Turn Clutter To Cash!

Get the kids involved!!
We just sifted through summer activities for our daughter.  She wants to do everything, and we want her to have a say in the priority each activity gets.  Yesterday, I got out the rest of her Spring & Summer clothes.  I asked her to try them on & put anything too small into a box for Once Upon a Child.  She loves playing the ball pit they have at one of the locations near us, so that was incentive.  I also told her that when we sell things she can't use, we can use that money to pay for things like an art camp that she's especially interested in.  She was very enthusiastic - when things fit, she was glad we didn't need to find new things (she doesn't like that kind of shopping) & that she had choices of outfits.  She was equally excited about the things that were too small, saying that can help pay for art camp ;-)  I didn't have to guess at sizes, and she was much more interested in Spring Cleaning for a cause.  Dave Ramsey recommends starting 4-yr-olds on processes that encourage understanding of money & associating it with work.  I was completely skeptical, but can see evidence of the concepts sinking in over time.  I'm hopeful that these things will discourage my daughter from being among the families with $8000 of revolving credit card debt (the national average a few years ago)!!

Sell your CDs and DVDs
If you're like most people, you have a collection, but watch only a few movies consistently.  Well, turn those into cash!  There's a link at the right side of the page for Second Spin.  I've used this several times and been pleased, both buying & selling.  You enter the UPC or title info, get a quote before mailing them, and they'll reimburse you the USPS media mail rate if you sell 5 or more items at once.  Go a bit further & decide to use the library for the CDs and movies you use only occasionally, then sell those as well.  Of course, you can also use the credits to purchase different CDs and DVDs, as well - they'll put you on a mailing list & have regular sales with discounts on items and/or shipping, too!  Please click on the link below - it will cost you nothing, but get me a small bonus.  Thanks!

Find old cell phones, laptops, and more around the house?
We have used Gazelle - it isn't the only one, but paid us very nicely for Dave's old cell phone.  I checked 3 places before selling and this one was (by far) the best in my opinion.  They also pay for camera lenses, laptops and more - check it out.  They cover the shipping, too!  Of course, you can donate them through this service, as well as at most cell phone stores and kiosks, too!  Swag will also give you Swag bucks for some things, as well, like cell phones.  Cell phones cannot go in the trash, so it's as easy a way to get rid of an unwanted one as I can think of.

For immediate benefit
Did you buy too many bottles of shampoo or whatever else?  Dave will attest that health & beauty products tend to get me a bit overexcited, so that's my example . . .  Well, take back whatever you can.  Unopened products can often be returned.  If you have the receipt & it's past the time limit, some stores will return for store credit.  If you put it on a credit card, some stores can trace it that way & put it back on your credit card, immediately reducing your debt or total balance.

Some stores will take merchandise back without a receipt in exchange for store credit.  My favorite example of this is Target, altough Walmart will do it too.  Target will allow up to $75 pe person per calendar year of returns without receipts.  Store credit isn't cash, but Target store credits can be used for such necessities and food, medicine, toilet paper, clothes, daipers . . . pretty much the same as cash!

Do you have broken jewelry, or just unwanted jewelry?  Sterling silver and gold are being advertized as good to sell recently.  There are many options.  I would do some background work.  If you know where we live and want a recommendation, leave me a message including your identifying info.  I'd be happy to tell you where I take mine - they are good and fair.  They'll also give you double if you use it toward a purchase.  My mom got some repair done on a ring and still has a credit, just for bringing in a few items she didn't want or were broken . . .  For privacy purposes, I won't post my fave here.

Slightly Less Immediate
Get rid of clothes you don't wear anymore, toys your kids don't play with anymore, and books you don't read anymore.  Once Upon A Child will give you a debit card - basicly a Visa gift card - or cash, depending on the amount you get from them.  http://www.onceuponachild.com/ Turn Style consignment takes clothes & housewares & you have to wait until it sells, but then you can get cash or use the store credit for other things when it sells. http://www.turnstyleconsign.com/ I tend to start the kids stuff at Once Upon A Child, unless it's a housewares kind of thing.  For everything else, I would go with Turn Style first.

Half Price Books will give you some money for your books & CDs, although I'd suggest other places first. . .  I take my magazines there for now, and have already put a link to cash4books on the side of this page. 

I've used Cash4Books several times, and they cover shipping.  You get a quote ahead of time by UPC code before sending anything, so no surprises.  Of course, you'll get more for audio books than anything else.  On the other hand, you can get audio books from the library for free, so this is still cash freed up.  If you go with Cash4Books, please use the link on the right side of this page.  It won't affect your options, but will get me a small bonus for the referral.  Thanks!

When you're done cleaning things out, don't put the unsold things back!!!  Donate them to charity, please.  If you really didn't want them in the first place, not selling them won't increase your warm fuzzies when you see them later, and there are many out there that need them right now, and you can deduct the donation for tax savings.

Longer Term
It was listed just above - donate things.  If you drive to donate things, you can deduct the fair market value of the donation in addition to charitable mileage on your taxes (the IRS web site lists mileage rates for business, charity & medical reasons by year).  It's not much, but it's helping people & the little bits add up more than we would have believed just over a year ago!

More coming - check back!