Experience of clearing house contents. (1 Viewer)

jacken

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Dec 9, 2007
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Been trying to clear every-thing prior to renting house out and go off full timing again. But golly—the stuff we amass over the years which we think is great but is worthless to others.

Put stuff on Ebay says I. What a nightmare that is. Photograph everything, list it and then it sells for a pittance, so time you package it all up and send it off the reward is not worth it.

Boot fairs says her indoors. Well round here this time of year, there are none.

Give it to newly weds or people less fortunate say the kids. Well they don’t want it as they can go out and buy new on their credit cards and be in debt for-ever and a day. I am amazed at people turning down wardrobes, tvs, tables etc. etc.

The most success has been with our local recycle web site which is meant to be for people less fortunate and this has been good. Although I suspect some put it on Ebay and make money but hey Ho- at least I am rid of it.

Clearing stuff room by room and I am gobsmacked at the stuff we hoard as it’s too good to throw away but throw away we do in the end.

The garage. My garage is a cross between a builders yard and a car mechanic’s workshop. Sort it all out, try to give away useful stuff, but in the end goes in the skip. What a waste.

The only stuff to keep and go in storage is sentimental and private. Every-thing else really is virtually worthless and will be dumped. How sad.

Right, where’s the number for that skip company?

ken
 

Road Runner

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Jul 26, 2007
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When my auntie died flat like new pin but charged to remove stuff by clearance firm:Doh:

What a rip off but she was 300 miles from where we live.
 

scotjimland

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Jul 25, 2007
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We had the same problem, can't sell it, boot sales are a waste of time, can't give it away, so we ended up putting perfectly good furniture, appliances etc in the council compactor, what a waste.


Jim
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May 22, 2008
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My son has a house clearance bussiness and I occassionally get roped in to help him on some jobs, I would like to say a few words in defence of house clearers, firstly my son has to have an environment licence to dump things at the tips,the licence is very expensive Fridges cost him £60 pound to dump, he cannot dump paint , fluorescnt tubes , tellys, monitors and lots of other stuff because of the licence regulations, his van gets weighed on and off a weigh bridge and he has to pay so much a ton for the weight he has dumped.most things in peoples homes have little resale value and have to be sold as and where he can find an outlet such as car boot sales etc, he had a shop for a while but that was killed off by heavy bussiness rates rent and other overheads etc, so now he uses contacts , internet etc to sell on any thing of any value but storage is a problem if something doesnt sell. as a private individual you can take any items to your local tip and dump for free, but a house full of items present a huge problem to you in terms of moving it, A skip will cost you an arm and a leg and you are restricted in what you can put in them,If you use a house clearance man to do the job for you be VERY sure to see his LICENCE before he takes your goods as if he doesnt have a licence and dumps in an illegal manner and the items are traced back to you, YOU are liable for a heavy fine,So my son works thus, If he thinks he can make some money on your clearance he would not charge for the job, if however there is not enough value to him he would charge you for the clearance, and this would be true of any house clearance company.Good luck,you are in for alot of hard work .:Eeek: http://www.AAremovals
 
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Bryan

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Jul 19, 2007
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Hi Ken,

I know what you mean about 'stuff' only too well.

We moved house from one with a grage to one without :whatthe:

Luckily, before my wife ordered a skip (seriously) for all my 'junk' I said 'let's car boot it!' She agreed (it was summer) and we had a few weekends selling all the accumulated computer bits, long forgotten 'must keeps' and other similar heirlooms.

We had a great time, standing out in the sunshine, gassing and chewin' the fat with all the punters and bartering with everyone. What helped immensely was the fact that anything that didn't sell was being skipped so I could let things go for a quid and in some cases free.

We actually 'made' quite a few quid and enjoyed ourselves to boot (pun intended and I apologise) :ROFLMAO:

We have since moved again to a house with a garage :Doh:

In the five years that we have lived here I have had several partial clearouts - one where I gave all the stuff to someone I know (deal was, you can have it for free but you must take the lot), and another where I sold loads of stuff on ebay and recouped quite a bit of money for it.

The thing about ebay was that it felt like another job. Every lunchtime at the post office, every night photographing the next batch, every night sending invoices for that days sales and chasing payments etc. It took a lot of discipline and I would only take that route again for stuff actually worth selling.

We also use the local recyling web site and it feels kind of good knowing that somebody else will benefit from the stuff I want rid of.

