BROKEN PHONES, OLD CDs AND LEGO

SARAH unearths a pile of unwanted electricals in our aptly named ‘all-sorts box — something Marie Kondo would never have It includes an iPhone 6S which I bought last year and then, three months later, dro in water.

It won’t turn on but I can still sell it on websites such as musicmagpie.co.uk, which w buys old phones, CDs, DVDs and even Lego.

I’m asked if the phone is faulty or in good or poor condition, and given a free postage label to send it off. For a faulty handset I receive a quote for £31.50. If it had been in good condition I’d have got £105.

However, if you plan to buy a new iPhone from Apple, you may get a large discount for trading in an old handset. For example, trade trade

a broken iPhone 6 for an iPhone XR and you will pay £599 instead of £749.

We move on to stacks of CD and DVD holders containing hundreds of discs. Now that we typically stream music and films using the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime, we haven’t touched them in years.

But Sarah is unmoved by our collection of box sets for the TV series 24 and our collection of Oasis albums, because none have cases. We binned them when we downsized, which means they are almost worthless. It seems a terrible waste to send them to landfill, so Sarah recommends sticking the box sets and the best albums on Gumtree, where people buy and sell unwanted items. Someone may buy the lot for £5 or £10, she says. The one DVD in our house with a case was the children’s film The Highway Rat, which I bought in a sale last year for £4.99. Moneymagpie.com is willing to pay me 52p. But on online marketplace eBay, similar recent items have sold for up to £5.50 plus £1.40 postage. Even after eBay takes its 10 pc slice, I would still make a profit on my purchase.