How to Find $500 Today By Raiding Your Collections
Posted by jefferson on Aug 10, 2012 in Making Money | 35 comments
I mentioned the other day that Michelle and I have amped up our debt repayment efforts to the point where we are now budgeting down in the weeds. A second part of this effort is to find anything and everything that we own and do not use, and make an attempt to sell it on eBay or Craigslist. Getting rid of some of these items requires jumping a few psychological hurdles, but we both accept and embrace the fact that buying things that we couldn’t afford is a big part of how we got into the financial mess that we find ourselves in today. When we get our finances in order, we can re-purchase these items, if we find ourselves missing them. But the reality is, we probably won’t. Perhaps it is just another minimalist kick taking hold, but I truly am starting to believe that I really will be a happier person if I own less material things.
As of this writing, in this past month alone, we have sold an astounding $500 worth of items, with a number of things still listed. Yes, I decided to sell my amp (sold) and electric guitar (still available if you’re a lefty!) The amp takes up a chunk of this total, but the rest has come from carefully going room to room in our house to see if we can find items of value that we wouldn’t mind parting with. This is all in the name of a quicker escape from the chains of debt. If you are fighting a similar battle, or if you just need some extra cash, perhaps the list below can help give you some suggestions as to where you might look in your own house:
Are Your Old Collections Bringing You Joy?
If there is something in your home that you have entirely too much of, make no mistake about it– you are a collector. It doesn’t have to be the traditional stamps, baseball cards, or coins — it can just as easily be ties, shot glasses, or power tools. If you are living debt free and investing in stockpiling certain items is what brings you joy, then I won’t discourage you to do what makes you happy. But if you are like us and are battling your way out of debt, you need to take a deep look at these collections to see if they truly bring you joy.
My largest collection is a couple of boxes of baseball cards that I bought with years worth of allowances from late 1980′s and early 1990′s. Unfortunately for me, this collection is mostly worthless, because tens of thousands of other American twelve year olds were buying the exact same thing at the exact same time, but there are always diamonds in the rough. I have been able to sell a few select cards in the $20 range using the site baseballcardbuyer.com. I would love to sell the rest, to be honest, but just can’t get any money for them. Perhaps one day, I will.
We were also able to sell coins online, and bring in another $15. Michelle and I have both procured a number of old, rare, and foreign currency coins over the years, and we both agreed that it was better to sell them now to help us get out of debt, than to leave them sitting in the bottom of a jar. While coins do increase in value over the years, they don’t increase at a rate greater than the standard credit card APR!
Music and Video Games
During my high school and college years, I purchased hundreds of music CDs. For the past few years, these CDs have been sitting in my basement collecting dust. I ripped them all to MP3 format years ago, and haven’t listened to the physical discs ever since. I know that the sale of physical media music has grinded to a virtual halt in the past 5 or 6 years, but I decided to take my giant box of CDs up to the local music store to see if I could get anything for them. The good (and surprising) news is that they were willing to give me $60 for 40 of my old CDs. The bad news is that they were only willing to pay me in store credit. I took their deal regardless, and went to look at their selection of video games to find some that I could turn around and sell on eBay for a good return.
Speaking of video games, I also have a rather large collection of Playstation 3 games that don’t get much love. Many of them were given to my kids as gifts, and the decision whether or not to sell those games belongs to them. As for the others, I have found that if you group a few games together on eBay as a “wholesale lot,” you can often get a nice price for them. I recently sold three games, which I probably paid about $30 together for over the years– for $40 on eBay. Games do decrease in value the further they get from their release date (especially sports games), but if you group them together, you can make some decent cash.
Jewelry Box Whine
You have probably seen the commercials for those “cash for gold” places that have been springing up, and truth be told– this is the real deal. Gold prices are at an all-time high, and if you can bear the thought of parting with some of your old jewelry, you can typically find a buyer willing to pay a good price. Alternately, you can sell jewelry online, where the market price will be stated clearly and upfront. Using this method, Michelle recently sold an old bracelet that she doesn’t wear much and made $50. There is a reason that criminals who break into homes typically head straight for the jewelry box when looking for values; those items often hold their value fairly well!
Shoes, Oh My God, Shoes.
