Toss, Keep, Sell!: The Suddenly Frugal Guide to Cleaning Out the Clutter and Cashing In

by Leah Ingram

The American house is one cluttered place. Frugal folks need to get their homes in order and find ways to make money from the junk they no longer need or want. That's where this book comes in!

Organized by rooms of the house and tasks of the day, this book becomes a veritable clutter checklist. Each chapter in this reader-friendly guide

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2010

Reviews

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book should be titled 'Confessions of a mentally ill hoarder.' I mean no disrespect to the author but of all the decluttering books I've ever read it contains some of the most bizarre assertions and advice. Did you know that you can hang things from hooks? If you happen to have antiques or Tiffany jewellery lying around you could sell it. And my absolute favourite: A house is not a home without a piano. I repeat: A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME WITHOUT A PIANO. IN A BOOK ABOUT DECLUTTERING. The less bizarre, same old basic well-worn advice that you'd expect to find is as useful as ever: 'Reduce, reuse and recycle. Or sell it if you can.' I'd have liked more on the ins-and-outs of selling your stuff. But there's very little of use here. It reads like someone who used to be a ridiculous hoarder finally found the religion of decluttering and decided to present their own hodge-podge of experiences as advice for other people. There's also something amusingly American upper-middle class about it. Who else would have a mud room, spare antique furniture and forgotten pairs of skis? The politest way I can put this is we live in very different worlds.

You can buy the book here.

[Yuta Tamberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is pretty local in its settings. Thus, its usefulness outside US is pretty limited. And anyway, telling us how to take care of the *third* bathroom is a bit too much, really.
Still, the main point of this book, in my opinion, is to inspire the reader to do something, even something very different in a very different way, about order and chaos at home. For this purpose, this book is as good as any other.

[Melody · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pointless. So basic as to be laughable. The biggest discovery in this book? Shoeboxes! Woo! Put your pens in shoeboxes! Put your mail in shoeboxes! Put your... you get the idea.

There is nothing new here, nothing you haven't read a hundred times before, nothing you don't already know.

Glad I picked this up at the library instead of buying it.

[Carter Hemphill · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book offers a lot of advice you can find elsewhere. Where it excels, in providing a lot of guidance on how to sell your stuff. Some of the advice is dated (book published in 2010), but I found a few useful tips.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is aimed at "messies" rather than compulsive acquirers/hoarders. The emphasis of the book is on process of decluttering, and Ingram does a very good job of incorporating the different types of things one might encounter while decluttering each room of a house. She sets out very concrete guidelines regarding the disposition of these items: "Toss, keep, sell." She also gives a lot of space to frugal ways of storing or letting go of clutter.

Ingram really doesn't talk about the psychological aspects of decluttering at all, which is a departure from other books of this genre. Without a fair assessment of the psychological effects of clutter and decluttering, this book will not be helpful for people with compulsive behavior, since the clutter will keep coming back.

I had to suspend some disdain for some of the author's snarky writing, but she includes really useful tips on selling things online and offline in a very readable way. I recommend this book as one to read later in the decluttering process, after the emotional/psychological part of the process has been addressed, and for those who want to make some money from the things they're ready to let go.

[Catty · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this books had really good tips on hand, most of the stuff was not really new.

Positive:
* 15 minute challenges were interesting and got you motivated
* How to make cash out of your items: some tips were useful, more useful probably for readers in the US

Negative:
* The cash-backs after every chapter were just ridiculous. I know it was meant so that you could write it in front of the title "X money worth cash!!" But really: Not everybody has Tiffany earrings sitting in their jewelry boxes.
* Author wrote her own perspective on things, making the tips plainly useless if you are not 100% in the same position
* The first chapter was downright insulting it is so stupid: Really, the 25 uses of shoeboxes?? I thought about giving up the whole book then but got myself through that chapter and afterwards it got better, but it's not a good start.

Somewhere in between:
* I cannot decide if the "toss-keep-sell" overviews are good or bad. I mean, people should know when to tolls, keep or sell an item, right?

Still 5 starts for the couple of useful tips that were in there and for being somewhat motivational to go through all the stuff, cluttering out the apartment.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't so much read it as skimmed the chapters of interest. If you have the clutter gene like my family, it is good to read one of these inspirational tomes from time to time to get reinvigorated. The author apparently sells a lot on Craigslist. She got me excited enough to take pictures of a nice mirror I would like to sell, not quite excited enough to actually post it.
Some clever suggestions like hanging your clothes with the hook facing in. when you wear, rewash and hang a garment hang in the other direction. This way you will know which clothes you never wear and are candidates to toss, keep or sell.

[Nichola · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did the author pick this title? She barley touches on eBay, craigslist and facebook neighborhood groups, and gives tips to make garage sales better, like : make your location obvious and put up signs. When she does detail an online service, she says I can't really explain it, you should check it out for yourself, and make sure you find a reputable site. Then she threw in a story about how a person she wrote about with a great service had it shut down before she could be reimbursed. Hmm. Just not much here

[Bunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike a lot of books about decluttering your home, this one actually motivated me. I was reading it while baking treats, and after finishing the batch and putting it in the oven, I attacked my cabinets and actually got rid of stuff, and cleared off my counter. I mean, it's messy again because I baked the next day, but that amount of decluttering was huge for me.

I think if I just keep re-reading this, my whole house will be decluttered in no time!

[Joyanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't use as many tips from this book as I will her other title...Suddenly Frugal. I either don't have the right stuff to de-clutter and sell or I am not in the right mind set. Maybe I have to try re-reading it soon. :)

[Pure · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glad I borrowed it free on Amazon Prime Kindle Owner Lending Library. I read it once, I wouldn't read it again but I will check out the author's blog Suddenly Frugal and giftsandetiquette.com as resources.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful book that takes you through your house room by room and helps you clean out while also giving you some ideas of what you can sell. I think some of the price recommendations are a bit unrealistic, but it might get some people interested in trying.

[J Crossley · Rating 3 out of 5]

When decluttering your life, it is sometimes difficult to know what to throw away, what to donate, and what may be worth selling. This book helps you to determine what should be done with different types of items.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly common sense stuff, but I found a few worthwhile tidbits. A word I'd add to the title? "Borrow," (as in from the library, like I did!).

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad read, but no really new ideas. The title basically sums it up - go through your stuff and either toss, keep or sell it.

[Rachelle]

Ok...I really wanted to read Suddenly Frugal instead but the library only had this book.

[Norma Dushack · Rating 3 out of 5]

It got me motivated to start cleaning the drawers in the bathroom and kitchen. Nothing in it that I already did not know.