How Do You Make Extra Money?

[Ian]

So I've been out of work a while now due to a lay off. In the past months I've been trying to boost my EI (employment insurance) income by doing little jobs on the side for cash. I've picked up a few freelance design jobs here and there as well as being paid every now and again for performing at shows and selling a few books.

But I want to explore more options. Google and blogs seem to always have the same list saying:

Collect and Sell Scrap Metal
Sell Your Jizz
Ebay Things from Around the House

Most of the lists suck, involve way to much bullshit or are just not set for the average person. So I thought we could all share some ideas since theres a good chance many of us won't overlap and steal work from each other. Ya know, with the internets and all.


So, how do you boost your monthly income?
How can you make a quick or slow buck?

[jonathan180iq]

I flip vehicles on Craigslist sometimes, but that can be a hassle and I honestly just get tired of it.
I did scooter and motorcycle parts for a while. Scout for certain markets on Ebay, ship order parts from China and undercut the competition... It's a little back handed, as a business, but most parts places are making an absolute killing selling the exact same product. It's income for you and a better option for the consumer, so everyone wins.

We have a local used books/cd/dvd place around here called McKay's that will purchased your used good either for store credit, which means no taxes, or they will write you a check. Most family and friend are always willing to just give away books and cds, since no one uses them anymore. It will help keep print circulating, which is a media that I fear is being killed off, and it's better than going to a landfill and you'll pocket some cash.

Its's not really a good time to recycle aluminum. It used to be pretty viable, but aluminum isn't worth what it used to be.

You can trade your services or goods via Craigslist or you can search out your local freegan or trade network. People forget that you don't always have to use money. Give some things away, build a rapport with the local community and you'll be surprised at how much bartering still goes on in the world.

Also: http://fiverr.com/
Hit those people up or simply broadcast yourself.

MODS: Ian is a real person.

[jonathan180iq]

I have been scouring my brain for the name of the local groups that host websites for people who wish to give away things and trade good and services.

It's www.freecycle.org (http://www.freecycle.org)

[alantf]

No one uses books anymore? What a sad world it's turning into. At my age, I was brought up with books. People still buy me them for Christmas. To name but one author -Wilbur Smith - My bookshelf has every book he's ever written. I pick one up, and immediately I'm transported to darkest africa. Ian Fleming's James Bond becomes the spy with a vintage car and a beretta - not the gadget ridden moron of the big screen. What will people do to exercise their imagination when books finally vanish? Like I said - sad old world. :poorbaby:

[jonathan180iq]

It is... I love print, but people are so over-saturated with electronic text now that they see no reason to actually hold a physical copy of something in their hands. Aside from simply the imaginative and cognitive benefits of reading a book, there is also something very tactile about the whole experience that is being lost in the process.

It is sad.

[mrlmd1]

And the smell of a book is lost on the electronic screen.

[JWR]

And the smell of a book is lost on the electronic screen.



There is an app for that.








Sent from my iSomething.

[mrlmd1]

:lol: :)

[Water Warrior 2]

Books used to be a very large part of my life. There is nothing to compare with a comfy chair and foot stool, nearby coffee and a good pocket book.

[bpdchief]

My wife is after me to get a NOOK or KINDLE. :fu: I say!!! For me a comfy chair by the fire, my pipe and a good book. Micheal Palin, Bill Bryson, Frances Mayes are fabulous wordsmiths.

Oh sure, you can store 1000's of books on those fancy electronic devices, but, to lose yourself in the pages of a real book... to smell the ink or binding glue - that is living!! :2tup:

[Water Warrior 2]

Now you've done it. People will go to a library just to sniff glue and get HIIIggghhhh.

[mrlmd1]

You don't even have to read the book on the Kindle - it will read it to you as you sit there and listen, in either a male or female voice. It's like, how lazy can you get? But then you can also listen to it in the dark as you lie in bed.

[5th_bike]

There is something else about a book - if you buy one, you own it.

If you read it on one of electronic devices, you never own it, they can take it away at any time.
Or make it politically correct. :whistle:

Therefore, it is better that we all read electronic books. Nothing to worry about. :whistle: :whistle:

PS sorry, off topic. How do you make extra money? Well in my line of work, there is a need for two kinds of people that I can think about, off the top of my head:
1) CAD people - you can learn autocad from youtube,
2) PLC programmers. You need some insight in logic/programming/IT.

PS 3) Oh, design work? How about wetlands design? Government here is putting more and more money in that. Read up on willows, alder, beavers, waterfowl, reeds and sedges, mud sedimentation, and you're halfway.

[bpdchief]

Not to mention the "OH SHIT" moment when the electronics crash and $200 worth of "books" disappear and have to be purchased again. Never had a hard back book crash on me before... once in a fit of anger my wife randomly glued pages together in one of my favorite books, but, that doesn't count.

[Water Warrior 2]

[quote=" once in a fit of anger my wife randomly glued pages together in one of my favorite books.[/quote]

That is just wrong!!!

[blaine]

Did the book have centerfolds?? :biggrin: :)

[jonathan180iq]

http://i.qkme.me/3557q4.jpg

[blaine]

That's awesome,Jon!!! :)

[mrlmd1]

If the electronics "crash" and you lose the books. if you've purchased them before you can usually download them again for free.

And who was responsible for gluing those pages together? Blaming it on your wife? Right. :lol: :poke2:

[bpdchief]

Oh you boys have nasty little minds :poke2: It happened to be a copy of "BLUE HIGHWAYS" by William "Leastheat" Moon about his travels around the USA using only the "blue" or state highways on the old state maps visiting such places as Dime Box, Texas (so named because folks who wanted to mail a letter placed the letter and a dime in the box) and many other out of the way places you never see from the interstate.

Few pictures and no nude center folds :lol: :lol:

[blaine]

Few pictures and no nude center folds :lol: :lol:

So what's the point?? :biggrin: :tongue: