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Thread: Gettin' More MONEY

  1. #1
    Senior Member fidgiegirl's Avatar
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    Gettin' More MONEY

    Inspired by Joyous_5's recent inquiry about debt, and the ideas that came out of it for increasing income, I thought it would be fun to think of all the ways we could get more money. Nothing is too small, or too wild, for this list. It doesn't matter if it takes a lot of time or a little. Throw it out there! Let's see how many we can think of. I'll start with a few:

    1. Petsitting
    2. Mid-day dog walks
    3. eBay extra crap laying around the house
    4. Babysit someone's kid while they go to the movies
    5. Rip the old insulation out of someone's attic (I did this. Yuck. But I got money for it and it wasn't hard.)
    6. Start a blog
    7. Deliver newspapers
    8. Make and sell a craft on Etsy
    9. Make and sell cake pops for neighborhood birthday parties
    10. If you have an appropriate space at your disposal, host baby or wedding showers. The guests would pay you to do all the set up and clean up! They can just come and fête!
    11. Rent out a spare room (air bnb?)
    12. Rent out your garage
    13. Rent out your little-used tools or canoes or bikes or whatever on some of those person-to-person rental sites (Zilok, SnapGoods, or Rentalic)
    What else? Like, how many variations on petsitting can we think of, or babysitting? How many mutations of online sales? How many opportunities to sell writing or other non-tangible knowledge?

    Unleash the creativity, people!!!!!

    P.S. Keep the numbering going so we know how many ideas we think up.
    P.P.S. Let's avoid getting into analyzing the feasibility of the ideas. Let them flow!!!
    Last edited by fidgiegirl; 4-6-12 at 10:15pm. Reason: add links
    Kelli

    My gluten free blog: Twin Cities Gluten Free
    Our house remodel blog: Our Fair Abode

  2. #2
    Senior Member fidgiegirl's Avatar
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    I can't stop!

    14. Grow hops and sell them to microbrewers
    Kelli

    My gluten free blog: Twin Cities Gluten Free
    Our house remodel blog: Our Fair Abode

  3. #3
    Senior Member Rogar's Avatar
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    I have a friend who used to dumpster dive and then sell the items in garage sales. He had four or so sales a year. I helped with one and he cleared over a thousand dollars. He also would take metal scrap to be recycled. Not cans but things like aluminum screen frames and old wiring. He definitely had it down to a science and knew the good neighborhoods. It eventually became too messy. My guess is that it didn't pay much more than dog walking per hour, but a decent thing for the environment.

    I have always thought that there would be a market for someone willing to invest a little in a decent camera, a few props, and cheap lighting equipment to do a travelling pet portrait business.

  4. #4
    Senior Member fidgiegirl's Avatar
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    So! Adding Rogar's ideas:

    15. Garage sales from dumpster finds
    16. Scrap metal recycling from around town
    17. Traveling pet portrait studio
    Kelli

    My gluten free blog: Twin Cities Gluten Free
    Our house remodel blog: Our Fair Abode

  5. #5
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    5. Rip the old insulation out of someone's attic (I did this. Yuck. But I got money for it and it wasn't hard).
    well make sure it isn't abestos (and isn't a lot of old insulation?), you really need a hazmat suit to safely remove that. Really.

    Recycle glass, plastic, and cans for which you get money back (CRV in CA). Nah, don't dumpster dive for it, there's already enough people in that market that most dumpsters are probably pertty bare (they come weekly before the trash trucks).
    Trees don't grow on money

  6. #6
    Low Tech grunt iris lily's Avatar
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    19? nude modeling (for university art classes--get your mind our of the gutter!)--my neighbor did this
    20 pull weeds and trim bushes and do yard maintenance
    21 mow grass
    22 grow perennial plants for sale
    23 haul stuff away for people
    23 drive seniors to their appointments and grocery shopping
    24 give cooking classes in your home
    25 sell your old jewelry and unused sterling
    26 if you can paint or draw, do portraits of people's houses

  7. #7
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    #19 -- figure modeling is what it is called, which you can do nude or not. i enjoy this, and have earned about $200 since being in NZ. It's a nice way to spend a saturday -- naked, reading, people draw you. I hold still well. LOL

    27. in home child care

    28. play ground monitoring -- i pick a day/time to take a group of similar-aged kids to the park. parents pack a snack. it's $15 per kid and 3 hrs long (enough time to see a movie). this is proving to be very popular. it requires two adults (one to manage potty and one to watch the kids. i manage potty, because people get worked up about men doing that.).

