11 Common Items People Should Sell Before Retiring To Save A Ton Of Money

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Before sailing off into the worklife sunset, one key thing you should consider — aside from how to know when you're financially ready to retire — is downsizing. Another person's junk is someone else's treasure, and donating the things that are underused and low value sooner than later, and over several months of careful planning, can keep you from feeling overwhelmed. Goal setting is important, and aside from unburdening yourself of invaluable stuff, a goal of generating additional retirement savings through a sale of specific items with value can help with that. An itemized inventory of your belongings can more easily help you achieve this, and strategies like considering the last time you've actually used an item — if you haven't used something in the last six months, get rid of it — or mark three boxes with "yes, no, or maybe" and place your belongings in the box the item relates to. The "maybe" box should be sparse. If you're taking a few months to figure it out, this should reduce anxiety around this so you don't feel pressured to hold onto or give up things prematurely. Aside from selling household items, there are also household items you should stop buying to help save money too.

Before selling off assets for retirement income, ask questions like how will you spend or invest the income, how will selling these items affect your heirs or dependants, what's your goal income, and finally, are there any tax implications? Here are common items to consider selling. 

Just because there are actually luxury cars worth your money, doesn't mean you should go out and buy one. In fact, any vehicle you currently own can become an additional financial burden you might be better off doing away with. If you have a spouse who also owns a vehicle, that's even a more questionable a decision. According to AAA, the average cost of owning a vehicle in 2024 was $12,297. If you have two vehicles, that's $24,594 per year. If you bought a new car in 2024, the manufacturer's suggested retail price of a new vehicle was $38,883. Although these numbers are based on an average calculation of the five top-selling models in nine vehicle categories, it provides a fair estimate of the cost of holding on to one or more vehicles you don't need.

If you have a spouse with a vehicle who will continue to work, then at least sell the one vehicle. As per Kelly Blue Book, after five years, the average resale value of a new vehicle drops by 44.6%, depending on the quality of the vehicle. Relying on the previous 2024 AAA estimate, 44.6% of $38,883 is roughly $17,342, which would leave you with a resale value of $21,541. Buying a car for less than $30,000 is a lot harder today than it was even in 2024. Keep the money from an unnecessary vehicle, and keep an extra $12,297 in your pocket every year. 

Any downsizing strategy should include selling anything you have in storage. Aside from items in storage, you may also want to consider the storage unit itself. One way to audit the value of keeping a storage unit versus getting rid of it is to determine the value of what is being stored, and if those items are unused, why you aren't using them. If you're better off getting rid of the things in storage, either by selling or donating them, you're better off without the unit. It's one of several items retirees usually regret buying, but the good news is, you can always stop paying for one.

According to Storeganise, storage unit owners pocket an average $184,500 per year on an average rental fee of $9 per square foot. As per Spacewise, depending on the size of your storage unit, you could be spending an average of around $49 to just over $296 per month on storage. If you're storing a vehicle — which you should consider selling if it's sitting in storage — that cost per month might be as high as $457. One of the most seriously alarming retirement stats revealed by an April 2025 Northwestern Mutual study is that 51% of Americans believe they could outlive their savings. Saving that money by not paying to store things you don't use can turn a liability into an asset that boosts your retirement income instead of taking away from it.  

Whether it's an old toy of yours, or a toy belonging to your adult children, an old childhood toy in your possession could be worth a lot of money. If these items belong to your kids, they may have sentimental value. Tell them you need their help to downsize by giving them a window of time to pick them up. If you want to play hardball, you can offer to charge them to keep storing these items, or you can go ahead and sell them. For instance, there are McDonald's Happy Meal toys that are worth a ton of money, and even a rare Batman toy play set that's worth over $10,000. All that to say, tossing out old toys would be a mistake without at least evaluating their worth first.

Looking up your toys on collector and auction sites is a first step in figuring out if your old Barbie could be worth a mint. Once you've checked and researched listings, you can reach out to experts to have your toy's value evaluated. Aside from this, the amount of collectors interested in your toy, the condition, popularity, and rarity are major factors in determining the worth of old toys. Typically, items released from the 1980s and earlier, particularly if they remain in their original packaging, could earn you something beyond play money. 

