Right now in down economy and lay off from jobs, many people are looking to earn bit more money to stretch their budget bit further. I am sure many of us know of these tips, these certainly are not new or invented now; our grand parents and great grand parents before have done a few of these tips to save money in their times as well. With new technology and internet, we have little different options for money savings and earning.
If you have not read other financial related posts; check it out below;
Easy ways to save money every day
Both Spouse working Important or not?
No spend Month Analysis At End of the Month:
Now, let us look at a few ways to earn more income for you and your family. I have not tried them all, choose what works for your own circumstances, if you choose. I wanted to share some of the ideas that I gathered for our family.
Ways to Earn More Money:
1. Start a Blog:
Many people who start a blog, can make some money and a few lucky expert bloggers can make full time income from it. However, it is not easy to make money for many blogger like myself. I might be the rare blogger who does not make money yet. For some blogging can be part of passive -active income. To start a blog, one does not need to have money, you can start on free platform like wordpress or blogger to get it started on subject you are passionate about and something you think you can make money on.
2. Do baby Sitting:
If you have young kids already or like kids, baby sitting can be great choice to earn extra income. Many teenagers and adult can work either part time or full time baby sitting. I know someone who makes full time income watching young kids. One may have to spend money on getting proper license and house/place appropriate for young kids to get it started.
3. Sell unwanted items on Craigslist or ebay
Most of us have items laying around in our house, that we are not going to use again, such as kids outgrown toys, our skinny jeans that we wore when we were 16 (that we secretly wish to fit in to some day) and so on. We can make some extra money from clothes, toys, furniture, collectibles items sitting around in our garage or attic. Your house will be cleaner and you will make some money as well.
4. Sell Gold or Jewelry:
This tip has been very popular last year since gold prices have gone over $1000 per ounce. Now, this tip only works if you have gold or gold jewelry in your house. For many of us, we may not have any gold to sell, however this is great idea for a few who have gold and not using, nor wearing it.
5. Do Online surveys:
I have not done any but a few of blog friends I know swear by doing surveys to earn bit more money. Nothing much to retire on, but you have some have extra cash for rainy day or to pay bills. There are many sites out there for it.
6. Rent a room in your house
If you are living in a house with extra room, you can rent the room for extra income. Just make sure to charge right amount and set up rules and forms to make more easy to handle. I have not tried this tip yet but I know our friends have and they are happy and so is renter for cheap accommodation. If you are single and do not own house, you can save money by sharing a room or renting a room from someone.
7. Use your skill to earn money:
If you know how to fix computer, or write, or cook, you can provide these services to those who need it and charge small amount or large depending on your expertise to make extra income in your household.
8. Be Mystery Shopper:
I have done this type of job when I was still in college, basically what you do is shop at certain places where they ask you to and fill out an survey with receipt and you will get paid $10 for survey. Make sure you return the items as some items are not reimbursed. If you asked to survey a restaurant, some meals might be paid for. There are many mystery shopping companies around, look for one in your local area. You can find out more here: http://www.mysteryshop.org/
9. Recycle Metal or old cell phones:
Not everything can be recycled and not everything we recycle can make money but a few items can such as any metals or old cellphone (even broken ones) can be recycled at right places to make extra cash for you. You may want to check your local recycle organization and ask around to see how much can be made.
If you drink sodas or beer, those cans can be recycled for little cash as well.
10. Provide garden service
Any one of can do lawn mowing, if you have bit of time, you can start providing lawn mowing service to your neighbors and others. Some people can make $20-$30 for one lawn mowing time which takes about 20-30 minutes depending on size of the yard. While, we have not done to this to make money, we have used this service when we could not keep up with lawn maintenance ourselves, it is a win-win situation for both.
Other ways to Make Money?
Sure, there are many other ways to make money. I wanted to keep it simple and easy for any of us to start making some money and are legal.
- Do stock investing: day trading which much more active or even passive investing.
