9 Ways to Make Money Selling Your Stuff in an Emergency
Welcome back!
Image courtesy of west846
During times of need, the first thing you need to do is evaluate your belongings and determine what you can live without and what will make you money. Selling things you don’t need is by far the easiest way to make money quickly.
The philosophy of this blog is to manage your materialism so that you don’t acquire too much stuff to begin with. But most people have more crap than they need and chances are, there is someone out there willing to pay money for it.
Cataloging Your Stuff
The first step you should take is to catalog everything you own. This can take awhile, but it’s important to be aware of all of your belongings. If you know what you have, you can also keep a good idea of what you have it worth. Having a good database also makes it easy to list things online.
Most people have a computer these days and that’s the best way to keep track of what you have. There are simple solutions and more elegant solutions to do this.
The simplest way to create a database of what you own is to throw it all in an Excel Spreadsheet or Access Database. Be sure to set up fields for the items, description, price paid, UPC or ISBN Number and item location. The UPC or ISBN number is the most important aspect, having this on the computer will make it easier to list things online.
I’m lucky that I have a newer iMac. I use a program called Delicious Library. It’s a great program that helps you build a library of what you have. If you’re Mac has a built in Webcam (or any webcam), it can act as a barcode reader and will scan your entire collection. I was able to put in my entire book and DVD collection in the database in one night.
There are similar solutions for Windows that will do the same thing.
For things that don’t have UPC or ISBN numbers, a simple excel spreadsheet will do. Once you have this created, you’ll have a searchable database of all you’re stuff, so you’ll know what you have and where exactly it is.
Selling Stuff Amazon.com
This is by far the best way to sell books, DVD’s, Music and other stuff online. The process is simple and straightforward and your earnings can be directly deposited into your bank account.
I’ve made several thousand dollars selling things on Amazon. It’s helped get us through tough times.
Amazon’s fees can be a little high, but the perk is they take their commission when the purchase is made, so you’ll never have a bill to pay like with eBay.
Also, shoppers pay for the shipping and most of the time the shipping credit is more than it actually costs to ship an item. So you can make a couple more bucks on shipping. For example, users get charged $3.99 to ship a DVD. It only costs a $1.50 or so via Media Mail to ship. That’s how some people sell things for a penny on Amazon. They’re making cash on the back-end.
To sell on Amazon, all you need is an account and access to a checking account. All you have to do to sell something is search for it, go to the product page and click the ‘sell yours’ button on the far right. Fill in all the information, set your price and submit. That’s it.
Amazon also has some great features for managing your inventory and customer communications. You’re also protected if an item gets lost in the mail or a buyer tries to screw you.
Selling on eBay/Half.com
eBay is the established place to buy and sell goods. You can sell anything you could possibly imagine.
I only recommend it for higher value items though, like stuff that you can’t easily sell on Amazon.com. It’s not really worth the time to individually books and DVD’s on eBay, especially with their high fees.
For books, DVD’s and Music, there’s eBay’s sister site called Half.com. It’s works on pretty much the same principle that Amazon Marketplace. You list your stuff and they deposit the earnings into your checking account.
Listing on eBay is simple. Just get an account and start listing items. Once you’re a little established, you’ll be able to use Buy it Now, which is the best way to sell things on eBay. Your eBay account will work on Half.com and vice versa.
I highly recommend getting a PayPal account and only accepting that payment format. There are fraud protections built in and you won’t have to wait for a money order to come in the mail. You get the money right away and if you get a PayPal debit card you can use the money right away too.
Selling on Craigslist
Craigslist is perfect for all the crap you can’t sell on eBay or or Amazon.com. Craigslist has pretty much supplanted Newspaper Classified ads in every regard (jobs, stuff for sale, homes, etc).
The basis of Craigslist is personal interaction. You will have to meet the person you are selling to, so keep in mind that you should only sell things locally on Craigslist. Be careful of people e-mailing you and telling you they’ll send a money order or someone to pick up the item. This is almost always a scam. Accept cash and cash alone. That’s your only protection.
