What is it worth?

It is less than two weeks before Christmas. My wife and I are trying to move house for our family. The new house would be closer to work, closer to the mothers-in-law and only 5 minutes walk to a park.

We haven’t exchanged contracts and the last possible date to complete is just over a week away. It is still possible, but the chances of moving are getting slim. But I still have hope.

In preparation for the move, we have started to ready ourselves. We have started boxing up the belongings we wish to keep and discard the items we no longer need. Items we thought may be of use to others, we have tried to pass them on.

Charity

I love books. My garage is full of plastic boxes full of books. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the room to display them in my current home. I even had 5 bookcases in the garage, ready to display the books. I wasn’t willing to get rid of the books, but I was happy to pass on the bookcases. I arranged for a charity to come round to collect. I sat in all Saturday afternoon. My kids even had to miss their football classes that day.

When the charity turned up, they inspected the items I wanted to donate. 3 bookcases, a pushchair, a high chair, 3 kids bikes and a few kids toys. They informed me that they wouldn’t be able to take the bookcases, the pushchair or the high chair. They would be happy to take the kids bikes and kids toys.

I thought a pushchair, a high chair and some furniture would be valuable to someone in need. Someone with very little and trying to get by in life. From the charity’s reaction, perhaps I was wrong.

The skip

We couldn’t even give our unwanted items away. We resigned ourselves to the fact we would have to get a skip and mark the items as rubbish. As useless, valueless, unwanted goods. And it would cost us nearly £200 for the pleasure.

The bookcases were originally bought flat packed. It was then easy enough to dismantle them and put them flat into the skip. Then the pushchair and the high chair went in afterwards. I had a break. I went into the house. I made myself a sandwich and a cup of tea.

When I went back out an hour later, the pushchair and high chair were gone.

I thought those items were supposed to be worthless? I couldn’t even donate them to charity. Apparently not. Someone must have seen some worth in them, to pull them out of someone else’s skip. Perhaps it was a scrap merchant looking for the metal in unwanted items.

Other things disappeared from the skip too. An old cast iron lawnmower that was trying hard to not get rusty in the back of the garage. Five scooters. What was funny about this one was the fact all five disappeared. Then two came back. Then they disappeared again. Apparently, someone couldn’t make up their mind.

Valuables

Then you have to decide what to keep. What is necessary, what is useful, and what is valuable. To you. Not anyone else. To you.

You are going to need the pots and pans, the knives and forks, the vacuum cleaner and the lawnmower.

The cleaning equipment, the toolbox and a bottle of wine are going to come in useful.

But what is valuable? It could be in terms of money. It could be important. It could be sentimental.

You keep the nice jewellery you have accumulated. The watches, necklaces and earrings. Diamonds, pearls and platinum.

You keep the important documents safe. Passports, birth certificates and driving licences.

Then you come across the sentimental stuff. Great Aunt Sheila’s sherry glasses. Your old cuddly toy from childhood. The transformers figure you plan on passing down to your own kids.

Takeaways

What is valuable?

Every now and again you will have the opportunity to assess what you have. What is valuable to you, what might be valuable to others and what is left.

It can be difficult knowing what others find valuable. If you find something valuable, it is more than likely that someone else finds it valuable too. Don’t be deterred by the first rejection. If something is valuable and you no longer need it, keep going. Find those other people who share your opinion.

Look through what you have. Decide what you need, what is useful and what you are emotionally tied to. Look after them and keep them close.

The rest, I am afraid you are going to have to put in the rubbish. But one person’s rubbish is another person’s treasure. Someone else may just find a treasure they are looking for.

Value is in the eye of the beholder. What is it worth to you?

Footnotes