Here’s how I made $500 in one week by simply purging my clutter

Fun factoid about my wealthy students (net worth of more than $1 million); they purge their home(s) three to four times a year. It’s a great way to minimize clutter, raise money, have more gratitude for what you actually need and use, and move items that you don’t need into another useful life (or into the recycling if it’s past its useful life).

I made up this P-U-R-G-E acronym a few years ago when my boyfriend (now husband) was moving in, and I needed to make room in my tiny home for him, a wild amount of sports gear and a few new-to-us items we planned to purchase together. I purged with pleasure knowing this was all for our new life chapter. When my husband moved in, he had space to make it his home, too. I’ve followed the process ever since, about three times a year.

Profitable purging works like this … and it’s just in time to raise money for Valentine’s Day.

PICK the items that are no longer serving you

Marie Kondo, the queen of decluttering, has a great guiding principle here; if something doesn’t bring you joy or have key usefulness in your life, express gratitude for what it did bring you, then purge it.

Adding to this, I suggest that you purge it if you haven’t used it in the past six months (video games), if it has a bad memory (jewelry from an ex-partner), if it’s worth good money (a high-end phone or computer) or if it would help clear clutter (the giant Pilates reformer in your basement that is used to stack boxes on rather than do your workouts).

In my case last week, this list included a high-end stroller for a single child (I wound up with two tiny babies during the pandemic which rendered this stroller pretty useless), an older MacBook Pro and a bunch of baby gear. The total purge value was $500. Most of that money is going toward savings, and about $100 is going toward a delicious homemade Valentine’s dinner — I’m trying my hand at making Julia Child’s Coq au Vin recipe.

UPDATE your seller’s profile online and the description of what you’re selling

If you have a Kijiji or Facebook marketplace profile, you’ll want to work your way toward a top-level rating, which means you’re good to do business with. The same goes for community swap and sale sites that have ranking features. Tidy up your seller’s profile, if that feature exists.

Next, write a clear description of what you’re selling and avoid any cryptic language. Put your marketing hat on and think about what made you buy the product in the first place.

I like to follow the four Ps of marketing: Product (what is it — model, make, dimensions, colour, etc.); Price (what are you selling it for and why — I have suggestions below for this); Place (share where you originally bought it from and where buyers can meet you to pick it up); Promotion (what makes this item great). For my recent purge, I focused on how well maintained and clean each of the items was relative to what else was out there for sale.

RINSE, dust, scrub (whatever) in preparation for pictures

This is the elbow-grease part, and it’s where I see my students stop the purge process, because it takes physical effort. If you’re feeling unmotivated to get scrubbing, throw your favourite music on, watch the new season of “Your Honor,” ask your partner to help you, make a game of it, and simply work through the resistance. What’s in it for you and your love is more money for the items you’re selling.

GORGEOUS photos! (well lit and crystal clear — you need five to 10!)

Your phone will do a great job of taking pictures so please don’t buy a camera after you read this. Nice pictures (clear with no blur) of a super-clean product (you just made it sparkle, remember?) will fetch a higher sale price. Get yourself in a well-lit room. Clear all the clutter from the scene (this is also another nudge to purge whatever clutter is in the scene to begin with). If the item is a higher-ticket product like a car, computer, jewelry, etc., it can be helpful to “stage” the scene. For example, you might place the earrings on a beautiful scarf next to fresh-cut flowers you can then re-gift to your Valentine. I have multiple ring lights for my at-home studio to take my photos.

EXAMPLES for price comparisons to help set your price

It’s OK to be a higher or lower price, but it’s got to make sense. A higher price for a next-to-new designer bag is fine as long as you can justify it. No one will spend time on your listing if you’re out to lunch on your price. The good news is you’ll hear from interested buyers about what they’re willing to pay, and you can negotiate or adjust your price in the listing accordingly. I like to compare other listings to see what they are priced at before I set my prices.

Some of the clutter in your home isn’t going to sell (though one of my team members recently sold a box of cords — like, a smorgasbord of useless random cords — for $35). If that’s the case, sort it for recycling, donation and garbage disposal. You’ll feel great with the new-found space and money, and will probably find more items to purge now that you have a clear process to follow.

This article was originally published in The Star. Lesley-Anne Scorgie is a Toronto-based personal finance columnist and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star.