I try not to do it too often, but I’m asking for your help!
I’m wrapping-up the creation of my second guide, Sell Your Crap. In order to decide which final pieces will be included (and which tips I’ll break down even further!), I’ve put together a quick, 5-min survey using Google Forms.
Click Here to Take the Quick 5-Min Survey!
Your answers really do help a lot. The first survey I ran (several months ago) was a huge help. In order to show my thanks, I’ll be drawing one survey for every 100 submitted to give a FREE, advanced copy of Sell Your Crap to. So not only do you help me and the project, but you can win a free copy before anyone else has a chance to see it!
*Alternatively, you can also take the survey anonymously. Totally up to you!
Here’s the link one more time if you are interested in winning a free copy:
Click Here to Take the Quick 5-Min Survey!
Just a couple questions about the content covered in the upcoming guide!
Have Clutter? I want to see it!
I’m calling on any/all Man Vs. Debt readers who have any shred of clutter (a whole garage, part of a room, or even a junk drawer) that they are wanting to destroy (or just organize/purge/etc…)
I want your pictures!
If you’d like to be a part of Sell Your Crap, I’m collecting genuine, reader pictures of their own trouble spots! Simply snap a quick photo of any clutter around your house, car, or work and send it to: Baker @ ManVsDebt . com
I have several ideas for the photos, including putting them together in a huge collage or slideshow. 🙂 If you decide to send a picture, I’ll assume you don’t mind me using it on the site or in the guide, etc… I could surf the internet for anonymous pictures, however I’d love to have real examples from the community!
But I never intend just to take without offering something in return! For every 20 people that submit a photo (whether I use it or not), I’ll raffle off another FREE, advanced copy of Sell Your Crap.
So that’s officially two ways you can help me and two ways to win free premium content! 🙂 Simply click the links above to take a short survey or get out your camera, take some pictures, and send them to: Baker @ ManVsDebt . Com !
It’ll be a couple weeks, at least, until launch, so in the meantime be prepared for some anti-consumerism, clutter-killing, and selling online material the next few weeks (hey, it’s on my mind)!
As you know, the interaction and feedback from the community is my favorite part of blogging. I appreciate your help!
Xoxoxo,
-Baker
On the survey, for the “Which topics do you like the most?” question, is 1 the least level of interest and 5 the most?
5 is the most! Sorry, I updated question to reflect that! 🙂
I’ve enjoyed your blog for a while now. Followed your adventures getting ready for your travels and then your travels. Most of us have too much clutter in our lives and could definitely stand to purge. Couldn’t ever be as extreme as you, but you do give us pause to think about our “stuff”.
Just took your survey. I don’t know if you can edit or not, but the second question has a 1-5 scale, but doesn’t say whether 5 is agree or disagree. Which end of the scale is positive and which negative? Misinterpretations will probably skew your results.
Hope you’ll share the results with all of us. Thanks for an interesting blog!
Vicki
Thanks, Vicki! I fixed it, before too many results thanks to your (and others) comments. Appreciate it!
I hope you can understand my poor english 😛
I think I’ve read 90% of the content on this site in the last couple of weeks. Very inspiring. Very cool. Looking forward to “Sell your crap”. Keep it up.
Baker,
I’m glad to be able to help out this site that’s given me so much inspiration. I’m still getting up to speed, but I’m having a blast learning WordPress themes and plugins and trying to write interesting copy. I can’t wait until I’m at the level to get a serious look from you, Trent, Ramit, etc..
Good luck with this new project!
Taken, token, took.
Here’s one tip about reducing large clutter that may not work for everyone, but will likely work well in a large city:
I live in a large midwest city in the suburbs, and when my wife and I first moved in we decided the impossible to clean gas stove had to go. We replaced it with a glass-top electric stove to make cleaning and cooking less time-consuming. But what to do with the existing stove? We had not spent the money for pickup/haul-away from the store we purchased the new stove from and needed to therefore find a free or very inexpensive way to get rid of the old stove. Our city offered a pickup service for large trash, but you had to schedule pickup. So two weeks later we placed our old stove out by the curb as instructed the night before pickup. By the time I woke up the next morning and went outside to get the morning paper I noticed the stove was gone! The pickup service wasn’t scheduled until later that afternoon, so clearly someone had scavenged it. Mind you, this old stove had gunk streaming down the side of it, was clearly an old GAS stove, and was sticky on its underside… still, someone wanted it!
