Starter guide

Household Resale

Sell stuff around the house nobody uses. Learn to buy and resell.

Free to start
Medium

This is where Sophie started, and it's the best free business in the deck. Your house is full of things nobody uses. Somebody out there wants them. You don't need money to begin because you already own the inventory, which means the only thing you're risking is a few hours. You are also going to learn the most important lesson in business here, and you'll learn it fast: what something is worth has nothing to do with what you think it's worth.

Start for free

Sell one thing this week

Don't plan. Don't organize the garage. Sell one thing.

Walk around your house with a parent and find one item nobody has touched in a year. Get permission, which is not optional. Clean it, photograph it in good light against a plain wall, and list it or offer it to someone who'd want it.

One sale teaches you more than a month of thinking about it. You'll learn what to photograph, what to say, and how much haggling to expect.

The plan

Your simple plan

  1. Get permission for every single item. Written on a list, checked by a parent. Selling something that turns out to be somebody's is how this business ends on day one.
  2. Check what things actually sold for. Not what people are asking. Sold prices are the only real information, and the gap between the two will surprise you.
  3. Photograph honestly. Good light, plain background, and show the scratch. A disclosed flaw is fine. A hidden one gets you a bad rating you can't undo.
  4. Start local, then ship. Local sales mean no shipping, no packaging, and no returns. Learn on those first.
The gear

What you need, and what you can skip

You already own the inventory. That's the whole point.

Get these
  • A cleaning kit: microfiber cloths and a mild all purpose spray. Clean items sell for noticeably more. Shop this
  • A phone tripod so your photos are sharp and consistent. Shop this
  • Poly mailers and a roll of tape, once you start shipping. Shop this
  • A kitchen or shipping scale for postage. Shop this
Skip these for now
  • Buying inventory. Not yet. Sell what you already have first, with somebody else's money already spent on it.
  • A storage bin system. Your inventory is currently the house.
  • Any paid listing tool.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We only list gear the guide actually calls for, and the skip list is there because most of it you do not need yet.

The lesson from the book

Sophie's rule started here, and it's the one line worth memorizing out of this whole deck: you make your money when you buy, not when you sell.

Right now your buy price is zero, so every dollar is profit and it feels easy. That's the trap. The moment you start spending money on inventory, this business gets hard, and the only thing that saves you is knowing what things actually sell for before you hand over cash. Learn that here, while your mistakes are free.

The full program

Ready to build the whole thing?

The full Young Founder kit walks you through everything Andre and Sophie learned: how to price what you sell, learn what things are really worth, and grow into buying with confidence. The book, the workbook, the videos, and more.

See what is inside the kit

Questions about this idea

What should a kid charge to walk a dog?

A kid walking dogs in their own neighborhood usually starts between $10 and $18 for a thirty minute walk. Professional walkers average about $21 for the same walk.

Read the answer

How much money does a kid need to start a business?

Less than almost anyone expects, and for a lot of these ideas the honest answer is nothing until somebody has already said yes to a price.

Read the answer

How does a kid find their first customer?

Ten people who already know them, one prepared sentence, and an easy way for each of them to say no.

Read the answer

What do I do when my kid wants to quit?

Find out whether this is not working or just not fun right now. Those look identical from outside and they need opposite responses.

Read the answer

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Window Washing

Nobody puts it on the list, and everybody notices once it is done. The before and after photo does the selling.

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Driveway Car Wash

Forty minutes, a bucket, and a customer who can see the problem from their front door.

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Young Founder

A program from Founder's Best Friend. Built for kids 8 to 18 who want something of their own.

Young Founder, 2026