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Quite often I hear from people who feel trapped in a job and need to figure out a way to make extra money. They hear about how I’ve paid off a lot of debt in a short period of time and they wonder if my income has changed significantly. My answer is, no, I have used a few unexpected windfalls from different sources but I’ve also adjusted our lifestyle to get those debts paid off.
The old phrase “spend less than you earn” is made up of TWO factors: spending and earning. Sure you can reduce your spending by a great deal, but very few people have saved their way to wealth. They have also earned additional income and then put that money to work for them.
There are many ways to make extra money, but how you make extra money is dependent on your current sources of income. Since your day job usually pays the bills, how can you make extra money? Here’s some ideas to help kick start your brain into thinking about how to increase the earning side of the equation. These aren’t considered “passive” income, but they can help generate some take-home pay to help reduce your debt and potentially get you some breathing room.
1. Freelance writing. Have a unique ability to pen the written word? Have a solid grasp of grammar, spelling, and communicating? You could become a freelance writer for newspapers, magazines, or other local periodicals. THAT could help you make extra cash! Don’t be afraid to endure a lot of “No’s” and you’ll eventually get that “Yes” that can give you some instant credibility. Don’t know where to start? You can find thousands of freelance writing and editing jobs…fresh jobs daily. Kickstart your writing career for just $2.95. Click here.
2. Plant maintenance. Just like people need help taking care of pets, they also need help with plants. Make some extra cash by taking care of house plants and even outdoor gardens while people are on vacation. You could also offer to take care of the plants kept in local offices on more of a long term basis. Again, the mileage deduction!
3. Offer to clean homes during the day or offices at night (depending on your schedule). Add in the houseplant maintenance and you could get a double whammy for your profits! Don’t forget the mileage deduction.
4. Tutor. If you have a college degree, use your downtime to tutor kids in the summer or even over the Internet to make additional income. Drop by the local school system and offer your services to the summer school folks after making sure it’s okay with the school staff, of course.
5. Teach a language. Do you speak another language? Do you speak English? Either way, your skills are in demand and will help you make extra money. People need to learn other languages and non-English speakers need to learn English. Most people prefer to learn a conversational style rather than just conjugate verbs around the dinner table. Who knew just talking and having a conversation could result in earning additional income?
6. Internet research. Really know your way around the Internet? Offer your skills in research to local businesses. You may have to do a few freebies to get your foot in the door, but this could be a tax deduction as a startup cost in your quest to generate extra money.
7. Iron other people’s clothes. People are busy and if you offer to iron their clothes and pick up/drop off at their office, you would set yourself apart from the cleaners. Make even more money by offering the service mentioned in #24.
8. Run errands. The last time I checked, the IRS rate for mileage was 58.5 cents per mile. By offering to run errands for people (dry cleaning, drugstore, grocery store, post office, etc), you could earn extra money for your time while reducing your taxable income from mileage.
9. Substitute teach at your kid’s school. My wife does this quite often. Teachers have doctors and dentist appointments just like everyone else. Their children get sick and they have to take care of them. When these events happen, the school needs a substitute teacher. Check with several schools to see what requirements they place on subs (don’t forget the private schools) and how much extra income you could earn.
10. If you liked #9, could you offer to teach at your local community college? One or two courses at night or on the weekends could make you a little extra cash.
11. Do you have a unique skill or ability? Have you EVER heard someone say to you, “I wish I knew how to do that.” The “that” could be building decks, arranging flowers, baking pies, playing the piano, canning food, making jewelry, framing pictures, or raising roses. People will pay to be taught. They will pay even more if you offer to teach their children. Offer to teach them or their children in their homes and you could earn even more.
12. Become a life coach. Encouraging others to strive for success and live up to their potential is what being a life coach is all about. You can squeeze in appointments on weekends, during your lunch break and in the evenings after work, making it easy to earn extra income while keeping that day job.
13. Become a “green” consultant. Do you know how to make those little lifestyle changes that result in a home using less energy? Offer to evaluate someone’s home and make recommendations to help it become more green. You could offer to change their light bulbs to CFL’s or LED’s, install a programmable thermostat, install ceiling fans, or make other recommendations. You could also sell your services to businesses. I bet this will become a very large industry in the next few years. Some people will make a LOT of extra money!
14. Do you love to garden and use organic methods? Depending on how large your harvest may be, you could offer “in season” locally grown, organic vegetables and fresh herbs for sale to a restaurant. Take a basket of your most beautiful vegetables and visit several restaurants. Chefs are always interested in getting the best, the freshest food for their patrons. You could pick them, wash them, and deliver them within the hour. You can’t get much more fresh than that!
15. Know your antiques? Spend your weekends scouting those garage sales, thrift stores, estate auctions, and flea markets to score old treasures on the cheap. Do some research to discover the real value of your finds and spend your next lunch hour auctioning it off on eBay.
