Do YOU Have Cash Hiding In YOUR Bins?

Before I jump into the point of this particular post, I should probably mention something that happened just over a year ago.

WE MOVED!

We FINALLY moved from the Money Pit!  WOOFREAKIN’HOO!!!!

Do I miss the old place after living there for 11 yrs?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!

I don’t miss the busy street.  

I don’t miss the unexplained astronomical power bills.  

I don’t miss the spiders lurking in every corner, and 

I do NOT miss the flooding basement!  AT ALL!

And I really don’t miss it sucking the life out of me, in some way, every … single … day.

Raising these kids on my own the past 10 yrs hasn't been easy.

Rewarding?  Fulfilling?  My greatest challenge and triumph?  ABSOLUTELY!

But not easy.

Not mentally, emotionally, physically or especially … financially.

Every sing day is a struggle. Every single day is a financial challenge.  Every single day is a test in how to best get through the day, and make sure EVERYTHING gets taken care of.

It’s a lot for one person.  

Hell, it’s a lot for TWO people on a regular basis.

But … we've survived.

And I think we've done OK.

My kids have always had a roof over their heads, food in their stomachs, the necessities and some extras. 

Well ... when I look at the amount of toys they have accumulated over the years, maybe a little overboard on the ‘extras’ at times.

When they were little, the boys had some pretty cool toys.

Alec’s obsession was dinosaurs.  

For Adam, it was fire trucks.

As they got older, the toys gave way to electronics and technology.

All of the baby toys were either given away or sold.

However, anything they had as 'kids', eventually found its way into a Rubbermaid bin, every time the basement flooded.

These bins eventually made their way into the garage, and I would occasionally tell the boys, ‘You REALLY have to get out there and go through your toys.  You have cash, sitting there in those bins that could be in your pockets, if you just cleaned up and sold your old toys.’

They never did.

Many of the toys have sat in the bins for years.  Unused.  Untouched.

When we moved into the new house last year, all the ‘toy bins’ went straight into storage, where they began to gather dust, once again.

Until a couple of weeks ago.

I finally decided … IT.  WAS. TIME!

Time to get rid of the toys, and turn those bins (upon bins ... upon bins ... upon freakin' bins!) into some cash, to help ease that ‘daily struggle’.

Two weeks ago, I started with one bin.

And to be honest, it looked SOOO daunting, I wasn’t even sure where to begin.  Which is probably also why I put it off for YEARS!

So I started by picking ONE thing out of the FIRST bin.

And before I knew it, I had taken out and organized EVERYTHING that was in there, and separated it all into piles of ‘common’ toys.

All Disney characters (and the like) in one pile.  

Lego in another.  

Ninja Turtles characters in another.  
 

WWE Wrestlers in another. 

Army men in another.
 

Miscellaneous animals ... in another.

You get the idea.

After a week, it looked like a Toys R Us had exploded in my rec room.

And I’m STILL working on it!

But I'd say I'm half way there.

Maybe.  Almost.



Of course, not everything is worth selling.  Some things are just broken, or junk and go straight to the garbage.

And there is a pile for charity.

The rest? 

Once I finally get through the last of the bins, which I’m hoping will be this weekend, everything I’ve organized will then be washed, grouped, and find its way into one of two sales streams … Kijiji … or eBay.

It’s a CRAPLOAD of work!

It's a CRAPLOAD of toys!

No, I don’t expect to make millions off this experience.

I do, however, expect to make SOME extra cash to put right back into keeping a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, the necessities and some extras .

And yes, I plan on sharing the proceeds of anything sold with the boys.

Like … maybe … 1% of the sale. Since they haven’t actually participated in any of this TOY CLEANUP 2014 experience, other than to drag the bins out of storage for me. And drop them in the living room.

I guess that’s worth 1%.  Kidding!  I'll give 'em 10%. 

The point of this post, people, is … Do YOU have cash hiding in YOUR bins?

GO THROUGH THOSE TOYS!!!!

Throw out the garbage, give a bunch away and then … TURN THOSE TOYS INTO CASH!

That’s what I plan on doing.  Just as soon as I can find my way out from under all these dinosaurs! (um ... little help here ... please ...)

Happy selling, my friends!

K.