As I looked around my room and eyed all of the junk I could get rid of, a thought occurred to me: How money could I make if each item was sold for an average of $1?
Then I thought about all of the junk in my entire house that has accumulated over the 20 years that my family has lived here. I think it could be worth thousands.
How much is your junk worth?
futuredoctor
How much is your junk worth?
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jacob
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I think all my worldly possessions (including domicile/vehicles) could be replaced for $20k or so. It's really tough to say though.
Now if each item was sold for $1 ... it would be a few hundred bucks
YMOYL actually makes you go through this exercise. I have never felt strongly about the point of that exercise though.
Now if each item was sold for $1 ... it would be a few hundred bucks
YMOYL actually makes you go through this exercise. I have never felt strongly about the point of that exercise though.
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futuredoctor
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That's funny because I just started reading YMOYL a few minutes ago. I'm only on pg. 12 though. I posted my idea (which is apparently unoriginal haha) because I thought it could be a good motivator for some folks to actually get rid of their stuff. It's like sitting on a gold mine.
My thought process went like this: my room is really messy, I need to declutter some more--> I don't want to just throw out my stuff but selling it is a pain--> I wonder how people who leave the country and sell all of their possessions do it--> (idea described in above post)
Of course, you don't have a lot of junk to get rid of, Jacob, so this exercise doesn't really pertain to you =P. I'd say that's a good thing though haha.
Also, I said average of $1 because some things are worth less and some are worth more. If someone happens to have a lot of expensive junk then their average would be higher.
My thought process went like this: my room is really messy, I need to declutter some more--> I don't want to just throw out my stuff but selling it is a pain--> I wonder how people who leave the country and sell all of their possessions do it--> (idea described in above post)
Of course, you don't have a lot of junk to get rid of, Jacob, so this exercise doesn't really pertain to you =P. I'd say that's a good thing though haha.
Also, I said average of $1 because some things are worth less and some are worth more. If someone happens to have a lot of expensive junk then their average would be higher.
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jacob
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Getting rid of stuff (without throwing it out) is A LOT harder than acquiring it in the first place. It's a great exercise though, because it
Makes you think really hard about getting stuff in the first place if you know you have to ditch it again shortly.
Makes you seriously consider whether it has any resale value.
The latter point extends to everything. For instance, Pink Floyd CDs have resale value. Britney Spears CDs don't. A Lie Nielsen saw (that's a $130 handsaw!) can probably be sold for $150 in a handful of years. A similar handsaw bought for $20 at a home improvement center will be $2 at a yard sale.
Makes you think really hard about getting stuff in the first place if you know you have to ditch it again shortly.
Makes you seriously consider whether it has any resale value.
The latter point extends to everything. For instance, Pink Floyd CDs have resale value. Britney Spears CDs don't. A Lie Nielsen saw (that's a $130 handsaw!) can probably be sold for $150 in a handful of years. A similar handsaw bought for $20 at a home improvement center will be $2 at a yard sale.
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futuredoctor
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Subtracting shipping costs, about $600 and I've sold about 40 or 50 dvds and a good amount of "collectible" action figures from my idiot days.
Garage sale you get dimed down (literally). eBay, for the time being, is free and relatively frustration free. I have a corner with all the stuff I am trying to unload, and still have more to add. Separation anxiety?!? or whatever keeps me attached to some items, but when I finally get over it (I haven't watched/used/played with the item in years), it goes in the pile.
I just look for pics on the internet of whatever collectible I am selling and copy and paste it - sometimes from other ebay auctions. DVDs ebay kindly provides all the info from the UPC you type in.
I know it's frowned upon here, but I buy the DVD mailers from Dollar Tree for $1 for 2, shipping is usually $1.57 at the post office machine, and then ebay and paypal take about .20 cents, leaving you .50 cents if you sell for just $1 on ebay.
My ranking on ebay goes up (valuable for selling items later) and, the item is gone.
Gas is free for me, and I usually have time on my way home to mail items, so that is all negligible.
Garage sale you get dimed down (literally). eBay, for the time being, is free and relatively frustration free. I have a corner with all the stuff I am trying to unload, and still have more to add. Separation anxiety?!? or whatever keeps me attached to some items, but when I finally get over it (I haven't watched/used/played with the item in years), it goes in the pile.
I just look for pics on the internet of whatever collectible I am selling and copy and paste it - sometimes from other ebay auctions. DVDs ebay kindly provides all the info from the UPC you type in.
I know it's frowned upon here, but I buy the DVD mailers from Dollar Tree for $1 for 2, shipping is usually $1.57 at the post office machine, and then ebay and paypal take about .20 cents, leaving you .50 cents if you sell for just $1 on ebay.
My ranking on ebay goes up (valuable for selling items later) and, the item is gone.
Gas is free for me, and I usually have time on my way home to mail items, so that is all negligible.
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futuredoctor
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Counting up, I could seat 15 people for dinner at my house without moving anything. Two people live here. I cannot remember ever having 15 people here except for my daughter's wedding shower. I could also sleep 8 people without moving anything, (that's 8 people in beds and wife and I taking out the sleeper sofa). We need some downsizing to be sure. Counting the associated junk with the kitchen, dining, bedrooms, most of which is unnecessary, I need to rid myself of some stuff!!
