What to do if you are “between a rock and a hard place”?
It’s Spring and with the warmer weather comes the task of Spring cleaning. Today, with people at home, there are more folks tackling these projects, resulting in an increasing number of people with more “stuff” they will want to sell, donate, and dispose of.
If you or someone you know is in the process of preparing to move, the same holds true. Now during this challenging time of COVID-19, the cleaning out method needs to be modified. As you are making decisions of what to take with you on your move, you have other things that you will be leaving behind. Normally, there are several options for those items you are not taking to your new residence.
You could sell them, give them to family members, or donate them to worthy charities. Even under ideal circumstances, it isn’t always easy to sell your furnishings or household goods, especially what is known as “brown furniture,” dining room sets with hutches, and bedroom suites with dressers and nightstands, for example. Dealers and stores are not keen to add your things to their burgeoning inventory in their warehouses, and the price they offer can bring a tear or two to your eyes.
During this time of sheltering in place, charitable organizations and consignment stores are closed; family members can’t physically visit to pick up; those looking to buy are not willing to meet face-to-face; and antique dealers won’t come to the house. What can you do?
Some have suggested that you rent storage space and hold onto these items until you can try to dispose of them in one of the ways cited. This seems like a good idea, right?
NO!! I cannot stress strongly enough that this is NOT a good idea at all.
Think about it. You can pay $75 for a small self-storage unit per month. You need to get someone to take things to the storage facility and after spending a lot of money on storage, you need to move them back to your place to try to sell them. If you have already moved, then you’ll be trying to conduct sales from within your storage unit, which means the potential for trips back and forth, pulling items out of storage and then restacking if you don’t make the sale. Whew! That’s a lot of work for little payback!
Once this Pandemic is over, there will be a glut of merchandise for sale at rock-bottom prices that probably won’t cover the storage fees … IF you are lucky enough to find a buyer.
Future donating and giving to family members won’t yield any return on your investment either. Post Covid 19 queues for charity pickups will be long and physical locations filled to the brim. Additionally, many charities sell the items that are donated and use the monies to support their missions. Consequently, they limit the items they will accept.
So … what do you do? Bite the bullet and dispose of those items now. Put them out at the curb for free.
This is harsh advice … but those who know me, know that I will NEVER advise someone to do something that I myself am not willing to do. If I won’t take my own advice, then I will not tell a client to do the same thing. We are “between a rock and a hard place” as my mother used to say. Others may avoid giving you the bad news, but I prefer to tell it straight.
You’ll be better off in the end. Remember the joy your things brought you and leave this unfortunate situation behind.
If you have questions about an upcoming transition in your life, call Marie at 617-513-0433 or send her an email.