Any tips for earning extra cash?

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Norselord

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Not sure if I am allowed to ask this on the forums, but i want to make about $100/week extra part-time for a couple of years to get my project car painted.

The money needed is not to come from current earnings or out of the budget of any current projects.

Any ideas?

I was thinking bartending a couple of nights a week if my boss at the FT job will allow it.
 
Play any sports? I made quite a bit extra refereeing hockey for over 20 years, you could referee/umpire a sport. Pays $20 hr or so usually.
 
Mow yards. Do odd jobs. I'd pay for someone do do a few things for me....I'm lazy.
 
The big money would be in something illegal. But, if you are not lucky you will not need the money made for 10 - 20 years! By that time gasoline will cost $30/gallon!, and the car will be a pile of rust flakes.
 
What are you skilled at? What can you do? When I was in ministerial school I couldn't really work a job, but I did yard work and handyman stuff for people on occasion. I put a door on a garden shed for someone, did a wooden ceiling in an a-frame farmhouse, put in a garbage disposal, some landscaping . Little stuff like that.

Are there elderly people, especially widows in your neighborhood. There's so many little and easy things that elderly person needs done, that they used to do themselves that they can't anymore. Some that are really simple jobs that they're really needing to have done. Also a lot of women of that generation relied upon their husbands to take care of all that stuff, that they're clueless about.

When I was starting my church in Florida after ordination, I was working part time in a Radio Shack, that was right in the midsts of senior citizens, and some days you'd want to cry, some of these elderly women would come in needed just batteries put in their remotes (and sometimes needing them re-programmed) and their cordless phones. And they'd just be lost, because their husbands used to do it all for them...And some like changing batteries in their ceiling mounted smoke detectors, or even lightbulbs they weren't physically able or where scared to climb up the later to do.

I wouldn't be surprised if they're weren't people in you neighborhood like that. You could probably charge like 25 bucks an hour, and spend an hour doing all those little honeydew list stuff for an elderly person, just changing bulbs, batteries, resetting clocks and vcrs, and make someone's life happy and a few bucks on the side.

You could have four customers, and 4 hours worth of work for the mall jobs like that and make 100 easy...or they might have bigger stuff that needs to be done....heck even things like going shopping once a week for them or something like that. And you could have ongoing clients, that you did stuff like that for weekly.

You have to figure out a reasonable rate...I think 25/hour for an odd job list isn't bad, and come up with reasonable rates for other things like grass cutting or whatever.

You could do ok, and not tie up too much free time doing it either. Just doing those lights and batteries would mean so much for some of them, and help b ring a few bucks in for you.
 
The beer industry is fairly easy to break into if you know what you are doing and are well-networked.
 
Deliver pizza?

That seems like a long time to scrap together $2400 for a paint job. Why are you only limiting yourself to $100/week?
 
Depending on where you live, you might register for a site like taskrabbit.com. It's a task & errand service where you register and bid on odd jobs available in your area. Like Revvy mentions above, sometimes someone might need something couriered across town and you can spare an hour to drive it. Other times, someone in a wheelchair might need some pictures hung up or a stereo installed.

You register, you see what tasks are available and you bid your price on how much you'll accept to do the job. You do the job, and then you get paid. Pretty cool huh?
 
Background:
- BSChE + 8 years water treatment engineering
- 15 years hospitality experience

To the comment of $2,400 -- it's $7K to get the 1976 Ford Country Squire stripped, sanded, bodyworked, and painted.

To the comment of why limit to $100/week -- round number and will get me the money by Dec 2014.

To the comment regarding oral services -- how do i get paid for getting BJs?

I'm thinking of doing math/science tutoring for HS/College, but i don't know how to break into that. I may ask my boss for a 7% raise to make the aftter-tax money.

Wondering how far I could get selling 75% of my woodworking shop, musical instruments/gear, and other various toys...
 
What are you skilled at? What can you do? When I was in ministerial school I couldn't really work a job, but I did yard work and handyman stuff for people on occasion. I put a door on a garden shed for someone, did a wooden ceiling in an a-frame farmhouse, put in a garbage disposal, some landscaping . Little stuff like that.

Are there elderly people, especially widows in your neighborhood. There's so many little and easy things that elderly person needs done, that they used to do themselves that they can't anymore. Some that are really simple jobs that they're really needing to have done. Also a lot of women of that generation relied upon their husbands to take care of all that stuff, that they're clueless about.

When I was starting my church in Florida after ordination, I was working part time in a Radio Shack, that was right in the midsts of senior citizens, and some days you'd want to cry, some of these elderly women would come in needed just batteries put in their remotes (and sometimes needing them re-programmed) and their cordless phones. And they'd just be lost, because their husbands used to do it all for them...And some like changing batteries in their ceiling mounted smoke detectors, or even lightbulbs they weren't physically able or where scared to climb up the later to do.

