Spring Cleaning

Spring is almost here and that means everyone will be spring cleaning, including yourself! Every year you do spring cleaning, and every year doesn't it seem like you threw away just as much junk as last year? Maybe it's because the kids have grown out of things, or maybe it's because you'd had a bad night and ordered everything off of the HSN, who knows? So, how can you turn this rejuvenating time of year into extra money in your pocket?

Sell it! This is an ideal time to put your old and unwanted "treasures" up for sale on ebay or craigslist, depending on what you want to sell. This is also a great time of year for a yard sale. The problem for some people is knowing where the best place to sell their items is. You're going to have to do a bit of research, start out by looking at the finished auctions on ebay. There you'll be able to look up items similar to your own, look at how many of them had bids on them, the number of bids and how much they sold for. If the finished auctions don't look promising to you, then post an ad for it on craigslist.com. On craigslist, you can put your item up for sale, for free, there are no listing fees whatsoever. Just include a simple description or picture, price, and the pick up arrangements and someone in your area may buy it! Finally if you have a lot of stuff to get rid of, have a yard sale. It may be a good idea to try and get your other neighbors involved too. Big yard sales attract a lot of people, and one mans trash truly is another man's treasure.

As I mentioned before, just about everyone participates in the spring cleaning ritual. You could easily make some extra money by offering up your cleaning services to people in your neighborhood. You could make some flyer's on your computer with a spring cleaning checklist, include how much you charge for each task or the whole works and your phone number. Keep a calender or small date book with your phone, so you never over book yourself.

If cleaning is really not your thing, then consider offering you gardening services. When the weather gets warm, people want a nice yard with flowers to come home to everyday. Not everyone has time to plant and take care of a garden though. You could make up a flyer for simple lawn care services as well. Include the tasks you're willing to perform, like weeding, planting, watering, mowing, ect and what you charge for each task and the works. If you've got a green thumb or just love being outside this could be the start of a lucrative home based business!