The best money I made this fall came out of my donation tote.
It’s the canvas tote that hangs on a hook in my laundry room. When it fills up, I drop it off that same week. I’ve done it that way for a long time, and it works.
But one Saturday in October, my older granddaughter came over to help me sort. She reached into the tote and pulled out my husband’s old camera.
“Grandma,” she said, “you can’t give this away.”
She had her phone out before I could ask why. Cameras just like it were selling online for more than a hundred dollars.
So we sat down at the kitchen table and went through everything that was waiting to leave the house. We looked in the attic and the basement too. By the end of the month, five things I almost gave away had sold for more than I ever expected.
Here’s what they were, and the simple check I do now before anything goes in the tote.
Why I Almost Gave Them Away
I wasn’t being careless. I truly believed these things were worth nothing.
A few weeks before, my granddaughter had helped me list some things for sale. My crystal punch bowl didn’t sell at all, and neither did a lot of other nice things. (I wrote about what sold and what nobody wanted if you’d like the whole story.)
After that, I decided most old things weren’t worth the trouble. If something looked old and a little worn, I put it in the tote.
What I didn’t know is that s