I wouldn't be surprised if they're weren't people in you neighborhood like that. You could probably charge like 25 bucks an hour, and spend an hour doing all those little honeydew list stuff for an elderly person, just changing bulbs, batteries, resetting clocks and vcrs, and make someone's life happy and a few bucks on the side.

You could have four customers, and 4 hours worth of work for the mall jobs like that and make 100 easy...or they might have bigger stuff that needs to be done....heck even things like going shopping once a week for them or something like that. And you could have ongoing clients, that you did stuff like that for weekly.

You have to figure out a reasonable rate...I think 25/hour for an odd job list isn't bad, and come up with reasonable rates for other things like grass cutting or whatever.

You could do ok, and not tie up too much free time doing it either. Just doing those lights and batteries would mean so much for some of them, and help b ring a few bucks in for you.

I would not feel comfortable charging someone for work, that in my opinion, should be done volutarily as part of charity work.

I have no problem charging for my time doing work that people "want" done, but i do have a problem for things people "need" getting done. I would think church leadership shares this view.
 
Sell excess stuff you have laying around on EBay. I've made $200 profit the last two weeks selling crap I don't use anymore. Its easy and not very time consuming.
 
I'm thinking of doing math/science tutoring for HS/College, but i don't know how to break into that.

You could try Craigslist Ads offering tutoring. Make flyers for tutoring and post them on bulletin boards at a local college or university. If you have any teacher/professor friends, use them to help put you in touch with struggling students.

Wondering how far I could get selling 75% of my woodworking shop, musical instruments/gear, and other various toys...

Can you make stuff to sell at craft shows? Do you have a lathe? Maybe you can make some tap handles or mash paddles to sell to people around here.
 
Another thought about your woodworking shop...
If you have a belt sander of sorts that can be fitted with knife sharpening belts, could you offer a knife sharpening service? There's a guy that sets up at a farmer's market I go to who sharpens knives. He charged me $16 for 2 large kitchen knives and had a table full of knives and tools waiting to be sharpened. That was well over $100 he made on a Sunday morning.
 
Alright, here goes:

If you like homebrewing equipment / stuff and tinkering:

Put together a couple DIY stirplates. If you don't have the parts lying around, order them off eBay and assemble. I think that you could probably put together a couple for less than $20. Try selling locally on Craigslist first, if you don't get any takers try selling them on this website. If it works well, start putting more together using the money you made.

Have your buddies/neighbors/whomever save all their pry off amber bottles. Get six packs and case boxes from your local liquor store and spend the time soaking/scrubbing the bottles to get them clean, labels removed, packed into cases and ready to roll. A guy here sells them for $8/case.

If you are really handy/thrifty try doing the above for a keggle build. If you can get ahold of a keg and know how you can get it cut, etc. run the ad on Craigslist and see if you can get a buyer before you actually get the work done.

Once you got these things running, I could see you making a couple hundred bucks a month, no problem.

Other ideas -- sell things you have sitting around on Craigslist or eBay. I frequently buy furniture on Craigslist that is rough with good bones, paint or strip and restain it and then resell it. SWMBO and I actually really enjoy that as a Friday night project when the weather is nice. We'll put the kids to bed and repurpose a 6-drawer dresser into a TV stand. Last one I got had a leg broke off it, I sawed the other three off, converted the top drawers into shelves for Blu-ray/cable boxes and we painted the whole thing a neutral color. Paid $20 for the dresser, put about $25 into supplies and paint and sold for $240 on Craigslist.

Another buddy of mine refinishes old tools. He'll buy old penny hammer heads, ax heads, etc. on eBay or Craigslist or at estate/garage sales then fashion handles & oils them, sharpened and restore the heads and make leather covers for the axes or cases for the hammers. He typically marks up his products about 750% to 1000% of his investment and a lot of people are willing to pay a hundred bucks for a really cool restored vintage ax, for example.

I like the other ideas of handyman services. A guy in my parish works for FedEx in the afternoons and runs a handyman service in the morning during the week. Most of what he does is install appliances or ceiling fans and painting for people, though he occasionally takes on a bigger project like a bathroom remodel or something like that (he never does anything that would require a permit). If you have the tools/toys that you mentioned above I would think you are probably handy enough to make a go at something like that.

Good luck!
 
Yeah. If you can turn really nice tap handles, 25 bucks apiece would be nothing for really nice ones.

Another thought about your woodworking shop...
If you have a belt sander of sorts that can be fitted with knife sharpening belts, could you offer a knife sharpening service? There's a guy that sets up at a farmer's market I go to who sharpens knives. He charged me $16 for 2 large kitchen knives and had a table full of knives and tools waiting to be sharpened. That was well over $100 he made on a Sunday morning.

