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Guides 5

• Sorting a record collection: the fast pass

  Most of a collection is worth very little and a few records are worth a lot. The skill is separating them without listening to all of them.

• Selling used furniture without the runaround

  Photographs, measurements and pickup logistics decide whether furniture sells. The price matters less than most people think.

• Sorting a bookshelf quickly

  Books are heavy and mostly worthless. A twenty-minute pass per shelf finds the few that are not.

• Going through a parent's paperwork

  A file cabinet is mostly junk mail and a few documents that are hard to replace. Pull the legal and financial papers first, keep the original order, and don't shred anything until you've seen the whole folder.

• Sorting tools in a garage or workshop

  Rusty hand tools, dead cordless drills, a bench vise and a half-full can of old paint each leave the garage a different way. Clear the floor first and sort by type before you decide what any of it is worth.