I have been decluttering, off and on, for about 7 years. I should write an article with what I’ve learned. Here are my top tips:

1. Yard sales are not worth it. EVER. I can back it up with reasons but, just trust me. They’re not.

2. Selling on FB Marketplace is loaded with hidden pitfalls. You won’t like it. You’ll be constantly pissed off by flakes and scammers.

3. Selling on eBay is better but still usually more work than it’s worth.

4. Craigslist is okay for giveaways like furniture. You can do curb alerts. Be careful about letting people in the house.

5. Christmas stuff is hard to get rid of. I had an estate sale team when we sold our house in California tell me that Christmas stuff doesn’t sell well and they wouldn’t even put it on display.

This may not seem particularly helpful but it will save you a lot of heart and headaches. The most important thing is to manage your expectations and make your number one priority this: get rid of the stuff no matter what. Do not expect to make money. If you do sell anything, do not expect to get more than a fraction of what it’s worth. If you approach a charity, be prepared to have stuff rejected.

The really bad news is that it may cost you money to accomplish this. I paid 1-800-JUNK $400. I hired an estate sale team who agreed to take their fee out of whatever they made and give me the rest. I had a lot of valuable stuff but I didn’t see a penny. They tried to tell me they had lost money on the deal. They even tried to guilt me into reimbursing them for the difference. Fat chance. That said, it was worth it in my case because I had to move and they saved me a huge amount of time clearing the crap out.

Staples and BestBuy will take some of the electronics stuff off your hands for free.

Well, this is turning into an article. Sorry!