The saying "what's old is new again" qualifies when talking about VHS tapes, DVDs or CDs. While these items are far from their heyday, a May 2024 New York Post story reveals how Gen Xers are bringing the VHS back by operating their own video stores in their basements. Gen Zers and Millennials are being reintroduced to the analog entertainment tool, with collectors searching eBay for finds they can boast about on Reddit threads like r/VHS and Facebook groups like The NYC VHS Collective. Old Disney movies on VHS can be worth a lot of money, and offers an aware seller a way to profit.

DVDs, with their extra content, blooper reels, behind-the-scenes footage, and director's cuts also retain a cult following, with Amazon, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace offering a robust list of titles. Groups like r/dvdcollection on Reddit provide a community of 409,000 members a place to commune, and may provide the owner of sought after titles some extra bingo money. For instance, "The Real Ghostbusters: The Complete Series," a 25-disk set from 2008, is currently on eBay for $999.99.

Vinyl, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, had a total U.S. recorded sales volume of 43.6 million units, with demand so great that keeping up with the demand has become challenging for the few pressing companies left. Still, you'll find that old vinyl records are valuable.

If it's a family heirloom, say an engagement ring passed down from generation to generation, a piece of jewelry can be important to hang onto. Old jewelry you don't wear often or at all, however, is definitely something of value you should look into trading for cash. While you can sell almost anything online today, the added risks of shipping valuables through the mail, delayed payment processing, no face to face interaction with a potential buyer, and the heightened risk of online scams all point to a visit to an antique or second hand jeweler as a better move. If your jewelry is uninsured, you will definitely get more value from selling it for cash than leaving it in your home to potentially go missing anyway. Since jewelry is also one of those things you should never store in a safe deposit box, again, selling it is a safer and more profitable way to go.

If you don't know how to tell if your vintage jewelry is worth any money, before you sell anything, do some research or have a knowledgeable appraiser do it on your behalf. This is especially advisable if your jewelry is made with gold, diamonds, platinum, or other valuable gems. A legitimate appraiser shouldn't charge a fee based on a percentage of your jewelry's value, relying instead on a flat fee per piece or an hourly rate. If you own any valuable retro style jewelry, you could be in luck. 

If you own stocks, which you should, it's worthwhile to consider selling and downsizing your holdings. While you shouldn't necessarily sell everything, taking advantage of favorable market conditions in which to offload some of your portfolio is a good idea. You can never know when that rising stock in your portfolio is going to nosedive, and if you're at retirement age, you don't have the same amount of time to wait for a rebound as someone 20 years younger. If you want an idea of what can happen and how quickly, think about how far Tesla stocks plummeted in 2025. Imagine planning to retire in April 2025 — as per Yahoo! Finance, Tesla had a high of $279.47 a share on April 29, 2025 — after having the chance to have sold shares of Tesla on December 30, 2024, when the stock was trading at a high of $427 a share.

Liquidating stocks doesn't necessarily mean an end to investing, it just means investing smarter. For people 60 to 69 years old, T.RowePrice suggests reallocating your portfolio so that it's safer from short-term market risks. Look into building a more bond and cash focused portfolio that's 30% to 50% bonds, up to 10% cash, and 45% to 65% stocks. If you're unsure of what you should offload, these are the types of stocks you should sell before retirement to save money. 

Whether you spent years wearing a work uniform, or you just have a closet full of suits you aren't going to need anymore, this is another opportunity to make some extra money before you retire. A secondhand store or vintage shop may provide you with an avenue to make a little cash while giving your clothes or uniform a second life. For business suits, eBay, Poshmark, Mercari, or even Facebook Marketplace are all good options for skipping the middleman and selling them yourself. If you have luxury or designer label clothing and accessories to sell, you can post your wares on Amazon luxury stores like The Shop by Shopbop, or The Luxury Closet where you can earn anywhere from 65% to 85% of the value of your item.

Rockstar Mechanics advises beginner mechanics looking to source cheap but good tools to check out pawn shops, Facebook Marketplace, garage or yard sales, discount tool shops, or third-party sites like eBay. If you had a career that required you to carry your own tools, like a contractor or mechanic, this advice for technicians at the start of their career provides clues as to where to sell your tools and equipment toward the end of yours. 

