Anyway, before the garage sale, I had come up with the best idea EVER (in my mind, I always have the best ideas ever). What if I have a moving sale only I don’t move? Seriously, I’m thinking about selling everything in my house including furniture and putting the money in savings until I do actually move and then buy all new stuff.

Do I need that humongous sofa? Do I need a big screen tv and two other smaller televisions? (All old and outdated, by the way and don’t forget I canceled the cable a while back.) Do I need a dining room set that only serves as a junk mail pile holder? No. I don’t.

I do however plan on keeping my daughter’s stuff. The piano for instance can’t go because my daughter has been taking lessons and I’ll never get another one for cheaper than free. When we were younger, my parents gave me and my siblings the opportunity to pick an instrument to play. The deal was, whatever we chose we could keep when we were older. I picked the piano (hehe) too bad for my bro that picked the triangle. (just kidding.)

Anyway, my daughter also needs her bed and her dresser. I wouldn’t want to have to face her after selling off all of her pink treasures plus, I’ve heard of people getting into trouble for not having a bed for their children. Don’t ask me, I don’t make the laws. On the other hand, my bed and two dressers can go at anytime. I’ll sleep on the floor next to my piles of clothes.

My dream is to just let people walk through my house grabbing things and yelling out prices. At the end of the day, I’d be sitting in an empty house (except for daughter’s bedroom) with duffle bags full of cash.

Except now that I think about it, all of my stuff may only be worth a couple thousand. I don’t know if I would make enough to be able to repurchase furniture later. That would kinda suck to never have a couch again.

What do you think? Would it be worth it to sell all of your stuff and start over and would you ever consider it? Do I need medication?

Because of Twitter I am networked to writers and people of any industry you can think of. Search keywords for anything you’re looking for such as “writer”, “writing”, “blogger”, etc. I happened to catch a post from someone looking for paralegal bloggers recently, sent her a direct message, wrote a paid test post and got the job. Twitter allows you to have contact with many people you wouldn’t normally even know existed.

Sponsored Ads

This is something new I’ve come across but after posting links for 4 ads so far (one short sentence with a link) I’ve made $4. The person that referred me had made up to $30 the last time I heard just posting a couple ads. This is through a company called Sponsored Tweets and the ads so far range from Volvo to Purex. Here is the link if you’re interested, I think you do need to have at least 100 followers and have been on Twitter for at least 60 days. If you aren’t on Twitter yet, you should join and let me know.

Coupons and Deals

Speaking of Purex, the ad was for a free sample of Purex 3 in 1. I don’t know about you but free is always good and I sure don’t mind free samples. Purex is one of the cheaper detergents anyway that I’ve had luck with, meaning it’s cheap but also doesn’t result in itchy rashes.

Readers and Creating Traffic

Although I only have about 160 followers on Twitter, it is a good way to generate traffic for the blogs and sites that I write for. Readers generate clicks which usually generates at least a couple pennies. You simply post a link to your site or article and if you’re lucky, it gets retweeted by some of your followers, and much like the domino effect, results in readers.

Store Offers

Walmart is on Twitter, Kohl’s is on Twitter, and tons of coupon sites are on Twitter. Search the ones you’re interested in and whenever they post a deal or coupon offer, you’ll see it on your Twitter page.

I’m sure there are tons of other ways to save and make money on Twitter, these are just a handful that I have personal experience with. Let me know if you have any other ideas and if course if you have any questions about any of these, I’ll do my best to answer them.

Warning: DO NOT quit your day job. Very few people actually make a living from simply being on Twitter.
Another Warning: Twitter can be as addicting as Facebook. You will end up wasting a lot of time and too many brain cells just gazing at one-liners.

But that truly would be a waste of a lot of money and believe it or not, there are kids out there that only can only dream of the toys that our kids have forgotten about. Is it just my kid that only plays with things a handful of times? We’re talking about practically new loot here and not just old Dollar Store gizmos.

So what in the heck do you do with all of those old toys? Well, I have some suggestions. Sure they take a little more energy than el garbage-o but trust me, you’ll sleep better.

