“Blast this Christmas music. It’s joyful and triumphant,” said the Grinch.
Did you know that all of those old strands of Christmas lights are worth money? Instead of getting upset whenever that strand of lights doesn’t work anymore, think about how you can recycle them and make a little extra cash!
If only the Grinch knew that he could have cashed in on the Christmas lights in Whoville, then “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” could have had a completely different ending. I don’t know if Cindy Lou Who had enough charm to get him away from all that scrap metal!
Items For Scrap Metal During Christmas
Not only can you recycle your lights, but there are many other items you can recycle around the holidays. The iScrap App Team has put together some scrap metal items to collect around the holiday season to make some extra money. Here are a few:
- Tree Stands – If you still have a real Christmas Tree but expect to replace it soon, scrap your tree stand. Sometimes these stands are made of iron to ensure the tree doesn’t topple over on you once you decorate it with all of your ornaments and top it off with a star. To test the kind of metal your tree stand is, you can take a magnet. If it sticks, you have iron or steel, which will be worthless.
- Extension Cords – Cords that no longer work or are out of use now can be recycled. If you can use them anymore, take them down to your local scrap yard. Extension cords will be sold and bought at scrap yards for an insulated wire. If you want to take the time to strip the copper wire, you can do so, but it is only really worth it when you have more than 50 pounds.
- Today’s tinsel is worth very little considering it is plastic, but the older tinsel could have been made from silver strands or aluminized paper. So if you or your parents have some lying around, it may be worth digging out of the attic.
- Wrapping Paper – No, we don’t mean saving it to re-wrap presents next year. Who has the patience for that! You can shred the paper and use it for packing future presents or if you plan to move anytime soon. You can’t sell the report to all scrap yards, but some do accept it, so if you collect enough of it, you can also pack it up and sell it for scrap.
- Christmas Trees – If you like the smell of pine, then strip the pine needles off the tree and use them as natural potpourri or toss them in your compost pile. The compost can be precious if you want to plant some seeds in the spring.
- Ornaments – Sometimes, we have too many decorations for the tree and land up finding we want to get rid of some of them. You can check if they are made of metals like Brass, aluminum, or copper.
