Hi there.
In today's English listening practice, I'm discussing a common
issue which touches nearly all of us.
Having too much stuff.
I'm talking about just having too many possessions.
Things in your home which have multiplied on their own and are spilling out
of cupboards and filling up rooms.
As a bonus, we'll explore environmentally-friendly
ways of getting rid of your stuff, that you no longer need.
And if you stick around, I'll talk about what online websites you can use to
help you get rid of your unwanted stuff and make some money at the same time.
Did you know that in 2021, the secondhand shopping platform, Depop had
over 21 million users and surprisingly, 90% of them were under the age of 26.
Imagine that - the younger generation are leading the way in sustainable shopping!
Let's explore this further in our discussion today.
You could sell this or this, or even something like this.
I'll also share my personal experience and listen until the end to gain some
valuable insights into decluttering.
' Decluttering' means 'getting rid of your stuff'.
But this is also a fantastic listening exercise for anyone
looking to improve their English.
Particularly British English.
So pull up a chair, pop on those headphones and let's get on with it!
If you're wondering how English learning fits into all of this,
then visit adeptenglish.com.
On our site, you'll have access to up to 500 Adept English podcasts.
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Now, before you get concerned, let me make it clear first of all, I'm not
talking here about serious 'hoarding'.
That's H O A R D I N G.
' To hoard' means to store or to accumulate items to a point where it
starts to impact your living spaces.
You store lots of items, you keep everything and you
don't throw anything away.
That's 'to hoard'.
Some people have rooms in their house that they simply can't use
because they're too full of stuff.
This is a serious issue and requires professional help
and perhaps a separate chat.
If you'd like to hear my thoughts on actual 'hoarding', then drop us
a line, make a comment, let us know.
Happy to do that.
But today I'm not talking about serious hoarding.
I'm talking more about the build up of stuff that most people have,
especially if you have a family.
Allow me to share something personal.
In my family, I'm accused of being 'the hoarder'.
I'm not a proper hoarder.
If you came to my house, there are no unusable rooms and you
wouldn't notice anything unusual.
However, when you open drawers or cupboards, sometimes they're very full!
And there are certainly a lot of things I could get rid of, if
I spent time sorting them out.
And I've had three children.
So there are lots of things in the 'loft', L O F T or attic, A T T I C.
That means 'under the roof', in the storage area at the top of the house.
I've got children's toys, even a baby's crib, and possibly a high chair as well.
Not going to be using those again!
The problem for me is not really that I want to hold on to the stuff, it's
more giving the time to sort it out.
Feels like a big job!
It's the time, but it's also what do I do with the stuff I don't want?
I don't want to just bin it, unless it is truly rubbish that no one else would want.
So a part of the reason I'm not on top of my stuff is that I don't just like to
take it down to the local rubbish dump.
The noun 'dump', D U M P.
That's where you take your unwanted items.
Old TVs or computers, especially broken ones.
Parts of trees you've cut down from your garden.
Garden leaves, your household recycling, clothes and furniture
that you no longer want.
That all goes to the dump.
The trouble is, a lot of this ends up in landfill, L A N D F I L L.
' Landfill' just means 'rubbish that gets buried under the ground'.
That's not sustainable.
So it's much slower getting rid of stuff if you want to do
it in a more thoughtful way.
In the UK, we're quite lucky as far as recycling services go.
The local council, that means the 'local government', organise
household rubbish collection.
So they take from your door, not only your ordinary rubbish, but
glass bottles, paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, tin cans.
They'll also take used batteries and garden rubbish, and they provide
bins for all of these things.
But I don't like to throw things away if someone else might use them.
I've used eBay in the past very successfully to get rid of big items
like furniture, beds, double beds, desks, curtain poles or rugs that I no longer
need, but which someone else might like.
Often there's nothing wrong with them, it's just we've changed
the room around for a different use and they're no longer needed.
You don't necessarily get much money back on something like a bed,
certainly not what you paid for it.
But it's nice to know that it's going to a place where other people will use it.
And it means I'm recycling.
I'm not causing new furniture to be made.
I also like to buy on sites like eBay.
For a sofa or a mattress, I like new, but for any other
furniture, I prefer wooden and old.
To me, that's more stylish and even better if it's 'antique'.
That's A N T I Q U E, which loosely means 'something over a hundred
years old, which has some value'.
You can pick up items of furniture like this on eBay
and other places quite cheaply.
I have an old Edwardian desk and chair, an old piano stool and a Thakat
table, which I particularly like.
And our dining table and chairs are all secondhand antique pine wood too.
I also like to buy secondhand clothes and eBay is the place
that I found best for this.
I like the category 'New with labels'.
So this is usually an item that someone has bought and it's never
made it out of the carrier bag.
It's stuck in the bottom of the wardrobe.
Or they've tried it on once and not liked it and forgotten
to take it back to the shop.
I don't think I'd ever do that.
I always get a refund.
But this means that I can buy a nicer brand of clothes on eBay.
And a bit of experience in buying things and you get to know what suits you and
what size you are as well in different brands, different types of clothing.
You can dress stylishly and pay a lot less money.
And eBay is good for technology items as well.
Often new and much cheaper than in the shops.
And it's great for selling your old phone as well if you're upgrading to a new one.
I find eBay easy for selling because you can look and see what
price items like yours sold for.
This is a great advantage because you need to price your item right,
so that it sells rather than sticking around for weeks and weeks.
On eBay, you have to watch for the price of shipping or posting,
especially internationally.
The intention is that the buyer pays this, so you don't want to underestimate what
it costs to post - otherwise you lose out.
' To underestimate' means to give a figure that's too low - here for postage price.
Now, eBay is international, of course, and is most popular in the US and Germany,
China, Italy, Hong Kong, and Spain.
But you can sell your goods on eBay in many countries.
My daughter prefers UK-based site Depop to sell her unwanted secondhand clothes.
Depop operates in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Italy.
Not quite as international, that one.
Another website, formerly UK-owned is Gumtree, G U M T R E E.
And on this site you can buy and sell all kinds of items.
It was owned by eBay for a time, but now belongs to Norwegian company Advinta and
operates in 20 countries around the world.
You can even sell property, houses or cars on Gumtree.
Another place that you can sell your secondhand or pre-owned
items is Facebook Marketplace.
The term 'secondhand' means 'you've used it and now you're
passing it to a second person'.
And 'pre-owned' means 'already owned'.
So those two phrases mean the same thing, really.
And there are other international websites which perform a similar role.
eBid.
EBID is very similar to eBay and operates in many countries round the world.
The cost of selling isn't as much as it is on eBay, but the site doesn't have as
many buyers or subscribers, so it takes a little bit longer for your item to sell.
So if you need to have a clear out of your unwanted possessions, your unwanted
stuff, a 'decluttering', in other words, there are some ideas on how to get
rid of your stuff and how to make a little bit of money at the same time.
This is one where I probably need to follow my own advice and get busy clearing
out my house of all its unwanted stuff.
If you have the problem of too much stuff, getting rid of it means
'travelling lighter through life' and having more space can help you feel good.
Let us know as ever, what you think of this podcast.
Enough for now.
Have a lovely day.
Speak to you again soon.
Goodbye.