Comments on: 20 Easy Money Making Ideas

By: bocarat

bocarat — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:31:02 +0000

Anything to eliminate bills is great. One way I found is to use a prepaid phone.

I already dumped my land line and got out of my cellphone contract when the company changed it’s terms. (Did you know that if they do that, it voids the contract? They don’t tell you that, but I saw it on the Consumerist site and it worked! No termination fee too. Haha.)

Anyway, I got a prepaid Net10 phone and everything is 10 cent a minute even International calls which is great since my son is traveling right now.

But the best thing about this is that there aren’t any bills and I know what my costs are because I pay upfront for my calls. It’s great!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:42:18 +0000

Instead of focusing on small amounts and spending so much time on them, spend less, invest in education, gain knowledge about what would legally provide most amount for the least effort, and put in the most effort on that to gain most amount.

This comes from ‘Vidhura Needhi’ (Noble Vidhura’s advice), which a part of Mahabharatha.

By: Monevator

Monevator — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 10:04:09 +0000

Interesting you still see photography as financially viable as a side hobby. It seems with Digital SLRs making picture taking so easy, everyone is a photographer now?

@Wren – you need to know your niche. In contrast to my comment above, I actually make some useful money from freelance writing. I’ve been doing it for a decade though.

By: Wren

Wren — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:44:07 +0000

I have to say that freelance writing is not going to make you extra money–at least not enough to justify the time spent. There are just too many people willing to write for peanuts or nothing, so pay is generally terrible for freelancers.
Selling stuff is great advice, though. Most of us have tons of things we no longer (and maybe never did) need. Simplifying and decluttering by having a yard sale or posting items on craiglist, ebay, or amazon is a great way to get some quick cash and start fresh without all the junk.

By: MissMartha

MissMartha — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:25:59 +0000

Along the same line of returning unused things, if you recently got married you can sell your leftover goods. On many websites, including TheKnot.com, you can post pictures of your left over favors/centerpieces/vases/ flower baskets, and sell them. I looked there frequently for good deals. Its a speciality market so using a site like TheKnot.com can let you concentrate your efforts. If you can’t find anyone to buy your stuff on TheKnot, then try Craigslist, etc. Along the same line, sell your old bridesmaids dresses!

Other things that are pretty easy to sell are through consignment shops. Bring your nice suits that may not fit to a consignment shop. I’ve also seen a lot of consignment shops for kids clothes. Babies and little kids grow so fast that many of the clothes don’t get worn out before they no longer fit!

Also, don’t forget community-wide yard sales!

By: thomas

thomas — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:07:40 +0000

Cleaning houses isn’t easy money. I did this while in college cleaning both houses and businesses. The money can be good, but it is a disgusting job and can really make you sore. I will say the one great thing about it was the fact of it being a cash based opportunity.

Great list though – thanks.

By: Laura LAING

Laura LAING — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:51:16 +0000

This is a great list, with one exception. Freelance writing is not necessarily easy or stress free, especially if you want to earn some cash. Most blogging jobs don’t pay or pay very, very poorly. And with the media industry in a downward spiral and laid-off editors and writers giving freelancing a try, a newcomer to the field will need to put in a lot of time and energy to make it work.

A big concern for professional freelancers is that when writers accept very low paying gigs, the per-word rates stay low. Unfortunately, there are millions of outfits that exploit writers by expecting a great deal of work for pennies. The only way for that to change is if writers refuse to take those gigs.

Freelance writing is a fantastic career or sideline job. To make it work well, however, you must have talent, drive and marketing sense. It’s not for the faint of heart!

By: Armand

Armand — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:49:13 +0000

What a solid and complete list, but we must be patient of course, time is always a good friend to deal with.

By: The Personal Finance Playbook

The Personal Finance Playbook — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:03:04 +0000

Another solid list. In the vein of easy money, I know some people tout CashCrate. It’s gotten some mixed reviews. I think a lot of it has to do with the ease of cancelling things.

By: Suburban Dollar

Suburban Dollar — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:48:01 +0000

Overtime wouldn’t get me anything other than less time to do something else. I would be interested to know how much money you could actually pull out of a dumpster, I have never thought about that.

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:32:42 +0000

There are laws that govern overtime pay. If you are above a certain salary or considered professional for example, employers can ask you to work overtime without giving you any extra money.

It’s not like people will refuse the extra work in this environment if the boss ask but don’t go volunteering if you think you won’t get extra money! The last thing you need is stress yourself even more.