How many people have wanted to make some fast cash here or there, just to help out with some bills that are piling up or to buy something that they have had their eye on for a while?  Just about nearly everyone.  The idea of building up cash slowly over a long period of time is enticing, no doubt.  But to find a way to quickly infuse your bank account with a healthy injection of the green stuff...well, that is what we are really after here.  The lure of fast money is enough to get anyone interested in trying out a few new tips and tricks.

These are both dead ends that will cost you more money in the long run.  Any time that you can pay a premium in order to borrow a decent amount of cash up front, it is usually going to cost you much more than it is worth in the long run.  These types of setups are never a good idea and will only come back to bite you in the end.  Do anything you can to avoid taking out a cash loan or a cash advance from anywhere.  The cost is just too high.

So what are the alternatives?  What are some ways that you can make some fast cash for yourself?  Here are some tried and true methods:

1) Sell your junk on Craigslist - if you have a computer and internet (you're reading this aren't you?) then you can make some quick money with Craigslist.  The nice thing about using a free classified website like Craiglist is that it is totally and completely free, no strings attached.  Take a walk around your apartment, your garage, your basement, inventory every single thing that you have, and then jump on your computer and get busy.  Start listing every single thing that you no longer have a burning need for. 

Now if you just look around and find some beat up old piece of furniture that you have and list that with no picture of it or anything, don't be surprised if this method leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth.  But you can easily stir up a few hundred dollars if you put a full afternoon worth of work into this.  Find several dozen items to sell, even if you think some of them do not have a chance.  Take pictures of them with a cheap digital camera and then get to work writing detailed descriptions on Craigslist.  Post the pictures of the items and aim for at least a dozen items to sell or more.  If you can list 50 or even a hundred items you will make a killing on selling your junk.  It is all about volume.  If you just list 3 or 4 things you probably will not sell anything. 

You might think it sounds ridiculous to list 50 or 100 items on Craigslist.  Not so if you batch the job.  That means you take a free afternoon and do it all at once.  Go through your home and find all the stuff to sell first.  Then pile it all up in a room and take pictures of it all.  Then list it all on the site and right quick but detailed descriptions.  If you need fast cash then this volume approach will get it for you.  If you just put in a half an hour into this and list a few items you will not make much if anything at all.  Go all out and you will make real money.

2) Sell your better items on eBay - if you have anything that might do particularly well on eBay, such as popular electronic devices, computers, laptops, collectibles and so on--then you should consider listing it on eBay instead of Craigslist.  The reason for this is because you will generally do a little better on eBay becuase it is a bigger market and the price will be driven up higher on these popular items.

Why not do this for every item you sell?  Because of the overhead.  Ebay costs money to use, and it also costs money to ship things, and it also costs money to move money around, and so on.  You avoid all these fees when you use Craigslist and end up dealing locally.  But for some items it makes sense to use eBay anyway in order to gain access to a larger market.  For example, if you are selling the latest video game console or the latest generation of mp3 player then you will probably do better on eBay because the larger market will bid the item up to it's true value.  This will not likely happen with Craigslist because people are not bidding and instead are just making offers. 

Selling your stuff is a great way to get some fast cash and really you can do it for practically free these days.  Take advantage of these two markets and declutter your life and put some extra cash in your pocket.  Good luck!