Spring Cleaning - make money while decluttering & how we lost 270 pounds!

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"
- Robin Williams, 2007

My pink cherry trees in the front yard will soon be in full bloom. I am not the best gardener, but I'm so glad I planted these trees when we first bought our house. They put on quite a show every spring. After a few weeks of blooming, the pedals fall to the ground and it looks like Mother Nature had a big pink confetti party in the yard.




Springtime is my absolute favorite time of the year because it's when a lot of people get spring cleaning fever and they have a yardsale. I've had so many yard sales over the years, I can't keep track. If you've never had a yard sale or garage sale before, why not give it a try this year? It can be some work putting together a great yard sale but it's not rocket science. And just think how good you'll feel afterward with your pockets full of cold hard cash and your house cleaned out. Just go thru your house, your garage, your attic - and just start gathering up everything you no longer need or want (but would still be useable to someone else). If you are a bit anxious about having a yard sale for the first time (yes, even the yard sale queen was anxious at first), combine forces with a friend and have a multi-family yard sale. The more the merrier! Just be careful that you don't end up buying all of her stuff and coming home with more than you left with!

There are many benefits of having a yard sale in the spring. A lot of people who feel like they've been cooped up all winter are out in full force at the yard sales in spring - and more customers mean a better chance of making big money at your yard sale. If you are new to the neighborhood, having a yard sale is a great way to meet your neighbors while de-cluttering your home. An easy way to advertise your sale is to post a free ad on Craigslist (in the Garage Sale section). At the end of your sale, just box up any good, usable leftovers and donate to a non-profit organization for a tax receipt.

For some items that I can't turn into cash at a yard sale - I have another way to score some free bucks. I recently loaded up our truck (and by "I" what I mean is that I made Mr. Yardsalequeen do the heavy lifting) with scrap metal stuff we had cluttering up the garage. We took it to a metal recycling center that pays cash for it. During Hurricane Irene last year, our extra freezer that we have in the garage, died because of the power outage and subsequent power surges. It wasn't worth fixing. Actually it was a blessing in disguise since we bought a new freezer - that I absolutely love.

So while I supervised, Mr. Yardsalequeen loaded up our truck with the broken freezer plus several outdated, broken computers. I hate being wasteful, but at least I know the stuff won't be filling up a landfill. And I got a few bucks. A total win-win. Our "junk" weighed 270 pounds and at $10 per 100 pounds, the scrap metal place paid me $27 in cash!

Before:


After:


And the best part:


Now get busy, organizing your yard sale, recycling and making money! Hope all your yardsales are great this year and you just never know, maybe I'll show up at it.