Lounge Lesson

Selling this couch reminded me of another benefit of selling. My ebook is called Less Clutter More Cash, but sometimes there's also a more heart-warming aspect.

This couch was given to my friend. He no longer needs it and was thinking of dumping it.

As you might imagine I stepped in, suggesting he sell it online. Apart from making some cash and avoiding landfill, the buyer will does the transporting. (That's reason 4 of my 4 Reasons to Sell Unwanted Items.)

As it turned out, I listed it for him. After all, I've got a bit of experience at it now, having sold 370+ items of ours.

How did it go?

Within hours we had a number of people asking about it - and someone picked it up the next day.

I met my friend shortly after and he was very happy about the experience. The pick-up was quick and easy but mostly he was pleased about the family it went to. He reckons they were not very well off at all. They also had at least five kids - so lots of need for seating. And they were so appreciative of getting something so big for such a low price.

In my friend's words "It's a much nicer story than taking it to the dump".

It was an uplifting reminder of the heart-warming side of selling possessions; seeing them go to someone who'll use them and really appreciate them.

Some more tips

My wife and I have sold more than 370 items as we've downsized. I've put some of our learnings into a free ebook Less Clutter More Cash. If you're downsizing or decluttering you may find it helpful.

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Less Clutter More Cash - now available

Do you feel like you have too much stuff? Is your home full of things you never use? Would you like to swap them for cash? We did My wife and I have sold more than 550 items online as we downsize and we've learnt a bit along the way. I've put some of our best tips into this handy ebook. I hope you can use these tips so you too can have less clutter and more cash. Enter your email address below to receive the book for free. Less Clutter More Cash Get my new ebook for free. PS. This will subscribe to the But Wait There's Less email list, so you'll know when the new updated version of the book is available. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Big motivator for small living

It's been a while between posts here - mainly because we've been moving house. It's been a real motivator for downsizing. Packing each and every item we owned, really makes me wish there were fewer of them. Moving everything from the old apartment to the new one made me envious of those people who live in a "tiny house on wheels". For them moving house simply means towing it to a new location. No packing required. The whole process has reaffirmed our commitment to owning less stuff. So we're going to be intentional about downsizing. It will be an ongoing activity. My environmental heart couldn't stomach a spontaneous dumping of things into the garbage, but it's also more fun this way. Selling things online brings in some handy pocket money. Giving items away is also a great community activity, whether it is to friends and family, to charity or to people in the neighbourhood. I'm looking forward to it as a lifestyle rather than a task to do....

The power of part-time

The Project had this short but revealing story on a study of work hours. Turns out that the perfect amount of working hours per week is 25. Working about this amount increases your brain function, your productivity, your free time and your happiness. What was interesting was the talk afterwards by the hosts. Comments like "but who's going to pay the mortgage?" and "you get the same pay" indicated that the biggest obstacle is in our heads. Australians have the largest houses in the world. The only reason we get such big and expensive houses is to ' keep up with the Joneses '. But that doesn't actually make us happy. It doesn't make up working an extra 2 days each week. If we could free ourselves from traps like this, we could set up our lives around things that actually make us happy. Such as having 4-day weekends.

But wait... there's less!

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