The Resell It Challenge: Generating Income From Clutter

Have you got junk? Need cash? Join The Resell It Challenge and turn your clutter into cash. This challenge will give you the motivation you need to finally get rid of those items you been hanging onto because they are worth something on the secondhand market.

The Resell It Challenge: Generating Income From Clutter

I have committed to decluttering alongside many of my readers in the 90/52 decluttering challenge and so far it has been going pretty well–you can read about my progress during the first month of the challenge here.

Doing a year-long decluttering challenge always opens my eyes to things around our entire home that we are not using. Some of these items are worth a good chunk of money on the secondhand market and our family could use that money.

How To Join In On The Resell It Decluttering Challenge

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Set A Timeline For The Challenge

You can decide how long you want to make the challenge based on how many hours a week you think you can devote to reselling items and how many items you have to resell.

I plan to declutter all the way up to October and then take the months of November and December off as those months tend to be full of holiday events. 

Set A Worth Selling It Limit

I suggest that you take a while to figure out how much an item must be worth on the secondhand market to be worth the time and effort it takes to sell it.

For me, I set my limit at $15, but I might sometimes break that limit if I think the item might have a better chance of getting into the hands of someone who needs it through reselling than through a thrift store. Sometimes specialized items like homeschooling curriculum can sit in thrift stores of ages until the right buyer comes along, and I like the idea of my things getting to those that need them quickly at thrifty prices! 

Two more reasons I might consider keeping items of less value is if I were to have a yard sale or if I could sell the item with similar items as a lot and get more than $15 for them when sold together. 

Related: Why I Am Giving Away The Small Stuff

Set Aside A Certain Amount Of Hours Each Week To Sell Items

Take a few minutes to write down everything you are already committed to and when and then be realistic about how much time you can devote to reselling items. It would be preferable that you can set aside a time slot of 2 to 3 hours, but if you only have an hour, that is still time enough to prepare and list an item or two for sale–which is better than none.

If you are short on time, perhaps it might be better to plan for one big selling bonanza. Do everything you can to clear one weekend to gather all the stuff into one spot and clean and price it all. On your next open weekend host a yard sale or spend all of Saturday listing items on Facebook Marketplace. Then donate the rest that didn’t sell and jump back into your busy life with a bit more money in your wallet.

I plan to spend around 2 to 3 hours every weekend listing at least three items on either eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist –basically wherever I think the item would sell best. 

Give The Money A Goal

How many yard sales have you hosted only to wonder after where exactly your earnings went from that sale? Make this time different by having a goal to fund in place before you start reselling anything. Perhaps paying off debt, funding a new stream of income, or a vacation.

The money I earn is going to fund the date days and weekends my husband and I enjoy monthly now that our children are ages 16 to 23 and don’t need us around quite so much (Love travel? You can read about our adventures and travel tips over at our travel blog, The Parents Flew The Nest).

Stay Motivated And Gather Tips By Joining This Facebook Group

I have already started sharing Facebook live video updates about my reselling journey in my Thrifty People Of Snail Pace Transformations Facebook Group. These videos also contain tips and tricks that I have learned over the 20+ years that I have resold various household items. Under my updates you can leave comments and pictures of how your progress in the Reselling Challenge is going so that we can cheer each other on and stay motivated to sell that clutter!

I will also be doing an update of my own progress here on the blog in April, June, August, and October.

3 More Posts To Help You On Your Reselling Adventure

• My Reselling Tips Page
• 30 Things You Can Gather For Your Yard Sale Pile Today! Plus Free Printable Checklist
• How To Prepare Items For Resale So That You Get Top Dollar

Want to save or earn money? Join my Thrifty People Of Snail Pace Transformations Facebook group.

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