Surviving January – Is it OK to sell your unwanted Christmas gifts?

I know that January is a bad month for lots of people following an often earlier than normal payday in December and the cost of Christmas and everything associated with it but I don’t think I realised just how bad it can be for so many people until I read some research from the Money Advice Service.

According to their findings, more than one in four people will struggle with money this month as the expense of Christmas takes its toll.

The same research shows that one in three people in the said that they felt pressure to spend more than they could afford over the past Christmas period and as a result, surviving financially during January is likely to be a struggle for more than one in four adults. This coupled with the fact that over two in five workers (44%) were paid early in December means that more than 13 million people will have a longer wait until payday this month.

Scary figures!

There’s lots that I can say to help you get out of this sort of situation and you’ll find this blog filled with ideas but for today, I’ll send you to the Money Advice Service who have all of this information on one page for you.  Do take the time to have a read and see what you can do to help yourself get back in the black.

But what if you’re in a position now where you have no money and you’re struggling to make ends meet until payday?

Well first of all, you’ll be relieved to know that there are things you can do to make some money quickly in the short term, here’s my top ideas to make some money urgently although please remember that these ideas are for if you want to make money quickly – they don’t provide the best returns on what you’re selling but they will help you to make money straight away when you really need it!

• First of all have a good clear out and list anything you don’t need any more on your local Facebook selling site.  You’ll be surprised at what people buy and the benefit of selling on there is that people will generally want to collect as soon as possible which means faster payment for you.

• Do you have bags of clothes waiting to go to the charity shop? If not I bet you could find stacks of no longer wanted clothes and shoes that you could sell.  It’s never going to make you much but selling your clothes will make you some money.

• Do you have any old mobile phones that have just been sitting around since your last upgrade?  If you have then you could make some money by selling it.  There’s some guide to how much you can expect on the MoneySavingExpert website here along with details of how to go about selling your phone  Don’t forget that you’ll normally get a better price if you phone is unlocked to all networks so have a read here to find out how to get your phone unlocked for free.

• Gather up any un-played with electronics and games and take them along to your local computer shop who will usually buy them for cash.

• You might not like this one and you might think it sounds a bit ungrateful but if you got any gifts for Christmas that you don’t need or want then you could consider selling them.  I’d say your local Facebook selling site will be the best place for this (unless the gift is electronic, in which case see above) but make sure that the person who gave you the gift isn’t in the same group as that could be awkward.

What did you think of the last idea there?  I know that you should be grateful for any gift that you get and that the person who chose if for you will have no doubt spent time trying to make sure they get you the right thing but with all the will in the world people will still get it wrong sometimes.  Mr Frugal once bought me a pearl necklace and earring set that I hated and even though I tried to like it, I just couldn’t so I sold them to my Mam and bought myself a bracelet with the money and actually, I still have the bracelet today.

I did feel bad selling something that had been bought with the best of intentions but it was a waste to keep it so in the end, I did sell it.  Had I needed the money then I would have sold it even sooner to be honest!

What about you, would you sell an unwanted gift?

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Image credit: Shutterstock, rattiya lamrod