Lemondrop

It's amazing how quickly the things we buy become outdated.

Recently, for instance, I decided I was finally going to jump aboard the smart-phone bandwagon and get myself a Droid. With that, my Web-surfing, do-it-all iPod Touch became irrelevant.

Another problem: I'm really good at accumulating stuff. My drawers are teeming with orphaned cables and power adapters, a big problem when I barely have enough room for four seasons' worth of clothes.

So, I finally did something about it. I didn't have the time (or patience) to haggle with people on Craigslist, and I've never had enough trust in strangers to use eBay. Enter Gazelle, a website that buys your old stuff from you, even sending you pre-paid boxes in which to ship them your gadgets.

Right now, Gazelle lets you sell lots of electronics -- iPods, cameras, laptops, you name it. I like that I didn't have to create an account or give the site any of my information to get a quote on how much they'd pay me for my gadget. (You will have to answer a few questions about what kind of condition it's in. If it's beaten up, doesn't turn on, and you've lost all the power cables, expect to get less for it.)

Even then, Gazelle is pretty generous. I think I neglected to mention that my newly obsolete iPod Touch needed to go anyway: it had scratches and, although it turned on, it didn't last more than an hour on a charge. Gazelle gave me $84 for that piece of crap. That's way more than what I would have gotten had I gone to the Apple store and accepted a 10 percent discount on a new iPod. Bye bye, waste-of-space gadget, and hello, money I can use to take the sting out of my next credit card bill.

By the way, I would be selling Gazelle short if I failed to also mention how honest and reliable the company is. As promised, it sent pre-paid boxes, even sending follow-up emails when I took my time packaging my stuff up. (They're also good about sending confirmation emails assuring you they've received your gadget, have inspected it, etc.) Worst-case scenario: Gazelle opens up your box of stuff and decides it's worth much less than it originally quoted, and they'll send it back free of charge.

Et voila: less clutter, newer stuff, more money. And much less of a headache than running your own auction on eBay.