Whether you’ve been rewatching the Home Edit on Netflix or you’re just doing some standard spring cleaning, you may feel overrun by items that have value but aren’t a fit in your home anymore.
The good news is that you can get rid of these items and earn a little money to help fund your savings goals. Here are your options:
Garage Sales
This is a tried-and-true method of turning your old stuff into quick cash, but you need to do a little due diligence to make sure the time you put into the sale nets you benefits.
Pick a weekend when you expect the weather to be nice, avoiding big holiday weekends when folks might have other plans. Make sure to put parameters in place to accommodate for COVID 19 best practices; you can find some helpful tips here.
Advertise it on Facebook, Craigslist, and your street corner. And when you’re designing those garage sale signs, don’t be a minimalist. Colorful pens and paint, sparkles, and balloons are your friends here.
Have snacks and water, too. Your potential customers will enjoy a cold bottle of water or a bag of goldfish for the kiddos while they are looking over your items.
Online Sales
If a garage sale seems like a lot of work, or you have collectibles or other items that don’t fit the bargain shopping mentality of a garage sale, list them online for sale locally or globally. Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and Letgo are good options for local sales. Remember that you’ll need to meet in person — or even have the potential buyer come to your home — to exchange goods for payment, so ensure that you’re using solid safety practices for local sales.
If you’d prefer to sell without meeting people in person, eBay remains a great option. It gets a lot of traffic from people looking for very specific items, so there is likely to be a buyer for even your most esoteric items. Before you list your items, search for similar products for sale to get an idea of keywords potential buyers are searching for and the going rate. You can also choose whether you want to do a time-limited auction or a Buy It Now sale for a fixed price.
Donations
Don’t want to hassle with any of that? You can always donate your old goods to a local charity. There are thrift stores that take a variety of household goods. Got a lot of business clothes? You could find a charity that helps the homeless find work by giving them clothing to wear to interviews. No matter what items you have, you’re likely to find a charity that can use those to either provide direct help or earn funds to support their mission.
And if you hold a garage sale or try selling online, you can always donate items that don’t find a new home.
Make sure you get a receipt so you can deduct these donations on your taxes next year, potentially lowering your tax bill.
