What to do with 'stuff' you no longer want.....

bl0at3r

bl0at3r

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Alan
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In today's throw away society, 'stuff' becomes worthless pretty quick. It frustrates me that I have a house full of 'stuff' that is too good to just throw away. I don't even expect to get anything for it if I'm honest as it now seems to be worth f'all. I just want it to goto a good and deserving home and give me a clear conscience about landfill sites.

  • eBay fees and high postage has pretty much wiped out selling lower priced items.

  • Boot sales are full of people wanting stuff for 20p and then haggling even further down to virtually nothing.

  • Charity shops are greedy IMHO - they try and sell stuff for far too much and then wonder why it doesn't sell - eventually to be shipped off to the tip no doubt. Or people steal the donated stuff from outside.

  • There's always some money grabbing so and so who will take advantage of generosity and try to make a buck off of the stuff for themselves by selling it on.


How can I find a good home for my stuff where I know it will make a difference to someone?

BTW - 'stuff' is DVDs, CDs, PS3 games, old bits of computer equipment, old tech, books etc
 
There is a "none photographic" sales section right here.
And even a freebie section if you are feeling generous.
 
You could try Freecycle. I've given a few things away on there, it's better than just junking stuff.
 
Have you tried Gumtree? It's been quite successful for me recently.
 
We use freecycle a lot as you can do it local to your area. We've got some good stuff off there and given some good stuff away.

We also tend to just leave some stuff outside the house (we live on a main road) and that goes pretty quick.

And as above there is a section here.

Boot sales are ok if you want them to go to someone who wants them, but yep people do tend to haggle a lot!
 
Thanks for the suggestions - I don't want anything for this stuff - most of it is not worth anything to sell but should be useful to someone. I just don't want to chuck it out and I don't want it at home taking up space !
 
bl0at3r said:
Thanks for the suggestions - I don't want anything for this stuff - most of it is not worth anything to sell but should be useful to someone. I just don't want to chuck it out and I don't want it at home taking up space !
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Put it on Gumtree as a boot sale lot, just work out a minimum you'd be happy with and put it on your local site for collection. You'd be surprised how many car booters trawl gumtree for stock.
 
If you are into facebook, chances are that there will be a For Sale/Swap group page local to your area. Perhaps you can swop it for something you fancy?
 
I have a similar quandary. I have a hi fi system I no longer use but really not sure if A) I actually want to part with it. B) the best way to ? (cant bring myself to use get rid of or dispose of as it sounds final)
 
As said, FreeCycle is good for these sort of items.
 
If gumtree has a "free " section Id go with that. I was hesitant for years about online selling but when I bit the bullet with gumtree I got rid of quite a few bits fairly painlessly and got some beer tokens in for the effort.
I really must go on again as Ive got about 20 PS3 games could do with going. I might try them in classifieds here first thinking about it. Although I had no luck with some DVD boxsets I wanted shot of.
 
Sold a fair bit of junk on gumtree and local Facebook sites.
 
you could try giving to the local hospital childrens wards may take them or even some long stay wards for adults.
 
A question I keep asking myself is how I have accumulated so much stuff in the first place. Started giving it away or selling the more valuable items for peanuts to friends/family.
 
strumstrum said:
Trouble I have had with Freecycle is the rudeness from the people who miss out, that is why I stopped gifting items on there.
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I've actually stopped using it due to the rudeness of people who got stuff.

Great idea but some of the people on the local one make me despair.
 
Try this:
http://uk.freecycle.org

Be aware though that it can be open to "abuse" by traders taking your good stuff and then flogging it off for their own profit.

Depending on what you want to get rid of the British Heart Foundation are pretty good. If it's furniture in reasonable nick they'll come and collect. They'll actually tell you how much they've sold it for, if you wish, and you can gift aid it. This is becoming a big business for them these days though, and you might worry that the line between charity and business gets blurred.
 
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Not sure that the comment about charity shops is true ... if any sales help toward the local hospice etc surely that's a worthwhile use for unwanted goods?
 
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