Savvy Spring Cleaning - Selling Books, CDs & VHS Tapes

I mentioned yesterday that our local librarian said there was a used book store in Nashville where they would give you cash/credit for your books. Inspired by the boxes of books in our attic I decided to test it out.

After a quick glance at their website and finding out they took media items as well, it took me about 1/2 hour to gather all these books and CDs together. Eager to get rid of some of the older board books the Superstars no longer read, I told them they would get 10% of what we made to buy any books they wanted, which made them willing accomplices.


When it was all said and done, the Superstars and I loaded 4 boxes of books and CDs into the car and headed out. We checked in at the counter and they gave us a ticket with a number on it. Several monitors throughout the store continually flashed the ticket numbers of orders completed and after about 1/2 hour at the store they were finished with our order. Time passed quickly as it was spent looking for more books!

In the end we were offered either $125 in store credit or $65 in cash and a $3 credit voucher (apparently there are some items they can't give us cash on so they have to give store credit) for 3 boxes worth of books. At about $20 a box of books, I was pretty pleased. We took the cash (which was actually a check), used the $3 voucher toward what we had gathered while waiting and checked out. The girls ended up with several chapter books, readers, a Disney hardback pop out book and a LeapFrog cartridge & book.

I was pretty pleased with the whole thing. In fact as we were walking around I was reminded of the stack of VHS that I had forgotten in the old storage chest in the bonus room and the girls started talking about other books they could trade in the next go-round. Given that, we'll be making another trip in the next couple weeks. We have a Spring garage sale in the subdivision so whatever McKay's doesn't take, we'll put in a grab box at the garage sale to eek out the last bit of money possible before sending it off to Goodwill.

Another bonus about the whole process was allowing the Superstars to see how to increase their buying power. I had also given them the option of using their $6 to buy something at Borders, a store we like to wander in as a family from time to time. It was evident to them pretty quickly how much more they could buy at McKay's versus Borders as each book still had the retail markings found above the barcode on the back of each book.

"So girls, you could buy these three books here or you can buy only ONE Magic Treehouse book at Borders for the same money,which is fine. It's up to you how you want to spend your money," I said.

And well, you know how that turned out. The girls love their "new" books and got a chance to see first hand how to make the most of their money, savvy-style. I couldn't be prouder.

Check out your local city listings and see if there's a media exchange store in your area. It's a great way to clean house and make a little money in the process.

Stay Savvy Y'all!