Trash to Travel Challenge: What I Learned in a Month of Reselling to Create a Travel Budget From Nothing

I started this trash to travel challenge on a whim. Any time I post about reselling {often in my Instagram stories}, I always get questions about how I do it. A quick response to someone who dropped into my DM's, had my mind spinning, and the challenge was created. You see, when I started reselling items about 25 years ago, there weren't many platforms out there. You were often limited to reselling by having a garage sale, and while I love going to them, I don't always like having them! Things have changed so much, and nearly everyone has access to reselling their items for a profit, they just need that little push. As I've shared my experience during my trash to travel challenge, I have heard from many people that I have given them the push that they needed to start listing. After 31 days challenging myself to resell items and create a travel budget from nothing, I learned a few things too. Yes, even with decades of experience, I took away a few nuggets. Are you ready to see what they were?

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Trash to Travel Challenge! Turn Clutter into Cash for Your Next Adventure!

A simple conversation in my dm's about reselling a few weeks ago had my mind racing with a new challenge. I have been reselling items for more than 25 years. I often resell to sustain my thrifting habit, but it also generally covers the majority of my clothing and home decor budget. Let me explain, I usually plan to buy one item when I'm thrifting that I plan on reselling with the intent that the profit I make by reselling that item, will pay for my thrift trip. Any of the other items I buy basically cost me nothing. But what if I could commit to reselling for 30 days and any of the money I make during that time would go towards travel? Travel is something we prioritize in our budget, but I know that not everyone does. And people often wonder how they can travel more. What if the answer to traveling more was sitting in your closets?
A few years ago I did a very successful challenge I called Money Making March. My goal was to help show others how they could put $500 back in their pockets in just one month by reselling items they had. But what if we take this challenge one step further. The goal? To resell items you no longer need and make enough money to travel anywhere in the world. Where will you go? That all depends on how much money you make!

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The Best Clothing Brands to Resell

I've been reselling clothing on-line for more than 20 years. I started by selling my oldest son's outgrown baby clothes. Kids grow so quickly, that clothes purchased second-hand and worn by them, still had a lot of life left in them. It was a great way as a young couple to basically clothe our children for free for many years. Anything I paid for the clothes, I gained back in the reselling and then put into buying the next season of clothing. For years I only sold items we used personally, but I've since moved on to buying and reselling things I find at Goodwill Outlet and once garage sale season starts again, I'll start reselling items from there too. There are brands that sell well and brands that just aren't worth wasting your time on. Today I'm sharing the brands that I keep my eyes peeled for and you should too. These are the brands that have the best resell value and the ones that will sell quickly and easily so you aren't holding on to any inventory.

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Brands for Resale that Just Don't Sell

One of the most common questions people ask me is how I know what brands to buy to resell them. So to all you resellers purchasing clothing brands to try to resell, you may be shocked to find the ones that make this list! One of the best places to start is by figuring out what brands not to buy. This is why I put together this list of not only the brands to avoid but the reasons why I pass them up every time I see them. Here are six brands that have little to no resale value.

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You Can Sell Your Used Kitchen Cabinets and Granite: Everything You Need to Know!

In late 2010, we purchased a new home. It was a custom home that was just a few years old. Here's the thing. I never really liked the kitchen. It's just not really my style and it was dark and Seattle is dark enough for nine months out of the year, that I dreamed of something lighter and brighter. The real dilemma for me was that we had a really nice kitchen. Top-of-the-line materials were used and I have always been of the mindset that you use what you have. Plus, I didn't want to see perfectly good materials ending up in a landfill. I'm not sure when the bug was put in my ear that I could sell our used kitchen, but I have sold just about everything else so why couldn't I sell our kitchen? I'm sharing all my tips and tricks so you can sell your old cabinets and granite, put a little money back in your pocket for your upcoming remodel, AND keep perfectly good materials out of the landfill! It's a real win all around!

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DIY Mimosa Bar Cart with Free Printable Mimosa Bar Sign

This past summer, I had the honor of throwing a wedding shower for my son and his soon-to-be wife. I had a lot of different ideas for things to do, but having a mimosa bar was high on the list. I started scouring Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp for bar carts and kept turning up empty. There was one HUGE mimosa bar cart I could rent for the low low price of $500, and I think that's when I decided I wanted to DIY my own. I'm showing you how you can take an old worn-out service cart and turn it into a fun party piece for your next event!