I might make about $2000.00 if I sold it down to just enough for me and wife. So if all that extraneous stuff went for 2K, then I would hate to figure my junk net worth on what else I have. I will let daughter drag it to the dumpster, and if she starts soon, I will be here to help her!!
I might make about $2000.00 if I sold it down to just enough for me and wife. So if all that extraneous stuff went for 2K, then I would hate to figure my junk net worth on what else I have. I will let daughter drag it to the dumpster, and if she starts soon, I will be here to help her!!
Yes. I switched from a cabinet of stereo equipment and wall of CDs to a single integrated amp, stereo bookshelf speakers, and a computer with a big hard drive as a source. I run a SPDIF interconnect from the computer to the amp, so I am using the hifi DAC instead of a chintzy sound card DAC. Ripping all my CDs took a long time but it was a one-time effort. I still have the discs but they can go in deep storage instead of shelves. I also still have a classic NAD CD player, but I use it rarely and plan on selling it.
When you downshift to a single component and two speakers it's easier to justify higher grade stuff. Also surround sound is all the rage so there are good deals on used two-channel equipment.
When you downshift to a single component and two speakers it's easier to justify higher grade stuff. Also surround sound is all the rage so there are good deals on used two-channel equipment.
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jacob
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@Somnambulist - My rack is sitting at my parents house. It's all 240V and weighs in excess of 70 pounds (w/o the speakers) so getting it to the US would be hard anyway. It's pretty sad, because it's holding value and was worth $3000+ last time I checked.
As witnessed by the meetups, I'm trying to give away all the CDs I no longer listen to a little at a time(*). It seems that most of the music I own I listen to about 10-20 times in total and then very rarely again. My CD ownership are essentially from the days before Pandora and swaptree; back when I was buying them used on amazon.
As witnessed by the meetups, I'm trying to give away all the CDs I no longer listen to a little at a time(*). It seems that most of the music I own I listen to about 10-20 times in total and then very rarely again. My CD ownership are essentially from the days before Pandora and swaptree; back when I was buying them used on amazon.
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jacob
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NAD amps and a Thule CD player. I forget what the brand of the tuner is, but I think the model number was 971(?) and it was fairly popular model at the time. I also got some $150 silver cables to connect them. Yikes!
(If you live in the corners of the US, it can take quite a while for slow shipping.)
(If you live in the corners of the US, it can take quite a while for slow shipping.)
@Somnambulist
I found that output from sound card DACs, even high end ones, was contaminated by buzzing noises corresponding to mouse movements, presumably by interference from unshielded wires inside the computer. My first setup was a Sound Blaster USB sound card with a SPDIF out, a short SPDIF cable into an Audio Alchemy "DAC-In-The-Box," and RCA interconnects into a conventional 2-channel preamp. Later my power amp died and I switched to a NAD integrated amp. The SPDIF from the Sound Blaster goes directly into the SPDIF input on the NAD, so the signal stays digital until it gets inside the amp, where eliminating interference was a major design consideration.
I started out using lossless FLAC files, but they got too large and I switched to MP3s with a bitrate in the 300 range. Honestly I don't pick up on any compression artifacts.
Ripping hundreds of CDs is a lot of work, so make sure to have some kind of backup system in place.
I could go on and on about this stuff, but perhaps we should start another thread so we don't hijack this one any more than we already have.
I found that output from sound card DACs, even high end ones, was contaminated by buzzing noises corresponding to mouse movements, presumably by interference from unshielded wires inside the computer. My first setup was a Sound Blaster USB sound card with a SPDIF out, a short SPDIF cable into an Audio Alchemy "DAC-In-The-Box," and RCA interconnects into a conventional 2-channel preamp. Later my power amp died and I switched to a NAD integrated amp. The SPDIF from the Sound Blaster goes directly into the SPDIF input on the NAD, so the signal stays digital until it gets inside the amp, where eliminating interference was a major design consideration.
I started out using lossless FLAC files, but they got too large and I switched to MP3s with a bitrate in the 300 range. Honestly I don't pick up on any compression artifacts.
Ripping hundreds of CDs is a lot of work, so make sure to have some kind of backup system in place.
I could go on and on about this stuff, but perhaps we should start another thread so we don't hijack this one any more than we already have.
I think there are big differences between the 3 questions:
What is my stuff worth?
What would you get if you sold it?
What would it cost to replace it?
In the case of most people the replacement value is much larger. I feel like I'm finally in the position, mostly a mental one, that were I to loose everything not protected within the fire safe, my replacement value would be much less. This is mostly due to the fact that I wouldn't be replacing everything I currently own.
I have shelves of books that are slowly going to new homes, but while most are in readable shape they arn't worth selling. LOTS of other stuff I have fall into the same category of "useable but not worth much" I'm still having trouble letting things go, even though I feel cluttered. But we seem to have kicked the buying bug out of the house, so things are slowly getting better.
What is my stuff worth?
What would you get if you sold it?
What would it cost to replace it?
In the case of most people the replacement value is much larger. I feel like I'm finally in the position, mostly a mental one, that were I to loose everything not protected within the fire safe, my replacement value would be much less. This is mostly due to the fact that I wouldn't be replacing everything I currently own.
I have shelves of books that are slowly going to new homes, but while most are in readable shape they arn't worth selling. LOTS of other stuff I have fall into the same category of "useable but not worth much" I'm still having trouble letting things go, even though I feel cluttered. But we seem to have kicked the buying bug out of the house, so things are slowly getting better.