Hannukah is over. The winter solstice has come and gone. Christmas is done, and Kwanzaa has past. Eid ul-Adha is complete and the new year has begun. We’ve all got bunches of gifts in piles around our house (don’t even try to tell me you’ve already put them all away!) and now, due to the shiny, fancy, new gadgets and equipment we all received, we’ve got old, outdated stuff to get rid of.
Stop! Don’t toss that old printer out on the curb! Don’t drop that 512mb MP3 player in the trash, or ditch that old CD. There are far more charitable, more fun, and more — dare I say it — profitable ways to get rid of your old stuff.
Below are seven websites that you can use to clean up your house and unclutter your life instead of just tossing your old stuff in a landfill.
Half.com
If you don’t know about half.com, you may be living under a rock. For a while during the dot-com boom of the late 90s, this site was so popular that a small town in Oregon renamed itself Half.com. Since then, the site’s been acquired by eBay, who, listening to the hue and cry of its users, left it pretty much alone. It’s a handy marketplace where you can buy and sell used goods, from CDs to DVDs to books to electronics and much more. Sign up, list your stuff, get reimbursed for shipping and send it off to some lucky person. Tip: if you’re not as concerned about making a buck as moving your stuff, check out the lowest listed price for your item and list yours just a bit lower. You’ll sell it in no time!
Lala.com
If you’ve got albums lying around that you just don’t listen to anymore, and you’d rather swap than sell, check out Lala. You pay $1 per swap, get sent prepaid mailing envelopes, and get rid of old music in exchange for music you really want. Dead simple, cheap, and a great way to build your collection. That’s music to my ears!
BookMooch
Interested in swapping but don’t have any extra CDs? How about books? At BookMooch, you list the books on your shelves that you want to get rid of. When people claim them, you get points, which you can then use to claim others’ listed books. Get rid of that stack of stuff you’ll never read again and replace it with some cool graphic novels or the latest, greatest science fiction books. Whatever strikes your fancy, whether it’s poetry, politics, romance or science, you’ll find the books you want.
FreeCycle
While it’s no snazzy Web 2.0 business burstin’ with AJAX and flashy graphics, the various location-specific Freecycle mailing lists are a simple way to offer your stuff up to nearby people as well as take their old stuff off their hands. Anything from a cardboard box full of miscellaneous toys to a pallet loaded with 15-inch CRT monitors is welcome, and if your stuff is any good at all you’ll be sure to have it out of your site in no time.
Throwplace
Much like Freecycle but with a web interface, Throwplace allows you to list stuff to get rid of as well as take stuff from people who want it taken. One notable addition they’ve made is an easy way to specify that your stuff should go to a charity — and when you donate even old stuff to a charity, it’s tax-deductible! April 15th will come sooner than you think, so get those old computer parts out of your basement and donated to a charity that needs them.
Goodwill
And speaking of charities, if you just want your stuff gone, there’s always Goodwill. Use the locator page on their site to find the nearest Goodwill store, take your stuff over, and let them take it off your hands. Again, it’s tax-deductible, and Goodwill uses the funds earned from selling your old stuff to help provide job training and education to those less fortunate than we. Keep the holiday spirit going a bit longer by helping those in need, and clean up your house in the process. Everyone wins!
Do you know of any other handy websites for swapping or donating your old stuff? Leave a note in the comments below.
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2 responses
Jan 4, 2007 at 10:37 am
How could you forget Craigslist?!
Jan 4, 2007 at 10:44 am
I was trying to highlight mostly websites that aren’t as well-known, but Craigslist is definitely a great place to offer your stuff for sale or trade.
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