How many pairs of shoes do you have in your closet? Fellas, I am guessing that you have less than five. If you have more than that, your strays are probably not in the best condition and should be donated or tossed. However, if you are female, chances are good that you have many more, the majority of which are probably in very good condition. I don’t know what it is about girls that calls for a massive shoe collection, perhaps the desire to coordinate with various outfits and social situations? Regardless, I was amazed and impressed when Michelle offered to start selling some of her rarely-worn shoes to help our debt repayment effort. Michelle doesn’t have half the shoes of some girls that I know, and hasn’t bought very many at all in the past few years, but I know that it wasn’t easy for her to part with some of her favorites, even if they almost never found a way into her rotation. We got over 35 dollars for the first pair that we listed on eBay, and have two more out there now that we have high hopes for.
Go Ahead; Be A Sell Out!
Michelle and I are not hoarders and never have been, and we had no problem getting together lots of items to sell. If you are like us, you probably have a closet (or even a room!) somewhere in your house where things you don’t use are just gathering dust. So go ahead….sell out like us! I feel so much better about life just knowing that someone is getting better use out of the things we sold, and we profited as well.
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I suggest you take the bundle approach with your baseball cards too. On craigslist I have seen people selling their sports card collection as an entire collection with no browsing. People will buy it hoping there is a diamond in the rough.
In my case I really should sell my video games. I have an xbox and a bunch of games and I haven’t even unpacked them since moving over 6 months ago.
Modest Money recently posted..August 10th 2012 Blog Update
This isn’t a bad idea, Jeremy.. It just stinks that the cards are worth so much less than what I paid for them 20 years ago. You’d think that a collectible would appreciate somewhat 8-D.. But no dice.
At this point, I would probably dump my whole collection for $200 in a heartbeat. Could I get that??.. Doubtful.
I like your store credit solution for the CDs. I’ve been holding onto mine, too (I was a DJ for 10 years in high school and college). Because they weren’t worth much, I’ve been hanging onto them as ‘backup’. Time for them to go!
AverageJoe recently posted..Blog Post of the Week! By Budgets Are Sexy
Yeah, I was surprised that I could get *anything* for the CDs.. Sixty bucks is sixty bucks, and the way I see it— I was trading in cobwebs from my basement, for all practical purposes.
I’m glad that all of my baseball cards are still at my parent’s house because I know Holly would make me get rid of them if they were here!
My biggest collection is probably my books. I just can’t come to part with them. Luckily, the resale on books is very low, so Holly hasn’t made me get rid of them yet. However, whenever we sell stuff on Craigslist, we find that we never really miss the things we sell as much as we anticipated. In fact, the less we have, the happier we are becoming. I think that you’ll find the same thing!
Greg@ClubThrifty recently posted..I Need to Lose Weight
I have some books too, and have looked into trading them in. But they are really worth nothing. I have thought about donating some of them to a prison or somewhere, to where they will get some use, and may look into that.
I really need to go through all of my game systems and DVD because I could probably make a small fortune if I sold some of it.
Sean @ One Smart Dollar recently posted..5 Best Ways to Make Money From Home
Games tend to hold their resale items better than most things… Half.com can be a great resource for selling games as well.
I’ve often thought about selling my hockey card collection. It’s not very large, but have some solid rookie cards, and autographed cards. I often wonder what I could get for them, because they’ve been sitting in a box for many years now.
Eddie recently posted..Hostage To My Cellphone Contract No More!
I hope hockey cards have held their resale value better than baseball cards. It may certainly be worth looking into. If something is just sitting in a box in the basement.. It probably isn’t bringing you much joy.
You’re right – it doesn’t bring me much joy as it once did. Probably because I’ve shifted my focus elsewhere – such as blogging..LOL
Eddie recently posted..Your Home Insurance No-Claims Bonus: What it’s Worth and How to Protect It!
I’ve started selling a few books on Amazon, mostly to clear room on our bookshelves as we have less space in our new home, and I’ve been shocked at how well things have been selling! I put seven books online three days ago, just the ones I had to hand, and I’ve already sold two and made £15. I’m really surprised at how fast and easy it was, as I was expecting to have to wait for ages for anything to sell.
Frugal City Girl recently posted..3 Things I Wasted Debt Payoff Money On (And Don’t Regret At All)
You must have newer books, if you are still getting good value for them. It seems like most of my books have already lost most of their value and go for the minimum ($0.75) on Half.com
I think it’s more that they’re old schoolbooks in fairly niche areas, so the people after them are students (or nerds like me!). I’ve found academic books tend to go for more than fiction or popular non-fiction, even used.
