Reader Nanette is the winner of my review copy of Toss, Keep, Sell!: The Suddenly Frugal Guide to Cleaning Out the Clutter and Cashing In. Nanette made it her goal to declutter her home this year. She writes:

This might really help me. I had as a goal for 2010 to clean and declutter my home. It has been a (almost) yearlong project and I will need to continue into 2011. Not what I had envisioned!! I have made some progress but not enough. I seem to try to get everything done on week-ends and still have fun. Doesn’t quite work out that way. I need a fresh idea!

Nanette I want to lend you a hand by giving you my review copy of this book. I hope it provides you with fresh ideas, helps you reach your goal for next year, and allows you to reclaim your weekend fun.

Runners-ups include reader Catie who moved from a 3-bedroom home to a 2-bedroom condo and is trying to make it all fit, and Susie, who realized she needs help organizing when she began decorating her home for Christmas and couldn’t find her train set. She is going through every closet in her home to find it.

In case you missed my book review of author Leah Ingram’s book, she shares her tips on organizing and decluttering your home without using expensive, fancy organizers. She goes room by room and tells you what to toss, keep and sell. She also shares her tips and tricks to making money, swapping and trading your stuff.

If you didn’t win my review copy and would like to get the book to start making money while cleaning your home, you can order it from Amazon for $10.58.

This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.

Leah Ingram shares tips to turn trash into cash in her 250-page book Toss, Keep, Sell!: The Suddenly Frugal Guide to Cleaning Out the Clutter and Cashing In, which was borne out of her blog, SuddenlyFrugal.com. You may be tempted to hire someone to clean up the mess, but why spend money when you can be making money? Ingram writes:

There’s no reason to pay anywhere from $50 to $100 an hour to hire a professional organizer to go through your closets — you can do that yourself. That’s where this book comes in. It will help frugal folks like you get your home in order and help you find ways to make money from things you no longer need or want.

In her book, Ingram shows you how to organize and declutter every room in your home without making you buy fancy organizers. Among other things, she gives you 28 ideas for using shoe holders to hold more than shoes. She even includes quick clutter challenges to keep you motivated and shares anecdotes of people who have cleaned their homes and have made money off of things just lying around.

Each chapter of the book tackles a different room and comes with a toss, keep, and sell chart that quickly helps you identify what items must go and which could be worth major moolah.

After helping you declutter your home and teaching you how to make money with garage sales, among other things, Ingram writes about swapping and trading as a way to get rid of the rest of the junk that’s just taking up space. She recommends several sites to trade books, CDs and DVDS. She also suggest finding a swapping event to exchange your items for things you need. Check out our suggestions on making the most out of a swap.

Comment by Friday, December 3 at 9 a.m. PST for a chance to win my review copy. If you can’t wait to get your hands on the book and read Ingram’s suggestions, you can purchase it on Amazon for $10.58.

lism / Flickr

This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.

The transition to digital media and cheap sources of music have caused the near extinction of record shops and if you’re out of college you probably have CDs worth a couple of bucks lying around. AbundaTrade.com is a website that lets you trade or sell your CDs, DVDs , books, and video games. You can earn cash, trade in stuff for new electronics like an iPod, or donate your trade-in value to charity. Best of all the site is free to join.

AbundaTrade.com is based in Mt Pleasant, South Carolina and if you don’t have any trade shops in your area, this is a great alternative to barter and swap for things you want or need.  While browsing the site, I saw used CDs as cheap as a buck and as expensive as a new CD. The site is also designed to give you a quick estimate of your items’ value when you input the UPC or ISBN numbers.

Here’s the bad news. You are responsible for the cost of shipping your trade-ins, including any items that are rejected and you request to have them returned. AbundaTrade.com offers free shipping to people trading $50 worth of CDs, DVDs, and video games. They accept items in good physical condition that are in demand.

Through out the site there are customer testimonials about the companies’ great customer service, but a quick search reveals that the best way to reach them is through e-mail. AbundaTrade has a phone number, but the company discloses they rarely answer customer calls.  I don’t know about you, but I prefer to speak to a human when I need to reach customer service instead of speaking to a machine or sending an e-mail.

If you have a lot of CDs and DVDs at home that you no longer use, AbundaTrade is one site that can help you profit from them.

irina slutsky/Flickr

By Mike Barclay of 10CentsWorth.com.

A few weeks back a friend of mine who works for a local radio station approached me. “Would you be interested in passing out a bunch of flyers for an event we’re doing if I got you some concert tickets?” I instantly said yes, seeing as I’m the world’s biggest concert guru. Now I am the proud owner of free tickets to two shows I’ve been hoping to see.

But were they really free?

Technically the tickets were not free. Did I have to pay money for them? I did not. Was there some type of exchange that was beneficial to both parties? Yes there was. We used a medium that most people today don’t really think about, or even understand they may be doing. It’s called bartering.

Bartering is defined as trading goods or services without the exchange of money, according to Dictionary.com. We should all look into it. How much money would we end up saving if we traded services or items around the house for something we did need?

Here are three great sites I’ve found in my swapping frenzy as of late.

Most people use Craigslist for classifieds, but have you ever clicked on the “barter” section in your cities? Craigslist is great if you want to go super general. And it’s always going to be local. If you’re looking for more specific swapping, check out these next two sites.

SwapTree.com – As I mentioned before, I’m a big music fanatic. So when I found SwapTree, I wet myself. It’s all about media: books, DVD’s, CD’s, etc. You can trade your stuff or browse what other people have and make an offer. Needless to say, I’ve had it up on my computer screen for the past week, constantly looking at what I can find.

Zwaggle.com – Zwaggle is strictly for all things tot-sized. Babies, toddlers, you name it, they’ve got something for it. It’s a perfect site for new couples having their first child and for the couple with kids who’ve outgrown everything and want to get rid of the stash.

So the next time you want a new CD, clothes, books, or need something fixed and can offer something in return, remember you don’t always have to use dollars. Look into trading or swapping and see if you can do it without having to touch your wallet.