How to sell off and get rid of household goods before moving to Australia

Hi!

Lots of people ask us what the best way is to get rid of household goods that they don't want to move to Australia.

Sorting and selling off your household goods is a very daunting task. In fact, it was definitely the job that took the most time and effort when we prepared for our move. We sold all the large pieces on Trademe and also listed many of the smaller onestoo - sometimes a bunch of things together, like a dinner set, or a random assortment of pots and pans.

We also sent a whole pile of stuff that wasn't worth our time selling to the West Melton Scout's garage sale. They came around with a van and took everything away we'd set aside. Obviously we didn't get any money for it, but it was nice to know it was going to a good cause - and it saved us quite a lot of time having to get rid of a bunch of small items that no-one would pay very much for.

Despite doing all of that, we still had a good van-load full of papers and stuff that we didn't want to take with us, but couldn't get rid of either, which we ended up storing at our relative's houses (lucky them!).

If you need some ideas for ways to get rid of your household goods as quickly and efficiently as possible, here are a few tips we've put together:

(1) List your entire household as a single lot on TradeMe or in a newspaper classified for a fixed price. Then you only have to deal with one person coming to pick it all up.

(2) Or, list the big items individually to maximise profit, and then list lots of smaller items. This would still minimize the people coming and going.

(3) Get the Salvation Army or another non-for-profit to come around and take away all your smaller stuff that isn't worth selling.

(4) Put together an email listing all the major items you've got for sale and send it off to as many friends/family as you can think of. And ask them to send it on to people they know. This is a good way to avoid the time involved in making separate listings (and paying the fees), but you'll still need to arrange pick up times with everyone individually.

(5) Look into getting a consignment store or auction house to sell everything off for you in return for a commission (so you'd need to decide whether it would actually be worthwhile after speaking to them). Check out http://www.tradeit.co.nz/consignment.html for consignment options near you.

Hope that helps you out!

Grace