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Guides 7

• Identifying china before you sell it

  The backstamp tells you the maker and the pattern. Without it, a set of plates is just a set of plates.

• Emptying a kitchen before a move

  A kitchen has to be empty before the boxes are packed, and food can't wait. Work the pantry, the spice rack and the drawers first, then decide what's worth selling, then pack the plates so they survive the trip.

• Sorting a house full of photographs

  Photographs are the one thing in a house you can't judge by size or weight. Start with the albums, keep the ask pile separate, and write names on the back while somebody can still answer the question.

• 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.

• Clearing stuff out when you have no truck

  Most of the pain in a cleanout is the trip to the dump. Measure the pile in loads before you rent anything, know what the transfer station wants, and spend the first hour of a rental on the worst stuff.

• Photographing stuff for sale

  Good photos are not about a good camera. They are about light, framing and photographing the flaws nobody wants to photograph.

• Sorting a bookshelf quickly

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