It’s hard to believe my last decluttering update was back on August 21st. Since then, a lot has happened behind the scenes, both in my Vinted account and in real life.If you’ve been following my No Buy Year journey, you know that letting go of physical clutter has been just as important as breaking my shopping habits. Over last 6 years I have accumulated so many things it was overwhelming to even think about packing it up. I’ve sold so many unopened crafting supplies that made me feel guilty about how bad my shopping and holding onto “usefulness” was.
Today, I’m giving you an honest look at where things stand as we enter the home stretch of clearing out our apartment.
The Vinted Reality Check: Why Sales Have Slowed Down
Let’s talk numbers first. At my last check-in, I was celebrating 113 items sold. Looking at my profile dashboard now, that total has grown to 220 items sold. This means that I have found a new home for 107 items in 54 days. However, if you’ve noticed a slowdown lately, you aren’t imagining things. Sales have significantly dipped over the past few weeks. At first, it made me second guess myself, but the logic is pretty clear: I’ve already sold the “hook” items.
The most attractive, high demand pieces – the ones that brought the bulk of the traffic and views to my Vinted profile in the first place – are at their new homes. What’s left are the quieter items. I’m also not listing as much as I used to at the beginning of this declutter. I used to list at least one item per day, which is good for Vinted’s algorithm. Now I list maybe one item per week, if I stumble upon something that I want to part my ways with. This has an impact on how often my other items are being shown to people browsing to buy.
In the past many people were advising to re-list the items that haven’t sold. Take new pictures and tweak the description to boost it in the algorithm as a new product – I wouldn’t do that. It is against Vinted TOS and the site is run mostly by automated AI bots that can figure out if you delete and re-upload the items.
I am still getting the occasional sale, which is great, but the golden rush of daily notifications has definitely calmed down.
45 Items Left and 3 Weeks on the Clock
Right now I have 45 items listed… and a ticking clock. As I sit here writing this post, we made a major decision today: we are going to officially cancel our rent.
We are moving out of our current apartment, which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. We have a standard 1-month cancellation period and a deadline for the new place, which leaves us with roughly 3 weeks to get these final 45 items out of our lives and into their new homes.
Our game plan is set: we’re timing everything carefully so we can pack up, move out, come back to repaint the walls, and fix up any little things after the heavy furniture and boxes are gone. But that also means whatever doesn’t sell on Vinted in these next three weeks needs a plan B. Some of them are going to be donated or gifted, some things will move with us to the new home but I want to limit the amount of stuff that we take with us. Realistically we have 2 weeks to figure it out before we need to speed up packing process.
What a No Buy Year Teaches You About Stuff
This phase of the No Buy Year is intense. Clearing an apartment out makes you acutely aware of how much energy belongings take up. Every single item left on Vinted represents a decision: do I drop the price? Do I bundle it? Do I donate it and let go of the sunken cost?
Moving forces me to stop putting as much value into my possessions. Even items that didn’t sell immediately suddenly look less appealing when I realize I have to pack them into a box and then unpack them .
I’ll be back with a final update around the time of the big move to let you know how many of those 45 items found a buyer and how the packing chaos is unfolding.
Have you ever had to do a massive declutter right before a move? How did you handle the items that didn’t sell? Let me know in the comments below!
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