I know I’m late to the whole “Spring Cleaning” party. Honestly, it’s a party I usually just skip altogether. Too much work. Not enough fun. I’d rather sit on my couch piled sky high with laundry and eat my dinner on a paper plate (due to there being no clean dishes) while I watch the only non-kid DVD I can manage to find in our spilled over tower of movies.

Oh wait. That also sounds terrible! And a little too close to my reality for comfort! The fact is, I was having a rare quiet moment in my home a few days ago, and I had about 15 square feet of my house that was legitimately clean. And organized. And it felt like the happiest place on earth. That’s when I realized that once again, my stuff was owning me and was taking WAY too much of my time.

Every day feels like Groundhog Day around here in some respects. The kitchen is constantly dirty, so we are constantly loading and unloading the dishwasher. Same story with laundry. There are piles EVERYWHERE! And we just have too much stuff to give everything a proper home, so there’s always a mess. I’ve heard before that you can’t organize clutter, and that is SO true.

So I took to my closet and got REALLY REAL with myself. If I didn’t love it I got rid of it. I now have a grand total of 20 things hanging in my closet. It is a slim wardrobe, but I will wear every single thing in there. That’s how it should be! And there will be many different women in the city who will stumble upon my wardrobe rejects and be absolutely giddy, because was was ill-fitting for me will be the perfect fit for them!

 

So where’s the “lucrative” piece I referred to? Well, in addition to snagging a hefty tax deduction for so many threads (most of which really are still in great shape, just wrong for me), I also have pinpointed several items that I can sell and have it actually be worth my time selling on Craigslist. Items such as a double stroller we NEVER use, some specialty cookware and some luxurious table linens that are only gathering dust in my home are going to be put up for sale. I won’t make a killing, but I’ll be able to supplement our vacation fund quite nicely, and make my house feel more comfortable in the process!

And in addition to getting rid of some big things in the house, I’ve also discovered that you can make quite a bit of money getting rid of some small things, like your old cell phones! Do you have any sitting in a drawer in your house? And you have no idea what to do with them? Rather than wait around until they really are worthless, go ahead and sell them! Check out what you can get for them at sellcell.com. I just learned that my old phone is currently worth $51 and there’s a company willing to buy it right now. Wow!! Talk about easy money!

Sometimes, my friends, it pays to dejunk your life. You’ll feel better. Your house will definitely look better. And you can skip the dishes tonight, because you can go out to eat with the cash you just earned! 🙂 Do you have any success stories with unloading your junk for tax credit or for cash? I’d love to hear about it! 

Thanks to our friends at SellCell.com for partnering with Stuff Parents Need for this post.