Frugal City Girl recently posted..3 Things I Wasted Debt Payoff Money On (And Don’t Regret At All)
Ah.. Textbooks.. That makes perfect since.
Unfortunately, I went to school over 12 years ago, and got a Technical degree.. My textbooks are worth virtually nothing.
That’s so awesome! Congrats! I have to go through a bunch of our stuff. Now certainly does seem to be the time to sell gold…it’s up so much even from a few years ago.
femmefrugality recently posted..Sunshine Awards!
If I had a bunch of gold laying around the house, I would sell it now. I have to wonder if the value will continue to increase as the economy rebounds.
Great post, Jefferson! I’ve just been donating my stuff to Goodwill, but I’m proud of you for going to the extra effort for Craigslist and eBay.
Kathleen @ Frugal Portland recently posted..When you have an idea, protect it!
We donate tons of stuff too, Kathleen.. It always feels good to lighten your load, either way.
I’ve raided my house for stuff to sell, but I never thought of my shoes! I have so many pairs in great condition… Never wear them… I need to get some money for them ASAP! Great idea!
Nell @ Housewife Empire recently posted..When Your Online Biz Hits a Wall
Our initial shoe auction exceeded all of our expectations.. We have a few more out there now, and they have been much slower. Hopefully they pick up the pace in their last few days of the auction.
My husband has been selling some old video games on ebay as well. That seems to be the place to unload them!
Mackenzie recently posted..Me, Myself, and I
The best thing about selling video games is that you can have a pretty good idea of how they are going to go ahead of time. They pretty much always sell for the same amount.
Like many others, I have thousands upon thousands of hockey, baseball and basketball cards from the late 80′s/early 90′s, and unfortunatately 95% aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on anymore. I thought about attempting to sell them, but then decided they might have more value as nostalgic items to my kids and their kids, so I’m just storing them for the future now.
Earth and Money recently posted..Investing to Save the World
I am in the same boat, E&M. I hope that one day, they’ll be worth something… somehow.
I know personally, most of the things in my room aren’t worth anything, but I will have to look into selling some of my old books now! I have a bunch that are from when I was in elementary school and junior high, that I will never read again. $10 is better than nothing!
Cassi recently posted..The Unhappiness Point
Some of the classics can get you a little bit of value.. But not too much.. For me, the cost of driving to the post office and such (and dealing with their hours).. I need to make at least five or so dollars..
The only thing I’ve ever collected was CD’s. I was a huge music junkie, especially during the 90′s. I had thousands and proudly displayed them in my massive CD tower. It was such a huge pain to import them all to itunes. (and remind me to back up my hard drive will ya?). I’ve sold SO many, but am still trying to get rid of the last remaining CD’s. If I can’t, I might just donate them to the library. Good luck with your selling!
Budget and the Beach recently posted..Questions for my readers
This is a great idea and something I’ve been meaning to get to, I have a ton of textbooks and furniture that I’ve been meaning to sell on amazon and yard sale, but haven’t gotten around to it. Maybe I’ll make it a to-do this month!
Jordann @ My Alternate Life recently posted..Return of the Link Love!
You’ve got me wondering what my old basketball cards might be worth. Last time I checked it wasn’t a lot, even for my Kobe Bryant rookie cards. I collected them when I was 15 and thought they would be worth a fortune 13 years later, turns out they might be worth less! What happened to the card market?
Money Bulldog recently posted..Make Money By Starting Your Own Website
We’ve pretty much gone through all of our old junk. I think I may have some VHS tapes up in the attic and definitely have a few baseball cards, but other than that everything we own gets used. I could probably donate the VHS stuff sometime…maybe when we move and have to go through all of the old boxes again.
Jason recently posted..How We Create an Irregular Income Budget
Nice job on the CD’s! They’re not worth much to most people these days… not like vinyl. CD’s are too modern and the artwork isn’t on par with records.
What kind of Guitar do you have, and what was the amp?
m8r recently posted..Last Minute Gift Ideas for Guitar Players (under $25).
I have always thought it would be awesome to have a nice collection of vinyl.. But at this point, I am collecting nothing
I have a rather large collection of items that I should consider selling, but anytime I get around to taking pictures and posting ads online I chicken out. As irrational as it sounds I can’t seem to part with a large chuck of my collection, yet.
Jonathan recently posted..How to Calculate Present Value
I do understand, my friend.. We get attached to our collections.. Where I am right now.. I am even MORE attached to succeeding at our goal of getting out of debt. I am putting all other attachments aside