In times like these with high gas prices, high oil prices, increased food costs – you name it – many people are turning to other ways to earn extra cash. Whether it be with a traditional part time job, selling possessions, or what have you, many people are trying to earn extra cash to pay their higher bills.
So, spill. What do you do?
In the wintertime, I plow for extra cash. Most times, it pays the heating bill for the season, or most of it, anyway. In the summer, I do tractor work or odd repair jobs.
My old roommate left a bunch of her shit behind when she moved. I don’t want it and she didn’t want it so I am selling it on eBay. So far it is doing well but it isn’t enough (I left my old job that was full of evil for a lower paying job that is less evil, but now I need to find more creative ways to make ends meet.) I’m currently looking for a roommate to take my spare room and that will make quite a difference financially.
I write articles for subject specific encyclopedias (Encyc. of Labor History, Encyc. of Right Wing/Left Wing Political Movements, Encyc. of Espionage, etc.). The pay can range from a “not worth your while” $25 for 1000 words or as high as $500 for 3,000 words, depending on the publisher. Massa’s degree required, but it can be in pretty much anything so long as it’s tangentially relevant; slow pay though- usually it’s a few months before the check arrives.
Me an’ this buddy of mine are makin’ a killin’. We’ve been picking up road-kill armadillos around here and also been trapping a few others when we can.
We cut those suckers in half longways, cook 'em up real steamy and all that. Then we sell ‘em to the Alabama football fans in Tuscaloosa as “Possum on the Half-Shell”. We sell out over there every football Saturday, sho’ 'nuff do.
Day job is owning a couple of newspapers. Simple enough.
I also, on the side, run a computer game newsletter, teach journalism at the community college, consult on business development at the local Small Business Development Council, write free lance for the Washington Post Group and once in the Wall Street Journal.
Oh, and I just got signed to do technology consulting for a Native American healthcare training program in South Dakota starting in December, likely.
I teach drawing classes. Also do freelance graphic design which has kind of dried up a little now for me.
My full-time job is not creative and sucks the life out of me. My goal is to switch them around. Creative full-time; my full-time job would be “ok” part-time as an extra.
I’ll probably run out of time though and “retire” first and continue to do creative stuff as a supplement. I’ll always be involved in creative endeavors whether or not any $$$ come in because of it or not.
I haven’t had to consider additional employment yet, but some of my neighbors are making ends meet by siphoning gas out of their neighbor’s tanks.
When the time comes, I’ll try for some freelance editing work.
I watch children, watch houses, watch pets. I’ll clean your house and help you move. I’ll type and teach you to use your computer. If you tell me you need something done and I’m wililng to do it and get paid, I’ll do it.
I cashed a cheque this week for 48 hours of overtime.
Sometimes I pick up a bit of design work…
I am working on a web-based specialty image-processing service with a very small geek niche appeal. I hope to be able to train my wife to share the day-to-day labour for some extra income during her maternity leave. (Never gonna happen in time, with all the overtime.)
I test backflow preventers and conduct the occasional cross-connection survey. It also happens to be part of my day job, but I do it in a different city on the side.
There’s a security product from IBM called RACF, it’s widely used but only on mainframes. Somehow I’ve been labelled an expert on it with a number of consulting companies, so every few weeks or so I get called for an assignment to do some RACF work. It usually takes me only a few hours to complete, since I have already developed many tools and code. But since I bill this work at $45 an hour it’s not bad.
I work at a bar a few nights a week, I work for a woman who does tarot readings, basically a bouncer when she has new customers, I fix broken windows, locks, and cabinets. I rescreen torn screens and other minor carpentry things.
The biggest is doing kitchen and bath design on the side though. This is all in addition to my 45-60 hour a week day job.
