Making money selling stuff around the house

It’s been an interesting winter, weather-wise, but spring has finally arrived in my neck of the woods. I like all four seasons, but the cold, crisp weather of late winter is one of my favorites. In addition to the flowers poking up in the garden, the yard sale season also begins to come alive around this time of year. You can be sure I’ll be checking Craigslist to see when the first sales are announced. In the meantime, I’ve been continuing my mission to clean out the house for an eventual move. I am definitely making progress. Over the holidays, my sonny boy went up into the attic to bring down our Christmas decorations. When he climbed back down the steps, he commented on how empty the attic looked. If my kid notices, I must be making an impact! Here’s a few examples of some long stored items that moved on to new owners....

Schwinn bike in my  attic.

Followers of my blog know I've taken an interest in flipping old bicycles. That trend started with this vintage boy’s Schwinn bike that’s been in my attic for years. I inherited this bike from my father, who I am sure, bought it at a flea market many decades ago. My father never used the bike, so it didn’t have any sentimental value to me. After holding onto it for over thirty years, I knew it was time to let it go. Using Craigslist, I sold the Schwinn to a vintage bike flipper (Tony) for $30 dollars. After the sale, I kept in contact with Tony. He told me later that he cleaned the bike up, flipping it for about double what he paid for it. Not a huge profit, but still decent money. As mentioned, I have Tony in my cellphone contacts. Anytime I come across a vintage bike, I always offer it to him first. If decides he doesn’t want it, he’ll usually give me some valuable advise on flipping it myself. Making friend and great contacts like Tony is part of the fun of this little hobby.

Another attic relic was this uncut sheet of Canada Dry soda cans commemorating the 1974 Philadelphia Phillies. Back then, my father worked as a machinist for the American Can Company and would occasionally come home from work with special edition collectible cans. Some of them would commemorate important historic events like the country’s Bicentennial, while others would memorialize local sports team. The Phillies sheet was big and unwieldy, and if your weren’t careful, you could cut yourself on the tin metal edges of the sheet. At the time, I thought the sheet was pretty cool and I stored it in my parent’s attic until I moved out. Like the Schwinn bike, the tin metal sheet followed me through my adult life, moving from one home to the next. Recognizing that after 40 years, I wasn’t doing anything with the sheet, I finally sold it to a Phillies collector for $60 dollars. The story has a funny ending. Back in December, I attended my family’s annual Christmas party. While the family enjoys some adult beverages and digs into various crockpots, my cousins will usually get around to picking my brain on the value of collectibles they own. On this particular festive occasion, while Santa (Cousin Tom) handed out gifts to the kids, my cousin Fran began telling me about a 1974 Philadelphia Phillies soda can sheet he owned. He wondered out loud, saying he couldn’t recall where he got the sheet from and also what it might be worth? Remembering that his father and my dad were pretty tight, I told him I knew exactly where he acquired the sheet. There was no doubt in my mind that my dad must have given him the sheet back in 1974. I went on to tell him that I had the exact same sheet and just sold it for sixty bucks!  My cousin was amazed I was able to come up with some instant provenance on his treasured soda can sheet, solidifying my reputation as the family expert on all things collectible!

Cold blast from the past!

Going from the attic to the basement, here’s a sale I got a good chuckle out of...a little air conditioner dating back to around 1986. I bought it at Sears paying somewhere around $125. Back then, we lived in small row home with no central air conditioning. This little guy went in the front bedroom window and did a nice job keeping the room ice cold on those hot summer nights. A few years later, we moved to a home with central air, so the little Sears unit went in storage in our basement. As the years went on, I'd occasionally dig it out for emergency use when our central air went on the fritz. But after installing all new HVAC in the house, I decided the little an emergency backup unit was no longer needed. I posted it for sale on Craigslist and amazingly, my 30 year old air conditioner sold for $25 dollars! (In the middle of winter no less.) How great is that?

Apple TV box for sale

Last on my list is this Apple TV digital HD media streamer, or as I like to call it...that Apple box thingy. About a year ago, my sons talked me into
upgrading our old Apple TV box to the latest model. Now if it were up to me, I would be perfectly happy getting by with one of those cheap digital antennas you see advertised on late night TV commercials. As far as I am concerned, cable is just one big ripoff! But instead, I folded like a cheap tent, shelling out a hefty $150 dollars for the latest, greatest Apple TV box. After my sons installed the new version, they told me I might be able to re-sell the old Apple box for a few bucks. They were right. The three piece package, which included the box, remote and power cord, went for $50 bucks on eBay; a nice return that made the Apple upgrade a little easier on my wallet.  

Not bad, right? As I said, I’ve made a pretty good dent unloading a lot of clutter around the house. I am not done yet, so if it’s not nailed down, it will probably end up on eBay! How about you? Have you made any money flipping stuff that was just gathering dust around the house? Share your story in the comment section below....






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