Chances are, if you are reading this article, you are stuck for ideas of things to sell and you need to make money right away.
Perhaps you need to make rent money and it’s the 29th of the month.
Perhaps there’s a birthday party you’ve been invited to and you can’t just show up empty handed, but your bank account just gasped for air…there’s nothing left in there.
Whatever the reason may be that you need money right away, please know that I’ve been there (several years ago, I was homeless and within one year of blogging, I was making $10,000/month! Now, my third year blogging, I make $75k/month!!!) and that I’m praying for you on your journey as well!
Several years ago, I was homeless. It’s too painful to go into details, but the jist of it is that my husband abandoned us and I had been a stay-at-home-mom all my kids lives. He took my debit card and left me with no gas while I called the church to help me get out of the physically abusive situation.
I’d go on to place a restraining order on him, he’d break it several times and I’d stand there to watch the most horrific sight I’ve ever seen in my life. Him thrown against the back of his car, handcuffed, and put in the back of a police car in the parking lot of Walmart…yet another reason I hate that store.
Sometimes, life throws tomatoes at you, I get it. Please know this, it can only get better from where you’re at now. You’re already at the bottom, feeling like you can’t go any lower. The truth is that you can’t. It only goes up from here! So be encouraged!!!
Whether it’s using your time or some creative tangible goods, here are 40 things to sell right now to make money…
40+ Things To Sell Right Now to Make Money
- Start a blog and sell digital goods (check out my blogging binder here)
- Your kids old toys and clothes/shoes that no longer fit them
- Things around the house that you no longer need
- Books / DVD’s you have that you never watch or read. You can easily make quick money on eBay or Half.com
- Recycle your old phone you never use – here’s Amazon’s trade in program.
- Clothes you can’t fit into anymore
- Photos that you’ve taken – ingimage is my favorite place to get stock photos, so I would start there
- Your ideas and unique perspective of brands in surveys – My favorite 25 companies that I used to make money for over a decade are here.
- Your crafts (I used to make Plastic Canvas crafts out of yarn and plastic canvas and sell them)
- Your collectibles you have somewhere out in storage
- Your couponing stock
- Take surveys online
- Things in your storage unit – seriously clean it out, sell the items and stop paying to store stuff you don’t need
- Babysit friends kids
- Mow a lawn
- Walk a neighbor’s dog
- Clean someone’s house
- Your skills – Fiverr, UpWork (formerly Odesk), Elance are all great places to sell your skills
- Tutoring kids in school
- Do virtual assistant work
- Handcrafted items on Etsy
- Write articles – make money selling your articles to online bloggers
- Resell a domain name or create a website and then sell it
- Be a workout buddy with someone trying to get in a habit of exercising
- Shovel Snow
- Help someone move in or out (you can get around $25/hour). Offer your services on social media and to friends.
- Wash cars
- Outdoor patio furniture or outdoor kids toys / bikes they no longer use
- Your baking. You and your kids could make cookies to sell around your neighborhood
- Become a taxi and drive friends around or delivery groceries to house-bound people
- Test out websites for money.
- Teach a class – chances are there’s SOMETHING that you can teach someone else that they’d be willing to pay to learn.
- Christmas items you no longer need
- Musical instruments
- Outside furniture – things like a grill or patio set
- Shoes or purses that are just collecting dust
- That formal dress you’ll never wear again
- Return your past purchases that you don’t want that you haven’t used
- Recycle scrap metal, an appliance like a stove, fridge, or car
- Recycle your cans and glass
- Gifts that you didn’t like and won’t use
- Your coin collection
- Artwork you have in your home
- Sporting equipment to Play It Again Sports
- Create a course on Udemy
- Pick up free things on Craigslist and resell them back on Craigslist
Get the free printable checklist by clicking here.
Those are good ideas but I don’t know how to sell on ebay, how to price things, how to ship or even know what sells. I tried once to sell on ebay but it seemed too complicated; I don’t have much free time. Do you have any tips?
Absolutely! Here’s my eBay section where you can find a ton of information on how to sell and get the most money for your items. Also, look for a lot more information soon!
Thanks for the list. My husband and I were talking today about selling on ebay, so finding you was perfect timing. We are not young but we are hoping to change our lives.
