Selling brings in a little extra ...

I knew our family needed a little extra one month.  We had been struggling for quite awhile and I knew we needed a little extra cash to make ends meet.  Our family couldn't help anymore and I wanted to do more than just ask for help.  So, we started cleaning out closets and rooms to find items we didn't use anymore.  I had lots of clothes that were too small for my kids.  I didn't have big items that would draw people into a garage sale so I looked to online options. 

After looking at quite a few different sites, I found that my local newspaper had a very active classifieds.  Things seemed to sell very well.  I liked the idea of people coming over to pick up their stuff rather than having to ship it all.  I also found that big groups of clothes sold well - single outfits, did not.  So, I put together several groups of clothing.  I counted the pairs of pants, skirts, shirts, dresses in each set.  Then I took 2-4 pictures of each group of clothing so that everything could be seen.  Then I listed them online. 

Keep in mind, I don't buy expensive clothes for my kids .... but my kids had a lot of clothes at the time.  Plus two of my kids were in the same size, so we had a lot of clothes the same size to get rid of.  I sold all of the clothes within 48 hours and brought in about $160 which at the time, made a HUGE difference for our family. 

If you don't have a local newspaper that offers free classifieds (that seem to have a lot of activity on them) consider Craig's List or Ebay. 

Look around for items you can sell ... little hidden treasures during a tough time.  I don't recommend getting rid of things you use on a regular basis like couches, beds, tvs, computers.  But you can bring in a little bit when you sell items your family has outgrown or no longer needs (blankets, toys, clothes, if your kids are older - baby furniture/supplies, etc) or items you make (before you make items, make sure you can sell them for more than the cost of supplies, look around for supplies you have on hand).  If trials are a little bigger, consider pawning old jewelry that isn't sentimental or sell an extra tv.  Again, I don't recommend getting rid of basics you use regularly because you need to maintain some normalcy for yourself and your famliy.  However, that may vary based on how intense your challenge is.