According to The Spruce, used books sell for anywhere from 20% to 50% of their initial sale price, with pristine condition prints potentially selling for higher than 50%. Online platforms can make that easier. First, get an idea of how much you're likely to be able to sell your book for with BookScouter. BookScouter uses a book's ISBN number to give you an estimate of how much buyers 30 years old or over might pay for it. Track how much your book previously sold for, and the best time to try and sell yours. Aside from old standbys like Amazon and eBay, sites like Cash4YourBooks are perfect for an entire library worth of books to offload. They specialize in bulk purchases. Antique books that are worth a fortune today might be sitting around your house without you even knowing it. AbeBooks knows how to handle rare books, and although it's owned by Amazon, the first two months are free. The international seller buys and sells everything from art to old cookbooks that are worth a lot of money.

Where magazines are concerned, a lot of the same online platforms you've heard before — Facebook Marketplace, eBay, Amazon — come into play. Vintagemagazine.com might be a better idea for vintage magazines with high value, since you're dealing with specialists who can properly appraise your publications. There are titles they aren't interested in however, so it's best to reach out to the company first. 

Where retirement is concerned, there are two trains of thought when it comes to real estate. One offers reasons why you should think twice before selling your home to rent in retirement, the other views renting as part of a retirement strategy. According to a Bankrate study analyzing the hidden costs of homeownership, the average cost of owning and maintaining a home in the U.S. in 2025 is $21,400 per year. This includes the cost of upkeep, energy bills, taxes, insurance, WiFi, and cable. While this is a national average, that number can go as low as high as anywhere between $27,344 in Washington to $34,573 if you live in Hawaii — that's just one major downside to retiring in Hawaii. On the other hand, the cost of homeownership can also appear lower in other states by anywhere from $12,579 in West Virginia to $15,362 annually in Arkansas.

With everybody's situation being so different, consider how much it would cost you to stay in your home versus renting, your mobility or need for assisted living, how the current housing market would impact the ROI on your home if you sold it, or if you want to move into a retirement community. With the latter, you get to socialize through activities with other retirees in close proximity, and have others worry about house cleaning and maintenance. In the cheapest states in the U.S. to retire, it may save you money and make more sense mobility and community-wise.

Whether you've decided to sell your home and rent, or you've decided to downsize to an apartment, something you aren't likely to need is all your furniture. While there are no doubt charitable organizations that will gladly take your gently used furniture for little more than a handshake and a smile, when you consider that Boomers won't be able to afford to live in several states in the coming decade, you would be remiss to give away a household item you should sell to build your retirement savings. Charity begins at home.

According to Clutter, depending on factors like age, wear and tear, and general cleanliness of appearance, a seller can price their furniture anywhere from 50% to 70% of the price originally paid for it. So a sofa that cost you $1,000 five years ago could still earn you between $500 to $700 in resale profit. For buyers, the psychological impact of fair pricing provides more motivation to buy what you're selling. If selling online, the decluttering experts at Clutter expound the virtues of high quality photography with fantastic lighting, full transparency about the condition of the furniture you're selling, and an interesting story about the furniture to help draw people in. While Facebook Marketplace and eBay will give your furniture greater visibility, sites like AptDeco or Chairish — the latter being better for vintage or high end furniture — will put you right in front of a serious market of buyers. 

Like everything else on this list, if you have electronics that you aren't using, then you should make use of it by selling it to someone who will. As per March 2025 research by Capital One, 93% of Americans enjoy online shopping for secondhand products, with up to 18% of Americans shopping at thrift stores and 15% shopping at resale or consignment stores annually. With people who shop at Thrift stores saving an average of $1,760 per year by secondhand shopping, it might surprise you to know that the secondhand market was a $53 billion industry in 2023. as this popular American electronics retail chain is shutting down stores, secondhand stores are doing brisk business.

Selling secondhand online is easier than ever with sites like Swappa which give you an estimate of similar items to yours so you can better price them, and has staff available to help the process to run smoothly while also helping you to avoid getting scammed. You can also trade in your technology for credit with Amazon Trade-In, where you can search for a similar electronic item, input a description of the item you want to sell, and Amazon will make you an offer. If you accept it, you'll be credited an Amazon eGift card you can use for something you may actually want. Or, Amazon will give you 20% off the purchase price of an Amazon device qualified for the program.