Money for your old gadgets- don't sell it, Gazelle it!

So, you got a new gee-whiz gadget for Christmas. What do you do with the old tech that, until two weeks ago, was state of the art? Sure, you could give it to relatives or friends who may or may not appreciate it.

Or...

You could make a few bucks on it and pocket the dough for yourself. How? Just gather together all of the electronic widgets you want to give the heave-ho and check out the website Gazelle.com here.

Fill out the simple online forms provided by Gazelle and they'll make a cash offer for your unwanted MP3 players, old cell phones and dozens of other orphan electronic gear. As you fill out the age, condition and accessories for your whatever it is, you'll see an easy-to-understand graph that lists the current dollar value of your item that Gazelle is willing to pay.

If you're agreeable to the amount, send the item to Gazelle (they pay postage!) and a check will soon arrive in the mail with your name on it. If, however, Gazelle reviews the item and they decide they have no interest in buying the product, they will offer to responsibly dispose of the product (at no cost to you) or return it exactly as you submitted it. BTW, this is also a great way to raise money for charity.

All in all, this is a no lose senario for those of us with little space to store those old products, a love of money and a desire to take that cash and buy even more technology.

Let's Save the Economy and Spend Some Money!

I've decided that economy has taken long enough to recover and it's time to take the reins and fix it ourselves. To that end, here are some websites to save you money while you spend money. There are thousands of sites like these, but I can vouch for these specific sites as I've used them myself.

The first is a site called Coupongirl.com This site continually lists bargains and deals, coupons and other deals that will save you money on products you need. During the holiday buying season, this site morphs into another site called "BlackFriday.com". They dig around and find early releases of the infamous Black Friday sales that most stores have the day after Thanksgiving. Whatever the name, this site can save you money.

The next site is woot.com. I can't explain the unusual name, but I can explain the great deals. The hook here is that one product per day is offered at an incredible price. This site may take some persistence because it may be days before you see a product that grabs your attention, but when an item appears that you need or want, grab it, because you may not have another chance to get it at the same low price. It's worth checking every morning for the best deals.

Newspapers are struggling and one of the reasons is craigslist.org. Think of Craigslist as online classified ads. You can look up your town (or thousands of towns across the world) and look for deals on cars, apartments, furniture, pets, jobs and anything else you can imagine. You'll be able to sift through the ads by price, date, photos, keyword and find the item you want at the price you need. Like paper classifieds, it's in your best interest to tread carefully and inspect all purchases before buying.

Great deals take a little effort. Money is hard to come by these days and a little effort is nothing if it keeps bills in your wallet and change in your pocket.