So now that Mother Nature has given us a hint that warmer weather is coming soon, it’s time to go through that closet you’ve been ignoring all winter and clean it out. Find the clothes and items that you didn’t wear or use last season. Dust them off and sell them! C’mon, be honest and ruthless in your assessments and just let them go. You know that you are not going to wear them, so give somebody else a chance. It will free up your storage space and help increase your positive cash flow too.

As a proponent of online selling platforms, I encourage you to set up a free account with e-bay. They have listing sales going on all of the time to encourage sellers to put up listings at no cost. The only time you will pay fees is when your item sells. Just take a picture or two of your items, enter your description and selling details and your sale begins! Make sure your shipping is fair and accurate, it will encourage more bids. And don’t be greedy, your items are bringing in nothing while hiding out in your closet, so take what you can get! IPHONE alert- check out the free app for selling on ebay. Simply snap a pic with your smart-phone and you are well on your way to your first listing!

What’s that-  you don’t want to sell online? That’s ok!

Just look in your local papers for consignment shops. They are popping up all over around my area and it’s a great way to unload extra clothing or household items for a profit. Simply bring in your items in pristine condition, (ahem, would you buy dirty clothes? Yuk!). The shop will give you a receipt and then will put your items on their racks. Each shop is a little different, but most have a “going rate” for like-items such as jeans, shorts, blouses, shoes, etc. They will tell you how and when to check in with them to see how much you made. And you can tell them to donate what doesn’t sell, or you can pick it up again.

Speaking of donations, if all of this is too much work, then consider packing up your unwanted items in green bags and take them to your local charitable storefronts such as St Vincent De Paul, Salvation Army or Goodwill. You get a tax deduction and they get to make some money by reselling your items. Still too much work? Then call your local chapter of  Big Brothers, Big Sisters or Veteran’s Association- they will come to your house!

May your spring cleaning projects bring you extra room in your closet and extra dollars in your wallet!

Here are five starting points for you:

1-      Open your kitchen cabinets to survey exactly how many of your “good” dishes, glasses, pots and pans you actually use on a regular basis. Most of us gravitate toward using the same things over and over because they are up front after emptying the dishwasher. So clean out those cabinets! There is a terrific online market for utensils, plates and other kitchen items. And if you have antique glasses or serve ware from Aunt Sally or Grandma Mary, you could be sitting on a nice chunk of change! (Note to the gentleman of the house: make sure to get your woman’s buy-in on this one, or you may be getting coal in the stocking this year!)

2-      Anyone with kids old enough to hold a spoon has electronic games lying around the house. Take a good look at what your kids are ignoring and sell it online or go to the local Game Stop-type store to sell them. We buy pre-owned DS games all of the time because our little guys are in elementary school and still rough on toys and games. There is a huge market in selling pre-owned games to parents like us who want our kids to have the experience without losing an arm or a leg to purchase games.

3-      Speaking of huge pre-owned markets, you can also sell your old Gameboys, DS, PS, Wii, Leapfrog, etc. The manufacturers are shrewd with making improvements and upgrades every year so that our kids are now programmed to want the latest and greatest version. Instead of having an electronics graveyard in your home, sell the old to help pay for the new!

4-      Did you ever attend an auction at sea? You know, the one where they fill your glass with “free” champagne so many times that you wave your sign around and suddenly you own artwork from a “new, exciting” artist? Well, it’s time to sell that art! We saw a beautiful Thomas Kinkade cottage scene on a cruise but did not want to cough up over $500 to purchase it. So instead of buying the print at the auction we did an online search when we got home. We bought it on ebay for a quarter of what it was auctioned off for at sea. It came with the same authentication papers that are provided at the cruise auctions. So take a look at your pictures. Maybe there’s something worth selling.

5-      Do you own any pets? We have several, including a golden retriever, a cockerpoo and a tabby cat. Our family goes a little overboard at Christmas and sends us gifts for our pets. We are so lucky to receive such generous gifts, but our dogs literally chew through plastic chew toys and de-stuff soft toys in a matter of minutes. So rather than insult our family who so thoughtfully shopped for, wrapped and gave our pets such nice gifts, we sell the brand new, unused toys online. We’ve received several grooming kits, electronic nail files, and laser mouse toys over the years and have sold all of them successfully on ebay. Never underestimate the pet market! (Note to pet lovers: we give our pets other toys and bones that last; they are not sitting around with nothing to chew- lol!)

So there you have it: five potentially lucrative spots in your home to find extra cash for the holidays. May today’s clutter bring you tomorrow’s ka-ching!

In addition, a clean well-organized space to run your business will facilitate clear thinking, allow easy access to what you are looking for and it also just makes you feel good.   So clean out the space around your computer.  If you haven’t touched something in that area for over a year – THROW IT OUT, or donate it, or sell it on eBay or Craigslist.  Purchase some inexpensive organizers – example: stacking trays, accordion file folders.  Spend sometime at the beginning organizing yourself and you will then be able to start focusing on some of your extra income opportunities.

When cleaning up and organizing put aside anything you don’t use anymore. Remember a good rule of thumb is.. if you haven’t used something, worn something, etc . in one years time – you should get rid of it. We will explore some options for turning some of these items into money in the next post.

Below is a great video that I found on YouTube for organizing your home office: