Turn your unwanted presents into cash

Happy recycling! Photograph: ShazzMack, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (Commercial) ShareAlike 2.0 license

Received any unwanted presents in 2011? Having a New Year’s home clear out? Sell your stuff, raise money and help divert your waste away from landfill by using one or more of the following twelve methods:

1. Gumtree. Posting items on Gumtree is free and items can be sold from anywhere in the UK. Anyone that hasn’t discovered this website yet is missing out (I have sold many an item on here in the past including a working computer monitor, an extra large alarm clock and a watercolour pencil set left over from my student days). To post an ad click here (remember to include one or more photos to improve your response rate).

2. eBay. An eBay account is a low cost way of selling a wide variety of items. For further details and an idea of the process involved click here.

3. Amazon and GreenMetropolis. Amazon and Green Metropolis are both great websites for selling books from the comfort of your living room. Accounts are required for both.

4. Local car boot sales. Most car boot sales cost about £10 for a space. Any additional money you make, you keep. Items that sell well at car boot sales include clothing, electrical items, books, CD’s, DVD’s, and bric-a-brac. My favourite is the vintage car boot sale held every Saturday and Sunday at Princess May Road, Stoke Newington, N16 8DF. To find other car boot sales in London see the Car Boot Junction website.

5. Salvage yards. Salvage yards located near Hackney include The Architectural Forum, N1 and Albion Salvage, E1. For a list of other salvage yards in the UK see the SalvoWeb directory.

6. Antique fairs and auction houses. Great for period furniture, garden and home items. Auctioneers near Hackney include Criterion Auctions of London, N1 and Frank G Bowen, E11. For a list of auctioneers check out Yellow Pages.

7. Second hand clothing shops. Doing a quick search for your local second hand clothing shops is easy. In London there are ones specialising in kids clothing, designer clothing, vintage clothing and high street label clothing. A vintage clothing shop which is a favourite of the stars is Strut in Church Street, N16 (their buying days are Sunday and Monday). Another location which is good for vintage clothes stops is Columbia Road, E2 (great for selling vintage items). For a list of second hand clothing shops in and around Hackney go to London Town.

8. Mobile phone websites. My favourite is Mazuma Mobile however it’s always worth shopping around by using MobileValuer to find out which company offers you the most for your phone model and make.

9. Second hand CD, DVD and game websites including Music Magpie. Get an idea of the price they will pay without entering any personal details.

10. Record shops. Vinyl that is in good condition is often in high demand. Getting quotes from a couple of second hand record shops including from Haggle Vinyl, N1 and Flashback, N1 can give you an idea of their value so that you can choose whether or not to sell them.

11. Jewellery shops. eBay mentioned in point 2 above is a great way of selling jewellery. Alternatively jewellery shops are often willing to buy gold necklaces, rings and earrings so pop by your nearest shops to get a quote.

12. Home office furniture including chairs, desks, bookcases and filing cabinets can also be sold to second hand dealers. My favourite, who I’ve had lots of positive dealings with in the past, is Andrews Office Furniture.