- Do freelancing job
- Web design services
- Running errands for people services: such as buying groceries, picking up kids from school.
- Sewing and alteration services
- Interior design ideas and services
- Painting houses/building
- Cleaning gutters
- Repairing (any type such as roof, plumping, electronics and so on)
- Part time job at office
- Medical transcript service
- Work at home ideas/mailing
- Opening bank accounts which offer free money to open account
- Earning interest on your money market or CDs accounts
- One can go through Kiva and loan money to others to make some money (may involve some risks)
- Forex : Money if you have skills and know how
- Multi level marketing : Be weary of many but there are some good and legitimate companies
- Putting pictures on flickr and other site : Pay per use
- Start writing for associate content, ehow, hubpages and squidoo to earn extra income.
- Be a ghost writer for others, you may not become famous but you may earn little money
- Write ebook and sell it on your website
- Start a business
- Teach a class (cooking, art, yoga something you know and can be valuable to others)
- Write and publish a book Through publisher or your DIY book sites
- Teach at local community college : evening class on subject you know about
- Clutter buster and organization services
- Financial and debt help ideas services
- Make and sell things at etsy, flea market and local festival
- Have garage sell
- Do lemonade stand (great for young to teenager kids)
- Find part time job elsewhere
Only our imagination can stop us, there are many ways to make extra money, all of them may not be possible for all of us. However, if you love and know about something very well and it is helpful to others, you might be able to make some or lot of money with it. I am not an expert on making money at all, I am going to learn along with you all.
Some Strange Way Some People Make Money
Do you have tips that you want to share with others? Please do so, as I am sure it will be helpful.
Image source: girlscout.org
Nice tips, Preeti. The reality is that things are tough out there. Bad news is good news when we are willing to do something about it. It is of utmost importance that we refuse to take on a “poor me” attitude that sets us up as victims. Everyone experiences hard work and struggle. It is one of evolution’s ways to motivate us to reach deeper, and learn more about ourselves.
It’s been some time since I came to your site and it’s nice to read a financial related article for a change. The selling of gold recommendation caught my eye. An investment into silver also seems very popular nowadays. From your list, it is easy to see that opportunities to make money abound.
Hi Preeti,
Definitely people will be looking for alterantive ways to make money in this complicated economy. The interseting thing is for some of them it could be finding out something they love to do, even more than their original jobs!
A complicated situation could become the perfect time to switch direction in life.
Thank you for all these tips 🙂
Raul
Hi Preeti,
I like all your suggestions. I recently sold a lot of gold jewelry I was no longer interested in wearing. I was so glad to get rid of it and get the cash instead! You always have such interesting ideas for making money. I love it!
Angela,
That is really good to know, someone we know made $300 some dollars for selling gold things they had lying around. It is always good to make money selling/bartering things we do not use. How is life treating you otherwise?
Raul,
Yes, there are opportunity in times when we can not think of what to do next. For us, when zenguy had no job and I could not work as having 2 little kids (i.e. daycare too expensive in california), we decided to save money first and it seems to work as well. Necessity is always mother of invention right?
Evelyn,
Yes, it is good to see you here again! I write about many things, personal development and life improvement can not be made without taking control our financial woes and I have been one to know it 🙂 yes, many people seemed to be investing in silver and gold right now but I do not know if it is fade or not. Will found out soon enough.
Rob,
You are so right as you always say on you latest articles, we have been hearing negatives things in our lives that stops us from becoming best we can be. Only we can change ourselves and direction our life is going. It may seem hard often time, but we got to keep trying hard right. I have come to realize, all of us go through ups and down in life, just different things.
Hi Preeti,
I am earning money from different sources; blogs, free lance writing and affiliate marketing as well as from my regular job.
MysteryShop is totally new to me and I will find such offer in my locality.
Hi Preeti, it’s nice to see you back in circulation. This is a very helpful post, although I would say that you are definitely not one of the rare bloggers who does not make money– it’s true for most bloggers.
