Your emergency fund is looking rather empty at the moment, and you’d like to fill it up quickly. You’re not exactly sure how to do that without getting a second job and taking on a lot more stress. Well, an easier solution could be gathering dust on top of your dresser: your jewelry box. You could sell some of your old jewelry and add all the profits to your emergency fund.Â
Boosting your savings by selling old jewelry can be a wise decision for several reasons. Firstly, it provides an opportunity to declutter your living space and eliminate unused items, creating a sense of organization and freeing up physical and mental space. Secondly, selling old jewelry allows you to tap into a hidden source of value and turn it into cash, which can be directed toward more pressing financial goals or emergencies.
Additionally, selling jewelry can be a sustainable and eco-friendly choice, as it promotes recycling and reduces the demand for new mining and production. Finally, the act of selling old jewelry can serve as a catalyst for reevaluating your personal style and preferences, encouraging you to let go of the past and embrace new experiences and possibilities.
How Can You Sell Your Jewelry?
First, CLEAN Your Jewelry
You should clean your jewelry so that it looks brand-new again. Doing this will make your items look more presentable and desirable to potential customers. And it will make sure that the items are disinfected and ready for someone else to wear.Â
Get Your Jewelry Appraised
After you’ve cleaned your jewelry, you’ll want to get it appraised. You will want to find a professional appraiser to give a fair market value appraisal (this is the estimated value in the item’s current condition). The appraiser should have credentials that prove that they have experience in the field. For instance, a certificate from a national organization like the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers would be a good sign that they are qualified for the job.Â
Use the appraisal results to establish the prices for your items when you put them up for sale.
Sell Them
Decide where you want to sell your jewelry. You can do it through a brick-and-mortar consignment store, an online seller, a jewelry store or gold dealer.Â
Consignment stores don’t always sell jewelry. But, if you find one that does, you can bring your items to them and see whether they are willing to put any up for display in the store. The store will sell your items for you in exchange for a portion of the profits.Â
If you can’t find a consignment store that will take your jewelry, you should consider selling it through an online marketplace. An online marketplace will let you put up a listing for each item, where potential customers can put bids on it until you agree to a sale. Then, you can mail the purchased item to the customer and keep the profits. These are some examples of online marketplaces:
- eBay
- Etsy
- Poshmark
- Ruby Lane
- The Diamond Valet
- The RealReal
What if you’d like to sell your jewelry for parts? If you’d like to sell the gemstones and precious metals instead of the jewelry pieces as a whole, you should go to a jewelry store or gold dealer to make a sale.Â
How Much Should You Have in Emergency Savings?
A general rule of thumb is to have at least 3 months’ worth of expenses saved up in your emergency fund. Some financial experts recommend pushing those emergency savings goals even further, saving up to 6, 9 and even 12 months’ worth of expenses in there. Reaching these ambitious goals will take a long time, so start with a smaller goal of $1000-$2000. This should help you handle small, urgent expenses, like car repairs and plumbing services, without disturbing your personal budget.Â
Why Should You Have Emergency Savings?
Without any emergency savings on hand, you might not be capable of paying for a small urgent expense out of pocket. Your options for covering the expense will be fairly limited.Â
You could use the money sitting in your checking account, but doing this could leave you with less for your essentials for the month. You might not have enough to pay for your groceries, your utility bills or your rent. And if you try to make these payments as usual, you could put your checking into overdraft and saddle yourself with overdraft fees that you’ll have to pay back in a hurry.
Or you could try to borrow funds through a personal loan to cover the emergency expense. You don’t have to make an appointment at your nearest bank branch to apply for a personal loan. If you’re one of our OFW followers in the U.S., with a few taps of your keyboard, you can find a legit online loan and submit your application for it in the comfort of your own home. With an approved personal loan, you’ll gain access to enough money to cover the expense as soon as possible and move on.
Your jewelry box could give your emergency fund a huge boost. See if you can make some sales and bulk up your savings!
Want to read more of our latest posts? Check out the alternatives to cash loans in the Philippines.
Danella Yaptinchay is the managing director of Full Suite, a service company providing back end support to small businesses. She is a cofounder of Co.lab, a coworking space, and of the media company Homegrown.ph. In constant pursuit of balance and self-development, she tries to apply the practices of yoga to her daily life.
