We are on a mission around here, people. Every season we make a pile and get rid of stuff. We sell what we can and donate the rest. This summer’s declutter sales are motivated by an unexpected loss of summer income. We thought Jed was going to teach summer school but it was cancelled at the last minute, which means we don’t get several thousand dollars we were counting on. For today’s Frugal Friday post I’m sharing a few ways we declutter and make a little money at the same time. Here are the top four ways we clean out our life and make a little cash money…
1) Team Garage Sale – These can be a big money maker, but take a lot of time and effort. You can make it easier on yourself and more profitable in the long run by joining forces with neighbors or friends to create a much desired “multi family” garage sale. We are attempting to get a few of our neighbors to go in on one with us. One house hosts the sale, everybody tags their own stuff and divides up the shifts. You make the money off whatever sells of your stuff. Multi family sales draw a bigger crowd, and sharing shifts lightens the work load, so everyone wins.
2) Selling Online – There are lots of online sites that will buy your old junk. We’ve sold everything from cell phones to DVDs to ink cartridges, and plan to sell more. I’m cleaning out my old CDs and DVDs to sell right now. Most of these sites will let you scan or search online to find out how much your stuff is worth before you send it off.
3) Craigslist – This is best reserved for big ticket items, because it takes more effort on your part. Right now we have a few items listed and Jed is wheeling and dealing to get rid of them. Take the time to take good pictures and write a detailed description. Always put your phone number as well as an email address because most buyers prefer texting to emailing. We like to meet buyers in a neutral place rather than our home to protect ourselves, but that might just be our own paranoia. Trust your instincts and if the deal feels shady, don’t do it.
4) Donate – If your stuff won’t sell, donate it. If you don’t need the money but want to get rid of things that are still useful, try Freecycle, Goodwill, or the Salvation Army. Freecycle is a localized forum for folks to give away almost anything (except services and pets) to keep junk out of landfills. That old broken computer could be really useful to someone who likes to rebuild them as a hobby. Don’t throw it away! Goodwill has donation stations all over the place. There are probably non-profits in your area that will even come and pick up your junk. This is a great solution for post-garage sale clutter.
