CHALLENGE: Creative Ways to Make a Couple of bucks!!

[Pennstater]

We sold our broken gold for $510!!

Add to your list:

Go fishing, seriously! Not sure where you live, but for free (well bait) you can catch a few nights dinner in a few hours!

Plant some veggies in a garden.

These don't generate cash, but save money from going out of the house for food.

Sign up with medical trials/testing. My friend smoked some ciggs they gave here and earned $200 over two weeks.

[Abigail's_Mommy]

I did a paper route for 6 months. It took me about 2 hours a day. I made over $100 a week and I got a free paper! Some times I got extra papers on Sunday. (If it was a great coupon week. I would ask for extras and they would give them to me for free.) I stopped because DD would wake up when I was gone. DH couldn't handle it anymore.

[faeryedark]

I did a paper route for 6 months. It took me about 2 hours a day. I made over $100 a week and I got a free paper! Some times I got extra papers on Sunday. (If it was a great coupon week. I would ask for extras and they would give them to me for free.) I stopped because DD would wake up when I was gone. DH couldn't handle it anymore.

Yeah, I just took another route. I'll be making $75/wk for about 6hrs. time on Wednesday. I deliver the "freebie" paper and it's only once per week.

[bfootnovellista]

My favorite way to "save" money is to find little reasons to put just a little bit away. For instance, when I saved $100 at Albies on my last trip, I dumped that $100 into my debt.

When I bought my copy of Spore a few weeks ago (it cost...$40? I think?), I considered LONG AND HARD about whether I really wanted it, forced myself to wait four days*, and then dumped $40 into my debt using the Paid Twice mechanism**.

When I get change, I drop it into a jar. I fish out the quarters for laundry (ugh) and dimes for parking now and again, but everything else, once the jar is full, gets dumped into my debt.

I save ALL of my $1 bills. I know, crazy, right? I put them in a ziploc in the freezer (shh, don't tell the robbers!) until there's $100 of them, and then I dump those into my debt, too.

I keep a check register specifically to keep track of the little bits of change that I'll transfer toward my debt. When I spend $10.17 at the grocery store, I round up to $11 - the extra $.83 is noted down onto the register. At the end of each payperiod, if I have the total in my bank account at the time, I transfer it over. If not, I transfer what I can, and take the rest IMMEDIATELY out of my account when I get paid.

I've eliminated about $2K worth of debt in about four months doing these things :)

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*Waiting: On impulse or "Non-essential" buys, I make myself wait for one day for every $10 that the item costs. (I'd have to wait a very long time for a new car if my old one still ran properly!) It helps me decide whether I want the item or whether I just want it NOW.

**The Paid Twice Mechanism: If you can afford a non-essential item, can you afford it twice? That's the idea behind the paid twice mechanism. You can buy the item if and only if you can put an equal amount toward your debt. If it's worth it to you to buy it twice, go ahead -- you're already paying twice for everything on your credit card!

[liqidimond]

If you live in Montgomery County, MD you can do studies at NIH (National Institute of Health)... they pay pretty handsomely $100-800 depending on the study) and you can choose which studies you do, they give you all the details. It does include drawing blood typically and also doing MRIs, getting hooked to an EKG.

[uummm]

When we were struggling in CT almost 20 yrs ago while my husband was in the NAVY (12k a YEAR) he used to go to the barracks and bring home BAGS Of soda cans every day. We would also buy our soda in RI (no deposit) and return the can in CT (deposit) at one of the automated deposit places in the grocery store. I am told you can't do that anymore. But my dad was telling me that if you do recycle cans that you get more money per pound if you can find a smelting place rather than a recycling center. I have seriously considered sending my kids around the night before the recycling truck comes and have them pick out the cans (wearing gloves of course). Also there are some roads here that have a lot of trash including beer cans.

When we lived in CT and needed money we would have a yard sale. But when you live in the military housing having a yard sale is easy and there are always people at them. I have noticed where I live now (in NC) that there are not nearly as many people buying.

I mystery shop and some months I make $300 a month, but you have to have money in your pocket to do mystery shopping. You are not paid until half way through the next month including expenses.

I sell on eBay. You get out of it what you put into it. I used to buy at yardsales and sell them on ebay. IT is a good way to get cheap items to sell on there. HOWEVER I did this over 5 yrs ago and eBay has changed a lot since then and fees have gone way up. I still sell, but I have changed my main core inventory several times and have managed to still do well. Just be prepared with eBay, you get out of it what you put into it. I put a lot of time into it during the holiday season and I make good money, but again, you have to have the money to put into it. The key is finding the right item(s) to sell.

All 3 of my kids (17, 14,8) sell their video games on ebay or half.com and they are happy with the money they get.

[sbp]

I mystery shop and some months I make $300 a month, but you have to have money in your pocket to do mystery shopping. You are not paid until half way through the next month including expenses.

I know of at least one mystery shopping company that also offers merchandising jobs (I'm sure there's more, I'm just not signed up with those.) where you don't actually have to make a purchase. If you accept an assignment you just go into assigned store and set up new merchandise according to their plan-o-gram. I find that it's much less stressful than mystery shopping!!

[JCausby]

What about babysitting?

Or, we raised money in high school for a trip by offering to gift wrap people's holiday gifts for a fee per package. With help from this site, you could probably get gift wrap or ribbon close to free! You could advertise in your neighborhood.

[tonyarn]

Awesome idea!!!

I just signed up for Avon. The initial cost is only $10, and my first order from 2 people (mom and one of her friends), I made $40, so I'm already ahead $30...except I ordered $17 for myself and the next books, so I'm about even actually...but I figure I got my $17 worth of stuff essentially free.

[tonyarn]

I was not tooting my own horn when I said "awesome idea," (LOL!) I was talking about the gift wrap thing, but it didn't quote for me.