The Frugal Free Gal

Do you feel that little tinge of guilt whenever you toss something into the trash? Feeling like you might be wasting something of value is a terrible feeling, but you might be unsure of what is trash and what is treasure. If you have wondered what items in your trash might actually have some value, you have stumbled upon your answer! Below, you will find 5 ways to cash in on your trash. So many of the items you use to pitch are actually worth a little change in your pocket. Give these 5 ways a good look and think twice about what you keep and what you toss.

5 Ways to Cash in on Your Trash:

1. Wine corks.
Crafting with wine corks is really popular these days. Many crafty gals and guys are looking for wine corks to make peg boards, key chains, coasters, and more out of. Save your wine corks and you can get as much as 0.50 cents a piece each. Just gather yours up and head over to eBay or Etsy where you can sell your corks for cash. List them in one giant lot together instead of piece by piece. The more interesting the corks, the more money they will fetch you.

2. Aluminum.
The cost of scrap aluminum keeps fluctuating, but the fact is it is still worth cash. Keep your aluminum pop cans, food cans, food wrapping, house materials, and other aluminum scraps and redeem them at a local recycling center for cash. They pay per pound, so the more you have the better. Kids will love coming with you to watch how the scrap is weighed and fed to the conveyor belt, so take them with you to get in on the action.

3. Broken jewelry.
If you broke a piece of jewelry, are missing the match to an earring, or even just have some extra backings, check them for marks. If they are 10, 14, or 18 karat gold, or if they are sterling, they are worth cash! It does not matter what condition they are in, just head to a local jeweler’s and have them weigh and pay! If you find costume or other scrap jewelry pieces not gold or silver, no worries. Crafters on eBay and Etsy are looking for all sorts of scraps for their creative needs. List your pieces on there as one giant lot and see what you can make!

4. Old clothing.
If you have clothing that is torn or stained, don’t pitch it, cash in on it. Crafters use all sorts of scrap pieces of wool and denim, as well as vintage t-shirts for their creative needs. Offer your scrap clothing on eBay, Etsy, or the Craigslist Crafting Section and see what you can get for it. You may be surprised! Even if you just get a few bucks per piece, that is better than the nothing you would get by throwing it away.

5. Paper items.
Some paper items are highly collectible and valuable. If you are cleaning out a junk drawer and stumble across old restaurant menus, cookbooks, instruction manuals, owner’s manuals, save them. People are always looking for these items on eBay. You may just get a few bucks a piece each, but hey it’s something!

See how easy it is to get cash for items otherwise destined for your trash? Give these tips a try the next time you are cleaning out a drawer or room and see how easy it is to drum up a little extra dough!

How often do you go grocery shopping? If you are like me, you probably go to the grocery store about once a week or once every two weeks. If you are one that likes to stockpile, you may not find yourself at the grocery store as often because you have a lot to choose from already at home.

Are you trying to save money this year? Maybe you need to pay off debt. Maybe you want to save up for a summer vacation with the family. Did you know that using coupons at the grocery store is one of the easiest ways to save money? You can slash off a lot of money from your grocery bill if you use coupons on a regular basis.

Using coupons is pretty easy. You just have to sit down and take the time to find coupons online (or in your newspaper inserts), print coupons and organize your coupons in a way that will help you so that you can find them when you need them. If you are concerned that printer ink is too expensive, don’t be! There are so many ways to get affordable printer ink. You can also set your printer to the “Black and White” settings and “Quick Print” to save ink.

Don’t make the mistake of printing too many coupons when you first begin! You may find that you print coupons that you really don’t care about or for products you don’t ever buy. Select coupons wisely. Make sure you select coupons for products that you know you will use. You may end up wasting money if you print every coupon out there and spend money on products just because you have a coupon.

Need help getting started? I found these printable coupons for you to take advantage of! Not only will you find grocery coupons you will find local coupons as well. Happy saving!