If your children are any thing like mine, their bedrooms will probably be bursting with toys – some loved, some they’ve grown out of, some they don’t play with and even, in our case, some that have never been out of the box! Don’t get me wrong, we don’t spoil our two but the fact is that even just taking into account birthdays, Christmas and the opportunity for them to spend their own pocket money at car boot sales has resulted in them having a lot of toys each.
We have a regular clear out and have one planned for this week which the kids are looking forward to. Not.
There’s lots of different ways to get rid of your excess toys, some will make you some extra money and some won’t but all will make you extra space….
eBay – We’re big fans of eBay here as you probably know 😉 I don’t sell too many toys on eBay though as they can usually be quite costly for postage due to their size and bulkiness (if that’s a word). I tend to either sell smaller toys like DS and Wii games on eBay or going to the other extreme, I also sell the big things on there marking them as collection only. Bikes, scooters and outdoor toys usually sell well, especially at this time of year.
Facebook – This is quite a new one to me but our area (and most others it seems) has a for sale group on Facebook. Once you’ve joined the group, you just upload a photo to the group with the description of your item and other members of the group will be able to see what you’re selling. There’s no charges for this and I’ve sold a few smaller items on here but it’s not really regulated other than the groups admin people so that might be worth bearing in mind.
Car Boot Sales – I love a good car boot sale, I usually set my things up on the table and let the kids lay a blanket either side of the table to sell their own things. At our boot sale, you pay a fee of £13 but it’s really busy so you can make a fair bit – I find toys always go well but not for too much as it’s often children buying them.
Freecycle – I love Freecycle although I haven’t used it for a while. You need to find and join your local group and then you can ‘offer’ items to other members. You can’t charge them so you won’t make money but it’s good to know that your unwanted items are going to a new home to be used again. You can also post wanted ads on there for things you want and if your request is reasonable then you may find you’re offered one for free. Most of the people who use Freecycle use it because they genuinely want to see things being recycled and reused although there are some optimistic types who regularly ask if anyone has a spare Xbox or Wii they can have!
Charity shops – You can donate some of your unwanted items to your local charity shops, we often drop a bag into our local Cancer Research shop even though we could often sell the things we’re donating, I like knowing that we’re doing our bit to help.
Clear evidence why we're ready for a clear out!
Once you’ve made some space, the trick is not to buy more 😉
An impossible task? Maybe not. You could join your local toy library who will loan you toys for a small charge ( I believe ours is 50p for two weeks) which will mean you aren’t paying for toys that will get played with for a few weeks and then be relegated to under the bed and never seen again. You can find your local library here.
Use a few hours this Bank Holiday weekend or Half term week to free up some space in your house and hopefully make some money at the same time – Good luck x
