I’ve been on a journey to improve my finances for a few years now. In that time, I’ve focused on a combination of earning more and downsizing and cutting expenses.
Both of these tactics have helped me save more money, pay off more debt, and become more financially stable.
I love having the ability to earn moreh money to improve my situation, but I know that it isn’t always easy to do and takes time and a lot of effort.
Sometimes when I was low on money, I had to think fast to make ends meet and that often involved cutting my expenses which has its limits. Since I could only cut my expenses by so much, I decided to try to earn quick cash by selling items from my home.
Selling items you no longer want or need is a great way to earn extra money on the fly, plus it’s easy. Granted, the money you earn won’t be guaranteed and can fluctuate, but you don’t have much to lose.
Here are 5 items I’ve sold before for quick cash.
1) Movies and CDs
Selling movies and CDs didn’t make me big money, but it was a nice way to earn a few extra bucks and get rid of old items in our home that were collecting dust. There are so many stores that will purchase used movies CDs to resell and you can even sell them online as well. My favorite store to sell to is Disc Replay but there are probably several other options depending on where you live.
Since there are so many television streaming services around these days like Netflix, Hulu, and Sling TV, it doesn’t make as much sense to purchase DVDs and Blu-Ray discs when you can watch a movie online or even rent it for a night with RedBox.
As for CDs, they are phasing out as well since most people download music to their smartphones or another device like an iPod.
I actually can’t believe people are still buying other people’s old CDs but for some reason they are and that’s fine with me because it puts extra money in my pocket.
2) Furniture
Selling furniture has made me quite a bit of money in the past. We usually don’t buy a ton of new furniture anyway, but once I was able to sell a couch we had that was in good condition for $400 – a steal when compared to department store prices.
My husband also brought home a free coffee table that we ended up selling for cash a few months later. One of the best ways to get rid of your old furniture is to sell it at a garage sale or post an ad on Craigslist. You can also call resale shops that buy furniture to see if they might consider accepting the items you have before you take the trip over there.
Yet and still, sometimes it’s best to have potential buyers come to you for heavier items so you don’t have to worry about transporting them.
3) My Car
When I graduated college, I decided to finance my first car since my current car had a ton of miles on it and wasn’t so reliable anymore.
My old car had so many issues that I didn’t want to spend any more money to fix it and I was too embarrassed to even offer it for a trade in when I financed my new car.
I maintained both cars for a few weeks, then one day I let a family member borrow the old car and it broke down at someone’s house. The car practically died because there was no way to start it and I didn’t want to put any more money into the vehicle now that I had a car to pay for.
I ended up calling the junkyard and selling it to them for a few hundred dollars. It wasn’t a crazy financial win, but it helped me pay a few bills and they towed it for free.
Deciding whether to sell your car can be a more complicated decision if you actually still use your car, but it can pay off quite nicely if you need the money. If you can get by with taking public transportation or wouldn’t mind downgrading to a one car family, selling your car can help provide you with the money to meet your financial needs.
4) XBox 360
Electronic devices are always updating which can be a blessing and curse. If you are into having the latest devices and game systems, you may feel pressured to upgrade each year which can cost a lot of money.
On the contrary, you can always sell your old devices if you wish to supplement the costs of your upgrade or just to make some extra money. When my husband and I first moved in together back when we were dating, we realized we both had an Xbox 360 game system. I played mine rarely since I’m more fond of PlayStation so I didn’t feel the need to keep two in the house.
I decided to put my Xbox and Kinect online for sale right around the holiday season about two years ago and I was able to sell it for about $150. This extra money helped me with holiday expenses for that year.
With electronics, the longer you keep them, the more value they lose as new models come out. Therefore, if you’d like to sell your items and maximize your profit, you’ll have to do it within a few years to get the most bang for your buck unless it’s a classic or collector’s item.
5) Exercise Equipment
Exercise equipment is great to sell because it hardly ever goes out of style or becomes obsolete. If you have free weights or an exercise machine that you don’t need, you can sell it for extra cash.
A few months ago, I purchased an elliptical thinking it would help me be more motivated to exercise more since I could conveniently do it at home. As it turns out, I like going to the gym better and my gym membership is super cheap.
Since I wasn’t really using the elliptical that I bought used but ended up putting together, I decided to sell it for $150.
If you’ve increased the amount of weight you lift or don’t use that old treadmill in your basement, consider selling it to someone else. You can use local Facebook buy, sell, and trade groups to share images and pricing on your items.
Selling Items Can Help Improve Your Finances
All in all, selling items from your home won’t always help you turn your financial situation completely around, but the money you earn can help contribute to your financial success if you use it wisely.
Over the years, I’ve earned thousands of extra dollars by selling items from my home. It’s a quick way to earn money when you need it instead of having to resort to taking out a loan or borrowing money from friends.
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I think we’ve sold most of these things in the past to make extra money, or to simply clear our house of junk we no longer use. It used to surprise me what someone would buy secondhand for us, but it really doesn’t anymore – I’m just happy to get the money & declutter.
It is surprising doesn’t it? Decluttering always feels great afterward.
Yes! I think I’ve sold all of the above. You have me wondering if the kids would be okay with selling the xbox…
We purchased an exercise bike 5 years ago on Craigslist for $75 and sold it last weekend for $75!
My son already has his eyes set on a PS4 unfortunately for us, haha. It depends on how much they use it of course, but selling electronics is one of the best ways to make a ton of cash from selling old items.
Selling furniture is an easy way to make money. I’ve been picking up roadside treasures and dumpster diving for over a year now, and have been making solid money. My first trash sell was a coffee table I found by the trash. This past August was moving season in my neighborhood, and I picked up hundreds of dollars worth of stuff. Still working my way on selling everything, but I know I can sell it all eventually. In a way, finding a piece of furniture and selling it is about the same as if I found a couple bucks laying on the ground!
Sounds like you’ve got a great process set up. I tried collecting clothing and selling it online. I think with other items, I’d probably need more space to store them.
I love read and in the years I accumulated a lot of books also if sometimes I found them boring or I havent end to read them so now also if I buy REAL books (I am not a big fan of ereaders) I keep only books I can read several times befoe be annoyed and sell the rest on thrifty store, maybe a day I’ll try to sell them online:P
I hear book sell very well online!
I also sold a car online before. The car was on its last leg. It had a blown head gasket. I listed that info in my listing. Someone came from Mississippi to buy it. Some of the easiest money that I’ve made.
Wow that’s crazy that someone came out of state to get the car. It’s just surprising what people will buy and how they’ll even accommodate you to make the process easier :)
My wife has sold a ton of clothes over the years. She will buy a piece and then a couple of seasons sell it after she is tired with it.
Sometimes she’s even been able to get the same price that she paid for it which is incredible to me.
She also finds items at the thrift store to resell to make some extra cash which is awesome.
That’s really cool. I tried selling clothes before and found sites like Ebay and Poshmark to be the best!
Awesome list of items to sell. I always sell my old cell phone when I get a new one. I can typically sell it for about $200 (it’s usually 2 or 3 years old at that point). Then I use that money towards a new phone. In past years, I have lucked out on finding refurb phones at about the same price.
That’s a great way to lower the costs of getting a new phone. I don’t know if I’d earn much though in my case since I always have the most basic/cheapest phones :) I heard that there are companies that buy used phones no matter what condition though.