The Great Purge: Vanessa finally gets rid of her hoarding of things

It happens to the best of us. We find an item, a theme, a genre of sorts that we love and we start collecting. For me? It’s Victoria’s Secret “free” tote bags (with purchase of course), antique furniture to be chalk painted, or art supplies. Ok fine, maybe I like makeup too...

Some might call it hoarding... collecting... or maybe its part of my ADHD tendencies. Whatever the case may be, I have accumulated a lot of crap. What’s crazy is that... 6 years ago, I moved into a new house. If you’ve ever moved before, its pretty common to purge things before or while you’re moving. I’m sure you’ve all seen or heard about moving sales. I had several of them...I even donated trunk loads to Goodwill. Apparently it doesn’t take long to build up more “stuff”. Yet here we are!

The last few years I tried having yard sales. They are either a complete flop... or I don’t get more than $50. Part of it I attribute to poor planning and lack of advertising. The other part I attribute to not having “good enough stuff”. I’ll admit it... if I drive by a yard sale and all I see are kids clothes and toys... I don’t stop.

I stopped having yard sales. I started donating everything I wanted to get rid of to Goodwill. But hey, every so often it would be cool to have an extra $20-30, yeah? I noticed people were moving to selling things on Facebook to friends & family. I thought, hey! I CAN DO THAT! So I tried... and with Facebook algorithms my posts were getting lost or not seen.

Operation: Start a group page dedicated to purging!

It all started because I needed to clean the closet in the featured photo.

It was an absolute MESS. While I was cleaning I did the ole “don’t need that!” And so it continued. I made a pile of things to sell and things to thow away. I didn’t want to overwhelm myself...so I started off small. Plus, I didn’t want to create this giant new corner of my home with things I was selling if no one was going to buy them (like my garage/yard sale).

I started off with art & scrapbooking supplies. I made posts letting people know they could invite people if they wanted. I also let them know this would be an ongoing project and to stick around. I let people know that I accepted Venmo & PayPal...but if they preferred to pay cash, I would sit a mason jar outside. I was only doing porch pick up. I did end up shipping something to a friend in Minnesota (as I am from Indiana).

It was going over WAY better than a yard sale and I didn’t have to sit outside all day.

As I branched out into different rooms of the house I had a variety of things I was selling. Facebook Groups makes it super easy to organize items. You can create Topics. They get pinned to the top of the page so people can find things super easy!

After awhile, I think people started to lose interest. The key is not to post TOO often because people will start to ignore the notifications. It’s also important you let people know to turn on notifications for “all posts” if they are really wanted to follow along, otherwise they will only see “highlights”.

Another things I found was to be SILLY. Yeah, I said it. Get creative and let loose!

This one is probably my absolute favorite. Do you remember Creative Memories? I used to be a huge scrapbooker and had SOOOO MANNNNNY Creative Memories items. I somehow managed to acquire...not one but TWO of these bags. They were all the rage... which inspired this cringey “advertisement”. Sorry for the poor quality...I must have deleted the original video.

We are preparing to remodel our basement...so I was going through EVERRRYYYTHINNNNGGGG. I ended up selling A LOT of stuff, I was really impressed & proud of myself. I also loaded up my mini van four times with stuff that we donated. Goodwill was closed so I found some of those large yellow bins from Evansville Rescue Mission and my kids helped me drop the stuff off. In conjunction with the van loads... I also borrowed the work van (it’s bigger) and loaded it up 1.5 times with stuff just to go to the DUMPSTER! I had filled up our home trash so much that it was overflowing.

Let’s recap, shall we?!

It’s a pandemic and you want to clean/purge safely!

• Start with ONE room (highly recommended if you are easily distracted and overwhelmed such as myself)
• This was something I did over the course of a few months... I know not everyone has that kind of time...so obviously move at your own pace.
• Have a trash pile vs a donate pile vs a sell pile (if you’re wanting to sell things). This will help keep you organized while you are sifting through your treasures.
• Take good photos of the items...don’t do it at night in the dark or in a poorly lit room. People want to be able to see what you’re selling or giving away. Taking photos during the day will be a huge help. Don’t be afraid to be silly with your posts, 1. People love humor 2. It will help keep people interested, engaged and interacting. When people interact with your posts it helps with algorithims.
• If you’re like me and you’re over sitting outside for 8-10 hours for a yard sale...try an online sale...it can go on for days, weeks, or months! Have a dedicated space for the items and boom 💥
• Created a group page on facebook. It’s totally up to you if you want your group to be public or private. I set mine to private to keep the weirdo’s out. It kind of creeps me out that anyone can view a public group. This also allows you to control who you accept into the group. There were a few times I had requests from people that 1. I didn’t know and 2. Lived in another country. Considering these were porch pickups... well you get the idea
• Create topics on your posts to help organize things within the groups. I will say this is easier to do on the computer/iPad. If you’re on the computer/iPad you can create the topics/assign the topic while you’re creating the post. If you’re on your phone, you’ll have to submit the post first...then click edit post, THEN you can assign a topic. I have not found a way around this/been able to do it while I am creating the initial post. It’s weird, I know.
• I recommend using a cash app to accept payments to streamline things, but you do you 😉 I realize not everyone has a cash app, so having a mason jar with a lid on hand is also handy.
• Be sure you have clear instructions. I have a post that lets people know to comment on an item that they want to buy. Once they do this I edit the post and put “Sold: Pending Pick up”. Once the item has been sold the original post will get deleted so it doesn’t clutter up the page.
• Be sure you have clear instructions on your pick up. Do you want them to pick up from your porch? Driveway? Do you have a little spot behind your house? I am an over thinker with anxiety...I like for others to give me clear instructions and I do my best to do the same! I only offered contact-less pick up and made it very clear in my page.
• For me...a good rule of thumb is: If I haven’t worn or used an item in over a year... it’s probably a good idea to get rid of it. Afterall, it’s just STUFF.
• So what happens to the lonely items that don’t sell on the page, you wonder? I donate them! I usually wait a few weeks before deciding to do so.

Do you accept the challenge of purging?

I hope this inspires you to create your own Facebook Group Page & get rid of some stuff or simply donate it! I know I’ll be tackling my garage so the Great Purge shall continue!

Did this help you? Hit that ❤️ button, give it a share, and if you’re feeling extra —> tips are ALWAYS appreciated. After all, I’m just a gal behind a keyboard trying to survive a pandemic 😷 🥰 ✌️