Almost everybody, at one point or another on their journey to become minimalist, ask themselves a difficult question: What should I do with all the excess possessions I am removing from my home and life?
Should I sell them or donate them?
While each person will ultimately make that decision for themselves, here is a general guideline I have followed and recommended:
If you don’t desperately need the money, you should always donate to a local charity whose mission you believe in. The only exceptions are valuable items or large items you are unable to transport yourself.
This is the solution that benefits the most amount of people: both you and the world around you.
Consider these three reasons why it is better to donate your unneeded possessions rather than sell them:
1. Trying to resell your old, unused items only adds time, effort, and stress to an already burdensome process.
Let’s face it, the process of becoming minimalist for most people is not a simple journey. If you’ve spent the first several decades of your life accumulating as much stuff as you can, getting rid of it is not going to be an overnight process. It’s going to take hard work and intentional focus.
Unfortunately, the process of reselling items you hope to remove from your home takes additional effort: snapping pictures, posting online, answering questions, bartering price, meeting buyers…
To make matters even worse, the amount of money we think we’re going to get for each item rarely materializes. Again, I think exceptions should be made for particularly expensive items, but for the most part, the effort is rarely worth the financial return.
2. Donating your unused possessions provides benefit to others.
Our excess can become a blessing to other people. The items in our closets, our drawers, our basement, or even in the back of our cupboard—almost anything that is still usable—can be used by somebody else. Even if you have no need for an item anymore, almost always somebody in your immediate community can be using it.
I am more convinced than ever that most people want to be generous. If you were to ask a roomful of people, “How many of you want to be known as generous?” 99.9% of hands go up. It’s a pretty small percentage of people who don’t want to be generous. This is something we all want to be true of us.
The problem is, for many people, they just can’t seem to find the margin to become generous. But at the same time, our homes are filled with things we don’t need, items we’ve collected, possessions we’ve accumulated that are unneeded by us. Those items can become the very margin we need to become more generous—and in very specific ways, they can bring help to people and causes in our community.
3. Generosity is not just the byproduct of minimalism, it is also the lifeblood of it.
As we minimize our possessions, we find margin for generosity—not just while we are removing possessions, but as our lives change in the future. Generosity is a byproduct of minimalism.
But I’ve discovered that generosity is not just the byproduct of minimalism, it can also become the very motivating factor that helps us declutter and minimize our possessions as well.
A woman shared her story with me several years ago. She began,
“Look, I’ve been trying to declutter for several months and I’ve actually done a pretty good job of it. I’ve been through many of the rooms in my home. But my closet and my wardrobe, was always going to be the toughest space for me. I love clothes. I love fashion. I knew even before I started I was going to have a hard time getting rid of clothes.
She continued,
Until now, I have not tackled it in any way. However, just last week, everything changed. I was driving downtown, and I happened to drive by our city’s battered women’s shelter. I don’t think I had ever noticed it before. But on that day, I began thinking about the building. I thought about the women living inside, many of whom escaped in the middle of the night from an abusive relationship, with nothing but the clothes on their back and their children in their arms. I saw them leaving, maybe even running, until they found this safe space.
As I thought of the women in the shelter, my mind raced back to my closet—full of beautiful clothes that I hardly ever wear. It occurred to me how much dignity, and how much beauty, and how much honor those clothes could bestow upon those women.
And that thought changed everything for me! I went home, grabbed a bag, and couldn’t fill it fast enough. I found another bag and filled it immediately. The next day, I took several bags of my finest clothes to this women’s shelter, knowing that they needed them more than me. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. They needed them more than I did.
If you have recently discovered the joy of owning less and are beginning the process of becoming minimalist, might I make a suggestion: If you don’t desperately need the money, donate the possessions you are discarding. Find a local charity that you believe in, and donate there.
You will benefit yourself, you will find motivation in the act, and you will bring a positive change to the world around you. What could be better than that?
Michell N. Wilson says
Those are fine pants. My concern is that if pants are extremely agreeable I wear them until they breakdown. Maybe on the off chance that you are as yet wearing them routinely they can’t be vintage? Never entirely sure. My sister-in-law has kept her pants from the mid 70’s. Her space must be a fortune trove.
Kris says
I donate throughout the year to Big Brothers and Sisters … I also donated a nice China cabinet to the Gospel Mission in our area … It makes me happy to be able to help … Purses I know longer use I fill with needed products and donate to our women’s shelter
Debbie says
Donating the purses filled with products is a great idea. I have several, I’m filling them and heading to the women’s shelter
Suzanne says
Many thanks for sharing this very diverse opinion post where each expert has no doubt shared his best knowledge on the topic. Have more success in your journey.
Katelyn says
Me. Becker, thank you for your continued advice, support, and weekend reads. I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to list some clothing and kitchen items I don’t want online to sell. And I’ve been wondering if it’s worth it. Every bit of money earned is good. Perhaps for me, right now though, with little kids, and making small headway each week, like you said, it’s more important to make more progress de cluttering, Than trying to sell odds and ends with all the posting, responding etc that accompanies it and probly only make a couple hundred dollars in the end.
