The following is a guest post by Kyle Taylor. If you are interested in guest posting, please see our guest posting guidelines.
The holidays can be a wonderful time to spend time with family and friends, but if your money is tight, the holidays can also be stressful. There are so many people to buy for! Besides the kids, you may need to buy for your parents, brothers and sisters as well as teachers. You might also want to give a token gift to coaches, music teachers, and service providers such as the mailman and your hair dresser.
If you haven’t planned for Christmas expenses all year long, or even for several months ahead of time, you may see your budget coming up short. Luckily, the time right after New Year’s is a good time to also make money. Here are some strategies we have used to raise cash quickly after the holidays have left our bank account drained:
1. Sell Your Healthy and Diet Cookbooks
Do you have healthy cooking or diet cookbooks sitting around? Right after Christmas or the New Year is the best time to sell them. People are excited about their New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and get in shape, and they want to buy the tools to do that. If you have Weight Watchers cookbooks, those sell especially well. I once had one sell for $40!
Ebay is a great place to sell your cookbooks; just do a search of completed listings to see what price people are willing to pay. Start your listing low, but not as low as .99. Depending on the book, $4.99 is a good price to start the auction; offer both media mail shipping for those who want to save money and priority mail for those who want their books right away.
2. Sell Your Exercise Equipment
Again, riding on people’s desire to get in shape, now is the time to sell that exercise equipment that is gathering dust in your basement or serving as a clothing rack in your bedroom. Most exercise equipment will do well-being sold on Craigslist because your buyer does not have to pay for shipping, and you don’t have to pay a selling fee, which can add up on more expensive pieces of equipment. Besides large pieces of equipment, also consider selling dumbbells, yoga mats, and exercise DVDs, such as P90X, which can be great sellers. These smaller items can do well on eBay.
3. Sell Gift Cards You Don’t Plan to Use
Chances are you received several gift cards for Christmas from stores that you may not necessarily go to, or maybe you would just prefer the cash to help you recoup some of your money from Christmas. Many people sell gift cards on eBay, but that may be the worst place to sell them because you get back only 80% of the value, plus you have to pay fees. Instead, look to other sites that offer you a greater return on your gift card balance.
(Bonus) Sell Your Used DVD’s and CD’s
Many of us have a big pile of used DVD’s and CD’s lying around. Chances are good that you probably even got some of them for Christmas. Well, if you no longer plan on watching them, why not sell them? You used to have to bring them to a used music or movies store in order to unload them. Not anymore. Free services like musicMagpie.com allow you to sell your old DVD’s and CD’s from the comfort of your computer. Ah, the joys of the internet!
If your holiday gift giving has left your wallet empty, there are ways to become flush again, especially if you sell things related to people’s natural tendency to resolve to get healthier in 2013. In no time, you will have money in your pocket again and as a bonus, a house with a little less clutter.
What is your favorite way to make cash after the holidays?
#####
Kyle Taylor write at ThePennyHoarder.com about how to make extra money. Connect with him on Facebook or Twitter.
Great ideas! I have a TON of gift cards, but they are all for places that I go to so I am not too concerned about selling them. I do not have exercise equipment or diet books, but I can see how you could make the most cash in January 2013!
Happy New Year’s to both of you!
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted..Best of Young Adult Money: 2012
I have a bunch of gift cards too….but they’re all keepers!
haha if I go selling my treadmill how will I lose weight?!
Catherine recently posted..Buh-Bye 2012, Welcome 2013!
Good question! We used to have a treadmill but never used it.
Sell gifts you didn’t want, too!
Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies recently posted..TVP Chili – A Recipe For Your Health And Wealth
Yes, anything is up for sale!
January is definitely the best time to be selling exercise equipment. I know so many people that decide to get fit every year as their new years resolution and go all out buying fitness equipment early in the new year.
Glen @ Monster Piggy Bank recently posted..Looking back at 2012
Yes, and the gym is always packed in January too!
I’ll be selling a few gifts that we don’t need/want/use. I used to feel bad about this, but if they’re just going to clutter the house, then it makes sense to get rid of them sooner than later.
KK @ Student Debt Survivor recently posted..Our Son Is Clueless About Student Debt-Help!
I wouldn’t feel bad about it. A gift is always nice to receive but you shouldn’t have to keep it forever! =)
Selling gift cards is always a great idea! I’ve never done it but it seems like easy cash.
Michelle recently posted..Wedding Ideas
I usually get gift cards that I actually like.
My favorite way to make money after the holidays is to sell ANYTHING I don’t need. I just sold a text book for $85 on half.com and it was just sitting on our book shelf collecting dust!
Deacon recently posted..Top 10 New Years Resolutions for 2013
I have so much stuff I need to sell. I just need to take the time to go through it all.
If I had any exercise equipment, I would sell it. I have sold gift cards before, especially to places that I never shop. While you don’t get full value all of the time, you can get some cash!
Grayson @ Debt Roundup recently posted..Ways to Use Your Credit Card without Accumulating Debt
Yes, and cash is certainly better than nothing!
What if you use those healthy diet books and exercise equipment? My wife has used those books for menu planning and we both use the exercise equipment (home gym). It is good that we keep our holiday spending in line.
krantcents recently posted..2012 New Year’s Resolutions Update
If you use them then I wouldn’t sell them either!
Oooh I have tons of those kinds of books! Great idea!
Budget and the Beach recently posted..13 Ways to Start the New Year Right
Me too. We just need to find time to sort them!
Hmmm… I have a Weight Watchers cookbook that I barely use. I may sell it; thanks for the idea!
Mackenzie recently posted..Life, Updates and a Recap: Goals For December
Let us know how it goes!
Great tips! I don’t have any of those items, but the idea of selling items after Christmas is a great one! I’m hoping to go through my husband’s and my closet and sell some items from there!
I have so much crap I need to go through. It’s crazy.
I’m going to sell my diet cookbooks and my gym equipment while eating a cheeseburger and fries. Time to just plain give up in 2013….
AverageJoe recently posted..What Did We Learn in 2012? (…and a look forward into 2013): Two Guys and Your Money Episode 24:
Hah, we don’t have any of that stuff, but I honestly wish we did. I want a treadmill, because I want to do things while I’m running, like dictate my blog posts to some voice recognition software and pin eCards to my wife’s pinterest account. I mean, I don’t care who you are, those things are HI-LARIOUS! And I love gift cards because they force me to stop being stingy and replace those (formerly) black shoes that somehow turned green, have no sole and creak when I walkin them… But if I was super strapped for cash, I’d sell everything, including my Justin Bieber trading card collection…
Jacob @ iHeartBudgets recently posted..5 Reasons To Start A Budget For 2013
I love finding deals and reselling stuff as a side gig. Why didn’t I think of stocking up on fitness-related items for the new year?!!
Lena @ WhatMommyDoes recently posted..The Million Dollar Club – My Million Dollar To-Do List
we have done the gift card selling thing in the past… some of those sites offer quite a nice return.
jefferson @SeeDebtRun recently posted..How to Stop Biting Your Nails
Thanks for this. Selling my diet book is just pure genius and I will get on to it straight away.
Thank you.
Gemma
Haha! Love it… I wonder how many people resell the exercise equipment the next year?! Happy New Year!
Savvy Scot recently posted..Totally Unrealistic Resolutions
These are SUCH great ideas! I’m not willing to part with my gift cards this year, but I think I’ve got a South Beach diet cookbook that rarely gets used….
femmefrugality recently posted..Guest Post on Snark Finance