16. Set up computers, home theater systems, or wireless networking systems for the technologically challenged. Even though technology is a constant presence in our everyday lives, some people just can’t seem to get the hang of it. You can offer to come in and help those with new gadgets get them set up, install new programs, organize the spaghetti mess of cables, and make sure everything is plugged in correctly.
17. A year or so after you’ve set up those computers, offer to help clean and speed up computers that may have been infected with viruses, malware and spyware. You know it’s going to happen and someone will get paid to clean those systems.
18. If you’re really on the technology band wagon, you could offer to help people change the formats of their media. Changing VHS videos to DVDs, scanning old photos, moving CDs to MP3s, or other format changes can make you some additional income.
19. Get paid to shop. There are several companies that hire people to perform a mystery shop and report their experiences. Make sure you’re fair and that you understand the way each company goes to market.
20. Are you a genealogy buff? People love to know their family histories, but don’t have time to do the research. You can offer your services as a “family researcher” and help clients learn about their roots, learn about your own in the process, and generate extra income.
21. Can you bake? Making and decorating cakes can allow you to show off our artistic side. You could also offer to bake pastries and other goodies for local coffee shops, a local deli, or even sell them in local office breakrooms.
22. Make jams and jellies. If you listened to your grandma and learned to can and preserve food the old fashioned way, a quick trip to the farmer’s market could result in you making a big batch of peach preserves, blackberry jelly, or strawberry jam. Then you could sell it for a profit at a local market or over the Internet.
23. Babysit. There are actually several ways to go here. You don’t have to only offer to babysit for young parents looking to get a few hours break and attend a business function, though that is a possibility. What if you offered to keep kids all night long for parents who worked third shift? What if you offered to keep kids who were feeling a little sick (nothing major)? Most day care centers won’t accept a child who has a fever or a runny nose, but if you contacted several day care centers for referrals of mildly sick children, you could carve out a profitable market niche for yourself.
24. Got a sewing machine? Many local clothing stores, particularly upscale stores, men’s suit stores, and even dry cleaners need people with sewing skills. Here’s your chance to show off your skills and make a little extra income.
25. Pet sitter. Right now I’m looking for a pet sitter for my miniature dachshund. The kennels charge at least $20/day. Could you undercut the kennels, charge $15/day and keep a few pets in your home? If you’re wary, you could always set a weight limit and only keep those little guys. People need help with hamsters, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, and even exotic pets. If you live in an apartment, you could offer to feed, water, and check on pets kept in ttheir homes. Then you could deduct the mileage from your taxes for additional income.
26. Photography. Do you have one of those fancy cameras? Know how to use it? You could potentially start photographing people’s children, their weddings, their anniversaries, or their parties. You could take interesting photographs, post them on the appropriate sites, and then make money every time someone uses your photograph.
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Note: This article was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance #155 at Moolanomy. Check out the Carnival and be sure to subscribe to Pinyo’s RSS feed.
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great post - lots of good ideas in there… It’s always good to know how to make a few extra bucks when you need to - but what about blogging?
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Ron 's reply:
May 27th, 2008
I thought about adding that, but I’m not qualified to say if it makes that much money just yet. Hoping that will change. One thing I DO know, it isn’t passive, that’s for sure. I didn’t work this hard in grad school.
International Finance and Economics, Enterprise Systems Design, and Quantitative Methods in Decision Theory were easy compared to this!
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Nice looking blog here! Slick styles.
I always like these “how to make money not at your job” type posts - it’s great to see the different ideas and possibilities. Once I’m out of graduate school and I really do have extra time again, I’m going to follow up on a couple. (I would have to say that blogging, for me, so far -
is still easier than grad school!:) - but you’re right, it’s definitely not a *passive* source of income)
In fact this list makes it very tempting to not go out and “find a real job”… think about the rise in personal concierge services. Someone just runs out and does all your errands for you.
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Ron 's reply:
May 27th, 2008
Ha ha! Maybe I’m doing the whole blogging thing wrong! LOL!
I’m not the most tech savvy person…but I’m getting there.
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I’m also doing the istockphoto.com thing. Just like blogging, you get out of it what you put into it. My earnings don’t meet the payout threshold yet. It’s only a matter of uploading quality content.
I definitely believe in “double-dipping” whenever possible. If I can engage in an enjoyable activity and make money at it, that’s a winning combination.
Just because it’s something I would do for free, doesn’t mean I have to do it for free or cheap. The point here is to make extra income. You also deserve to be paid accordingly for your skills at the going rate. Just because you’re doing it part time doesn’t mean you’re any less deserving of the same rate of pay as the full-time practitioner.
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Ron 's reply:
May 27th, 2008
You’re exactly right. Maybe I should add that to one of the “Always” lists. Always make sure you’re being paid the going rate. Great point.
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Mostly I just stick with blogging, though.
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Head on to http://www.TheAdsenseKing.com for Free Adsense Training Plus Unreleased Video with $97
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For tutoring you need a B.A. and in California at least a Cbest test - Lots of times they prefer moonlighting teachers. Languages? Are you a native speaker? They are also preferred for the most part.
