Many websites such as Kitco provide up to date market prices for a variety of industrial metals. Once you are ready to cash in on your scrap metal, check the going rate in your area for the metals you want to sell. This will help you identify and avoid facilities that might not offer as much money for your materials as you could get elsewhere. Print out the market reports you find online or save the web page(s) on your mobile phone so you can reference it when you go to a scrap yard to sell your materials. If you can find multiple online sources with similar metal prices, you can be that much more certain that the prices you see are realistic. Different yards may offer different prices than others for scrap metal. Call around to the scrap metal yards in your area to ask about their going rates so you can find the facility that will pay you the most money. If you call a yard to ask about prices, they will likely ask you how much material you have. Be sure to have a general idea of this before making your calls. When selecting a scrap metal yard to sell your materials to, consider its distance from your home. You might find that an additional 30 minutes of driving for an extra $0.01 per pound isn't worth it, especially considering the extra gas you'll burn hauling around heavy scrap metal! Scrap metal yards usually have some wiggle room in their offering prices, but whether or not they can be convinced to give you a higher going rate than their competitors will depend partly upon how the facility sees you. Are you a repeat customer? Do you bring in a lot of material? Is your scrap well-organized? These things will influence your bargaining power. Establish a relationship with one scrap metal yard if you plan to sell scrap often. If you are recognized by the owner or manager as someone who offers repeat business, you will probably be offered better prices for your scrap. You can search for scrap yards online or in your local phonebook. Save your sales receipts and add up how much metal you bring in weekly, monthly, or annually to your chosen scrap yard. This information can be used to negotiate better rates if you have been going to the same yard for a while. Talk to the yard owner about higher prices; ultimately, your payout will depend upon his decision. If you can continue to offer a steady flow of scrap and you've built a relationship with the business, your chances of being paid more will increase. Many scrap yards pay better prices for larger quantities of metal. If you can wait until you have as much metal as you can haul before selling it, you will maximize your profit. Don't wait so long that you have more metal than you can carry at once. The idea is to sell as much as possible in one transaction -- so unless you can trade in all your metal together, you won't benefit by waiting. This is another way to build a strong relationship with a scrap yard; the more materials you bring it at once, the more likely the yard will be to see you as a valuable customer and someone they are willing to pay top dollar. You will be paid more for your scrap metal if you keep it separated and well-organized. This means less work for the yard, so they will take this into consideration when making you an offer. If you can't completely separate each metal type, at least separate more valuable metals from less valuable ones. This way, your pricey copper won't get lumped in with your relatively low-priced aluminum, for example. Use buckets or barrels for individual types of metal to keep them separate and easily identifiable. Strip as much excess, non-metal materials as possible off of your scrap. If the yard operators can see that your metal doesn't have lots of extra weight attached to it, they will pay you more (and they will appreciate that they don't have to strip it down themselves). In areas with cold climates, prices for scrap metal often increase in the winter because salvaging is more difficult and fewer people sell scrap during that time of year. Using this strategy might even fetch you more money than waiting until you have accumulated a large quantity of scrap metal. In markets where scrap prices fluctuate wildly from month to month, seasonality may not play much of a role; you should assess your local market patterns to get an idea of whether cashing in during winter is likely to be more lucrative.

Summary: Check metal prices online. Contact multiple yards for rate quotes. Negotiate for a higher rate. Accumulate a large volume of scrap before selling. Separate your scrap by type. Keep seasonality in mind.

Since breaking up with a lifelong friend is a sensitive topic, try to meet your friend somewhere privately. Do this especially if you think your friend may become very upset. Call your friend and ask them if they have time during the week to meet at the park or at your home. You could say, "Can you meet at my place for coffee any time this week? I have something important I want to talk to you about." Because you have been friends with this person for a very long time, they may not take you seriously at first. Or, they may feel like they can fix things. This is why you need to be direct when ending the friendship. You could say, "Because of the reasons I just mentioned, I feel our friendship has changed a lot. I no longer feel close. Try saying, "Our friendship has changed since you broke my trust, so I don't think I want to be friends with you anymore." You could also say, "I feel like my kindness has been taken advantage of for too long now and I can't deal with it anymore. I don't want to be your friend." Once you are finished, give your friend a couple minutes to process everything. Step away and give them space so they can gather their thoughts. Understand that they will be feeling vulnerable and hurt. If they have something to say, listen to them and tell them you understand that they are feeling mad or sad, or both. For example, "I understand you are feeling mad. This is really hard for me too." You could also say, "I wish this was easier, but this is the way it has to be. I am really sorry."

Summary: Meet with them privately. Be direct when you tell your friend that you want to end the friendship. Give them space.

Use your plan as your guide to have the conversation or to give them the letter. Be prepared to answer their questions. Have the book, pamphlet, and other resources you found with you to give to them so that they can learn more. Remember your back-up plan if the experience does not go well. Having a firm stance in this self-awareness will lessen confusion for your parents. Show your parents that you are certain about your sexuality and that you have sound judgment by remaining firm in your stance. Share with them why you are coming out to them, which should be that you want to be honest with them and further build your relationship with them. This will be their path to acceptance, but remember that some parents might skip some stages, and some parents may never reach true acceptance. This could be a particularly challenging time as they work through the first few stages. Shock Denial Guilt Expression of feelings Personal decision-making True acceptance This shows your parents your maturity, and it shows them that you are taking this conversation seriously. Remember to avoid getting angry and turning the conversation into an argument. Take time to teach them. For a while, your role may be reversed with your parents as they work through understanding your sexuality. You may find yourself having to teach them and guide them through accepting this. Answer all questions they have to the best of your ability, and when you cannot answer a question, direct them to a resource where they can find an answer. Avoid getting annoyed, frustrated, or exasperated in the event that they seem slow to understand what is going on. They will need time to adjust. This reassurance will go a long way in maintaining a strong relationship with your parents. It is also helpful to reassure your parents that you love and accept yourself. They will want to know that you are happy. Remind your parents that you are healthy. They may find themselves coming to acceptance more quickly when comforted with this thought. Be their support system during this time. The ultimate act of showing them that you love them and want to help them through this period of understanding is to support them. Do whatever you can to help them learn and understand why you came out and more about the LGBT community.
Summary: Come out to your parents according to the plan that you created. Be clear in your decision to tell them and in your self-awareness that you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Understand that parents will go through a similar series of stages as if they have just suffered a loss. Remain calm as you talk with them. Reassure your parents that you love them and that you are doing this for the betterment of your relationship with them.