20 Household Items That Could Make You Rich

By PettyandPosh | May 5, 2020

Take another look through your bins of old toys and inherited “junk”, something in there could be worth a lot of money. Here are 20 household items that could quickly inflate your bank account:

STERLING SILVER UTENSILS

Sterling Silver flatware may be a pain to polish and hand wash, but you will be glad your ancestors kept it when you find out what it’s worth. You could get a couple hundred per piece.

BARBIES

I’m a Barbie Girl, In A Barbie World! This mattel fashion doll has been around since 1959 and if you own the original you could be looking at $28,000 payday.

VINTAGE LUGGAGE SET

The old time trunk style of luggage is back in fashion. Dust off your old set and list it on eBay. If it’s designer, you could get $5,000+.

GI JOE ACTION FIGURE

GI Joe is the coolest and it would be hard to part with an original, but $200,000 might persuade you. The prototype made in 1963 was sold for this amount in 2003.

NES GAMES

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was launched in 1985 and was a great success! Many iconic games were played on the system and if you still own some of them today, they might be worth a pretty penny. A sealed copy of the game Stadium Events sold for $41,977.

BASEBALL CARDS

As a kid it was great fun buying a pack of baseball cards and seeing if you got one of the rare player cards. And now that luck might be paying off double! A Mickey Mantel card sold for 1.13 million and a Honus Wagner for 3.12 million.

PEZ DISPENSERS

This Austrian treat came in many different character dispensers. The most valuable is a political donkey made in 1961 that sold for $13,000.

DUCK DECOYS

People collect these hunting decoys and will pay over $100,000 for rare ones.

GAME BOYS

Another valuable Nintendo item is the handheld game console released in 1989. You can find these on Ebay for up to $500.

JUKEBOX

In some old dive bars you can find the old school jukebox with letters and numbers and page after page of music selections. If you have an antique jukebox in your basement, you could sell if for upwards of $10,000.

HOT WHEELS

Vroom Vroom! Hot Wheels was originally intended for children, but are very popular with adult collectors. And they are willing to pay for them. The 1969 Pink, Rear-Loading Beach Bomb is worth $175,000.

BEANIE BABIES

Hoards of enterprising mothers would stalk drugstores for beanie baby releases in the early 90’s. There was a promise of rare beanie babies being worth a lot of money and that promise came to fruition with Patti the Platypus selling for $9,000 in January 2019.

VINTAGE LUNCH BOX

Often metal and adorned with television characters, rare vintage lunch boxes can sell from $500 to close to $1,000.

POKÉMON CARDS

Nintendo put out a lot of items that increased in value and Pokemon cards is another item on that list. These collectible cards are highly sought after and can pull in six figures for a single rare card!

WEATHER VANE

Used to predict the direction of the wind and as an attractive ornament on your house or building, these vintage decorations can bring in $5,000 – $20,000 each.

VHS TAPES

You’re kids have maybe never seen a VHS tape, but they are still out there and people are still buying them. In fact, The Great American Bash just sold on Ebay in 2016 for almost $5,000.

TYPEWRITERS

Before computers, there were typewriters. Some people miss the distinctive clickity clack of the keys and if you own one made before the 1940s you could fetch a few hundred for it.

VINTAGE COMICS

Comics are still massively popular today and collectors love them! Action Comics #1 where Superman made his first appearance sold for over 3 million.

VINTAGE HANDMADE QUILTS

The craftsmanship that goes into handmade quilts is impressive and can drive up the price. If you have an old handmade blanket in your home, you could list it for a couple hundred on Ebay.

HAPPY MEAL TOYS

Best part of a Happy Meal – the toy! (or maybe the fries, but when you find out what some of these toys are worth, you will be able to buy lots of fries!) Happy Meal Furby’s are listed for up to $900 and that mini Mr. Potato Head could net you $50.