You can do promotional work - you know the folks that hand out stuff at stores. But you have to work weekends. And for food, provide your own electric frying pan!
Freelance writing can bring you in $ - Sites like associatedcontent.com pay upfront (see my articles there!)
And then there is Amazon’s mechanical turk - for cyber piece work….mturk.com.
I have actually done ironing - but you have to know prosperous folks to do that! I do better to surf & get all my freebies & samples and save money that way!
Sell stuff - you can have a yard sale or sell anything extra on the Pennysaver or a similar publication. You can sell ANYTHING - even recycled carpet! SELL your junk car for $ & they will take it away, too.
Wish I could understand how people make $ blogging - I still am a dummy that way. I do help business people with their business writing. A lot more folks NEED it but don’t want to PAY for it!!
One last thing - you can do little bits of government work - like work at the polls at election time - or at census time, work for the Census Bureau - done that, too!
But don’t PAY anyone for access to mystery shops, etc. - you can get it all GRATIS!
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Ron 's reply:
May 31st, 2008
Hey Pam,
Thanks for your comments…great information!
Bloggers make money in several ways, Google pays us based on how many
people click the ads on our sites or on how many “eyes” actually see their
ads. Other possibilities are things like Amazon. When someone buys
anything on Amazon by clicking through one of the links on my site, I get
a 4% commission. Other possibilities are paid reviews but I haven’t gotten
into that yet. There are literally dozens and dozens (hundreds) of sites
that will do all the leg work for you to find advertisers, then you
publish their ads on your blog.
Check out http://www.johnchow.com or http://www.problogger.com. Those guys are making
big money, but I’m just trying to get to a point where my blogging income
covers my mortgage and my kids private school education. I’m not there
yet, not even close, but I can see it in the distance.
Notice when you visit a blog how many people have ads on them. Those ads
are like billboards and the advertisers will pay to have their offerings
on your site.
Hope this helps. If you need any ideas or have any questions, never
hesitate to ask.
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[...] 26 Ways To Make Extra Money While Keeping Your Day Job at The Wisdom Journal — 26 more ideas on how to make money on the side. [...]
[...] 26 Ways To Make Extra Money While Keeping Your Day Job [...]
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Ron 's reply:
June 3rd, 2008
I would suggest checking with your local school system and don’t forget the private schools in the area. You might also be able to work a few days per week as a school nurse (I’m sure you already thought of that).
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[...] [...]
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[Reply]
Ron 's reply:
June 4th, 2008
Actually, if you’re using a vehicle in the pursuit of commerce, you can deduct the mileage. I had only regular insurance on my personal vehicle but regularly used it for company purposes. Two IRS expense audits in four years and never any problems!
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[...] 26 ways to make extra money - Nice post from the Wisdom Journal about 26 ways to increase your take-home pay. This is, of course, the other side of the savings equation. Via the Carnival of Personal Finance. [...]
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[...] 26 Ways To Make Extra Money While Keeping Your Day Job at The Wisdom Journal. There are some tips here for everyone. I have considered #10, teaching one or two classes at a community college. [...]
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[Reply]
Ron 's reply:
June 9th, 2008
I had that problem too, but was able to use some organic pest controls to get rid of the bugs. Check with some local plant nurseries for some help on the pests in your area.
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[...] a list of 26 ideas for making more money. Some of the ones I like best include:1. Pet sitter. Right now I’m looking for a pet sitter for [...]
[Reply]
Ron 's reply:
June 10th, 2008
Thanks Bill,
Green may or may not be a fad, but if you could make a few bucks off it, why not? I’ve actually thought about offering to come into someone’s home, replace every light bulb with CFL’s, wrap the hot water heater in a blanket (and turn it down a notch or two), caulk around the windows and doors, put in power strips that can turn off unneeded appliances and electronics, install a programmable thermostat, and up the freezer and fridge temps for a fee of $150 plus the cost of materials. I bet it could work!
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Bill (3 comments.) 's reply:
June 10th, 2008
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make money writing…
Thanks for the great post! Looking forward to many more. B>)…
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[Reply]
Ron 's reply:
August 11th, 2008
Well, I made this site and you can read about me on the ABOUT page.
How about pet sitting? Tutoring? Baking? Ironing? Internet research? Garden for money? Set up and maintain computer systems? Genealogy research?
You can do those. What else could you do? Don’t think about what you can’t do, think about what you CAN!
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Ron 's reply:
August 19th, 2008
Hi Gabby,
Thanks for stopping by. Two mystery shopping programs that my company has used in the past are:
http://www.secretshopper.com/
http://www.iccds.com/client.html
Hope this helps. We’ve used them both for around 4 years. I believe them both to be legitimate. You can check others out through the Mystery Shoppers Trade Association at http://www.mysteryshop.org/
I’d also recommend this ABC News article: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Consumer/story?id=5288516&page=1
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I’ve set up a website that include these types of services.
http://www.jztools.net
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