One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure

 

Photo by seeetz on Unsplash

Back in the spring, we did a big purge of the house.

We had reached the point where there were just too many things. Things we no longer used, things we had forgotten we even had, and things that had somehow managed to follow us through the years without ever being particularly useful.

So we started sorting.

A lot of things left the house and ended up in the garage. The plan was that John was going to take part in a community garage sale, sell what he could, and then whatever was left would go to the thrift store or the dump.

It sounded like a good plan at the time.

The Garage Sale

The garage sale happened in June while I was in Newfoundland with my sisters. (Good timing on my part, right?)

Unfortunately, it was not exactly a raging success.

There were only a handful of visitors, and when it was all over, John had made about $125. Not exactly the windfall we had imagined.

Still, there was a garage full of things that needed to be dealt with. The plan was to take the leftovers to the thrift store or the dump, but somehow that never happened.

Instead, everything just sat there.

John had another idea. He thought he could sell some of it on Facebook Marketplace. That sounded reasonable too, except that there was always something else to do, and the garage remained exactly as it was.

Enough Was Enough

Finally, about two weeks ago, I said, "We really need to get to this."

So we did.

We decided to tackle the whole thing head on. We started taking pictures, writing listings and posting things on Marketplace.

And then something unexpected happened.

Our phones haven't stopped.

People started messaging us. One thing sold, then another, and then another. We were answering questions, arranging pickups and watching things disappear from the garage.

After two weeks, we have sold quite a few things and made more than $1,200.

That's quite a difference from the $125 we made at the garage sale.

One Person's Clutter Is Another Person's Treasure

The whole experience has made me look at our things a little differently.

When we first started purging, I think I looked at a lot of it as stuff we didn't want anymore, and it no longer had any use, for us, or anyone else.  But now, as people have been buying these things, I've started to realize that they still have value. Maybe not to us, but to someone else.

Instead of throwing everything away, we're finding new homes for some of the things we've accumulated over the years. We're clearing out our space, making a little money and, hopefully, keeping some perfectly good things out of the landfill.

The Garage Isn't Empty Yet

We have definitely made a dent, but there is still a lot left.

Every time I look into the garage, I can see the progress. There are fewer boxes, fewer piles and fewer things taking up space. Our goal is to have most of it gone within the next month and I'm looking forward to the day when we can actually park the car in there again.

More than anything, though, this experience has reminded me that decluttering isn't always about deciding what to throw away. Sometimes it's about taking a second look at what you have and asking whether someone else might find value in it.

Apparently, we had a garage full of money.

We just had to get around to finding it.