We all like to make easy money and in each of the last three years, I have made more than $1,000 online by selling some items around the house or things that I’ve acquired through the year.
We already talked about saving an extra $500 a month…so here is how to make an extra $1000 by selling things throughout the year.
Making Money Online
This year I’m only up to $795 but I’ve got a few weeks left so there is a chance to get there I’ve got to get busy to make up the last $205. Here is a list of what I have sold this year on a local classified website.
- Irons (golf club) $100
- Golf wedge $75
- 4 golf passes for free rounds of golf for $100
- Golf range finder $300
- Gift card $50
- Concert tickets are $150
- Perfume $20
Total – 7 items for $795 which isn’t too bad.
The Details of Selling Online
You will notice there is a lot of golf stuff. I frequently play in scrambles and my teams placed in the top three in every tournament I played in this year. I deserve absolutely none of the credit other than being on the right team. Maybe I contributed a little bit but not for top finishes.
I took all my winnings and sold the stuff off. I get to play in tournaments for free whether it is work-related or an invitation by neighbors. The stuff I sold was worth more but man is golfers cheap around here.
Overall I made $575 but I had listed all these items for $675 total. The rangefinder was the real killer. It was worth $400 at the store, but it’s only worth what someone will pay you and I could only get $300 and I held out for quite a while. Most of the time I get texts within minutes of posting things online, but the rangefinder took nearly a month.
Free Concert Tickets
My wife was given some concert tickets and she took one look at the value listed on the tickets and handed them to me and said, “sell these and give me the cash.”
I’m not sure who the concert was for, I’m not much of a country person, but man the tickets went fast. I probably could have made some more, but I listed them for the cost of the ticket and made $150…well my wife made $150. While she does love a good concert, she loves her money and cash first which is one reason I think our relationship is so solid.
She did the same with some perfume that someone had given her and that she didn’t like. I told her I didn’t think it would sell…after all I wouldn’t buy perfume from some random dude online, but I have found people will buy anything so why not try it and it sold for $20.
Making Money Online Earlier Years
One of my best years was when I won not one but two iPads. I went to a convention and they were doing a drawing and my name was pulled out. I could not believe it. I hardly win stuff when it comes to drawings so I was shocked when my name was pulled out.
When I got home from the convention I asked my wife if she wanted it and she really looked it over, but ended up saying, “I wonder how much we could get for it?” I posted it and sold it for $475 and split the cash with my wife.
A few months later there was a blog writing contest (several years before I started Healthy Wealthy Income) and the company was asking for submissions for the best ideas to increase productivity in the summer. All the submissions were posted online so I decided to wait until the last day and just blow everyone out of the water.
I knew what the competition was and then wrote an amazingly detailed plan. A week later I was contacted and they shipped me an iPad mini…which we sold again.
Want Our Football Tickets
Every so often we get offered tickets to football games and basketball games and whatever else is going on. On occasion, I would turn them down saying I was busy that night…then finally I realized that I should never turn anything down that is offered for free which I can sell.
My parents gave me some tickets to a college game the local team was undefeated and Florida State was coming in to play. It was a huge game with two undefeated teams, but it was obvious that my team would get blown out. While I wanted to go to the game I decided to post the tickets and sold them the way, way above face value.
Ironically when I arrived to meet the person who was buying them it was the same person that bought the first iPad I had sold earlier in the year. I’m pretty sure they were college students so I kind of felt bad, but they agreed to buy them…hopefully they will learn a life-changing finance lesson to love money more than stuff.
What Can You Sell?
Look around, what can you get rid of? I’d rather have the cash to save and invest than stuff gathering dust. I now have lots of family asking me to help list their stuff and make some cash because I’ve been able to easily make around $1,000 each year.
