The humble art of selling your stuff
Things have changed since the last time I had a stoop sale
When I lived in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, it was common to have what was known as a “stoop sale,” which was essentially a yard sale, but you know, on your city stoop. I had several in my tenure in the neighborhood. It always felt fun to both sell and buy things from your neighbors, and of course, it was nice to make a little cash in the process. But when we moved, we left the stoop sale culture behind–and I miss it.
Part of the reason I love a stoop sale is because you hand off your no-longer-loved item to someone else who actually wants it. I believe the act of charging a couple of bucks for whatever you’re getting rid of means that the person is way more likely to care for it and use it than throw it away next week–they paid for it, after all! Stoop sales = sustainable decluttering.
Donating clothes and home goods in the city, on the other hand, is fraught. Often you have to schlep things great distances, possibly via public transport, to get them to the proper home. More than once, I’ve carried my stuff somewhere only to find out they were closed for a holiday or no longer accepting the particular thing I had to donate. And oftentimes donations just end up in the landfill anyway. As a result, donations have a sneaky way of piling up in my entryway awaiting their release.
So how’s a person to declutter responsibly? Buy Nothing Groups (and the like) are a great way to get rid of random things, but I’ll confess that I loathe Facebook messaging and having to coordinate with people about pick-ups. It takes so much time, and so often people don’t show when they say they will.
When it came time for my latest round of decluttering, I thought I’d take the time to sell some things on Poshmark and eBay–something I hadn’t done in a number of years. I figured I would get to send things to people who desired them and make a little extra cash doing so. Friends, it was an eye-opening experience. Here’s why:
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