Preeti: Great advice and tips. I do think we need to identify creative ways to generate income that are in line with what we really want. It is not about just doing things, but rather finding those things that you are passionate about and then things just seem to naturally flow. I thought you really covered it all in this post. Great post.
Sibyl,
Making money can be creative work in progress! I wanted to gather and share ideas of making money for many of us who can use creative ways to add to their income. Thanks for liking the post! Doing things we are passionate about is best way in my mind.
Vaishali,
Yes, I am slowly getting back to blogging and it feels good. I have not even made $7 total in 1.5 years so far, so I know I am least qualified person to say blogging can work to make money but I do sure enjoy it. I hope others make money though as there are many passionate and good bloggers such as you are out there.
Nazim,
You seemed to have it made then, you seemed to be more qualify to write this post then I am 🙂 I am happy for you, feel free to share your tips that you can share here.
Mystery shopping can be fun, I have stopped doing it after having kids but it may work for many. You can pick and choose what assignment you can take, how far you want to travel and so on. Let me know how it works for you.
Hi Preeti,
These are some very nice tips on earning more money. Yea, I also know some who do surveys online and make around 1000 a month. I haven’t tried it though. To earn more money, we have got to change our attitude toward money and create harmonious relationship with it. This is one of the best ways to attract money to us. Thanks for sharing Preeti, very nice post 🙂
Hi Preeti,
These are some timely and well needed insights. With the state the economy is in, the unrest in the Middle East and the crisis in Japan, uncertainty is rampant. I agree that the only limit that we have when it comes to earning money is our imaginations. Right now I am offering my divination services to my friends and clients. It is not much at the moment, but it is something to get by. I might also look at investing in the near future as well as deciding how exactly to monetize my blog.
Thank you for sharing this lovely article! 🙂
Irving the Vizier
Preeti, I love that you always offer real advice and real solutions. It’s the brilliance of your practical/logical side.
I know many people who feel financially stuck, yet there are things they can do. They might not “like” them and they may not make a ton of money – but they can help the situation.
love this empowering post!
Aileen,
Oh, you are making me blush! I am far from money maker but I wanted to share some of the ideas with other people here as I see so many good and hard working people struggling right now. Many of this options is to live below our means and help others while doing something you love. Thank you for such a kind words! You’re sweet!
Irving,
So many people can use little ideas to keep them afloat. I think monetizing blog the right way works for some people. I am still trying to figure this out for myself. Keeping this blog honest, helpful and make money ethically is something I am striving for one of the these days. Finding a right balance with creative ideas is crucial as always.
Dia,
I have not done online surveys as well along with many ideas in my post but I wanted to share ideas to people when they are down on their luck. I have come to conclusion that earning enough and living under budget are 2 best ways to keep financial sanity. I also like that you also do ebooks, how is going with it? so far, I have free ebooks and it is doing well. 🙂
Wow! What a big collection of money-making ideas. I might give some of these a try.
Betsy,
Thank you. I am sure you know a few for yourself. There is way to make living from things we already know, sometimes it is hard to put it together.
These are definitely some time honored as well as productive tips to make extra money. I was a bit surprised to see that I’m doing several on the list.:) Even though they’ve been around awhile, it’s always still good to point them out again. We tend to forget about some of them until we’re reminded again. Plus, there are several on the full list that weren’t around during the time of our grandparents so someone is always going to be picking up something new. 🙂
Marcus,
Good for you that you are doing many of them! Yes, many of these ideas are around for long time, there is always something we can do, if we have little time and patience.
My son is 9 and says it gives great ideas, but it’s suitable for children that lives in suburban area. It does not have great ideas for children who live in urban areas or inner city. ex: make a garden for dried herbs or pick worms and sale them to fishermen. The ideas are mostly for summer time. The pictures are dated. It gives good ideas on managment and making money grow.
Jane,
I think these some great ideas for your 9 year old. Thanks for sharing.
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