Completely unrelated picture of an adorable cat. Actually two cats - Pep and Peep.
One of the problems of living so far out is that there is no way we could ever have a garage sale. Not only would we never get any passers-by... but they would inevitably end up falling the drainage ditch, touching the electric fence, or being chased by angry poultry. Not to mention we have a completely blind driveway and there is no way I'm taking the liability for someone getting killed just for the opportunity to sell our junk. So most of our stuff gets donated to Goodwill.
That is... until I discovered there is a better way to get rid of stuff like books, video games, and DVD's.
Does everyone know about Amazon's Trade In program? This is my new favorite thing. It's even more fun then taking all your change to the Coin Star machine.... which is just as fun as Vegas but you always win.
Amazon's Trade In program is a great way to get rid of books, movies, games, phones, and electronics. Just start here.
All you need to do is look up the item you have, see if Amazon will accept it, agree to the price they offer, print out a label, and box it up! How easy is that? And it totally works. I absolutely love this.
Yesterday we went thru a bunch of old movies - we have a ton of DVD's that we never watch. I started here and checked the movie titles. How much did we get for each item? It depends.... about a dollar is really good and sometimes it's just $0.35. But if you get a box of them together it can add up. Yesterday our big winning added up to $30!
Just keep searching the titles and adding them to your Trade In 'order' until the box is full or you don't have any more. You can put a bunch of stuff in one box. At the end of the process you confirm the Trade In and print out two things - one is the mailing label the other is the packing slip.
The packing slip goes in the box with your stuff. The mailing label gets affixed to the outside of the box. They ask that you securely tape up the box and make sure stuff isn't loose and sliding around.
The best part about this? It's completely FREE. Shipping is paid for and if you are like us you have a ton of
Once your box is ready for shipping just drop it off at the nearest UPS store. I think you can arrange for pick up but.. ha... um... that doesn't work out for us very well. I'm always surprised when I just hand the UPS store a box and I always say, "Is that it?" and they always say, "Yep!" How easy is that?
Then, magically, about a week later I get an email notification and credit on my Amazon account! Is that fantastic or what!?! It's like a reverse treasure hunt that always pays off.
A couple things:
1. Yes. This totally works and it's totally legit.
2. No. They don't take everything. Sometimes they will take one title and another time they won't. For instance I had a cook book that was worth about $5 thru this program but instead of trading it in I took it to the used book store... and they gave me about $0.30 for it. I was so mad! Then later I checked that cookbook again and Amazon was not accepting that title. So rats. If they don't accept the title you have then check in later and you might get lucky.
3. No. It is not a hassle. I do this when I know I'm going to town anyway so dropping the box off isn't a problem. It just takes a few minutes to set up your Trade In and check the titles. Honestly the longest part of the process is for me to find the packing tape and some scissors.
4. Yes. You can only get a credit to your Amazon account. But heck, if you only get a couple bucks that still enough to watch a movie or TV show on Amazon Video or put it toward your next purchase. Or you can save it up and then buy Amazon Prime!
5. I haven't used Ebay but something about it just seems kind of iffy. With this program no one is going to accuse of me not sending the stuff and I don't have to worry about if their Paypal works or not. So using this kind of program thru a reputable company really puts my mind to ease.
Will this solve all your problems? Nope. But it's fun and at least you know that someone is going to love that old copy of Wayne's World you have. I hate throwing stuff in the trash - especially if it can be useful to someone. This program works great for me because I can do it whenever I have time, I can drop it off when I'm heading to town, and it gives me credit for stuff I'm going to buy anyway.
Not to mention it's helping us shovel out the house. The annoying cleaning projects can be emotionally tough - most of the junk we have is more about the emotional attachment we have to the memories of that stuff...and less about it's true value. There is a "cost" to keeping stuff - and I'm not talking about the storage fees for the stuff you have that you will never use again... I'm talking about how it weighs you down in your life.
I'm not a huge fan of Marie Kondo..and it will be a cold day before I spend that much time folding my underpants.... but she does have some good points. One of the things I keep coming back to is the notion of taking a picture of your stuff to retain the memories. But it seems stupid to me to have a picture of a box of stuff.... so then why would I have that stuff to begin with? That was kind of a light bulb moment.
To be fair, these guys are much more my speed. But.. ahem... warning for the naughty language. Their tagline, "you are better than your mess" is convicting and easy 20 minute challenges make tackling big projects a little more manageable. I don't understand Tumblr but these daily lists and seeing other people "uncrap" their habitats give me a little shove toward better organization.
It's a tough thing for me. My family is known for its unnatural attachment to inanimate objects...and we all have stuff that we need to let go of. It doesn't help at all that both my husband and I tend to tune out our physical environments. So that is what part of these cleaning projects is about - letting go of stuff that is holding us back and cleaning up our act.
How about you? Do you have a box of DVD's, old video games, or a shelf of books that isn't helping you? Why not try Amazon's Trade In program - you never know how much you can get for stuff that you aren't using anyway!
Happy Friday everyone! Are you cleaning up your act?
Editors note: Ooops.. Almost forgot... I need to tell you that there are affiliate links on this page.....and that I get a tiny portion of the sale when you click on one of the links, go to the Amazon page, and purchase something. It can be anything - books, movies, or something you need from Amazon anyway. Do you need anything Amazon? You can support this blog by just clicking one of these links. Or using the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page. It doesn't cost you once cent more but helps me with the "cost" of this blog. If you like this blog, or if I've helped you at all in your farming efforts, just make a purchase from Amazon from one of the links, my store, or the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page. Thanks!
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3 comments:
What a good idea for getting rid of stuff and earning a bit of money at the same time. We had a massive de clutter before we came to France eight years ago, and our change in lifestyle has prevented us from getting cluttered up again.
it really is a great program, Vera. but we are the opposite - i feel like we keep cluttering up with 'projects we might do later.' so we are trying to pare everything down.
I'm going to try this today, we have boxes of books that have been sitting around for months waiting to be traded in at a store an hour and a half away. This seems much easier. Thanks for the info!
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