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What We Did with All the Old Stuff in the House

April 24, 2015

Our house is old.  Yep, 1970-original-almost-everything old.  But, it had a lot of re-usable stuff.  Stuff we didn’t want/need but still, stuff that somebody would want/need.

Rather than just trash everything in the house after the children of the previous owners’ estate sale, we decided to sell anything and everything we could.  This served two purposes slash benefits for us: 1) we didn’t have to fill up extra dumpsters therefore saving us money and giving us a little peace of mind knowing we were contributing less to a hill in the landfill and 2) it actually earned us some extra cash which for this project, we would take anything we could get.

So, here’s what sold, what we trashed, what we kept, and how we did it aka “what we did with all the old stuff in the house.”

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Let’s start with the kitchen, shall we?  That un-awesomely brown, cramped, and outdated kitchen.

As you may recall, it had maybe the world’s first model of the double oven.

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And it still worked, people.  We listed that bad boy online and after about 2 weeks, it sold.  Some guy said his oven was caput and he didn’t want to fork out the money for a brand new one in a house he was getting ready to sell so, he bought it.  Cray-cray.  $50 cash.

Next, the fridge.

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Not original (can you imagine?) but definitely old.  Still worked fine, but it had one big strike against it: it was cream rather than white.  We had a few phone calls on it, but in the end, we had the power company come pick it up and we took the small rebate for the trade-in.  $30 which is a lot better than paying to dispose of it properly.

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The old microwave: we listed it and not a speck of interest.  We ended up throwing it out.

Cooktop:  no interest, trashed it.

The dishwasher: newer, worked fine.  Sold.  $50 cash.

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The sink.  Yep, we listed the sink and you know what?  It sold.  $20 cash.

Cabinets:  You read correctly, we listed the cabinets.  They were solid wood and I’m sure were quite expensive back in the day.   Custom and made just for the space.  They were purchased by two different buyers.  One said he needed some cabinets for his garage.  Actually pretty smart.  Buyer 1: $120.  Buyer 2: $70.  Not too shabby.

Moving right along to the bathrooms.

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We listed both of the obscenely long vanity tops (the vanity cabinets essentially crumbled when we tried to remove them) but we ended up throwing them away.  Nobody wanted to fill their entire bathroom with a super long vanity, strangely enough.

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Doors: we sold almost all of the closet louvered doors and bedroom doors, but it took awhile.  We removed them all, stacked them in the garage, and kept an ad up online.  They were purchased by multiple buyers who needed a door here and there.  We weren’t in a hurry to get rid of them, so we just kept the ad up.  $20-$30/door or set of closet doors.

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Basement bar mini fridge: original to the house (that thing was old!) and it sold for $30.  I’m still amazed.

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Light fixtures: we kept all the bedroom lights and I plan to repurpose them.  The others we either tossed or still have and I’m not sure yet what to do with them.

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One of our neighbors asked if she could have these beauties that were next to the garage.  We happily handed them over, free of charge.

Washer/Dryer: they were left behind and they were purchased separately for $50 and $40.

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Basement wood burning stove:  some guy who refurbishes them actually helped Jon lift that thing (that weighed a gazillion pounds) out of the basement.  He said he makes pretty good money after he fixes them up. I swear, there is always someone out there hunting online for everything.   $150

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Total around $1,000 for stuff we would have thrown out otherwise.  Lesson is folks, your trash is another man’s treasure and cash in your pocket.  If you’re renovating, never underestimate the value of the old things you plan to replace.

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  1. JL says:

    Wow! This gives me hope. We too, have custom, solid wood (solid ugly) kitchen cabinets. I did have some guilty thoughts regarding just trashing them when we reno this summer, but I’m absolutely listing them. Along with the fridge, stove and dishwasher that’s hanging by a thread.

  2. Julia says:

    That is very cool that you could resell those items. That last photo caught my eye. The sofas looked like rifle co wallpaper, at least the colors haha.

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We're a full-service design firm and home furnishings shop built around the philosophy that a well-designed home should be beautiful, personal, cohesive, and complete. We think home is the most important place on the planet and when you live in a home that is perfectly you, it changes your life. Don't believe us? Stick around. We're confident we'll change your mind.

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