Converting household garbage into cash is not as difficult as you might think, as there are now so many ways to do it. While you may look around your home and see nothing but clutter and trash, what you may really be looking at is hard cash. Remember, one person’s trash is another’s glee and one person’s trash is another’s treasure, so don’t be too quick to dismiss your mess as trash.

However, before you can make money from the garbage in and around your home, you must first have a game plan. What paths will you take to get rid of the garbage? You can use as many as you like, but what generally works best is to formulate a game plan that includes selling your junk online and offline as well. This can be done by making three different stacks that you can work with, one for junk, one for selling online, and one for selling offline.

The first pile you make will be all junk. This will be only for what is really junk and cannot be sold. Reserve this pile for broken items or items that are missing bits and pieces. However, don’t put things in this pile that you just don’t use anymore or don’t like anymore. Just because you no longer need an old calculator doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t need it. This ‘pile of junk’ is the only one where you will move to the sidewalk and you will not get money, but it is important to have it as it will allow you to have more room for the good things.

The second stack you create will be for the things you can sell online. You can use online marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, Craigslist, and more, but the important thing is to know what will and will not sell online. To help you determine this, check out some of the outlets where you will be selling your items as a guide.

Use the search bars on eBay, Amazon, and Craigslist to see if there is a market for certain things you want to sell online. If there is, put it on the ‘online stack’ stack. If not, put it aside, you’ll end up coming back to that later. Now decide which online outlet you want to sell with and how much you want to pay for the final advertising of the online sale.

There is really no advertising fee to say, but eBay and Amazon have what are called insertion fees and final value fees. These fees are usually very low, but they are nonetheless fees that must be taken into account. Think of fees as an opportunity for your trash to be seen around the world. Generally, the items that sell well on eBay and Amazon are those that are not too heavy for shipping reasons, items that can bring in at least a few dollars, and items that are already sold on those sites.

Craigslist is perfect for items you don’t mind reaching a global market with. Craigslist is also a free resource to use and you can advertise in your local area for free as long as you follow their listing guidelines.

Finally, the time will come for you to take care of all the things that did not make it to the garbage pile or the online pile. This will be your offline stack. Your offline stack will consist of items that can’t be shipped easily or that you just don’t think are selling well online. So how do you turn this household garbage into cash? One of the best ways is to hold a garage sale.

Before holding a yard sale, there are a few things to go over. The first is what days you will hold it. While garage sales almost always take place on weekends, you still have to decide whether to have a sale on Saturday only, a sale on Sunday only, or a combination of both days. It’s even common these days to see some people hold garage sales on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

The second consideration is where you live. Certain states, counties, and cities will require you to obtain a temporary permit to hold a garage sale, and failure to do so can result in a fine. Not only will a ticket ruin your day, it will also defeat the purpose of you trying to turn your household trash into money.

The last consideration is advertising. You can advertise your garage sale for free on Craigslist in the appropriate section and you can also pay a few dollars to have your garage sale advertised in your local newspaper. Also, you’ll want to put up signs in and around your neighborhood directing people to your garage sale.

Although it is called a garage sale, you will not sell items outside of your garage. Instead, you need to get a couple of tables that you can put in your driveway and use to put all that junk in the offline stack. So you just have to sit back and wait for the people who saw your ads, or just saw it happen, to find your garage sale and sell their heart.

When all is said and done, your piles should be gone and you will have raised some cash. You can take the leftovers from the piles and repeat the process, or you can donate them, but don’t throw them away. If you decide to donate, be sure to get a receipt, as you can later cancel that donation in part or in full when tax time arrives.

With all the ways to turn your household trash into cash, there is no need to look in disgust at the clutter around your house. Instead, look around with dollar signs in your eyes and get down to business.

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