The best part of Craigslist is that it’s free. To sell on Craigslist, you don’t even need an account, just list the item and you’re good. Be careful not to give away your personal information in the ad, or you will get spammed.
What kinds of things can you sell on Craigslist?
Anything at all. Here’s some examples. Craigslist helped us get through some tough financial times. We were able to sell some furniture we didn’t need for a couple hundred bucks. We also sold some expensive electronics pretty quickly for cash. It’s a great place.
Just be very careful.
Selling at a Garage Sale
This is pretty much the old fashion way to get rid of stuff. Fill your garage with stuff, set some prices and watch the people roll in.
There’s a subset of society that loves Garage Sales, so be sure to put up signs, put a free ad in the local paper and post an ad on Craigslist. Keep in mind that some things sell better than others at Garage Sales.
Children’s clothes are notoriously hard to get rid of. Your furniture will be gone by lunchtime.
The only problem is that running a garage sale is time consuming and weather dependent. You have to spend all day standing outside and haggling with bargain seekers. Sometimes it can be fun. Other times it’s going to feel like low-paid work.
Selling to a Pawn Shop
Pawn Shops are an excellent way to get cash quickly, but not the best to make a lot of cash.
The concept of a Pawn Shop is simple, you give them your stuff as collateral for a loan. If you don’t come back and pay the loan, they keep your stuff.
While this is a great concept, it’s usually the Pawn Shop making out on the deal. They will severely undervalue your goods. There are also strict laws in most states on how they operate.
They’re probably not the best place to take jewelry and expensive items such as that. But it can be a good place to get cash for smaller stuff that the Pawn Shop knows they can make a profit on.
Selling to a Used Book/DVD/Music Store
If you’re town has a used book, dvd or music store then you’re in luck. They are usually happy to see someone carrying in a big box of stuff to sell.
They’ll usually give you a fair price. But keep in mind, they are going to give you a price based on the margin they can sell something for. Usually this can be 50% or less. Also, they won’t take some things if they can’t sell them. They already have 50 copies of Battlefield Earth so they won’t take yours.
If you have some rare books, used books stores are perfects places to get cash. Avoid paperback exchanges or places that will only give you store credit for your books. You want cold hard cash. So call ahead before you lug all your books there. If you have a Half Price Books near you, they are great places to get cash in a pinch.
If you have a childhood comic book collection you can part with, most towns have a comic store that’s eager to buy old comic books. Keep in mind, though, they aren’t worth as much as you think they are.
If you aren’t willing to let a store give you less for an item than it’s worth, then selling on Amazon is your best best. But selling to a store it the quickest way to get cash.
Resale Shops
Most resale shops don’t pay for stuff and rely on donations. But some towns will have a resale shop that will pay cash for clothes, especially designer clothes they can make a good profit on.
Keep in mind that resale shops operate seasonally and will only take certain types of clothes during it’s requisite season.
Consignment Shops / Antique Malls
These places are similar to resale shops, except the store merely provides a place for you to sell stuff and they take a cut on the final price. This can be good if you have old, expensive antiques that will take a while to sell, but need to be in a place that’s well trafficked to get interest.
Antique Malls operate in a similar way and most towns have at least one of these types of establishments.
You won’t make money quickly though. The whole idea behind it is that it sits until someone comes across it. Not a very efficient way to sell.
Selling at a Flea Market
Many towns and communities have local flea markets where you can sell your wares. They attract the same crowd that garage sales do, people looking for a deal.
They also attract people looking for specific collectables that they can usually only find at flea markets.
The problem with flea markets, is that eBay has given them a run for the money and most sellers now know the true value of their goods. So, it’s getting increasingly harder to find good deals at Flea Markets.
Doesn’t matter for you though, know know much your stuff is worth. Rent a booth and spend some time selling your goods. The financials rewards won’t be huge, but you’ll get some cash and get to socialize with some interesting people.
