Should You Move Your Stuff Or Sell It?
Hi there,
I just thought you might be interested to know that eBay Classifieds did an infographic called “Is moving your stuff worth it?”
Basically, it says that you could save money when you have to move by selling your things on eBay Classifieds, then buying similar stuff once you’ve moved to your new place. It also shows the carbon impact of moving a house-full of stuff across the country.
Anyway, I thought you might like it. Thanks,
-Melissa
Its funny that you sent me this article. The truth is, I sell almost everything, as far as furniture goes, when I move. I sell all the bed frames, dressers, kitchen table and chairs, entertainment center, computer desks, cabinets everything. The only things I move are our mattresses, and my family heirloom antiques that I love.
I’ve moved the antique heirlooms from one end of the country to the other for the last 13 moves. I figure if my poor husband and brother are going to have to lug around those heavy antiques then I need to make the rest as easy as possible.
Also, I like to get new stuff. I have bought all of our furniture from garage sales (except our current couch and our bed) and I usually sell them for the price I bought them for or more. I don’t feel any guilt at all in re-selling it, and then buying furniture that’s new to me.
This move will be even better because the garage sale season will just be starting in Colorado when we get there! :-)
Even though we’ll be getting rid of most everything we are still going to need a huge U-haul. The items I am taking are large and heavy– An 1800’s roll top desk, my parents’ player piano (they used to manufacture parts for player pianos), an old oak table, a secretary, a Victrola, and all my gardening stuff (which is the most important of course!).
Yes, it is mildly a pain to have six people eating off of a card table until I find the “right” kitchen table and chairs or sitting on the floor to watch TV until I find a couch but it’s usually for not more than a month.
As for carbon footprint, that’s not a consideration for me since I don’t believe in that stuff. For me it’s all financial and I just want a new look in a new house, again. Besides, I bought mostly used each time.
In case you’re wondering, we are estimating that this move will cost us around $1500-$2000.
-Tawra
One thing I have found in my moves is, more often than not, the furniture that fits perfectly in the house I have now and suits my needs now doesn’t fit quit right in my next house.
This is especially true because my house style changes from one move to the next. The things I had in my 1917 era 2500 square foot house didn’t work or look right in my 750 square foot one room log cabin and now nothing I have works at all in my 1950’s track house.
There are other considerations, too. The house I am in now has just two four by two foot closets in the whole house– no other closets or linen closets so I need lots of shelves and free standing cabinets. My next house may have a couple of walk in closets and lots of storage.
-Jill
I agree that it’s not worth it to move most of your “stuff” when you make a long distance move. We used our moving boxes as end tables with scrap fabric from my stash as coverings and just used our favorite antique rocking and oak chairs that we moved to sit on before we found a 2nd hand love seat for our couch. We weighed the cost of moving also with the fact that our mattress was nearly 20 years old and due for replacement and issues like that.
Really, your Moving On a Dime is a great resource for thinking this sort of thing out.
Thinking back, I wish we had pared down more. A dresser we thought was in better condition and would cost more to replace really didn’t survive the move well.
This is all true. I know because I’ve done my share of cross country moving. During my last move I liquidated all furniture and got everything down to 25 boxes. I still got a hefty quote and the mover explained that boxes weigh the most, furniture doesn’t usually weigh all that much, even washers and dryers. Needless to say, I then reduced the boxes until I was down to 15. When the boxes finally arrived and I went through them I was amazed at the contents. Most of that stuff really didn’t need to be sent from California to Massachusetts. Reduce, reduce, reduce!
Another side note – don’t rent storage sheds! If you put everything away for a couple of years and pay to store it, was it really worth the $2,000 it cost? And I say this reluctantly because my family business is mini-storage!
At one point I had 25 photo albums and a big move was looming. I drank a glass of wine one night, took a deep breath and started removing pictures until I had them all in one medium sized box, then tossed the photo albums. It seemed like a step in the wrong direction orgranizationally, but was the only thing that made sense.
I have no plans to move anytime soon, but I’ve already told my husband that when we move the next time, I’m going to sell off most everything in this house. I have packed up houses and moved SO many times! It’s not worth moving most ordinary things. Plus, I think it will greatly reduce my stress level in the next move if I don’t have to spend weeks packing stuff up.
I want to have a yard sale to sell most of our furniture. My dilemma is that I live in an apartment. Any suggestions? Thank you!
Ask the complex and all the neighbors if you could set up a community one in the parking lot.
Mandy another thing is we make the most money off of the large items like furniture and instead of having the mess of moving the heavy pieces in or out for the sale you could place an ad on Craig’s list first and see what you can sell on there. It maybe you can sell most of it there then if you have small things left you can set up a couple of table for that(with your neighbors like Tawra said) or you may find that for the amount you would make it would just be easier to donate to charity.
Thank you for the suggestions! I think I will give them all a try.
My fiance and I moved last year. Since we were in an apartment that would not allow us to sell our items, we donated a lot of items to various charity thrift stores. We had the bonus of being able to write of the tax deduction.
Donating made me feel better on so many levels: We had less to carry up stairs. We helped our community. And most of all, out carbon footprint was greatly reduced. As a biology major, I am highly aware of climate change.
There’s nothing like moving to help motivate you to declutter.Hey…maybe we all should PRETEND we have to move in 2 weeks and really start to declutter :) Sort of like when I pretend my in-laws are visiting tomorrow..wow, the house looks good!
So true Heidi. I always tell my folks it is a good thing they come to visit as often as they do because it helps me keep my house clean. : )
ok Heidi and Jill I can take a hint.
we are having company tonight so I had better leave and get some cleaning done.
have a great day.
I was just going to ask how you got rid of all your heavy furniture, because I don’t see myself carting it down the stairs out to the garage and back again if it doesn’t sell. I also don’t want people in my house looking at everything. If I post on Craig’s list,do I just word the listing for people to come and pick it up?
We just list ours on Craigslist and sell it there. We haven’t had a problem with people coming into the house to look at it. If you do then you will just have to haul down to the garage for a yard sale.
Great post! My opinion is that people accumulate too much stuff at their places for the time they live there and moving with all of it is not hard and really stressful. Thant’s why each time I’m moving I try to get rid of as much as possible of the the items I’ve gotten while living in that certain place. Of course I have my “essential” boxes for each room and there is stuff I never throw or sell 9but it’s not too much too). Thanks for sharing this nice info!
I recently got divorced to the man who I thought was my one-and-only. It has been the hardest time of my life. Luckily, I have recently gotten my head on a little straighter, but have been left with a lot of stress. I am moving out of his home, but I have not gotten a home to move into. My mom says I can stay at her place, but it still leaves me with a dilemma where to put all my things. I love the suggestion on the page to throw a garage sale. Truly one person’s junk is another person’s treasure. I think I will also need to look into finding a storage place to keep my stuff safe for the time being.