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6 Ways to Save Money By Doing Your Spring Cleaning
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1) Make Your Own Cleaning Products
Lemon, baking soda and vinegar make great cleaners and they’re a heck of a lot cheaper and more eco-friendly than the store-bought stuff. A great and cheap detergent is Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, also natural borax is very inexpensive and can be used in quite a few homemade cleanser recipes. While I could try to write a few recipes for my own cleansers, I think this site offers a much more complete list of cleaning product recipes for just about every purpose. Your planet and your wallet thanks you.
2) Sell or Trade Your Old Clothes
Clean out your closet and collect all of the clothes that don’t fit anymore or any you just don’t wear. Take these clothes over to a used clothing store like Buffalo Exchange, Flashbacks, Wasteland or Crossroads. These stores always give you more credit for trade than they would give you in cash, so see if you can find anything you like before you decide to take the cash.
You can always try to sell clothes on eBay, but it’s hard to make decent money this way with so much competition. If you have vintage clothes, you can also try to sell them on Etsy. It’s easier to make decent money on Etsy, although it might take a while for the clothes to sell –so don’t try this method unless you have a good place to put them away for as long as it takes them to be sold.
3) Sell or Trade Your Old Other Stuff
While I don’t recommend eBay for your clothing sales, it’s not a bad idea to try selling your video games, DVDs, random memorabilia and more here. Amazon is also a great option for these kind of things, but it may take a while for your things to sell and the company takes a huge chunk of your commission.
Another great online option is swaptree. This is a great website where you can list any cds, DVDs, books and video games you no longer want. You then create a list of items you do want and when users have things you want and are interested in getting things you have, swaptree will help set up a trade between you. You get new things you like and all you pay is shipping.
Alternatively, you can always take your cds to CD Warehouse, Off The Record and other used cd shops. Books can also be traded at used book stores like 5th Avenue Books. Some places will accept books, DVDs, cds and video games, Press Play in Chula Vista is a good example.
Of course, anything you cannot sell or trade should be given away to the thrift store. You can save money later on taxes if you get a receipt for your donation. Also, if there’s anything you like from the store, you sometimes can get it for free if you negotiate the fact that you just donated a lot of stuff. Realistically though, anything you find at the thrift won’t break your bank too badly.
4) Do Some Basic Maintenance
Spring cleaning time is a great opportunity to take care of all of those money saving home improvements you’ve been meaning to do forever. Change you lights all over to fluorescents. Shorten your drier hose. Insulate your hot water pipes. All of these things can help you save some much needed money on your electric bills.
5) Sort Through Your Papers
I think just about every house has a collection of old papers of some sort, usually more than one. At my house, we have sentimental stacks of old greeting cards and letters. We have receipts and bills in a massive pile. We also have an envelope of coupons. Go through them all.
- You’ll be amazed how often people discover forgotten gift cards and cash in their old greeting cards. While cleaning my mother’s garage a few months ago, we found over $100 in old restaurant gift cards.
- All those receipts and bills may be able to help you save money on your taxes, or they might just be taking up valuable space. Toss the trash, keep the rest.
- As for the coupons, throw away all the expired ones and the ones you know you’ll never use. Aside from just organizing the pile, you’ll likely find some good coupons you know you should use. It’s good to get a refresher on the savings you should be using.
6) Turn in Your Change
In the process of cleaning, you’re bound to run across lost change. If you already have a change pile, start adding these discoveries to it. If you don’t, then you probably have tons of lost change scattered around and it’s a great idea to start a change pile. Ladies, don’t forget to do some spring cleaning to your purse and wallets (you know they need it). You’ll be amazed how much change you can get this way.
Once you’re all done cleaning, take your change into a Coinstar or other change counting place and collect your cash. You may just have enough money to take yourself out to a nice dinner with one of those coupons you just re-discovered.
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