What is the actual value of your valuables?
Even if you can't resell them, you can still find value in them.
I have a hard truth to break to you. Just because your stuff is old, does not mean it’s valuable. Just because Grandma Rose spent thousands of dollars on an opulent china cabinet 75 years ago, does not mean that you will make those thousands of dollars back when you try to sell it.
As a professional declutterer, I have many clients whose homes have turned into museums full of their family’s things, to the point where they can barely walk through the maze of furniture! They have held on to all of these knick-knacks and furniture, patiently waiting for their parent’s promise of their worth to come to fruition.
However, when it comes time to sell these things, they run into the hardest wall to hit: their esteemed antiques aren’t worth anywhere near what they thought.
How do you know how much your items are worth?
There is one foolproof way to calculate how much your item is worth: what someone will pay you for it, in cash, today. It doesn’t matter what you paid for it years ago, or what it’s insured for. What matters is how much someone will give you for it right now.
If you find the same antique cabinet on eBay that has been listed for $15,000, it is only worth $15,000 if someone purchases it at that price. If you really want to know how much your item is worth, you have to look at what it has sold for recently. If that $15,000 cabinet was finally auctioned off for $100, that is all you can expect to make.
What is a lot of money?
It’s hard when you spent a lot of money on something and no one wants to buy it now! It is a cruel twist of fate when things you have go out of style. Also, what is a lot of money? “A lot” of money can mean very different things to different people. It can be relative to their income, or to the period of time in which they purchased the item.
I had a client who had an enormous collection of paintings that he wanted to sell because he knew they were worth “a lot” of money. He received many offers but rejected them all because he was convinced that the art was worth “a lot” more.
Years later, he passed away and his children were left with this collection that was worth “a lot.” When the children faced the burden of having to sell the collection, they couldn’t find a single person who would purchase a piece for an amount even close to the offers their father had received previously! They ended up donating all of the art to charity and made $0 off the entire collection.
Why do you have this item in the first place?
You did not buy your expensive couch because you knew you could sell it for even more in a decade. You bought it because you loved it, you enjoyed it, and you needed somewhere to sit. Furniture and decor are not investments, they are diminishing assets.
Furniture starts losing its value the moment you buy it and bring it home! These are not things that you buy to make money in the future, you buy them because you want to use them now. Do you want to know the best way to get the most value out of your valuables? Use them!!!!
Sit on your couch without that uncomfortable protective plastic cover on it. Use your fancy china for a casual weeknight dinner. The best value you can get out of what you own is using it for your own enjoyment.
What do you do with the items you can’t sell?
If you list your item online or bring it to an antique dealer and no one is purchasing it, it doesn’t mean that you just have to throw it out! Just because no one wants to pay for it, it doesn’t mean that no one wants it. Even though there may not be a market for it, I guarantee you that there are people out there who will still love and use it. You can donate it and find someone who will actually use it, and it’s okay to not make any money off of it. Maybe the value you get out of it is the sentimental value, knowing that you are helping someone who needs it and keeping it out of the landfill.
It’s okay to let your things go in a way that gets them out of your house, even if it means you won’t make a fortune off of them. Your space, time, and well-being are the things that are truly the most valuable.
Tracy McCubbin is the founder of dClutterfly, one of America’s top decluttering companies. Tracy looks at the root of our clutter to find the real cause and ways to find real solutions.