Any hand made wood items you can sell on-line or locally through craigs list is probably the best to explore. Its not work when you enjoy it.
 
I have no problem charging for my time doing work that people "want" done, but i do have a problem for things people "need" getting done. I would think church leadership shares this view.

You confused me here....according to church leadership are farmers bad people as they sell food (which people need) instead of give it away?
 
Background:
- BSChE + 8 years water treatment engineering
- 15 years hospitality experience

Are you currently working as an Engineer? Seems to me with that income level you should be able to scrap together the money pretty quickly.

Might be easier to cut down the lifestyle spending than to go out and find extra work, if its only $100/week you are chasing after.
 
You confused me here....according to church leadership are farmers bad people as they sell food (which people need) instead of give it away?

They're only bad people when producing low quality, highly modified feed and still getting government subsidies. Obviously, barley farmers don't fall into this category :)

(It's all tounge in cheek, don't take my comment serious)
 
I used to drive limos on the side for extra $. It's really easy money and the jobs are almost endless. If you look into it now you might be able to get set up for prom and wedding season, that's where the big bucks are. I was getting $160/night tip on proms when I drove the big 30', 18 passenger H2, and about $100 with the small 10 passenger lincolns. The only downside is you're giving up your weekend nights a lot of the time, but if you're considering bartending, you'll be giving them up anyway. Just some food for thought.
 
Are you currently working as an Engineer? Seems to me with that income level you should be able to scrap together the money pretty quickly.

Might be easier to cut down the lifestyle spending than to go out and find extra work, if its only $100/week you are chasing after.

yes i am working as an engineer and my wife is working as an accountant. Notice that my wife is an accountant. I'll say this one more time: my wife is an accountant. According to her, there is no money in the budget to have Grrretchen painted...so if it isn't coming out of current revenue it has to come out of new revenue...
 
No worries man. I'm married to a teacher with degrees in English and Spanish. Why do you think I hit the edit button so much on this forum?

So will we see before and after pictures of Grrretchen?
 
No worries man. I'm married to a teacher with degrees in English and Spanish. Why do you think I hit the edit button so much on this forum?

So will we see before and after pictures of Grrretchen?

I have some old before pictures. Currently the interior is completely out of her.

Since the pictures were taken, the following mechanical mods were made:
- Engine
-- refurbished 460cubic inch short block
-- bored cylinders over 0.030 "
-- Cobra Jet racing heads
-- 650 CFM holley double pumper carb
-- Edelbrock performer intake
-- rocker rollers
-- dished KB pistons
-- gaskets/seals etc.
- Transmission
-- Replaced C6 with custom AOD transmission (required complete new bellhousing)
-- wide planetary gear ratio
- Rear end
-- went from 3.05 to 3.55
- Exhaust
-- went from 2.25" to 2.5"
-- removed cats and other emission junk
-- Flowmaster low pressure muffler

Currently:
- all seats and vinyl removed and repaired -- in process of dyeing to a light cream color
- wheels removed and replaced with offset mag wheels
- all carpet removed
- restoring door panels
- replaced stereo and speakers (am/fm and cb were in it)
- removed headliner
- removed all plastic interior parts

Work to be done:
- exterior paint (duh)
- replace dash gauges with custom New Vintage dials and gauges
- replace old roof rack with new
- rechrome hardware
- put new 'wood' vinyl on
- restore brakes
- upgrade suspension with anti-roll and variable rear
- install roof mount DVD player
- install dash GPS
- window tint

Station Wagon 008.jpg


Station Wagon 006.jpg
 
On your tutoring idea. I did that a couple years ago and it was some nice money. There was/is a program that put federal money towards after school tutoring in under performing schools. There were a couple of independent companies that provided the tutoring and got permission from the different schools administration to come in and provide the service. The company hired mostly teachers from the district who wanted to moonlight but they were very happy to have me as a math tutor with my engineering background.

It was $22.50 per hour per kid. I had three kids 4 hours a week split into two two hour sessions. $270 a week and I was officially a contractor on a 1099 so I just paid the taxes at the end of the year. I think the federal program worked out to 16 sessions or 8 weeks during the semester. A little better than $2000 in the bank before taxes. It was easy and fairly rewarding work. It was pretty outstanding when one of the kids "got it" and you could see them light up and dive into a problem because they finally understood what you were teaching them.

I do not know how to put you in touch with someone that runs that program in your area but you could try to find someone in the districts central office that handles it. Might take some digging and several calls to find the right person. All the kids I worked with were 6th, 7th, and 8th grade.
 
dude, there is no return on investment on that POS. Get rid of it now for what you can get out of it and stop wasting your money. Trust me, I learned this the hard way.
 
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