Thank you for helping me to be brave enough to just let go of these things, donate them, and continue moving forward. I know I will be just fine without that couple hundred dollars I might make off of some of my used clothes and kitchen items I don’t use anymore. Someone else might feel differently, and that is ok. Just like you (Mr. Becker) said, if it’s something of great value, like China, sell it. But I don’t have any China to sell so I’m off the hook ;). Have a good weekend!
-Katelyn
Katelyn says
*Mr. Becker, not “Me. Becker” Darn auto correct :).
Renee says
I have two sets of fine China and I mean fine China up to $250 a place setting. If you do ever acquire China and want to sell it it will not be worth it. You get nothing for it. Hopefully you can just keep it and enjoy it.
Chris Mann says
I look around my home at the age of 59 and know I won’t live long enough to ‘elegantly’ dispose of all the things that once seemed so important.
Kathryn says
Sure you can! How long do you expect to live? How long do you think it will take you to dispose of things? Get a friend or two to help you! Offer them a % of any money you make.
AnneW says
Even in North America, there are many things that charity shops cannot or will not handle. The shop I volunteer at cannot accept certain kinds of baby gear and other things with potential safety issues. Check the shop’s website, or phone to ask, and please respect the limits they set–charity shops have to obey disposal regulations too. Some bigger shops have the volunteer base to clean and fix things, others don’t.
Chris Owen says
My experience of off-loading my possessions was a real surprise. First, you segregate all the obviously valuable stuff and put it on an auction site. No problems. The financial transaction provides some solidity to the agreement.
Then you select the junk and advertise it on Freecycle groups. You would amazed at the number of people who say “i’ll take it” but then don’t turn up. My advice is to put a very short deadline on collection. Anyone who fails to collect within the allotted time ( e.g. 24 hours) should be deleted and ignored for future offers.
Third, you look at the gizmos and gadgets you have and you think they must be useful to someone. Phone chargers, USB cables, memory sticks, old phones, etc. So you go to a charity shop, and… whoa!!! They tell you to take it away! Bu… bu… but… Surely? No. No thank you.
European laws say that everything electrical has to be inspected before a charity shop can sell it. And that process is not cost effective, so they refuse to do it.
“You’re kidding! This is a nearly new £200 home Skype telephone system without a scratch on it. Even the rechargeable batteries can be sold.” “Sorry mate. Find a skip and chuck it away.” “What about the laser printer?” “…Skip.” “Laptop?” “Skip.” “But it has a big expensive solid state hard disk in it.” “Sledgehammer.” Huh?
What a waste. I threw an entire car-load of 100% good electronics into a skip because I ran out of time to give it away.
It took me 6 months to off-load. And it was hard work. Beware of stupid European regulations.
Julie says
Not sure where you live but UK civic amenity tips have to provide disposal for electric goods. Or as someone above says use freecycle. Some charities do take electrics.
I believe it’s worth the effort to dispose of items responsibly.
Sell on Ebay and donate the funds to your favourite charity, doesn’t feel like such a chore then just call it volunteering!!! I just sold a printer for peanuts but he is going to USE it! I haven’t (ever!!)
Linda says
I’m sad that you don’t have electronic recycling. My city has electronic recycling days.
Donna Williams says
Our Goodwill in Texas takes electronics and passes them on to a specialized Goodwill in downtown Dallas that repairs them and sells online.
nadine says
I live in Germany and a guy of the german equivalent of Goodwill told me, that tvey throw a lot of perfectly good stuff away. The reason is that more and more people want to get rid of a lot of stuff and the organisations simply don’t have enough space to store everything! They only need a few things like man’s clothing (only seasonal), Blankets for refugees etc. You can ask in front what they need.
Since I know that I sell or give away everything through ebay/craiglist – for the environment.
last but nit least i’m always very thankfull when people sell their stuff for a few bugs so i can save money – i want to do the same.
Patricia Cheyne says
Hello,
I am an artist who is downsizing from one home to a much smaller one — Great chance to minimize! But as a multi media artist my two biggest problems are what to do about my art supplies and what to do with my older artwork. Can anyone help with ideas about this?
Caryn says
Check with local schools, elder care homes, or boys and girls clubs to see if they can use the art supplies. If in the US, search for Head Start programs and see if they can use the art supplies.
Carla says
Is there a local charity or home for children? Domestic violence shelter, Big Brothers, nonprofit arts programs, schools?
Elizabeth says
Your local school. They can use your art as an example. Or Paint over the canvas and they will be very happy to get odds and ends of supplies
Bethany @ Happily Loco says
Oh goodness, I found donating to be so much easier with most of our stuff! When we were emptying out our house, to move onto the boat, we took daily trips to Goodwill.
However, there is one caveat. Don’t donate anything you wouldn’t be willing to give to a friend. Thrift stores put donated garbage in the garbage, where it belongs. So be kind, and spare the middle man from having to throw away anything that wouldn’t be useful to anyone.