Turn rubbish into gold!

Emma Roberts gives some top tips on turning your household junk into cold, hard cash.

Being a superhero would be awesome.

Not only could you fly, climb walls or freeze things with a mere blink of an eye but I bet you could use your super powers to make some serious cash.

Think about it, I bet Superman would offer flight rides for money or Spiderman could open a bungee jumping business off sky scrapers.

Well, now you too can enjoy the profitable perks of superherodom by adopting the mystical powers of turning rubbish into gold. (Audience gasp.)

I’m not suggesting that you’ll be able to turn into a modern King Midas but there are loads of ways that you can turn your junk stash into cold cash, so read on to find out how.

Recycle in your home

We were told by the big people to recycle, so we did.

We sorted glass from plastic, metal from material and bean from tin. But before you next plonk your recyclables in the bin, think about how you could use them around the home.

The humble plastic bottle has several money saving superpowers that are often overlooked. For instance, if you have a playful pet with a tendency to chew everything in sight, then a plastic bottle can make a great substitute for an expensive chew toy.

Just make sure you remove the label and bottle cap before you hand it over to pet and ensure that you take it off them before it gets too chewed up.

If you have musically inclined youngsters then getting them to make a shaker from an empty bottle is great, inexpensive fun. Simply put some grains of rice in an empty plastic bottle, replace the lid and let them rattle away.

Nature lovers will be pleased to know that you can use a two litre plastic bottle to make a DIY bird feeder that you can use in your garden.

Clean out the bottle, make two holes opposite each other at the end of the bottle and insert a stick through the two holes for a perch.

Then, make a small feeding hole above the perch. Fill your bottle with bird seed, hang it up in your garden and watch your hungry feathered friends feed away.

Hidden gems

The old saying goes, ‘one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure’ but the new saying should go ‘one person’s rubbish should be promptly sold on eBay.’

Yes, people have been selling their junk on eBay for years now and most people have made a couple of quid through selling something they otherwise would have binned.

But what are the best things to sell?

Well, many people are unaware that they may have undiscovered gold mines lurking in their attic.

If you or your family are videogame fans, then you’re likely to have built quite a collection of games over the years. But if you have games that you never play anymore, think before you fob them off to a second hand game shop: they could be worth more than you think.

While I was at University, I worked part time at GAME. It was amazing how many people brought in ‘rare’ games to trade in for a pitiful price, not knowing that they could have got a great deal more if they sold them on eBay.

So what type of videogame would bring in the bucks? Here’s a quick reference table that shows how much you’ll get for some popular games on older consoles.

Just bear in mind that to get a good price, the game should be in its box, with the manual and in good condition.

If you have a sealed copy of any of the above games, then you’ll be looking at a much higher price. For example, if you discover you’ve got a sealed copy of ‘Secret of Evermore,’ you could get around £500 for it.

It’s also worth looking through any old records, magazines, comics and films to see if any of them would be worth selling. Serious magazine collectors are often willing to pay a lot of money for special edition issues or big collections, so get rummaging.

Throw a gold party

Everybody loves a party, so what can be better than making money from one? If you have some old gold jewellery that remains dormant in your jewellery box, then you should make some cash out of it by throwing a gold party.

In Make money from parties, we explain exactly what a gold party involves but here’s a quick run down. Basically, you invite your friends over with their unwanted gold in hand. A representative from the company Ounces to Pounds comes over and makes an offer of how much you could get for your precious metal. If you’re happy with the offer, then you can accept it and walk away with a wallet full of crispy cash.

So there you are, there are plenty of ways that you can turn your junk into cold, hard cash. Just use your imagination and you’re rubbish will be transformed into money in no time.

More: Five ways to make do and mend | Why eBay is better than Amazon|