We have now performed this sort of anonymous “public service” to our neighbors many times with very few hiccups. We don’t even schedule the city’s large trash pickup service anymore unless the junk we’re trying to get rid of just won’t disappear for a day or two. I just got rid of a non-HDTV, tube TV, an old CRT 19″ computer monitor, and a really cheap vacuum cleaner just last night using this technique. The saying is true: “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” (We’ve even seen our old, beat-up step ladder reappear in a next door neighbor’s backyard!) I know FreeCycle.org is a popular mention in freeing yourself of clutter, but I found that service to be more hassle than it was worth because for every one free thing offered on the list you would get 5-10 emails asking if you still had the item offered. My method is the same thing, but with none of the hassle.
We too live in a midwest city suburb (north of Chicago) and can count on items being repurposed within 2-30 minutes of putting it on the curb!! We think it’s funny, but fulfulling to know someone can use it or scrap-it-for-money that easily! I too found FreeCycle to be exhausting. I was one of those 5-10 emails who missed things constantly because you had to have a smartphone that receives/sends instantaneous emails to be able to get anything. The curb is the way!
Baakkkeeer,
As a fellow lifestyle design artist, I was looking around for other people with similar interests and stumbled upon your blog. You inspired me to sell my stuff. You would think it was such an easy concept, right? I have no idea why I didn’t think to do it sooner. As a recent college grad and a minimalist at heart, I own next to nothing. But, I ruthlessly went through all my stuff (none of that “o well maybe I’ll want this one day junk), eliminated it down to donate, trash/recycle and sell and just went crazy! Thus far I’ve sold a futon, computer, webcam, bandit signs and other real estate marketing material. I found the most success with Craigslist for things I wanted to sell immediately and did not want to ship (e.g. a futon and couch). Things that you want to get more money for (e.g. Flip That House Real estate courses never been opened), I found better success with larger venues like Ebay and Amazon where you can time them better and expect to get a higher price.
Either way, with my move to NYC coming up, the money is well needed and I’ve made my life even MORE fat-free.
Thanks for the inspiration. Keep it up!
Ciao,
Lauryn
Already sold everything that wasn’t nailed down in an effort to clean up the clutter and raise as much cash as possible. Now everything we own fits into a two bedroom townhome (and, I’m proud to say, you can fit a car in the garage)! I’m also in the process of consigning half my wardrobe and paring down the essentials. My biggest problem now is managing the paper clutter. I want to have a real business on Ebay, but don’t know what to sell or how to get started.
I love your site and did the survey. I did what I said I was going to do in my survey and listed the stuff that needed to be sold on CraigsList and Amazon.
I thought I was doing really good on Amazon until I did a profit/expense report and found that I was losing money by selling the books. Add in your book that people need to research shipping & packaging expenses when listing an item. Luckily I realized the problem and sold higher items to even it out a little. A little bummed that I figured it out too late but oh well, you live & learn.
And the up side is that my bookshelf and garage are less cluttered with books.
Hey Baker, it looks like I get to follow in your illustrious footsteps. I just accepted a 1 year contract job in Kuwait, so now we have a 2200sf house and a 2 car garage to clear out within the next month. I hope to get very very close to just taking the stuff in our suitcases (me, wife, 5 year old and 3 year old). My employer is subsidizing 500lb of shipping, but so far all I’m thinking of shipping is some books for the kids and my 24″ monitor. I’m sure my wife will have some things she will want to ship as well. This should prove to be very interesting 🙂
I’ve been selling a lot of my stuff in order to help my grandmother move to a smaller apartment. She decided to have a small garage sale, but I convinced her to sell a few big ticket items online and she made much more money doing this than at her garage sale. She was really surprised!
I took your survey a week or two ago, and just sent you a few pictures of part of my cluttered room.
It’s a disaster right now, but by the end of Summer it WILL be a minimalist dreamworld.