Creative Ways to Make Money Without Working

Hi all! Since it's now fall it's time for me to start budgeting for Christmas gifts. Of course in a few months there will be plenty of deals in stores to help me get everything at a great price, but for now I'm trying to use some creative ways to score gifts! Here are my top 3!
1) Sell your clothes at Crossroads Trading Company or Buffalo Exchange
Some of you may have tried this before and it can feel like major rejection when you bring in four bags and they take two items, BUT if you start paying attention to what they are looking for you can do really well. Some main tips:

• Only bring what's in season. Your summer dresses are not selling at the moment. Your blazer that your sick of from last fall will most likely sell.
• Bring what you are seeing in magazines. If it's super trendy they will buy it. If it's a "classic" they probably won't unless it's a high-end designer. They wouldn't buy my J.Crew cords because they were bootcut, but if they had been skinny they would have taken them!
• Forget your basics. Your old plain t-shirts and sweaters are not going to sell. Those are meant for Goodwill. They want items with details that are current.
• Look at their websites or in store to see what they are looking for. They normally have poster boards with pics of what they are accepting.
• Don't forget shoes and purses! I don't have a lot of "label clothes", but I love me a designer bag so when I'm through with them I take them to Crossroads and they always sell.
• If it doesn't sell at one, GO TO ANOTHER! I live in L.A. where there are multiple locations of these stores. They all buy based on their individual store and they are pretty good about telling you why they won't buy your stuff. Sometimes it's simply because they have too many dresses, or coats, etc. But the one in the next town over might be very interested in the eight jackets you are trying to get rid of!

2) Coinstar

I have tons of change that I keep all year long and then turn into a Coinstar machine. If you choose the gift certificate option they don't take out that astronomical percentage. I tend to buy lots of Christmas gifts on amazon.com, so why not use my change to buy those gifts? Apple is another gift certificate you can get through Coinstar.

*One note-the machine simply prints you a "gift code" with your total, so only use this option to buy other gifts. Don't think you can simply print out a gift certificate to give to someone else!

3) Using the gym at work

Okay, this is a weird one, BUT... at my gym at work you can log your cardio minutes and at so many minutes you get a $25 gift card to the company store, at another so many you get a $5o gift card, etc. etc. Now obviously it helps that my company store sells loads of DVDs and Blu-Ray movies, but look into discounts at your workplace. You never know what incentives you might find! So now I'm not only burning calories, but earning money at the same time!