How to Turn Your Family’s Old Tech Into Christmas Money

*This is a collaborative guest post

Christmas has a habit of arriving faster than the bank balance is ready for it. Somewhere between the present lists, the school events and the great advent calendar debate, it’s easy to forget that there might be a bit of money sitting in a drawer at home, in the form of phones nobody uses anymore.

Almost every family has a few. There’s the handset that was replaced at the last upgrade, the hand-me-down that never quite got handed down, and the one that was kept “just in case” three years ago. If you’ve ever typed sell my samsung phone into a search bar late at night and then given up because it all sounded like a faff, you’re far from alone. It’s one of those jobs that always loses out to something more urgent.

iPhones tend to go the same way. Plenty of people mean to find out whether a trade in iphone is worth doing “when things calm down”, which in a house with children is roughly never. The good news is that it doesn’t need a free weekend. A bit of organisation goes a long way, so here’s how to go about it.

1. Do a proper sweep of the house

Start by gathering everything in one place. Old phones turn up in the strangest spots: kitchen drawers, coat pockets, the glovebox, the bottom of a school bag and the box under the bed labelled “cables”. Don’t forget your children’s old devices, plus any tablets or smartwatches that have since been replaced. You’ll probably find more than you expected, and seeing it all together makes it much easier to decide what to do.

Check which phone is which while you’re at it. The model name is usually in Settings under “About”, and the model matters far more than people expect when it comes to what a device is worth.

2. Work out what’s worth the effort

Not every old phone is worth the same, and that’s fine. As a rough guide, newer models in good condition tend to hold more value, and prices usually dip when a newer version is released. That’s the main reason a drawer full of “I’ll sort it later” phones costs you money over time, because the longer a handset sits, the less it tends to fetch.

It’s worth comparing a few offers before settling on one. Prices can vary quite a bit between services, and a few minutes of checking often makes a noticeable difference. A phone with a cracked screen or a tired battery can still be worth something, so don’t write it off before you’ve looked.

3. Protect your family’s data first

This is the bit that matters most, especially with family phones, which tend to hold years of photos. Before anything leaves the house:

• Back up photos, videos and contacts. Google Photos, iCloud and Samsung Cloud all do the job, or you can copy everything across to a laptop.
• Sign out of your accounts. On an iPhone, that means turning off Find My and signing out of your Apple ID. On a Samsung, remove your Google and Samsung accounts so the next owner isn’t locked out.
• Do a full factory reset. This clears everything personal from the handset.
• Take out the SIM and any memory card. They’re easy to forget and can hold personal data.

Take your time with this part. It’s the one job you can’t easily undo later.

4. Be honest about condition

It’s tempting to describe a scratched screen as “barely noticeable”. Resist. Condition is usually judged on the screen, the casing and how well the battery holds its charge, and an overly generous description often just leads to a lower offer once the phone has been checked.

Take a few clear photos before you part with it and note any marks, so you’ve got a record of what you sent. If it won’t switch on at all, say so. A broken phone can still have some value, just less than a working one.

5. Don’t forget the extras

Original boxes, chargers and cables can sometimes help with the value of a phone, and at the very least they make the sorting easier. While you’re clearing the drawer, it’s also worth checking whether any of those mismatched chargers still belong to something you use. Anything that doesn’t can be taken to a household waste recycling centre or an electricals collection point rather than going in the general bin.

6. Decide what the money’s for

Here’s the fun part. A little extra cash arriving in November can take the edge off Christmas spending, whether that’s a few stocking fillers, a bigger present for someone special or a contribution towards the big food shop. Setting a purpose up front, even a small one, also makes you far more likely to finish the job. A drawer of old phones isn’t exciting. Helping to pay for the Christmas dinner is.

Clearing out old tech won’t change the world, but it’s a surprisingly satisfying job. It frees up space, keeps usable devices out of drawers and landfill, and might leave you a little better off before the busiest month of the year. And if doing it all at once sounds like too much, pick one phone and start there.