That’s great it was such good timing. 🙂 Good luck in your endeavors!
This is awesome information! I really appreciate all your ideas, but I’m nervous I may mess up.
The only mess up you can do is by not trying. 🙂 Better to try and fail than to not try.
How do I sell on eBay.
So Ive had three lifetimes and I’m only 39. 😉
I have so many great stories. Funny mainly, I try to spin all the horror into comedy. but I don’t want to be known. can i become a successful blogger without ever being discovered?? More to the point, my life now and people in it know nothing of my past; but there’s so much to tell!!!!!
I’ve been thinking about this for years. I want to do it, but I’m scared. what do I do. cause obviously I wanna be successful and make money. Help.
H
I think that you could start a blog and use a pen name and keep some anonymity, however, eventually, if you want to make money, you need to show who you are completely for many reasons. One is that it builds trust. You need to be your readers friend. You can’t do that if you’re hiding. I had the same problem when I first started blogging. I wanted to hide the fact that I am a single mom, for security reasons. Eventually, it got to a point where I couldn’t hide anymore, and I ended up getting MORE traffic and publicity because of it. It’s not normal that a single mom could do all I’ve done (through Christ’s help, I assure you). It’s what makes me unique. I was running from the very thing that made my blog a success. Just something to consider. 🙂
Hi Sarah
What a great blog… inspired to keep going! Thanks.
Kathy
That’s great Kathy. 🙂
These ideas are really good, but try adding more simpler kinds. Selling DVD’s and stuff was a good idea.
Thank you for letting me know. I didn’t add simpler things because I feel like a lot of the other lists out there are focusing on simple and as an eBay seller of 18+ years, my goal is to get people to think outside of the box and realize they have more things to sell than just the basic stuff. 🙂
I appreciate your brutal honesty. I too have a story, I won’t post it here, but you can email me if you’d like to hear it. I’m trying to get my own site going to make money to help my family. If you’ve got any other ideas I would love to hear them.
Thank you for the encouraging message. I will make my list right now. I was also looking for a way to start a blog but had no idea of where to start. You won me over with the Christian ideals and great customer support. You are an inspiration. God bless you.
Absolutely Loretta. Glad you found exactly what you were looking for. 🙂
I always wanted to tell my story to help other people out there. But I’m scared to be so open about what happened to me in my life. Maybe out of embarrassment because of what happened and because I have a learning disability. so it’s harder for me but on the other hand I have this strong feeling that my voice can help a lot of people. feeling that I need to be the voice I just don’t know how. but your blog was really great and you help me understand it’s easy. Thank you, if you have any advice for me I would sure appreciate it. Sorry that I wrote so much.
It would be hard to give personalized advice without knowing the full story. If that’s something you’re interested in, I would encourage you to check out my coaching page.
Thanks Sarah I’ve been wanting to blog but didn’t know how or where to start. Thanks again and thanks for all the great ideas on how to make money. My mom thanks you also. God Bless.
Absolutely. Glad you like it. 🙂
Great practical ideas almost anyone can do.
Joanne, I’m glad you enjoyed the ideas. I hope you found some you could use!
Hi Sarah! I have recently started a blog and I’m loving the digital products/printables idea! Do you have a blog post that goes into more detail on that? Such as, where to get ideas and what to include in your digital products/printables and how to set it up so the download reaches the customer, etc? I am LOVING YOUR BLOG!!!!
Great questions Brittany. I don’t currently have anything like that, however a few of those questions will be answered within my new series, Making Money Tricks: 30 Days to a Better Shopify Store, beginning April 1. 🙂
Great! Can’t wait to see!
Do you really earn 75,000 a month doing this?
After my ex-husband left us, I used these tips and ideas when I had to find ways to earn money to support myself and my children. I continued to use many of them to earn money even after I started the blog. Once I began blogging, that’s when I began earning $10,000 a month. In my third year of blogging is when I began earning $75,000. You can view my latest income reports here. I’m now at 7-figures/year in my fourth year blogging. It takes hard work, but it is possible to make that much money when blogging! If you are considering starting your own blog, I would encourage you to do so – you might be surprised at how well you can do!