After my son saw his sister net $320 from selling her hair, he looked around to assess his assets. I encouraged him to start in his room, which was overflowing with outgrown things, and needed tidying anyway.
After throwing away the broken toys, he eyed his stacks of outgrown books. He had the entire Wimpy Kid collection, the full Captain Underpants collection, and the Trapped in a Video Game collection. Some were in more used conditions than others, but we photographed the sets and posted them on our neighborhood classifieds facebook group.
It's hard to price used books, as there doesn't seem to be a solid convention. I've seen anywhere from 25c to $3 per book, depending of course on condition, hard/paper cover, and the buyer's budget. We figured anything really was better than nothing, and priced the collection as a lot.
Within an hour, a neighbor had requested all three book sets for her kids.
We agreed on $76 for everything, which ended up being ~40 books. My son threw in a Wimpy Kid board game as a bonus and put everything out front for a porch pick-up.
She Venmo'ed me and I transfered the money to his spending account. He was thrilled with the cash. It helped him pay for holiday gifts and put a bit aside for his upcoming 2-week Scout trip to Philmont this June. I was thrilled the books were out of his room, and happy to have another real-life money lesson to reinforce. [Now ... how to get him interested in new content?]
How have you and your kids converted unusual assets into cash?
Not sure how to introduce money concepts to your children? Check out this online course: Raising Wealthy Kids
Stephanie Brooke Lennon is the author of Family Bank Blueprint, GoldQuest, and What Would Water Do? Simple Strategies for Navigating Life's Obstacles. Her titles are available in Paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com. Follow Stephanie Brooke on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Amazon, and at BrookeLennon.com.
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