple of guitars his brother is going to store until we can get over for a visit and bring them back as carryons and a wardrobe he hasn't been able to off on anyone.

He leaves early Tuesday morning so he wont be sleeping Monday. I can't wait till Tuesday!

[SunDrop 59]

Anything that's left closer to I-Day (immigration day! lol) I'll offload on a charity shop, no problem. Drove past somewhere the other day that buys your household goods and electricals. I'm thinking household clearance type situation after someone dies. I realise they probably won't give me much for it, but then there's the time vs. cost investment of having to advertise, respond, show etc etc....

I've thought about traveling with stuff that I don't need right now but want in the future. We're going over at Christmas for 4 weeks and it'll be our last trip stateside until we immigrate. Between me and the nipper, we have a 4 bag allowance, so could get a fair whack in those but I'm worried about secondary questioning (traveling on the VWP) and it looking rather sus that we've got a load of peculiar items in our luggage! lol..

From a cost POV, I'd rather sell it and get something towards shipping costs of the must keep stuff. Craigslist hasn't really taken off here the way it has in the US (sadly!) and the stopping factor for me and ebay is the time and cost of listing when it doesn't sell and the hassle of posting so many little bits. God, I sound like a right lazy bu**er. lol

Gemmie, what did you do with all your scrapbooking supplies? I have to be honest and say there's an obscene amount. I've thought about actually putting page kits together for photos I have but it's totally outside of my usual scrapping style, which is namely pull out anything that might work on the page and shuffle it around for hours until I settle on something. If I start now, I might just manage it but eeeek! decisions, decisions... and the discipline of not actually assembling the pages! haha... I've vaguely wondered about organising a crop, taking all my stuff and just having a 'help yourself' honesty jar so people can throw in some change for anything they fancy for themselves. If I succeed in the page-kit idea and do a crop, then I'm willing to just give away to my daughter's school anything that's left over.

My car is a scrapheap anyway and chances are Mum and Dad will probably give me a couple hundred squid for it when the time comes. If not, then I'll throw it in the Loot for a steal - I'm going to want use of it until right before we leave, unless I just rent a runabout for a week, but that rather defeats the object of selling for proceeds! lol...

And once I've figured out what to do with all the stuff in my house, I need to address all the childhood memories and the baby/toddler stuff my parents have stored for me. You'd think after having 4 major international moves in my life, I'd have my life sparsed down to a handful of boxes anyway! Difference being Dad's company paid for lots of stuff to go into storage for 10 years while they were in the US.

I'm trying to view the process as cathartic instead of overwhelming. This weekend I'm burning all my CDs to iTunes and having a blast going through all my old R&B stuff from the 90s.

[rebeccajo 14]

Why don't you do with that scrapbooking stuff like we did with the comics (except don't wait three years to post it).

If Wes' brother had been willing, we would have boxed them up when Wes first moved over, sent his brother a few bucks at a time, and had him take them to the post for us. He can't be bothered though.

Maybe if you sorted it all into a few small boxes, you could send your folks some money as you have spare and they'd post it over to you.

Edited November 22, 2009 by rebeccajo

[rebeccajo 14]

Oh - CD's - you don't have convert them all.

Wes moved over here four years ago. Ipods and the like weren't so readily available (amazing how fast stuff changes). Anywho - you can buy yourself a few big CD albums and put just the CD's with the corresponding artist's literature into those. Ditch the jewelcases themselves. Bring the CD albums over in your luggage or ship them to the US and place it all into new jewelcases once you arrive in the US (jewelcases are cheap enough over here).

Edited November 22, 2009 by rebeccajo

[FrostyMist 1]

Oh - CD's - you don't have convert them all.

Wes moved over here four years ago. Ipods and the like weren't so readily available (amazing how fast stuff changes). Anywho - you can buy yourself a few big CD albums and put just the CD's with the corresponding artist's literature into those. Ditch the jewelcases themselves. Bring the CD albums over in your luggage or ship them to the US and place it all into new jewelcases once you arrive in the US (jewelcases are cheap enough over here).

That's a good idea. I've been seriously considering doing that with the majority of my DVDs and videogames.