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3 Ways to Declutter Your Home and Sell Old Items For Cash

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It feels so good to declutter — but what to do with all that extra stuff that’s still perfectly useful? Great news: Your junk is someone else’s gold!

Sell Nostalgia

Raid your attic: Before you ditch your “junk,” head to eBay to see if it’s in demand, urges expert Jamie Novak. “A stack of five scratched vinyl records, for example, can go for $12, while cassette tapes sell for $4.99 each.” Old trophies stuffed in a few boxes? “Crafters want them,” she says. “I saw a horse-riding trophy from 1960 sell for $50.” Everything is worth something: Even shopping bags with the Macy’s or Fortunoff logo sell for over $25.

Clear out old toys: Everything from Beanie Babies to action figures sell well on eBay and Swap.com. Boxes of used LEGO pieces, for example, can go for over $50. Even the individual LEGO Minifigures sell for $5 to $25 dollars. “Crafters will pay for anything from broken crayons — 7 pounds’ worth can sell for $27 on eBay— to incomplete board games,” says Novak. “I’ve also seen little Monopoly pieces go for $3 each at Etsy.com because crafters make creative projects, like clocks, from the tokens.”

Sell Electronics

Unload old smartphones: One of the best resources to help you sell your smartphone is Flipsy.com, reveals expert Stephanie Humphrey. “Type in your phone’s specs, and Flipsy will offer a curated list of sites that will pay you for your device, so you can pinpoint the highest payout.” Pick the best offer, and you’ll be directed to the site to complete your transaction with free shipping. “Or if you need cash for your phone right away, consider an ecoATM kiosk — they literally spit out money on the spot.” To find one near you, go to ecoATM.com.

Cash for computers: To sell everything from tablets to laptops, Humphrey suggests a few sites to try: Gazelle.com, Decluttr.com, BuyBackWorld.com and ItsWorthMore.com. “They’ll give you a quote on the spot, and shipping is free with each of them.” Adds Novak, “I’ll plug in my information at a few of the sites and compare the offers—I recently sold an old tablet at Decluttr for $50.”

Sell Clothing

Profit from your closet: If you have, say, old shoes, sunglasses or purses, look no further than Poshmark.com and Tradesy.com. While accessories tend to sell best, you can also cash in on your clothing, promises Novak. “Just snap a few photos of your items, upload them to the app and set your price.” The trick that’ll earn you more? Put clothes on wooden hangers. “This helps clothes sell closer to what you’re asking because the hangers make everything look more high-end. New items with the tags still on can fetch up to half of the retail price.”

Grab a bag: If you don’t want to deal with pricing and snapping photos of your items, consider ThredUp.com. “They’ll send you a bag you can fill with your clothes, and they’ll tell you how much they’ll pay for it,” says expert Holly Reisem Hanna. “I recently put 204 items into the bag and earned $374, so while it’s not a lot per item, it’s the easiest way to earn cash from your stuff — it takes just seconds!”

A version of this article originally appeared in our print magazine, Woman’s World.

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