Strategies for elderly who wants to sell (not donate or trash) old stuff

[Anonymous]

I'd start with the trash/donations. You can tell her you are donating even if you are trashing (we did that). That should clear 75% of it and then maybe you can get omeone in to see if anything is saleable. Hearing no from a professional may convince her.

We had to clear out my parents house and there were some valuable items- mostly danish modern furniture - but otherwise it was about half trash/half donate.

[Anonymous]

The stuff is not going to sell. I’d get rid of it and give her $800 or whatever to keep up the charade. Or sell it for a token $1 on a FB but nothing group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d donate the clothes to goodwill or take new things to consignment and have an estate sale for the rest.

Please do not donate crappy stuff. DH recently dropped off a few bags of clothing that were gently used, washed, folded nicely, and organized to a donation center. He said the woman exclaimed about his thoughtful it was, and expressed her gratitude.

I’ve worked at donation sorting sites, and it is a waste of time to trash books that are falling apart or soap you got from a hotel in 1982.

[Anonymous]

You can also have her try “Buy Nothing” groups. It can be very joyful to give your stuff to someone who will use it. Would she be able to do that on her own?

Otherwise, maybe you could hire a local neighbor retiree, SAHP, or high school kid to sort through it with her and post things. An advantage to that would be socialization as well.

[Anonymous]

I would try buy nothing in her area though if people get wind she’s a hoarder they might not want it.

[Anonymous]

Estate by Gail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d donate the clothes to goodwill or take new things to consignment and have an estate sale for the rest.

Please do not donate crappy stuff. DH recently dropped off a few bags of clothing that were gently used, washed, folded nicely, and organized to a donation center. He said the woman exclaimed about his thoughtful it was, and expressed her gratitude.

I’ve worked at donation sorting sites, and it is a waste of time to trash books that are falling apart or soap you got from a hotel in 1982.

Or stained, damaged clothing and furniture. So many people donate trash, that trash removal is one of every charity's largest costs.

[Anonymous]

You can have a living estate sale.

[Anonymous]

The storage unit is nice because it is out of sight and out of mind. It gets the stuff out of the house without trashing it right in front of her face. Once it's in the unit I bet she will start to forget what's there, and you can begin throwing out a box here, a box there...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d donate the clothes to goodwill or take new things to consignment and have an estate sale for the rest.

Please do not donate crappy stuff. DH recently dropped off a few bags of clothing that were gently used, washed, folded nicely, and organized to a donation center. He said the woman exclaimed about his thoughtful it was, and expressed her gratitude.

I’ve worked at donation sorting sites, and it is a waste of time to trash books that are falling apart or soap you got from a hotel in 1982.

Or stained, damaged clothing and furniture. So many people donate trash, that trash removal is one of every charity's largest costs.

There is a lot of confusion about rag recycling and charities.

My town's fabric recycling bins at a big municipal recycling center were from a charity's website that originally said they take any clean fabric items. But then they changed the newer bins at places outside the center to read something more like resaleable items only.

H&M says they take any clean fabric items for recycling but a journalist found that H&M's collected items were being dumped in trash piles in another country.

I walked into my local Salvation Army and asked 3 staff people if they wanted/would accept imperfect clothes for rag recycling. Things like kids' jeans that had intact knees when purchased, holey when outgrown.
Or faded and pilled. I couldn't get a straight answer out of any of them. They said to donate the stuff and let them figure it out.

Now I just throw all worn fabric items in the trash.

[Anonymous]

There's a reason discussion thread about this.

[Anonymous]

*recent discussion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can have a living estate sale.

Do you really want to sit around all day to make anywhere from $40 to $200 if you are lucky. Plus you could piss off the neighbors with all the cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Estate by Gail.

In Iowa? Are you going to send breakable junk there?

[Anonymous]

If it's really junky, an estate sale comapny would probably refuse the job.