Money Saving Tuesday - Sell Your Junk

This money saving one is a no-brainer to some, and a difficult one to others. It's not a sustainable way to get some (or save some) extra cash, because eventually you'll run out of stuff to sell. Unless you're a recovering hoarder. Then good on you for having the never ending closet to start selling.

When my husband and I got married, we essentially had 2 households merging which also means 2 households of junk, boxes and duplicates. (think toasters - although his always set off the fire alarm so we just trashed his and used mine...which died a month later and he thought was poetic justice for the loss of his.)

We also had things that we just never used anymore. We had an popcorn machine, some old tools, board games, clothes the kids long grew out of, an ice cream maker...

You get the picture. Our laundry room/pantry room was a hideaway for everything that we didn't use. Out of sight out of mind.

So, last December, we started taking pictures, writing happy descriptions and posting online onto Kijiji. It took some work, and we also discovered the benefit of delivery fees. We live outside of the big city of Winnipeg, and the majority of our "clients" lived in Winnipeg. They didn't want to drive (most city folks think that the world falls off into an abyss at the perimeter), and my husband drives in every day.

Very easy way to tack on $5 for delivery. It's not that convenient to deliver (organizing drop off times and such), and this was a nice way to compensate and get a bit more cash. Win win.

We paid for our garden door from our bedroom onto our deck with Kijiji cash. Seriously. $600 worth of stuff was in our basement. We sold an old dresser that was in the basement that we'd painted red for $30 (the lady who bought that was SO excited), my husband sold his Assassin's Creed games after he finished the games, I sold my Sims 2 PC collection. We sold stuff that even though there were happy emotions attached, we didn't use anymore.

Oh, sell your old exercise videos. The best time is now: January. People love to work on those New Years Resolutions with Tony Horton.

We sold a large garbage bag of brand name boy clothes for $35. Jeans, tshirts, sweaters - it was a fun bag of stuff!

Get creative. Look around and see what you can live without. Decluttering helps keep your head and mind clean, so see what you can do without and earn a little cash.

In 2011, we bought our garden door (like I mentioned), and this year we did another spurt of purging and we are currently up to another $500 earned.

My husband had an old boat motor in the shed, I had some more exercise videos (don't judge me), more video games, toys, small appliances...it adds up.

One note, don't overprice your goodies. You might think that even though you bought that couch 10 years ago for $1500 and it's in great shape, it's not worth $1000 now. It's worth $50. If you had it wrapped in plastic wrap and didn't let anything sit on it for more than 10 seconds, then go for $100. Let's not get ridiculous.

Look online to see what certain items sell for new (video games/board games), and mark it down accordingly. Also look at grouping items together, but prepared to sell separately.

Be prepared to compromise, but don't sell yourself down the river unless you packed a raft. What I mean is you'll be selling a beautiful lamp at a reasonable price ($20) and someone will email you and say "I'll give you $5".

To that I often say to the person "what's wrong with you?!" out loud, then I check myself and email back "give me $15 plus $5 delivery and it's yours".

I have given deals and have been willing to compromise, but if it's more work for you and you're spending more time working out delivery times or pick up times, it's not worth it. No deal is worth the hassle of someone who doesn't know buying/selling etiquette.

Remain positive, in touch, and personable. I don't recommend the "what's wrong with you?!" approach unless it's just to get it out of your system before you act rationally.

A lot of people will offer you half price. Be prepared for that and decide early on what you're willing to settle for. A good bargain is one both sides are happy with.

So that is this Tuesday's Money Saving Tip!