Now that the holidays are over, want to double down on reuse and reduce and earn a little extra cash to pay off those credit card bills at the same time?
You might be surprised to learn that some items you would normally toss in the recycle bin can actually earn you some extra cash with just a little additional effort. Below are some examples we found:
- Empty wine bottles - any empty bottles of wine left over from the holidays? You can sell the wine corks, but you'd probably need quite a few of them to make a sale. However, from single bottles to whole cases, we found a pretty brisk business for used empty wine bottles on eBay and some other sites for use as collectables, wine making or crafts. To test this we listed a bottle we had in our basement on eBay and sure enough, it sold for almost $13.00.
- Empty baby food jars - clean, used baby food jars have a ton of uses, from storage to crafts. There are only so many baby food jars you can reuse though, in my opinion. Turns out that this is another eBay opportunity. In one completed listing, a number of empty used jars sold for almost $.80 each.
- Reusable gift boxes minimize the use of disposable gift wrap and other packaging. If you don't want to hoard gift boxes until next year or won't reuse them, why not sell them? We just sold several gift boxes on eBay for $14.00.
- Used shipping boxes and supplies - instead of recycling them, try selling them! For individuals or small businesses, buying new boxes and paying to have them shipped can be very expensive. BoxCycle is an online marketplace for used boxes. We recommend that you visit their website for more details, but essentially you can list your boxes and other shipping supplies for free on their website. The specific location for the buyer to pick up the boxes is not provided until a sale is made and BoxCycle will take their fee only when your boxes sell.
- Recycling aluminum cans for cash is an idea has been brought up over and over again. We added it because many people we talk to still think recycling or redeeming them is not worth the effort. Some recyclers will pay a decent amount for aluminum - on a recent trip we were paid about $.50 per pound and the drive through service included unloading the cans from our car. The Aluminate app makes it easy to recycle your cans - using this app, you can quickly locate convenient drop-off locations and their contact information. The app also includes very good information and fun facts about the environmental benefits of recycling aluminum.
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| Photo courtesy Alcoa, Inc |
