BANK OF KARMA: Why I Give Away My Used Items Instead of Selling Them

What you put out always comes back. Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash

Life is energy, energy is life.

All of the energy you put out comes back to you somehow; this includes anything you give away. (In this post we'll focus on tangible items.)

If you give something away that has monetary value, you've made a deposit to the bank of karma because money is a representation of your energy; you worked or provided some sort of value to get that money. Therefore the item you purchased with that money is a representation of your energy.

If you give away an item, you create a karmic debt whereby the Universe needs to bring something of equal or greater value into your life.

However if you sell the item, the energetic exchange has already taken place; you gave energy (the item), and you received energy (money).

The problem is that when you sell an item, it's rare that you get the true value of the item back. 

If you've ever sold anything online or at a yard sale, you know this to be true. If you're lucky, you can get maybe 20-25% of the value back, and that's only if the item is new or nearly-new.

If you had simply given the item away, you would have made a deposit into your Bank of Karma for the full value of the item - a deposit that the Universe would have made good on at some point.

Money is energy. Photo by Pepi Stojanovski on Unsplash

PERSONAL EXAMPLE:

A few years ago, I ordered shoes online that I paid $200 for. (Back before COVID, when I worked in an office and wore fancy high-heels at my corporate job). They were non-returnable, but I was certain I knew my size because I had tried them on in the store.

Unfortunately - due to some sort of manufacturing abnormality - they were slightly too big. But because of how much I had paid for them, I held onto these shoes for four years.

Every now and then, I would take them out of the box and try to find a way to make them fit so that I could actually walk in them; I stuffed cotton balls into the toes, attached heel grips, inserted gel pads.

I literally tried everything to make it possible for me to wear these shoes.

(I could have tried selling them, but man-oh-man do I find that process to be a real pain in the ass. Posting pictures, writing descriptions, fielding questions, packaging the item and bringing it to the post office. Or going back and forth to the consignment shop, or organizing a yard sale or whatever. It's a very time-consuming hassle.)

So they sat there in their box, taking up space in my closet.

For four years...

And then - while I was doing a major spring-cleaning purge - I finally decided to just let them go.

Bye-bye big shoes. Image Credit: Andrew Tanglao on Unsplash

My mindset had already started to shift, and I was looking at everything in terms of energy. I saw my donation of these shoes as the earning of a few karma bucks.

And although I'm certainly not keeping score, I know the Universe is.

I was recently able to save $300 on a service I had wanted to purchase but couldn't justify financially. But I was in the right place at the right time and was able to take advantage of this massive discount.

The Universe more than paid me back for the brand-new shoes I donated.

That's why I now give away any item I no longer want, regardless of how much I paid for it or whether or not I ever used it. The store might not always give a refund, but the Universe does.

Aside from earning karma bucks, donating means doing a good deed for people who would like nice things, but can't afford to pay retail prices.

I always donate to non-profit organizations so that both the item itself, and the money the organization makes from re-selling it can directly benefit people in need. (For me that means donating either to the Salvation Army or the St-Vincent-de-Paul.)

Someone's treasure. Image Credit: Waldemar on Unsplash

The other reason I donate, aside from earning karma bucks, is that I grew up poor.

Until the age of 16 - when I got a part-time job as a cashier at a grocery store - I never owned new clothes; everything I had came from the Salvation Army.

I remember the frustration I felt going through those dusty racks. Most of the clothes were as used up as an old handkerchief and about as appealing.

Just because you're poor, doesn't mean you want to wear crappy things.

The selection was usually sparse, and when I did actually find something I liked, the item was often stained or damaged in an irreparable way.

But every now and then, it would be my lucky day and I would find something that I liked, that was almost new, and it felt like Christmas.

That's why I don't feel bad donating things that are new or nearly new; because I imagine someone like I used to be, finding my shoes and having it make her day. (Or maybe his day, because I have size 11 feet and I'm certain my shoes could fit a drag queen).

Thanks for the shoes honey. Image Credit: Artem Gavrysh on Unsplash

I've done a lot of Marie Kondo-ing in the last year; if it doesn't spark joy or provide a useful purpose, it's out.

And I've started noticing that money and abundance have started coming into my life in unexpected ways in tandem with my donation of a lot of the things I had been holding onto.

All of life is energy, and whatever energy we put out always comes back to us.

Don't be afraid of giving away brand new items; I know it's tempting to hold onto them and try to find a way to extract some value from them - but you don't need to because the Universe does have your back, I promise.

I'm not suggesting that you should never attempt to re-sell your items; if you can actually get organized enough to do the whole re-selling thing - and not hate your life in the process - then have at it.

But if the items are just sitting in your home - stagnant energy - let them go. Let someone else use them.

Let go of the things that don't spark joy for you, so that they can spark joy for someone else, and maybe bring abundance into your life.

The Universe will always pay you back somehow, because everything you give away just means more karma bucks in your bank.

Fill your bank. Photo by Zlaťáky.cz on Unsplash

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You might be asking yourself "How does this topic relate to recovery from binge-eating?" What I found is that - for me - finding new ways of thinking about life and its challenges helped me to stop stress-eating, and has been a very big part of my ability to stop binge-eating.

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