Tenner Week February 2023: Day 7

It’s the final day of our Tenner Week money saving challenge for February, and if you’ve made it this far without blowing the budget then you can give yourself a big pat on the back. There’s just one daily mini-challenge left to try, so here it is.

Today’s activity is called list and sell, and if you’re lucky it might make you some cash. Earning a little extra while spending a little less really hits the sweet spot during a budgeting challenge, so let’s get on with it.

Firstly, did you find anything that you wanted to sell during our decluttering activities this week? Now’s the time to put them up for sale, rather than leaving them sitting around.

As we only did quick declutters in the bathroom, the kitchen spice rack and a bedside table, it’s possible that you didn’t end up with too much on the ‘to sell’ pile when tidying up. If that’s the case, then today’s activity isn’t compulsory, but you might still like to have a look around the rest of your home for things you want to get rid of.

There are lots of ways to offload your unwanted stuff for a profit, for example via online listings, auction sites, various apps, bulk buyers and private sales. It depends on the types of items you’re selling, and how much effort you’re prepared to put into it. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Here are a few ideas in case you’re in need of some inspiration:

• Asking around friends and family
• Workplace noticeboards
• Local facebook group, Nextdoor group etc
• eBay
• Preloved
• Gumtree
• Ziffit
• MusicMagpie
• WeBuyBooks
• Zapper
• Depop
• Vinted
• Shpock

You could also run a yard sale / garage sale outside your house if you think you’ll get enough passing trade, or try selling at an informal street market if there’s one near you.

Alternatively, you might want to research nearby car boot or tabletop sales today, especially if you want to get rid of general bric-a-brac. Most places charge a small fee for a pitch.

Remember that some sites can attract scammers so read up on the security information provided by different platforms and apps. If you’re meeting buyers in person then put personal safety first too.

What’s happening here

Yesterday I managed to get a few unwanted items out of the house and dropped them off at the local Sue Ryder charity shop. It’s always tempting to have a good browse around there as it’s a large place and there’s always something new in, and I managed to find a sleek 90s-style khaki utility shirt for spring/summer wear. It was one of the very few things I was planning to buy over the next couple of seasons, so I’m glad it was second hand and the money went to charity.

The other thrifty thing I did on Saturday was to sort through our kitchen garden seed tin to make sure we still had enough grow-your-own stuff. We had a couple of gaps, so I’ll be ordering two or three fresh packets of seeds next week to get a headstart on the growing season.

Today’s task should be easy enough because there isn’t much here to sell, but I will create some listings for a few old collectable CDs that are just gathering dust, and maybe sell a box of old books that I’ll never read again. There are about five items of branded clothing I’m going to iron, photograph and stick on an app or auction site too.

I also need to do some high speed gardening at some point today because our back garden is looking like a horticultural jumble sale. Something tells me that now’s a good time to get some baby leaf salad started in our mini greenhouse, and as long as it isn’t too cold we should have a few decent sized leaves within about four weeks. Ironically this is when the Great Salad Shortage of 2023 is supposed to be ending but I think I’ll sort us out anyway, just in case. It’s nicer when it’s freshly picked anyway, isn’t it?

Spent yesterday: £6.00.

Total spent so far: £9.75.

That leaves me 25p left in the kitty for today, which I probably won’t be able to do much with. Let’s see if I can make more on my listings than I’ve spent this week, so we can call it a net gain. That’d be a nice result.

How’s your budget holding up at the moment?