4 Items Around Your Home You Can Sell for Extra Cash This Summer
Although many people sell household items via yard and garage sales during the summer, there are still those who forget that selling things they own and don’t use any longer is one of the easiest and fastest methods for making extra money.
Given the high number of free online social media yard sale groups and classified ad sites and their reach, making extra cash this way is easier than ever.
Whether you need money to pay for a vacation or a sudden emergency event, you can probably find plenty of things around your home to sell to acquire the funds.
Consider these four categories of items that often help individual sellers generate the most extra cash:
Fun Distractions
Most people have entertainment-related items that they rarely use collecting dust on shelves or in their attics, basements and closets.
For example, many people read paperback and hardback books only once and then stack the books everywhere with no intention of ever reading them again.
Current and former college students also tend to have a lot of unused textbooks. Other valuable entertainment-related items include CDs, DVDs, BluRay discs, digital music players, musical instruments, video games and consoles, sports equipment, mobile phones, televisions, computers, monitors, printers and accessories.
There is also a market for old VHS tapes and VHS players. Typically, you can find buyers among elderly consumers who have held onto their VHS collections, cinephiles who love VHS and professionals in certain fields like cinematography who collect them.
Some teachers and researchers still use VHS tapes as well.
Collectible Pieces
You can usually make a considerable amount of money from collectibles, especially vintage and antique ones.
Common collectibles include tin signs, license plates, jewelry, silver, ceramic and glass dinnerware, old wood furniture, chess sets, trains and scale models, old coins and paper money, stamps, porcelain dolls and sports collector cards and equipment.
Children’s toys like cast iron vehicles and soldiers and even certain branded plastic vintage toys sell well.
It’s important to remember that these items sell at the highest prices based on buying trends and a seller’s ability to find a buyer who’s hoping to add to a collection.
The age and rarity of an item, the materials used to make it and any announcements about anniversaries or recent news related to the company that produced the item also influence popularity.
Household Appliances
Believe it or not, many people hold onto old appliances, such as ovens, toaster ovens, toasters, microwaves, refrigerators, freezers, mixers, blenders, bread machines, washing machines and dryers, instead of selling or junking them.
You can typically sell used appliances for approximately half the price of new similar models if they’re in good working order.
The popularity of certain vintage brands and models increase the price potential. Another option: consider selling appliance parts.
For example, if you own a non-working microwave, post an advertisement to sell the glass plate and plate holder.
New replacements are expensive and many microwave owners look online for cheap used backup plates.
Other popular appliance parts include burner elements and gaskets from ovens, belts and water pumps from washing machines and glass pitchers from blenders.
Scrap Metals
Scrap metal dealers and recyclers often pay top dollar for aluminum, brass, copper, steel and other metals because it’s ultimately cheaper for product manufacturers, foundries and other companies to buy scrap metals than to find, dig up and process raw ore.
Best yet, buyers like Metal Merchants, for example, often sell scrap metals locally so that local economies and people benefit the most from every sale.
Around the house, you might find aluminum bake-ware, siding and gutters, window and door frames and beverage cans or brass lighting fixtures, valves, sink fixtures, door handles, hinges, keys and locks.
Copper is commonly found in electronics, especially power cords and wires. Many people also sell their old copper pipes or take their microwaves to a scrap dealer since the interior contains copper coils and wires.
For steel, think about selling appliances, patio furniture, scrolled metal porch railings, filing cabinets and wall shelves.
Keep in mind that there’s no limit to what you can try to sell. For example, many home owners and renters also sell personal handcrafted items.
The key to making the most money is to advertise in more than one place, provide clear item descriptions and pictures and stick firm to your asking price for each item.
Of course, extra cash isn’t the only benefit related to selling household items this summer.
You also decrease clutter and make your living spaces cleaner and more organized and comfortable.
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Category: Family Finances
