JUNK!! MAJOR JUNK! What do you do??

Beauty

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Let me start by saying that we have a HUGE attic. It follows the back of our house and goes the whole extensive length.....now the attic is full of JUNK!

After my father passed away my husband, myself and my mother all went together and bought a large house. DH and I having only been married 11 years had junk but not nearly as much as my mother who lived in the same house with my dad for 35 years. To make a long story short, my mother's old house sold quicker than we thought and we found this house quicker than we thought so we just boxed up things and in the attic they went.

Which brings me to now. DH, myself and my mother all have a week coming up of vacation. We are planning to clean this attic out in hopes of getting rid of everything we can before we move in a little over a year. There is tons of china and collectibles but we have NO IDEA what if anything is worth money. Should we just chunk it all and say forget it? My thoughts are if we try to garage sell it, or ebay sell it that we still are going to have it in the house and nowhere to store it until it sells.

I live in a small town and there aren't people who buy big loads of stuff like this. Have you ever come across anything like this? Like when a parent or loved one passes away and just have tons and tons of stuff. What do you do?????
 
DONT CHUCK IT!!!

you would be AMAZED at what China brings on ebay even if you only have a couple of peices, you may hit the jackpot and have the 2 peices that a person is missing.

Sounds like a fun vacation ;) LOL Im going to be doing the same thing though and you know? I cant WAIT!
 
sell the best of it on eBay and donate the rest to Goodwill or the Salvation Army if you need to get rid of the clutter now.
 

Beauty, you have to be ruthless! Or be married to my DH....he's really, really good at getting rid of everything that's not directly in use or nailed down. Want me to ship him up there to you for the week, as the De-clutter Consultant?

:) :) :) :)
 
Don't ruin your vacation with all that "junk" Just bring down 1-2 boxes a week and sort out the "good" junk for Ebay and the "junky" junk for the trash. If you try to do it all at once it might be a bit overwhelming.....not only in respect as to what to do with it all but also for you and your mom when the memories surface.
Should we just chunk it all and say forget it?
:faint: Let me tell ya.....all the peeps on CAnn's Ebay post on the budget board just fainted when you typed that. :p

Another option might be to find an antique dealer that would take everything.
 
Yep we did figure that getting rid of the clutter now is the best idea. We are planning on moving out of hell (a.k.a. Mississippi) and the more we get rid of the less we have to move!

Ebay is a good idea for the china because they are all matched sets that my mother and father got ...... wow almost 40 years ago. My mother also collected old bottles like Coke bottles and old glass medicine bottles. Things that really have no use. I know people collect things like that but she has BOXES AND BOXES of it.

I'm almost tempted to call auction companies in the bigger towns near me, Memphis, Jackson, Monroe and ask if they would take some on consignment or even for Free....come pick it up and you can have it!
 
Bet maybe your DH could go to work for Clean Sweep on HGTV!!!! I love watching that show!!

John is the same way though, he will say just chunk it!!
 
Don't chuck it, some of that 'junk' may be worth more than you think. When DH's Grandmother past away, she had alot of 'junk' also. DH's brother had some of the stuff looked at by antique deals and he found books. Some of the stuff had real value, like old silverware that was real silver, and a box filled with old hat pins which turned out to be quite valuable! :D
 
Originally posted by CajunDixie

:faint: Let me tell ya.....all the peeps on CAnn's Ebay post on the budget board just fainted when you typed that. :p



I KNOW I'M PICKING MYSELF OFF THE FLOOR!!

Beth, after my parents died my aunt backed up into my home with a UHAUL truck full of their stuff!! It filled an entire room and both patios! That was when I started taking pictures and found those four little letters that changed my life...EBAY!

Needless to say it ALL sold for more than it was worth!

Another idea, an estate sale!
 
depending on how much and the quality of it you can get an auctioneer to come to your house and have an auction right there
they can get rid of alot of junk for you
I'd probably just have a tag sale in the yard
ebay the better stuff
but get rid of it now. It's expensive to hire someone to move it for you and back breaking if you do it yourself
 
Don't you dare chuck it! You might be sitting on a goldmine!

What you need to do is go through it piece by piece and see if any of it has any value. You might need to do some research - but it could potentially pay off in the long run. When my Granny died we found several old paintings that she had left in her attic that were worth a good bit, as well as some other vintage things that were sold on ebay for a decent profit.

Just take your time and don't discard it if it looks like junk - check on ebay first!
 
Get in touch with Replacements Unlimited for the China. They might buy it from you!

Also look up your set on Ebay and see what it is selling for.
 
To follow up on Robin's idea of an estate sale, down here we have companies that specialize in running them. They get a hefty percentage of the profits, of course, but they will also do all the work....sorting, cleaning, and running the sale. You might check and see if there is anything like that in one of the bigger towns.
 
Unfortunately I ran into a similiar situation when my mom passed away. I had NO CLUE how much junk she had in her house. And it was just her living there - I found stuff from my grandparents (and we aren't talking memorable stuff - I'm talking cancelled checks!!!) And because she had so much debt, we had no choice but to have a garage sale but if it would have been up to me - it would have all been junked except for the stuff that I truly wanted to keep, which wasn't much.
 
I agree, EBAY that way you can save for a Disney trip!;) Heck, maybe 2 pr 3 Disney trips!::yes::
 
Oh there are about 3 boxes full of old papers up there.....mom and dad's old papers (Daddy owned a hardware store for many years before Wal-Mart came in and ran him out of business) and even my grandparents old papers. We simply need to have a bon fire with all of that (or a shredder but the bon fire sounds like more fun :teeth: )

Box by box...that sounds overwhelming.

They do have an estate sell every now and then here and that may be worth checking into. The only problem is the sale is usually in the person's home after they have moved out, passed away or whatever and we will still be living here...LOL!
 
My mother also collected old bottles like Coke bottles

:scratchin Hmmmmmm ok Beauty.....disregard everything we've told ya ;) Psssssssssssssssst Robinrs? How about I head to Mississippi by way of Atlanta and pick you up then we'll ahhhhhh help Beauty clean out the attic? ;)

I'd check with local auctioneers too....sometimes around here when elderly people downsize into apartments they have a group type auction held somewhere like the 4H grounds. The auctioneers pick up all the stuff and sell maybe 3-4 families extra stuff together.
 
My dad has one coke bottle from the 60's that is worth $100....don't throw them out!!!

Good Luck...it sounds overwhelming!


Vivienne
 
hey I just found this site in a magazine!
www.kovels.com


You can search there for what things are worth.



ps I only charge a small finders fee for that website ;)



ROFL!
 


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