Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Over the past years I have meticulously sold and swapped my way to getting rid of a few boxes of stuff.
Conversely, yesterday over the course of a couple of hours DW got rid of seven boxes just like that. Some books got donated to the library, some got freecycled, some went to the laundry room, and some got thrown out.
I can't say one is significantly better than the other.
Which one do you use?

Me? I'm just proud of the fact that I was able to turn off the acquisition spigot. I haven't bought "stuff" for the last couple of weeks - the longest I've ever gone.
Now I can start to work on getting rid of stuff. Not easy.

I get rid of stuff I don't need through my recycling cart (most of my "junk" has no market value, but it still has some utility value -- it's just not worth my time to try to sell it).
I also stopped buying stuff I don't need and I make my existing stuff last longer. I then add the money I don't spend to my cash reserves and my investment portfolios.

recycling cart?

@ jacob - recycling cart?
The city where I live provides each home with two carts -- one for trash (where the contents get sent to a landfill) and one for recyclables (where the contents get sorted and reused). Separate trucks come by every week to collect the contents. Residents pay for this service through our mandatory garbage collection fees.

Downsizing makes me consider acquisitions much more. Now, it's another thing to consider a "want," which is how easily could I get rid of it.
Does anyone have recommendations to get rid of college textbooks? I only want 5. I have about 25.

@rePete - If they're not worth anything, ask if someone wants them. Have them send you a check for shipping. That's how I got rid of about 25 pounds of books. If they're worth something, list them on amazon. Alternative, amazon has a "sell your textbook" system (never used it).

I prefer to sell if possible, then donate. My feeling is that if someone will pay cash for a thing, they are more likely to actually use it. Freebies are often treated as if they have no worth.
For instance, I eBayed an old ISA SoundBlaster card last year. Some dude was rebuilding an early '90s era PC and had a use for it. Almost junked that card, but instead it made someone's day.

@rePete: If you just want to get rid of them, try to sell them to a used bookstore. They always give me <$.50 per textbook, because they're hard to resell, but at least it gets them out of the house. You could also list them on Paper Back Swap to see if anyone wants them.

Yeah, when I've tried to give things away on Freecycle I've had numerous flakes and it took weeks. When I've listed things on eBay starting at $1, they've sold, no muss no fuss.

For freecycle, I now say things like "pickup today preferred", "no flakes please", or "serious inquiries only". Most importantly, I don't go by "first come first serve", I wait several hours to gauge response. Then I pick the best one. I also have a list of known flakes and known dependable people. If someone has picked up before, I choose them first.

I sell books/cd's on Amazon, good clothes on eBay, everything else at a car boot sale (like a yard sale). I always start eBay listings at £1 and this seems to work better; I'm yet to use Freecycle.
I've cleared so much that we could easily downsize our home, however need to wait for another 2 years (approx) and at the moment mortgage interest is 0.99% and we couldn't rent cheaper - 2 kids living at home, although one is working and pays board.

I'd call my downsizing style slow and meticulous. Slow anyway! It takes me a while to convince myself that I will be happier without certain categories of things and then another while to decide which of my things belong in those categories (such as books I'll probably never re-read or lend).
@rePete, check out bigwords.com - they'll show you offers from many bookstores. Note that most have a minimum they'll accept (because of the free shipping) and some give a little less than shown on the review if you want cash rather than credit. I ended up using Amazon (who gives only Amazon credit rather than cash) and eCampus (no minimum). You could also try donating them to college libraries.
I've also sold books and records at a used book store, but mostly I donate books to libraries and other things to GoodWill. Even using bigwords (much easier than eBay, etc.), it's kind of a pain to get the packaging materials together.

I try to sell but I will also throw out if I don't see worth in transporting it. I now try much harder just not to buy/acquire anything I would do either to.