Excavation Site & other 'mini-games'

I'm starting to get annoyed at the amount of crap I can't sell but don't want. I keep using the shovels to dig at the excavation site because I want the cash but also because it makes the symbol that pops up go away. Also, apart from broken down washers and dryers it's all unable to be sold. If I tried to place all the crap I've got from it then I'd have to spend all my $$ on land expansions. The problem with storing it is that if you want to find something in your inventory it's full of crap.
Then there's the Claw Machine from the Pin Pals Promo; it used to give me a mix of crap, the odd good item and a few misses but now every time I do it I get a miss which means I'm spending $1000 for a tiny bit of XP.