1. Save toys for unborn siblings. Okay, this isn’t the greatest suggestion because we’re trying to actually move stuff out, and if you’re like me, you can’t even fathom the thought of anymore kids. If you’re not like me and you do plan on having more, I’d save the toys. Go through and organize everything. Make sure Dora’s wearing both shoes and all of the Littlest Pet Shop animals are hanging out with the equipment they came with. Put it in a big plastic tote marked “JUNK” “TOYS” and shove the tote away into the basement.

2. Sell the toys online. Everything can be sold online. I mean everything. People sell used blenders for pete’s sake. Again, clean up the toys, which shouldn’t be a big ordeal, and make sure you have all of the pieces together. Take a picture and throw it on eBay or Craigslist. Bundle toys together and get rid of more. For instance if you have Dora, Boots, and Swiper, you’ll have better luck selling all of them together than just one. People will buy used toys, especially now that almost everything is electronic. My daughter had a mini laptop that she played games on since she was 2. Now that she’s graduated to mommy’s real laptop, she barely touches the thing.

Zwaggle.com is a website that you can join and earn Zoints (or points) which can be used instead of cash. They offer everything from Arts & Crafts to Video Games. Mykidscloset.com is another site where you can buy and sell used toys.

3. Look for consignment shops in your area. There are stores that buy and sell toys and kids clothing. In my area, Once Upon a Child not only pays you for gently used stuff but also sells some pretty sweet stuff. I have made up to $40 unloading kid’s stuff there and was able to turn around and buy something practically new for my daughter. Call the stores in advance just so you’re not dragging around a bag of toys all day.

4. Donate to Goodwill and thrift stores. This time of year everyone’s looking for tax breaks, don’t forget that your kids can help by not only being the dependents that they are, but by donating their old toys. Also check churches, daycares, children’s homes and schools to find out if there is anything particular that they can use. Don’t forget a receipt.

5. Garage sales and yard sales. I’ve been planning this for years because my town has a citywide garage sale every year and you wouldn’t believe how many toys are bought. The key, according the pros (read: my mom and aunt) is to put everything together nicely. Make sure you’re not trying to dump off dirty teddy bears and broken pieces of plastic. If you’re selling puzzles and don’t have the box, put them in ziploc bags with labels-and of course all of the pieces. Even if it’s a quarter, remember that some kid will be playing with that and deserves to have all of the pieces. A lot of kids are rewarded with a couple dollars to spend on themselves in exchange for being dragged around to stinky garage sales. And guess what, they very rarely spend their cheese on machinery or old loafers.

These suggestions do take a little work but it’s better than just tossing out the old toys. Children also like to help getting things organized and can be rewarded with a new book or sketch pad or you could just add any money made to their piggy banks.

Now does anyone wanna buy a slightly scribbled on LeapPad? Let me know…

The worst part about holding on to it though, is eventually if you hold on to it long enough, it becomes worth absolutely nothing. Think VCR tape of Top Gun. As a matter of fact, think VCR. You can’t sell these things and might not even be able to give away a lot of electronics from the 90s. You have, if anything, many sizes and shapes of paper weights. If you’re not using your electronics, make a few bucks and get rid of them while you can.

Anyway, besides Craigslist, eBay and just trying to sell your stuff at garage sales, I’ve come across another way to get some cash back. It’s a program that Target has through Nextworth. You enter your product, answer some questions, and it’ll let you know what they’ll give you for it. You then print out a prepaid shipping label and ship your product to Nextworth and in about 10 days you receive a Target gift card. Okay, not really cash, but if you shop at Target at all, it’s probably worth it.

So, I began hunting around my house for old junk…I mean electronics and this is what I’ve come up with:

Old Digital Camera: I’d have to dig up everything that came with it but I’d get $5.40 for my old digital camera that occasionally works if I did…

Old Cell Phone: With or Without the Manual is $21.90. Sweet…here I thought it would only be a good walkie talkie for my daughter.

An Even Older Cell Phone With Water Damage: Has no cash value according to the site but they will recycle it. Or it’s a good walkie talkie. (Minus the lithium battery of course).

Okay, so it’s fun to walk around the house and see how much the Target machine will give you. They even take DVDs and I could give them our Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer DVD for $5 if I were willing to take an arse kicking from my daughter. I don’t know if $5 is worth all that.

Anyway, if anything it made me realize how much junk I have around here that isn’t being used.

Next I’ll find a site that takes plastic kid’s toys that are only played with once…