How to Make Money When you Declutter

As I’ve mentioned before, the craze sparked by renowned organization expert Marie Kondo and her book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, is sweeping the world– and with good reason. People are fed up with the endless cycle of moving around stuff; the cycle of decluttering, organizing, storing, repeat. I’m about two months into the KonMari process, and breathing easier each day! It sounds drastic to reduce your clutter by 50% or more, but the joyful feeling you get as you take control and increase the visual space in your home is priceless. There are bonuses in addition to having a clean and orderly home, too– namely, you can make money from the items you’ve chosen to discard. Did you know the average household has over $4000 in extra items, sitting unused? Time to take advantage of that!

There are specific steps to take when you KonMari your home. I’m going through each step on the blog over the next few months, but for quick reference here’s 15 tips created exclusively for eBay from Marie Kondo to get you started.

Before you begin to think about resale, it’s important to first choose to discard the items regardless of their monetary value. Choosing what to discard shouldn’t be tied to how much you might make on that item. Discard first. For me, once I discarded items I sorted them into four piles: trash, donate, yard sale, and upscale resale. Trash is anything that is broken or is, well, trash. Donate are items that I want to get rid of ASAP or that a thrift store might resell. My yard sale pile contained larger items that are unwieldy to ship, regular clothing, household items, books, etc. Basically, anything that’s bulky or in the $1-15 resale range. Personally, we had a big yard sale this summer so currently everything is getting donated so I don’t waste space storing it.

My last pile is my Upscale Resale pile. These are my higher end items which I plan to list on eBay: brand name clothes (some with tags still attached!) and handbags, higher end decor items, nice jewelry, etc. Hot selling items on eBay include gently used or like new clothing, handbags, shoes, and previous generation technology. Here’s a quick peek at a few items I’ve set aside to resell this way that no longer spark joy for me, but will for others:

For those intimidated by the selling process, eBay has a professional selling service called eBay Valet that makes selling a cinch. Simply visit eBay Valet, print your labels and ship your items in any box. THEY DO THE REST. As a busy work-at-home mom, I’ll tell you what: this idea is perfection!

While making money shouldn’t be the driving force of doing the KonMari method, it will certainly sweeten the deal. Just think about what you can do with the extra cash. A vacation, gifts for the holidays, a piece of clothing that WILL spark joy, a payment towards your mortgage. Every little bit helps, right? Now hit those closets, friends!

Now that you know there’s money waiting for you in your closets, basements, and garages are you ready to jump on the KonMari craze? As if changing your life by tidying wasn’t enough, now you may get some cash to fund your next big (non-cluttered) adventure!