10 Things From Your Childhood That Could be Worth Money

Growing up, you couldn’t have put a dollar sign on my Polly Pocket collection – those tiny plastic people and their tiny plastic pastel furniture were priceless to me. But now, I’ve got bills to pay. And truth be told, I’d sell Polly and her whole tiny plastic family down the river for a tidy chunk of cold hard cash.

Thanks to one too many episodes of Antiques Road Show, I’ve long harbored visions of grandeur about trading a dusty collectible for a mountain of money. In the absence of Chinese carved rhino-horn cups, though, my chances lie in one of these now-valuable things from my childhood.

As luck would have it, Polly Pocket could possibly be my cash cow — these charming little choking hazards can fetch up to thousands of dollars on eBay. The key to making bank here? Keep your eyes peeled for pre-1998 sets. Brb, gotta tear apart my attic.

If the perfect vintage appeal isn’t enough to motivate you to hold onto that stack of Pyrex your grandma passed down to you, maybe the potential windfall they pose will be. According to the Today show, vintage Pyrex is going like hotcakes online, with some designs selling for hundreds of dollars.

More than once, I’ve thought about how rich I’d be today if I had a dollar for every time I played Tetris on my Gameboy in the ’90s. While I’ll never cash that particular check, anyone with an original Gameboy stands to make hundreds — if not thousands, with the original packaging.

It’s hard to believe the same weird animatronic creature that kept you up at night in the late ’90s could bring in anywhere from $25 to over $500, depending on the style and condition. Furby, why hath we forsaken you?

You likely traded in a few lunches for choice Pokemon picks, but did you keep those then-prolific cards? Spoiler alert: you should have. According to Mashable, some select cards — like the Japanese holographic Charizard and shadowless Blastoise— sell for tens of thousands of dollars.

The value of these action figures today should have you standing at attention. Let’s say you held onto even half of what you had growing up – ’cause let’s be real, you could never have too many G.I. Joes – you could see a handsome profit. Although values range depending on age, condition, and character, G.I. Joes are selling on eBay for anywhere from around $20 to more than $200 each.

By the power of Grayskull, you are… about to get richer, if you held onto those He-Man and She-Ra action figures. These ’80s-era collectibles are good for around $50 a piece on the lower end, and upwards of hundreds and even thousands depending on how many you have and which characters you’re willing to part with.

While Hot Wheels may seem like a dime a dozen (seriously, how many of these thing have been made?!), there are rare vintage models worth sorting through your old toy bin to find. In particular, vintage versions of the Hot Wheels Redline Challenger, aka “Bye Focal,” can fetch up to $100 or more.

You may have suffered years of light-hearted ridicule over your massive Beanie Babies collection and, sure, most of them are now worthless (sacrilege, I know). But if you happen to have a first edition Princess Diana bear in your possession, you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank — these super rare Beanie Babies command tens of thousands of dollars on eBay.

Star Wars nerds, your time has come. With the new blockbusters, new generations are starting to understand your diehard fascination with this franchise. But did you know your longtime loyalty could pay in actual dividends? Dig through your action figure collection for a rocket-firing Boba Fett in the box, and you stand to gain anywhere from $200 to $2000.