Conclusion
When my wife and I went through some really tough times earlier this summer, we had to get rid of a lot of stuff to get by. Even though we were sad to see some belongings so, we realized that it could all be replaced one day. But better than that, we realized how much we DIDN’T need a lot of the stuff we had.
Not having so much stuff was great when we moved last month. Not nearly as much stuff to move and because of that, we were able to move across state lines and be unpacked in a day.
Having less can be a very liberating experience.
Important Links
10 Things Around the House That Can Make You Money
When times are hard, we need to get resourceful for ways to make money. Most people think that all they need to do is work a 9-5 job but realistically, this only fills a third of your waking life. You have plenty of time and ample opportunity to make extra money. It may not be pleasant or even that easy but if you need to make the bills, working extra jobs will not kill you.
My wife and I have chosen to work two jobs while we work out of our little hole. We may even continue once things get better, it’ll be great to have money to put away for a rainy day or a future vacation. We highly recommend doing extra work with your spouse, you work together and spend time together that you would otherwise just spend on the couch, watching TV.
You don’t just need to do these things if you’re hard up. If you have a trip planned or have set a goal for something you want to buy, working odd jobs can help you achieve your goal faster. Goal fulfillment is always sweeter when you know you’ve worked hard for it.
A lot of these jobs are not formal business, just something you can do to make extra cash with minimal investment. Feel free to add your tips to make extra in the comments below.
So, without further ado, here are 10 things around your house that can make you money.
1. Lawnmower + Weedwacker = Lawn Care Business
This one is pretty simple. Grass needs to cut and there will always be people too lazy to do it themselves who’d rather pay someone else to do it. How do you find those people? Ask within your own personal network. From there you can make connections to other people who need lawn care. If all else fails, ask your neighbors, or hell if you really are hard up, just go door to door and ask people if they want their lawn done for say $20 cash. It doesn’t take long to cut grass. Easy Money. Especially if you live near a more affluent area.
2. Computer = Document and IT Business
Most people don’t think that they can use their computer to make money. We’re going to avoid talking about get-rich-quick web ideas (like blogging, review writing, etc) and focus on more practical things. If you’re a good typist, you could easily make extra cash doing word processing work. Make MS Word pay it’s fair share. This can be especially lucrative if you live near a college town. All you need to do is post flyers on the local campus and you can build a steady income typing papers or dissertations. You can also make excellent money doing research and giving writing help.
You can also use your computer to sell things (book, dvd’s, etc). We will have a blog entry in the future talking about the best ways to sell things online.
Here’s a sampling of the things you can do with your computer for extra cash:
- Resume writing
- Rent it out for use
- Document Printing
- Computer Maintenace/Repair
3. Car = Delivery and Taxi Service
When I think of my car, I’m reminded of an analogy an uncle told me once. You’re stuck eating hamburgers, but that car — it eats steak, every night. Cars are a black hole of costs, especially now with rising fuel prices.
Well, it’s time to make that care earn it’s keep. The quickest and probably easiest way to make money with your car is to get a paper route. If you can handle getting up early, you can make good money delivering papers in the morning.
Some other car usage ideas:
- Chauffeur for People who Can’t Drive
- Rent it out when you aren’t using it
- Local deliveries for companies
4. Cabinet of Cleaners = Cleaning Business
While I was growing up, my father ran a cleaning business (which he still does). One nugget of knowledge he taught me was that if you know how to professionally clean, you can always make money. He was right (our night job is janitorial work).
If you have a decent attention to detail, a cabinet full of cleaners and time, you can easily start a cleaning business. Use the same strategy you would in a lawn car business, inquire within your own network then post advertisements locally as well as going door to door. Charge a reasonable rate and you can easily get a steady income cleaning people’s houses, cleaning offices or public areas.
5. Washer and Dryer = Laundry Cleaning Service
Most washer and dryers spend most of their time lying around, doing nothing. Put ‘em to work. There are lots of people out there who don’t have washing equipment at home who have to go to the laundromat. People usually hate going to the laundromat. Put ads in the local paper or post flyers at the local colleges, there are plenty of students out there who don’t have time or are too lazy to do their laundry. Charge by the pound, like the cleaners do. Wash, fold and maybe even deliver and people will love the service. The trick is to undercut the local cleaners.
