(ThyBlackMan.com) There’s that Jet Ski you thought you’d be using every weekend in the summer. The boat you haven’t taken out onto the water in several years. Maybe your yard is home to a number of somewhat pricy items that haven’t seen enough use, like a motorcycle and a scooter. Maybe in your attic, basement or closet, you’ve got electronics and other things you almost never use. If you’re starting to feel like your home is cluttered with too much junk, it’s time to recoup as much as possible and de-clutter your life.
Avoid Spending Too Much Time
Whether you’re aiming to rid yourself of one large item, like a car or boat, or an entire closet full of clothing, knickknacks and other things you don’t often use, don’t spend a lot of time trying to get your money back. Your time is valuable, too. Look at it this way: If it took you 20 hours to sell a jet ski — from taking photos, to researching comparable items, to listing the product and dealing with the buyer — and you earned only $100 for the sale, you basically made only $5 an hour for your efforts.
Take into consideration that you might have spent $300 on the jet ski to begin with and hardly used it, and you’re more in the hole than ever. Wasting your time in addition to taking the cut on your investment is not the way to go if you’re aiming to earn as much of your money back as possible.
Skip Selling
Whatever you choose to do to get rid of the items you no longer want, you don’t want to waste so much time you’re basically “working” for less than minimum wage, so the best thing to do is avoid selling altogether. Individual online auctions are a pain. Placing ads with local newspapers take time and money. And if you think you’ll just get rid of everything at once with a big yard sale, consider how much you make at the end of the day; chances are, you’ll be “working” for pennies an hour.
That isn’t to say the best thing to do is to junk your items and skip all hope of seeing your investment back. It’s just important to realize your time has value, and searching for buyers on your own is hardly a guarantee you’ll earn back even half of your investment regardless.
Donate It to Charity
It sounds counterintuitive: donate your items to charity, earn nothing for the donation, and actually earn more of your investment back. But thanks to tax deductions, it’s true. Plus, an organization specializing in selling refurbished boats and jet skis that donates the proceeds to charity is more reliable than the typical seller. You don’t have to negotiate fees or pay for shipping or worry about not getting paid at all — because you’ll see “payment” in the form of a higher tax rebate or a lower tax bill next year.
As the IRS explains, you’ll need to work with a legitimate organization to be able to deduct large donations such as boats, cars, and jet skis, so don’t just drop things off at the nearest donation center and drive away without getting the proper paperwork. Since you get to take off the full worth value via tax deduction, you could earn hundreds or even thousands of dollars next year, far closer to the original amount you spent on the items than the cash you likely get selling.
Don’t Waste Time
Besides the tax deduction donating your items to a reputable charity offers, there’s the massive savings in time. Because many organizations can arrange pickup at your property, you’ll probably spend an hour or two at most over a few days contacting the organization, signing over ownership and getting your tax deduction forms. If you wind up deducting $1,000 in boat worth, for example, then you basically earned $500 an hour for two hours of work. The less time you spend, the more money you earn back.
Most American homes are cluttered. TIME did a study and found that between three rooms in an average American home, there were over 2,000 items on display — not taking into account items hidden away in drawers and cupboards. Recognizing that you’re surrounded by more stuff than you can handle is a good first step. You might be tempted to waste time trying to sell everything yourself, because you don’t want to lose your investments, but do your research. Donation can actually get more of your money back in the form of tax deduction and time savings.
Staff Writer; Calvin Stewart