Spring Cleaning Made Easy: Quick Tips on How to Make Some Extra Cash

With spring around the corner, you might be thinking this is the perfect time to do some cleaning and start getting rid of old items. It is easy to get complacent and let old clothes, jewelery and knickknacks languish around the house, but there are lots of ways you can dispose of old items while earning some extra money. Selling off old items allows you to make some extra cash while living on a frugal lifestyle but also do some much-needed decluttering. After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure right? So why not put some of your items on the market, and see what the response is like?

How to get started

There are lots of ways to sell your old items, so let’s divide them into categories:
  • Selling items online and shipping them to people,
  • Selling items online and having collect in-person.
Let’s take each one at a time since there are different considerations depending on which options you pick.

1. Selling items online, and shipping them to people

Marketplaces: eBay, Poshmark, thredUP, Mercari Tips:
  • Selling items online is definitely easy but you need to be more careful about pricing. Apps like eBay and Poshmark generally take anywhere between 10%-20% commission on each item sold, which means you might not get as much as you like. However, the upside is that these apps/websites have a lot of users, and shipping the items gives you more exposure.
  • The other aspect to keep in mind is shipping. Most of these websites will have preset shipping options (e.g. Poshmark charges a flat rate of $5.99) and buyers pay shipping. You can offer incentives such as discounted or free shipping to entice buyers, but very careful of how you price your items.

2. Selling items online and having collect in-person

Marketplaces: Craigslist, Letgo, Offerup The way these marketplaces work is simple. You take pictures of the item, post them and people in your local area can contact you to buy. You can meet with them in person to give the item, saving you the hassle of going to the post office. Gone is the only one that works a little differently, as they evaluate your product and buy it themselves. They will give you prepaid shipping and pay you for the item, all you need to do is drop it off to the post office and you are done! However, it goes without saying that you need to extremely cautious about meeting people in person. Always meet in a public place, ideally during the day time. The great thing about these marketplaces is that it completely reduces the need for working out postage options and they do not take any commission - all the money is yours to keep. Tips:
  • Both categories are very reliant on photos so take some time to take good ones. The key is to have items against plain backgrounds (white is always good), great natural light so people can see colors and always photograph any flaws or damage
  • The description of the item is really important too! People are often searching for specific items so don’t be afraid to get detailed! Brand, year, condition, any damage or flaws etc are always helpful.
  • For clothing, be descriptive about the size and fit specifically. Remember that someone is taking a risk by buying your item sight unseen so having details is important. Are items true to size? Fit smaller than you expected? Or maybe it’s meant to be oversized. List it all! The more information, the better.
These are just some ways to sell some of your spring cleaning. Other, more local options might include flea markets, consignment and thrift stores such as Plato's Closet and Buffalo Exchange depending on your location as these stores buy used clothing, but at a fraction of the cost. And if you are interested in making some side cash regularly, you can always space out your items and post them (some people choose to post items depending on the season) to have buyers interested in your store year-round.