Spring cleaning can be cathartic and profitable.
While donating or tossing out your unwanted goods is always an option, what about selling them? Here are a few suggestions on how to turn your extra stuff into extra cash:
CLOTHES
Clothes that don’t fit or that you no longer wear might be just right for someone else.
You can sell your old clothes at traditional venues, such as garage sales or consignment stores. It may also be worth selling them online. Ebay has made it easy to sell items for the price you want with little hassle. Other popular sites for buying and selling high-quality secondhand clothes include Thredup.com and Poshmark.com.
ThreadUp will even send you a “clean out” bag, which you send back with the clothes you’d like to sell. They’ll pay you for the clothes they choose, says Shelley Hunter, a money-saving expert at Giftcards.com.
ELECTRONICS
It’s hard to resist the lure of the latest new gadget, but that leaves older items collecting dust.
One place to sell these items is Amazon. You can sell used electronics as long as they are in working order, said Jordan Malik, author of several books about online sales. And Amazon makes it easy, allowing you to ship it to the warehouse, where they will list it and give you a portion of the sale price.
Retailer GameStop will pay you cash or credit for old videogames or consoles. The trade-in program accepts tens of thousands of items, including video game systems, cellphones and even some broken items. Other popular used electronics sites include Gazelle.com, Glyde.com and Decluttr.com.
HOUSEHOLD
Household items such as couches and exercise gear can be harder to unload due to size.
Craigslist can locate someone nearby, avoiding the hassle of shipping. There are also neighborhood swap and sale sites such as Nextdoor.com. Or search Facebook for a yard sale group in your area, where you can post items online.
Sporting goods or musical instruments are best sold on eBay or at retailers such as Play It Again Sports or Music Go Round. Used books can be sold online at Amazon or through a local used bookstore. And don’t forget unused gift cards that may be stashed in drawers. You can exchange them or get cash on a number of sites, such as cardpool.com and giftcardgranny.com.
