Spring cleaning season is just about upon us as the weather is starting to warm up and you can start to crack open your windows for some much-needed fresh air. As you start to mop the floors and give a solid dusting, you start to notice junk that have accumulated in drawers, in storage, and items that you can put away for the season. As you start to sort these items out, put them into three piles to either donate, sell, or get rid of. With items that are no longer needed around the house, out with the old, you can finish up cleaning and now have room for the toys and gadgets that you may have wanted but never had the space.
Donations First
The first place to start would be creating a donation pile, after all, your now unused could bring need to others, provided they are in good shape, at which you will need to throw them in the junk pile. Books are good items to donate, as they are tough to sell, and could be an easy purchase in a secondhand store. Clothes are probably the most popular donation items as they are awkward to sell on your own, but donating to those less fortunate could get good use out of your good taste. CD’s and movies now being obsolete to keep will not net you much selling, so might as well add to the donate pile along with your DVD player and stick to streaming. While you are in a cleaning mood, take a look in your pantry and see if there are any canned goods that you can donate as well.
Time to Sell
In between items that you can give away and those that need to be put out to the garbage are items of actual value, at least some sort of value. A garage sale is a good way to get rid of those old kitchen items for a few bucks. Old phones and iPods could be great sellers online on eBay, and ship them away. The way Pinterest can give ideas to bring new life to old furniture, try your hand at reclaiming and making some money off once ugly pieces. For those of you like me that wanted to take up golfing and have not swung a club since, just do yourself a favor and get money for those barely used golf clubs while you still can.
Just Throw Away
A good rule of thumb is that if you have not used the item in the last year or so, it may be time to part with the item. Unless it actually has value and you keeping to sell or pass down to your children or grandchildren, if you are not using it, get rid of it. You do not want to be like one of those hoarders on TV where you have to climb over boxes. While the nice spring air is coming through your windows, get rid of your junk, and your trash is not another person’s treasure.