Upon deciding to make a serious stab at debt reduction, one of the obvious areas for generating some cash for your first targeted debt payment is things lying around the house. “Stuff” in the home is great to liquidate because:
- Reducing clutter helps to reduce stress and get organized.
- After being sold, we quickly find other ways of being happy that replace any of the sentiments attached to the item.
- They can generate more instant cash than anticipated, depending on the item.
But the question remains, how to best go about deciding to sell stuff? The basic approach should be the same as for the larger effort towards debt reduction and elimination: make a list of what you have, prioritize the items according to cash value if sold and their value to you, and decide on the best strategy for selling the items. Most importantly, set the cash aside in an envelope labeled “for debt payments only” and use it for nothing else.
Here’s the top five tips to clutter control for debt management and reduction:
1. When on the fence about getting rid of something because of its sentimental value, lean towards selling it. Being on the fence at the moment of truth already indicates that it is not one of your most important possessions. This is a clear indicator that you will benefit more from the cash, and even more so since you will apply it to aggressive debt reduction payments.
2. Don’t get bogged down in cluttered, messy, and disorganized rooms. The minute you enter the room in which you think there’s lots of stuff that you can sell, you can become instantly discouraged because the items cannot be easily located. Overcome this by grabbing everything that you would be willing to sell and sticking it in its own pile somewhere else. Quickly creating a dedicated “sales” pile means you don’t have to worry about getting the room cleaned up, and thus can keep focus on the task at hand.
3. There’s more that you’re willing to sell than at first glance. Brainstorm. Generating instant cash for debt reduction and elimination is vital, in part because it gets you closer to making a serious dent in your outstanding debt. Because of this, don’t just sell the things that are on the top of your mind, but take time and brainstorm for a complete list. It will be more efficient and thus save you time to liquidate your stuff systematically.
4. Do not buy new stuff to replace sold stuff. A common tendency is to buy things to replace the empty space created by recently-departed clutter. Resist this temptation completely – it will negate your debt reduction efforts. Besides, more empty space can be stylish and the point is to reduce your stress as well as make organizing your existing stuff easier.
5. Repeat your liquidation rounds every few months. In addition to selling off stuff on your initial pass-through and skipping buying new stuff to fill the space, revisit the issue as frequently as possible and continue to sell. As time passes since you first “clutter-controlled”, you will more easily think about things you don’t need as well as fear less the selling off of things that appear in the house yet in reality hold little or no real value for you.
Raj Patel writes for DebtGoal.com, a do-it-yourself system for getting out of debt and lowering your interest costs. DebtGoal.com incorporates all of the techniques discussed in this post and can help users understand and get visibility to and manage their debt finances.
Related Topics
10 Big-Ticket Clutter Items to Sell for Instant Cash
Tackling Clutter To Improve Your Health
Being a Home Office Warrior Makes Clutter Control Essential
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Tags: clutter, clutter control, clutter liquidation, clutter reduction, debt, debt control, debt elimination, Debt Management, debt organization, debt payments, debt plan, debt reduction, garage sale