    29. meal prep, baking, etc for neighbors -- i did this for a while. I would make a menu and send it out to a group of people, and they would say "I want thursday!" or "I want Wednesday" and they would pay for the meal. I just was making MORE of what I normally made -- and I sent out the email on Thursday, response had to be in by Saturday, and I would do shopping on Sunday. Then on that day, I would make the meal in the afternoon, then they would come and pick it up. Usually, you just said how much you needed, and so on. It worked great. One of my friends who is a Personal Trainer does this for her clients.

    30. make and sell compost

    31. gardening services

    32. handy-man services

    33. pet sitting -- did we say that one already?

    34. plant sitting/house sitting/security while a person is away.

  8. #8
    Senior Member lhamo's Avatar
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    35. Do people's laundry/dishes for them -- I am always amazed by how many people dread doing the laundry/dishes. I find it easy, and kind of relaxing. This could be combined with dog walking/child care for an extra added charge.

    36. Holiday drop off child care. Offer this service on the weekends leading up to Christmas. Parents get a weekend afternoon to go out and shop while you watch/entertain kids.

    37. Personal grocery shopper. They send you their list and you do their shopping for them, for a reasonable fee (say $10?). Good if you have an older child who can push a second cart around the store with you so you keep their stuff separate from yours.

    38. Language tutoring - great extra income if you are fluent in a second language

    39. Music lessons -- need a certain level of talent with music and teaching skills

    40. Organization/decluttering assistance -- great service to offer those who are dealing with downsizing/aging parents who need help with this

    41. Tax preparation -- another thing I am always stunned that people find so difficult. We have VERY complicated taxes due to our expat status, but I've always managed to do them myself. I would seriously consider this as a side income (or maybe a full income, should we ever decide to return to the US permanently

    42. Editing services for resumes, cover letters, etc.

    43. Garage/estate sale management services -- you run the sale for someone else, and get a flat rate or a cut of the profits

    44. Pet washing

    45. Car washing

    46. Fill in care for the growing number of urban backyard farms (rabbits, chickens, goats, bees, etc.)

    47. Raise animals for profit (selling raw milk, eggs, honey, meat, composted waste, etc)

    48. Turn your yard into an urban farm and sell the produce you don't eat yourself

    49. Glean fruits from urban sources and make things to sell (jams, jellies, pies, etc.)

    I'd better stop there -- this list is seriously making me want to quit my day job!

    lhamo
    "Seek out habits that help you overcome fear or inertia. Destroy those that do the opposite." Seth Godin

  9. #9
    Senior Member flowerseverywhere's Avatar
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    50. mending. You would be surprised at how many people can't sew a button on or do a hem
    51. separate your perennial plants and sell them, at our annual yard sale a lot of people do this.
    52. sewing/quilting lessons
    53. baking and decorating cakes (check your state laws first)
    54. find places to work during their busy times. It is not easy to work two jobs but for a few months most can bite the bullet. Delivering flowers during holidays, at an apple orchard in the fall, strawberry fields in the spring, malls from November to December, tax prep in the spring.
    55. clean offices at night.
    56. wallpaper for someone.
    57. A service where you sit in someone's house and wait for delivery or repair people so they don't have to take a whole morning or day off.
    58. taking in ironing
    59. hook up with a busy realtor to sit at open houses
    60. hook up with a builder to clean new houses when they are finished building them to get them ready for showing or sale



    for some of these ideas I would get insurance and bonding for my own protection.

  10. #10
    Senior Member fidgiegirl's Avatar
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    Already up to 60! Keep 'em comin'! I have seen some on the list that I never would have thought of.
    Kelli

    My gluten free blog: Twin Cities Gluten Free
    Our house remodel blog: Our Fair Abode

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