By the way, I have managed to fill my garage again :blush: and am about to start another clearout, this time just so I can actually get into the garage instead of reaching for things I want from the doorway :ROFLMAO:

Good luck with the clear out :thumb:

Bryan

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Braunston

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May 21, 2008
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Hi,

Not quiet the same as we are just trying to clear some space, but I know exactly what you mean, we have a Sony stack system that we purchased 15+ years ago for around £700 and its hardly been used, but no one wants it but it does seem to good to just throw it in the skip, the list goes on but i have kept it in a corner and keep looking at it as it seems just a complete waste.

I suppose that's progress
 

Wildman

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Not really such a problem.
Friends and family.
dealers for more expencive items
Local Auction, take everything, auctioneers sort and lot it you get paid when sold
Ebay auction, maybe job lots to clear quickly.
ebay takes too much work? why not use a speciallist, ebay will recommend someone local who will do all the work for a percentage.
Car boot sales, fun and can produce decent cash
Stall at a market, as above
Schools will often be glad of books and tools.
Freecycle- online but local give away, people collect
JigSaw and organisation to provide bits and bobs to the needy.
Jumble sales, (contact local church)
Tools are expencive and if not sold could go to an overseas charity.
then is all else fails a skip.
I cringe when I hear of tools going in a skip, BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where are you maybe I could collect.
Just a thought why not rent part furnished.
 
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Andrew and Shirley

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Totally agree with Wildman

We are going f/t next year and have started clearing already.

Ebay first and got rid of alot of stuff.

Next the auctions and if it does not sell goes to Charity.

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ginge61

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put it all on freecycle good site for that just regester with your local group
 

hilldweller

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Been trying to clear every-thing prior to renting house out and go off full timing again. But golly—the stuff we amass over the years which we think is great but is worthless to others.
ken

Ain't that the truth. Just done the same to put down extra insulation so we don't give the Russian gas barons any more than necessary.

Burn, dump and see what "heirlooms" we can palm off on the kids.


Brian.

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Sundowners

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We used most of the methods already discussed, charity shops can be very fussy, the "needy" don't want 2nd hand, it is VERY hard to leave stuff at tips (our local one will only take one bag once a week, and don't take everything)
We found BY FAR the best way of "getting rid of stuff" was a well advertised "house clearance", we stayed at home all weekend and got rid of loads, all paid in cash and taken away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nigel & Pamala

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retrac

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We moved into flat and had loads too much furniture etc. and the local Hospice shop was very pleased with them as they have a workshop that makes everyting good and the money goes to a great cause.
 

pappajohn

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we cleared out my mums one bedroom bungalow in april......two 12ft x 6ft trailers full plus stuff piled high in the pickup and my bro's car.:Eeek:
three tip trips later (in my bro's car 'cos the pickup's not allowed) and i still have a 2 piece suite and a new leather sofa and chair and a double bed on the trailer but have no room in the house to display it for sale.:cry:

if i ever have to do it again i'll pay the final bills, lock the doors and hand the keys back to the housing association, let them sort it:thumb:

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haganap

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I must admit it's such a shame too see so much go to waste. Always try your local christian minds charity shop, or Mind as they are likely to take alot of furniture. Only prolem is that things like TVs and other good working electricals they dont seem to want.

alternately, I know it costs money but its quite cheap, why not store it? you never know what the future holds.
 
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jacken

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Put my entire record collection on the local freecycle website to-day and blow me, within an hour some-one phoned up, came round and went away happy with about 200 vinyl LPs and 1000 singles. I had previously tried to sell them but unless you have some rare recording, you get peanuts for them.

ken
 

finby

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When we moved into our bungalow 10 years ago, we bought a sofabed for occassional "visitors". Top of the range, cost nearly £900 then! The wife says the bed is more comfortable than our own one!
In all that time, its been used 4 times by the same visitor. Do you think we can get rid of it?. Stupidly, I thought that such a quality piece of furniture might fetch £200:ROFLMAO: Silly me:ROFLMAO: No response from cards in newsagents etc. Then tried £50. Same result. I asked all the guys at work. One guy has a daughter newly wed and a bit struggling for furniture etc. Still no takers. A year on and we cant "sell" the sofabed. It breaks my heart to think that we may have to "freecycle" or dump a £900 piece of furniture.
I know it must show my age, but when we got married we were grateful for any cheap, decent furniture.

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hilldweller

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Still no takers.

What you need is a marketing consultant.

"Yes Sir, can I help you ? You want £50 cash ? No, no, I'm not laughing at you, it's a cough, it's been coming one for days. No what you need to do is this Ready for immediate delivery, low mileage and perfect condition. Take delivery tomorrow and pay nothing for the first year then take 4 years to pay the balance".


Sorted, bill is in the post.



Brian.
 

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