Can I borrow 5 dollars?
September 6, 2014 8:59 PM
What are some quick, legal, and ethical ways to make extra money over the next few months? Relevant details inside.
I would like to save up an extra 3-4K to fund a trip. The trip is happening in January/February, so I have around 4 months.
I'm "cutting-back" on extra expenses like eating out for lunch or paying for valet parking and saving that money towards my trip. I also cut cable tv.
I found this previous question but I'm striking out on most of the suggestions.
I signed up for market-research panels and I've taken the pre-qualification surveys but haven't actually been called to participate. I checked TaskRabbit but they aren't taking applicants in my area at the moment. I don't really have any personal belongings that I would like to sell.
To avoid some concern: This isn't an urgent situation. I have a job, my basic needs are met, and I have savings that I would prefer not to use for this trip. I work full-time (non-profit director) and I'm in grad school part-time so a second job is not likely to happen. I live in Chicago.
I'm also going to buy a lottery ticket first thing tomorrow morning. (Kidding. Kind of...)
Any ideas?
I would like to save up an extra 3-4K to fund a trip. The trip is happening in January/February, so I have around 4 months.
I'm "cutting-back" on extra expenses like eating out for lunch or paying for valet parking and saving that money towards my trip. I also cut cable tv.
I found this previous question but I'm striking out on most of the suggestions.
I signed up for market-research panels and I've taken the pre-qualification surveys but haven't actually been called to participate. I checked TaskRabbit but they aren't taking applicants in my area at the moment. I don't really have any personal belongings that I would like to sell.
To avoid some concern: This isn't an urgent situation. I have a job, my basic needs are met, and I have savings that I would prefer not to use for this trip. I work full-time (non-profit director) and I'm in grad school part-time so a second job is not likely to happen. I live in Chicago.
I'm also going to buy a lottery ticket first thing tomorrow morning. (Kidding. Kind of...)
Any ideas?
Are you crafty? You could make holiday stuff (I made a killing on novelty holiday-themed earrings at my company's holiday craft fair) and sell it online or at craft fairs or local stores.
posted by xingcat at 9:10 PM on September 6, 2014
posted by xingcat at 9:10 PM on September 6, 2014
Medical research subject, tutoring, reselling thrift store finds on eBay.
posted by vegartanipla at 9:18 PM on September 6, 2014
posted by vegartanipla at 9:18 PM on September 6, 2014
Tutoring high school students or over/late night babysitting.
posted by taff at 9:19 PM on September 6, 2014
posted by taff at 9:19 PM on September 6, 2014
It's certainly not a sure thing, but you could spend a little time entering to win some cash sweepstakes.
Have a yard/garage sale, or find some things to put on craigslist or eBay.
Tell your friends/family that you're looking to earn some travel cash, and they might be willing to pay you to do some odd jobs.
Find other ways to cut back on spending, use coupons when buying groceries, cut back on driving to save on gas.
posted by susanaudrey at 9:24 PM on September 6, 2014
Have a yard/garage sale, or find some things to put on craigslist or eBay.
Tell your friends/family that you're looking to earn some travel cash, and they might be willing to pay you to do some odd jobs.
Find other ways to cut back on spending, use coupons when buying groceries, cut back on driving to save on gas.
posted by susanaudrey at 9:24 PM on September 6, 2014
Open up Microsoft Word.
Design a simple flyer advertising that you do yard work/gardening.
Add your phone number.
Specify a low price.
Distribute in your nearest middle-class residential neighbourhood.
????
Profit.
posted by dontjumplarry at 9:48 PM on September 6, 2014
Design a simple flyer advertising that you do yard work/gardening.
Add your phone number.
Specify a low price.
Distribute in your nearest middle-class residential neighbourhood.
????
Profit.
posted by dontjumplarry at 9:48 PM on September 6, 2014
Medical or psych studies can pay some decent money. The really, really well funded ones are the sleep studies where you stay in their lab for a week or more, but I imagine those are quite difficult to qualify for and not particularly compatible with work/school.
posted by litera scripta manet at 10:43 PM on September 6, 2014
posted by litera scripta manet at 10:43 PM on September 6, 2014
Depending on what kind of expenses the trip will involve, you might benefit from opening some rewards credit cards (looking for those with account opening bonuses) and being able to use the points/miles from those. This is most likely to be useful if you have any hotels/travel that you haven't yet booked. Even if you don't have any costs that could take rewards points, getting a card with a few % cashback could make you some money in the next few months. Try reading up at places like Nerd Wallet.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 12:33 AM on September 7, 2014
posted by the agents of KAOS at 12:33 AM on September 7, 2014
1. Right now Chris Green's basic primer on retail arbitrage and selling on Amazon is a free Kindle download. You could net $3-4K easily in the time you have.
