Most people we know have hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of stuff they neither need, want, nor use ling around their homes. All this stuff is useless junk for them, taking up space and making cleaning and organizing more complicated and time consuming. If this is you too, why not sell off that old stuff, and pay off bills or start a savings account?

A good rule of thumb for determining whether you should keep something or not is, ‘Have I or anyone else in my family used this within the past 12 months?’ You might also want to get rid of items that are outdated and you’re planning on replacing soon. Old computer parts and other electronics are good examples. Once you get through the main rooms in your home, rented storage, garages, attics and cellars are excellent places to clear out. It will probably take a couple days for your family to go through everything you own, but most people will come up with enough stuff to get hundreds if not thousands of dollars from.

Once you are ready to sell all this old stuff, you can do so in several ways. Larger items like furniture or lawnmowers are probably best being offered in newspaper classifieds or on websites that cater to a local audience. That should afford you the maximum profit, because your buyers won’t have to pay for shipping; large items can be very expensive to ship or forward. You should describe your items as detailed and accurately as you can, and link to a photo of the items if possible. Titles here are very important for catching your readers’ attention and descriptions for holding their interest.

Smaller things like knick-knacks, clothes, and collectible items should be sold online, because they are relatively cheap to ship, and you have a larger buying audience. Collectible items in particular can really get you a lot of money.

Garage sales are the classic way to get rid of old stuff and make money at the same time. Here you can sell larger items and smaller items of less value. Collectibles are probably best sold online though, because your buying audience is limited with garage sales. If you do hold a garage sale, consider advertising in your local paper, or putting up signs. Never sell anything of high value at a garage sale, because then people will know that at your address valuable items are kept.

It will feel great to clear out the clutter, make a profit, and spend it wisely. Once your home and storage locations are free of all that old stuff, be very careful not to fill them back up with clutter again. Clearing out the clutter is a statement that you are through wasting your money on useless junk which only takes up precious space and complicates your life. It is a statement that, from now on, you and your family exercise wiser and more productive habits.