After most people create a budget with BudgetSimple, they usually have one of two results; “I need to spend less!” or “I need to make more money!”. The former is usually doable by making cut backs, but the latter can be quite challenging. How can we make more money without a career change or finding a new job? The answer is all around you!
When you get a new cell phone, appliance, or clothing, what do you do with the old stuff you replaced? Throw it out? If so, you’re throwing out money! Almost everything has value in some way to somebody, even broken or worn out items. Some examples:
- My old flip phone broke (the screen was broken) and I had to get a new one. Most people would just chuck the broken phone in the trash, but I put it on eBay (fully disclaiming it was broken and showing pictures!), and I got $50 for it. $50 for a broken phone, that I had gotten for free! Almost any small electronics have a value on eBay or Craigslist, don’t recycle them before you try to sell.
- Just moved and have tons of boxes you don’t need? You’d be surprised that you can easily get $10-20 bucks for them on Craigslist.
- Speaking of Craiglist, if you put pretty much anything on there for under $30, I’ve found someone is usually willing to come get it without much haggling. I recently sold an old Microwave and an Ikea bookshelf this way in only a day.
- Of course, we’ve already talked about how you have cash in your closet.
If you need some extra money (and really who doesn’t), why not spend some time this weekend uncluttering your house AND making money for doing so?
My flow is usually:
- Try to sell for as high of a price as I think I can get, and if I don’t get it
- Sell for any price above zero I think I can get
- If it still doesn’t sell, see if there is a value you can get for recycling. For example, the power company will often buy old refrigerators from you, and almost any metal has some scrap value.
- Finally, if there is still no way to get money for it, I try to find a charitable organization that will take it.