6. Ladder = Handyman Services
Even though it’s a tough economy, gutters still need to be cleaned, houses still need to be painted and roofs still need to be repaired. Anyone with basically carpentry knowledge and willing to get their hands dirty can make money doing odds jobs for people around the neighborhood. If you don’t know how to do something, there are excellent resources on the internet available to show you how. Youtube is a wonderful resource. Tap it.
7. Empty Yard = Organic Farm
If you have a huge yard, then you probably have the space to start a garden. I’m not suggesting plow up the whole yard, just a small portion. It’s time for the return of the Victory Garden. Except you won’t be growing the food for yourself (though you can). Most towns now have local farmer’s markets where people can get fresh produce. For the cost of a bunch of seeds and a backhoe, you can plant a mini-farm in your back yard. Grow things in season and price them reasonably, you should have no problem selling them at a local market. You could also grow organic produce and sell it to people you know.
If you’re city or town allows it, get a couple chickens (they are very cheap) and start offering organic and free range eggs. People love farm fresh eggs and will pay for it. Chickens are relatively low maintenance and they are fun as heck to be around.
8. Stove/Oven = Bakery
This is a similar strategy to planting a garden. Do you have a dish or type of pie that people are always begging you for? Well, monetize it. You’re market already exists. Put your stove and oven to work making baked goods that you can turn around and sell at local farmer’s markets.
9. Empty Bedroom = Rental Property
This is a pretty radical way to make money that most people would rather avoid. If you have an empty bedroom (especially one with an en-suite bathroom), you could rent it out to a lodger. This was a pretty common practice in the early twentieth century, especially during wartime.
Just make sure it’s someone you know or can verify the character of the person. You don’t want a stranger in your home. Charge them a flat monthly rent along with a percentage of the utility bills. A bonus is you’ll also have an extra set of hands around the house in case you need help with anything.
10. Hose = Car Detailing Business
If you have a hose, soap, vacuum and a brush you have a car detailing business. People invest a lot in their cars (see above) and like to keep them nicely maintained. It only takes a couple hours to detail a car and doesn’t take much work to make one look nice, as long as you know what you’re doing.
If you don’t fancy washing a ton of cars, you can always run it through the local gas station car wash (for $5-$6) and then detail the inside and outside yourself (just don’t tell them that you did that). Again, tap your local network of friends and family.
Feel free to leave your tips to make money with what you have around the house in the comments below!
The Sad Old Man
My wife and I were on our way to our second night job last night and saw a sight that really upset us.
As we stopped to get gas on a fairly busy highway, we saw a slow moving old man walking his bike along the highway. After we stopped and filled up we saw him approach the gas station, park his bike and proceed to go through all the garbage cans, looking for aluminum cans.
While the sight was rather sad, there is a lesson to be learned. This man was very old and probably grew up in a generation that was used to austerity. It’s sad that an old man has to dig through garbage to eat but this blog is not about social inequality.
What’s remarkable is that this man has nothing and instead of sitting around, letting his world collapse around him, he’s doing what he was raised to do. Earn money any way he could. Most people would not be willing to do what he was doing, they’d rather starve.
I think the man was very brave.
Besides, with commodity prices the way they are, those aluminum cans are actually worth the trouble. Think twice before tossing them out. Heck, don’t even pay someone to take them away from your curb on recycling day.
Take them to a recycler yourself and you’ll get some cash. You can also do what my wife and I have been known to do, gather cans up over many months and then drive up to Michigan to go eat out at Redamak’s. We don’t go to Michigan to cash the cans, we go to eat and use the cans to help pay for it.
First Post
Welcome to Austerity Blog. The economy has taken a turn for the worst and it’s time for all of us to use our heads to get through these tough times. Tough times call for new habits and new ways of doing things. No longer can we count on continued consumption to fulfill and maintain our lives. We have to change our ways and reevaluate what really matters in our lives. Check back often.