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The Flipper's Guide to Making Money Reselling Furniture

If you’re looking to make some extra money and have a little bit of crafty know-how, then chances are you have found yourself looking into flipping furniture. You could be making $200 or even $1,000 or more doing just a little bit of work a few nights or weekends. Flipping furniture is a great way to make money and a great side hustle to start. Here is a flipper’s guide to making money reselling furniture.

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Top 10 Worst Money Myths You Need to Forget

There is no shortage out there of gurus and experts with a thing or two to say on the subject when it comes to money and personal finance. Unfortunately, the reality is that with all this information out there, many money myths have developed as a result of it. I’m here to debunk ten of the worst money myths that are just plain bad financial advice!

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8 {Money-Saving} Reasons Why You Should Save Your Receipts

Organization isn't my strong suit. It's just not. I like organized people and organized systems, but it's not something that comes naturally to me. My husband though, it's his thing. He loves spreadsheets and envelopes and labels and order. I appreciate that because time and time again, this one thing has come in clutch {look it up in Urban Dictionary}. For the last 23 years, I've saved crumpled receipts placing them in my husband's inbox and he smoothes every one of them, inputting the numbers and reconciling them with our bank statement before carefully putting them into a monthly envelope. Why save receipts? I've got a few reasons why this one habit could save you money!

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How To Give Generously On Any Budget

You don't have to be wealthy to live generously. On both sides of our family, generous living and giving were modeled for us. I think this is one of the reasons why it was easy for us to make giving a habit in our daily lives. Even when we were living on $12,000 a year, we still made it a priority to give generously on a regular basis. Now that we are living completely debt-free {even paying off our home!}, we have more freedom to give generously. Living generously will vary from person to person and from situation to situation, but I have some tips for how you can give generously on any budget.

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Money-Sucking Habits to Break Today!

Habits are pretty hard to break, especially bad ones that we know aren’t good for us, like drinking soda or impulse buys, but the rush of serotonin we get from those habits can make it hard to quit. Your habits, especially when associated with money, can shape your financial future. Do you want to know the secret to building wealth? It starts by cutting these money-sucking habits!

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More Money Making Tips: Buying and Selling Used and Making a Profit

Back in January, I started these fun little alliteration money-saving challenges. I had Jumpstart January, Frugal February, Money Making March, April Audit, and now {what should be} Money Saving May, but guess what? It's my blog and I am going to shake things up. I had such a HUGE response from readers who loved following along with me on my money-making March challenge. I started out with a goal to put $500 back into my pocket, and I ended the month making $1000! Just by selling items I had at home. I continue to hear from people on an almost daily basis about how they were inspired to sell an item or two on eBay, at consignment or on Facebook Marketplace.
I get giddy when I hear your successes, but even more giddy now that I have an extra $1000 in my pocket! I mean, come on. With your success stories, I'm also still getting questions about how you can successfully make money selling your old stuff, so I thought I'd take another month to tackle all of your questions and to take you along with me as I attempt to replicate my success from money-making March. Dare I set the challenge to make ANOTHER $1000 selling my stuff?

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Can You Really Make Money With a Side Hustle? How I Made $1000 in a Month!

Side hustles are a great way to increase your income so you can pay off debt, save up for a big purchase or hit some financial goals you are falling short on. For years I was a stay-at-home mom, but I have always liked being able to help provide financially for my family when I could. I started working side hustles decades ago, but for the first time, I kept track of my side hustles in a little challenge I called Money Making March and I heard time and time again that it was everyone's favorite money challenge so far! Know what? It was mine too! I even threw in a few new side hustles to see if they helped me get to my goal faster. Want to know what I did to make an extra $1000 last month? Keep reading!

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Tips for Making Money Selling at Consignment Shops

There are a lot of reasons I like to sell at consignment shops. Not only is it a great way for me to be able to clear out my closet, but it's also a great way to make a little extra money without a lot of effort. You can find consignment shops that will sell furniture, used sports equipment, baby and kid's stuff, and clothing. Consignment shops give you a storefront to help sell your items easily and I'm sharing my best tips on how you can make money selling your used stuff at a consignment shop.

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