This Purge Is Great For My Mind AND My Wallet

I’m not sure what I love the most about this picture.  That Seth still looks like a scary caveman even with a twinkly skirt on his head, the girls trying really hard to pull mean faces or Knox pulling the best face with ease.  It’s really hard to decide.  We took this picture while I was half way through cleaning out the girls clothing cupboards and we all needed a break.  So we took some time to chill and put the random stuff I found hiding in their cupboards on our heads.  Totally normal.  I actually remember making those skirts like a 100 years ago and it seems like putting it on heads seems to be the norm here.

Taking a break was totally necessary.  Because even though purging has taken on a theraputicness that I wasn’t expecting, it’s still flipping hard work.

This post is powered by Gumtree

As you know we are three months shy of packing a few of our belongings into a campervan to travel South Africa.  It still sounds weird typing that out.  Like “What the heck are we doing?” and “Oh my gosh I can’t wait” all at the same time.  I’ve already spoken a bit about how difficult it was to get my mind into the game here.  It’s not easy to get rid a whole bunch of things when you are naturally fighting the hoarder on the inside.  You know the one I’m talking about right?  The one that just keeps saying that, “Yes, maybe you haven’t used it in 5 years, but you never know when you might need it.  What if you give it away?  Then what?”  I’ll tell you then what.  Then you don’t have the thing and you get the heck over it.  Easy peasy.

But we’re getting there and slowly but surely things are leaving our house to go and make other people happy.  We’re not getting rid of everything (because we do plan on coming back to our house), but the things we don’t love anymore are finding new homes.

The thing is, Seth can easily part with something.  Me, at a push I can give it one last hug or take a picture or something and then hand it over.  Our kids though.  My gosh.  They are not wanting to part with anything.  So we’ve had to bring out the big guns of negotiation.  And that’s money.  Yes, you heard me.  Money.

We’ve told them that any toys that are in good condition can be put onto Gumtree and any money they make they can keep.  You had to see how quickly they ran into their rooms to find the toys that they have loved at a time but recently lost some love for.  They came out with some real treasures of toys that we have so many good memories of and that will make other little people so happy.  But they also came back with the most random things.  Like a minion they once got in a kiddies meal or the leg of a Barbie that fell off.

Obviously we had to explain (again) that this isn’t really how it all works, but once they got the idea we managed to get a couple of good quality toys up to sell.  They are so excited to make some money out this and I’m so excited to have a bit less clutter in their rooms.

We’ve used Gumtree for so much in our lives, from selling our flat, our house and our couch so we’re pretty used to the platform and how awesome it can be for getting rid of your unused things.

There are a few tricks to getting it right on Gumtree though, so I thought I’d share them:

1. Don’t be greedy.  At first because our toys were in really great condition, I thought I could sell them for quite close to the original sale price.  But really, the aim here is to get rid of it as well as to make a little money, so ask for a modest fee instead of a high one.
2. Take really good pictures.  Pictures are key to selling your stuff.  If it looks great people will be more inclined to click on the picture and read your ad.  Take as many pictures as you can from different angles in a well lit space.
3. Insist on cash on delivery.  Unfortunately on all platforms there will be chancers.  So don’t get scammed.
4. Be really descriptive.  Even though that doesn’t always count for anything.

“Hi, I’m replying to your gumtree advert, the one where you specified the cost, dimensions and reason for selling.

I just want to know, how much does it cost, how big is it and why do you want to get rid of it?”

?

— Shante H (@Shante_Hutton) March 13, 2018

Good luck purging and making your wallet a little happier.