Everyone knows what a pawn shop is; they’re on the corner of downtown streets, have billboards on highways, and have a general presence in any large town and city. However, you may never have considered going to one personally to get quick cash from various items you own, and doing so may be daunting. Worry not; using pawn shops is both quick and easy. Here’s how to get fast cash from pawn shops for things lying about your home.

Firstly, the process of selling an item. Anything of value can be sold at a pawn shop, but not every selling process is the same. For smaller items, you can walk into a pawn shop, converse with whoever is at the desk, and haggle the price of an item until you both agree on a price. It’s that simple; walk in, talk, sell, and walk out with cash. Larger items, or rarer items, will need to be properly appraised. You may have to go to a collector or an expert to get an appraisal cost, or get an employee to come out to your home for items such as heavy machinery. Regardless, it all falls into the same rhythm; present an item, find a price, and sell.

But of course, you need to find out what you want to sell. Not every item that’s important to you will have value, and some items that aren’t won’t have any value. When searching for something to sell, consider old items left in garages, closest, and other storage options. Long abandoned items that may have been completely forgotten could have surprising value that you would not have remembered without searching.

However, not every item that isn’t used is in an abandoned area. When further searching your home, look in less obvious places, such as your jewelry box, kitchen, and closet. People often don’t use items they don’t like as much as others, to the point they may as well not have that item at all. Jewelry is especially valuable, but does often fall into this pitfall of misuse.

Finding the items is only the first part; you have to also be willing to sell it. While many things can have sentimental value, some items won’t be worth as much to you as others. Carefully consider whether leaving some stuff abandoned is worth more to you than selling it off to fund something that could create more memories, such as a vacation, a new hobby, or an important addition to your home.

No matter the reason, selling unused items for cash is an often underutilized service pawn shops provide. The process is very simple; you provide an item for appraisal, negotiate the worth of the item, agree on the price, then sell the item for cash. You can be in and out the door in less than an hour, and sometimes much shorter, depending on how you go about the process. Searching for items is also easy; just check abandoned storage areas in your home, look through other areas for unused items, and determine what, if anything, you’ll want to sell. No matter how you go about it, selling items to pawn shops is an easy, painless process.