Selling Everything You Own in 77 Days
My goal was to sell all my belongings, including my house, in a short 77 day period of time in order to travel the world with just a carry on bag and computer bag. Although I ultimately ended up renting out my house rather than taking a $60,000 loss, I feel I accomplished my goals in an efficient manner. In many ways, I actually made money on some items. The key was to follow a seven step process which I came up with myself.
1. What to Keep
The first thing I did was prioritize what to try to sell first. I made a short list of things I feel I needed to have until the very end. This included things like a bed to sleep on, bathroom supplies. I also started making a list of items that would go with me in my travels. This included things like a small list of clothes, toiletries, camera, computer, etc. I must confess one of the hardest things for me to give up was my elaborate home theater, complete with projector, screen, reclining movie chairs (with cup holders) and amazing surround sound. I didn’t sell the theater until the last week as I wanted to continue to watch movies.
2. Big Stuff First
After making a list of things I wanted to keep until the end. At the top of my list was big or expensive items. Furniture like tables, couches, chairs, extra beds, desks, lamps––all were put up for sale. I used Craigslist for almost everything, running my ads on Mondays and Fridays by deleting old ads and relishing them. At any given time I had 30 or more ads running and two or three people coming to my house each day to view or buy listed items. Some items sold very quickly and others took longer. For the most part I looked at going rates and would list for about 10% over the going rate for a week or two before dropping my prices at each listing until it sold. I also listed very expensive smaller items like electronics and extra computer or tech gear. It was amazing how much cash I had in hand at the end of each week.
As mentioned, originally I was planning on selling my house which would have been one of the first things I would have tried to sell. However, during my first few days of research I discovered that I would loose at least $60,000 or more selling in this market. Both realtors and clients of mine both encouraged me to rent until the selling price came up at least to a price similar to what I paid. Because I chose to rent, I began listing my house about 60 days prior to my goal for
3. Garage Sales
I started the process in mid March and held my first of several garage sales the first weekend of April. I cleared out the sides of my garage and put up folding tables with everything I could think of selling. Most items were at give-away garage sale prices while I did have some higher priced items in the garage which were also listed on CraigsList. Sometimes I would even have Craigslist people come to the garage sale instead of meeting with me one-on-one. Anything under $20 in value went into the garage on the tables. When Craigslist people showed up to see an item they were interested in, I put their item in the garage and more often than not they ended up buying other items I had for sale. The system worked really well. I also invited all my friends to sell their stuff in my garage sales. This gave me a larger variety of things to sell and someone to talk to and socialize with during the sale. It also helped to have someone helping setup signs and extra tables in the garage.
4. Mediums Size & Price
Anything over $20 in value I tried to sell on CraigList or at the garage sales. I believe I had nearly 100 items on craigslist with two or three buyers coming to my house daily. I was deleting and reposting items on Mondays and Fridays. I was able to sell about 80% of what I listed this way and the rest was donated or trashed.
5. Selling Essentials
I waited until about two weeks before I had to be out of my house to sell what I would call “essentials.” These included things like my bed, my car, and home theater. Bathroom items and such might be included here. At this point I was cutting my belongings down to suitcase type items and preparing the remainder for donations or trash.
6. Donations
When I was about a week or a little more from the end, I began making trips to Goodwill donating anything valued under $20 to charity. For me because I own my own business and do a tax return with itemized deductions, I’m able to get a tax benefit from my donations. It was really strange giving away items, many of which had emotional value or attachment for me. I made at least five or more trips to Goodwill. Some items were very nice dust collectors such at decorations and plants. These I gave to friends as parting gifts. Many of my friends were touched that I gave them nice artwork, plants, or coffee table decorations.
7. Donations & Trash
Other items that I didn’t think Goodwill would be able to sell, I took to a dumpster. All-in-all, I believe I made six trips in my Honda Element to the dumpster. I was astounded at how much stuff, much of which I had not used or touched for five or more years was just given away or thrown away. In the end, I had to ask myself why I had accumulated so much stuff. It really made me think a lot about how we as Americans buy things just to own them.
When it was done, I ended up renting and keeping my house which did give me a small storage area in the garage. I decided to keep a few essentials which were to be on hand should my travel goals fail. This way I’d have basic kitchen supplies like a microwave, pots and pans, as well as dishwater for an apartment kitchen. A vacuum cleaner and a few other hand-picked essentials were kept in storage, but outside of this I walked away with a small rolling carry on luggage and a small computer backpack. Not bad for 77 days of intense effort!