2. Any spare bedrooms you can list on AirBnb?
posted by carmicha at 2:03 AM on September 7, 2014
2. Any spare bedrooms you can list on AirBnb?
posted by carmicha at 2:03 AM on September 7, 2014
Depending on your location, you can do mystery shopping where you take a preliminary online assessment then are asked to test drive cars, order pizzas and take pictures of them, go to various stores and report on the experience.
posted by kinetic at 4:57 AM on September 7, 2014
posted by kinetic at 4:57 AM on September 7, 2014
If you like dogs, signing up for dog vacay could be a good way to make some extra money. I have a friend who does it, and she's had some wonderful dogs come to stay with her. Even if you don't have time during the week, lots of people need to board their dogs while they take weekend trips.
posted by snaw at 9:11 AM on September 7, 2014
posted by snaw at 9:11 AM on September 7, 2014
Do you have a decent car? I know of a guy who drives for Uber or Lyft and he makes several hundreds dollars in his weekends off running people to and from the airport.
posted by jabes at 12:07 PM on September 7, 2014
posted by jabes at 12:07 PM on September 7, 2014
Going to sound weird, but sell Avon.
I did this for pocket money when I was brokety-broke-broke. I just gave the booklets to co-workers and friends and left them in the vestibule of my apartment building. People love it ESPECIALLY around Christmas. I made 33% of what I sold, which gave me about $150 every 2 weeks for VERY little effort on my part. No parties, no pressure, about $20 to get started.
The other thing is, Christmas is coming and retailers are going to be hiring folks for the season. I'm sure grad school is going to slow down and you'll get a vacation there, why not pick up shifts at Macy's. Macy's used to have 'flyers,' folks who'd get called in on a PRN basis and work wherever. So you spend a few hours folding sweaters, or straightening up the sale racks or hanging bras in the fitting room (SO MANY BRAS!) You make a decent wage and you get a store discount. I moonlighted in the Women's Department and I made about $2,000 in commissions during Christmas. Everyone has a fat lady relative and apparently, they all want a track suit for Christmas.
Holiday jobs start a week or so before Thanksgiving, and then you work through Inventory in January. Should coincide with school going back in session. Then you leave. With money.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:04 PM on September 7, 2014
I did this for pocket money when I was brokety-broke-broke. I just gave the booklets to co-workers and friends and left them in the vestibule of my apartment building. People love it ESPECIALLY around Christmas. I made 33% of what I sold, which gave me about $150 every 2 weeks for VERY little effort on my part. No parties, no pressure, about $20 to get started.
The other thing is, Christmas is coming and retailers are going to be hiring folks for the season. I'm sure grad school is going to slow down and you'll get a vacation there, why not pick up shifts at Macy's. Macy's used to have 'flyers,' folks who'd get called in on a PRN basis and work wherever. So you spend a few hours folding sweaters, or straightening up the sale racks or hanging bras in the fitting room (SO MANY BRAS!) You make a decent wage and you get a store discount. I moonlighted in the Women's Department and I made about $2,000 in commissions during Christmas. Everyone has a fat lady relative and apparently, they all want a track suit for Christmas.
Holiday jobs start a week or so before Thanksgiving, and then you work through Inventory in January. Should coincide with school going back in session. Then you leave. With money.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:04 PM on September 7, 2014
Following up @snaw, housesitting and/or pet sitting. My pets are old, and I do not like to board them, so have to find someone to stay over and keep to routine. Standard fee is $60 per overnight, per Petsitters International (but must love dogs, etc, and take the live-in part seriously).
posted by mmiddle at 1:06 PM on September 7, 2014
posted by mmiddle at 1:06 PM on September 7, 2014
Amazon Mechanical Turk is crowdsourcing service that will pay you for simple tasks online. Payout depends on the complexity of the task. So you could make $0.02 for evaluating search results, or a few bucks for translating articles. If you're working in front of a computer for most of the day, this might be a good option for you.
posted by Chessboxing at 1:46 PM on September 7, 2014
posted by Chessboxing at 1:46 PM on September 7, 2014
See if any universities in your area do paid testing. One near me does food taste tests. They're random and a relatively small amount of money, but good money figured on an hourly basis.
Mystery shopping. I know a couple people who do this, they only do the ones that they can walk or bike to, or the ones that have special payment incentives.
There a subreddit called r/beermoney that has lots of info on ways to make extra money online.
There's a bunch of websites that do usability testing. You record your voice and talk about whatever app or site they're testing.
Keep an eye on the etc and gigs sections of craigslist.
posted by aerotive at 6:20 PM on September 7, 2014
Mystery shopping. I know a couple people who do this, they only do the ones that they can walk or bike to, or the ones that have special payment incentives.
There a subreddit called r/beermoney that has lots of info on ways to make extra money online.
There's a bunch of websites that do usability testing. You record your voice and talk about whatever app or site they're testing.
Keep an eye on the etc and gigs sections of craigslist.
posted by aerotive at 6:20 PM on September 7, 2014
I'm "cutting-back" on extra expenses like [...] paying for valet parking
Where were you paying for valet parking? Stop going there, if it's somewhere you don't have to go. In general, if you go out a lot, stop it.
posted by pracowity at 1:36 AM on September 8, 2014
Where were you paying for valet parking? Stop going there, if it's somewhere you don't have to go. In general, if you go out a lot, stop it.
posted by pracowity at 1:36 AM on September 8, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:02 PM on September 6, 2014