I grade reading and writing tests at home online. Pay is $15 - $38 an hour depending on the test and the company. They also hire for other subjects including math and science sometimes.
As a student and now a staff member at a large research university, I’ve occasionally been a research participant in studies. It’s a little extra cash for a small investment in time, and it’s neat to see how the studies work. I did a pedometer study that basically paid me for the running I would have been doing that evening anyway.
Come on people! I opened this thread solely to read stories about good-looking men and women who worked as exotic dancers when they were in college, at their first jobs, etc. While it’s nice to read about everyday jobs, I want to read about funny stories where the exotic dancer runs into his/her boss at the strip joint, and whether they can run for public office in the future. There have only been a couple of good posts; post the good stuff already. Sheesh!!
I’ve thought about the plasma thing, but I was told by an employee of the local blood bank they don’t take plasma donations from women.
I’m doing some IT consulting on the side, and I expect to make an extra $50k in 2013 from this job.
Look, a zombie thread!
I’ve worked evening shifts at the local convenience store, restaurant, pizza place, and local mall. I was easily able to pick up extra hours if, say, I was on vacation from my FT job or had a day off.
I’ve also house-sat, walked dogs, and made cookies/cupcakes for a nearby takeout place.
Did the person say why? Back in my plasma-selling days, there were definitely women hooked up in there.
I asked about this at the blood center where I donate, and IIRC the nurse said there was a study a few years ago that showed if you’d been pregnant, there was a greater likelihood your blood or plasma would set off some respiratory problem in some sub-set of the population. I can’t recall now if the sub-set was immuno-compromised people but I think that might have been it.
There’s a “have you ever been pregnant” question on the pre-donation questionnaire these days.
Didn’t get a clear explanation from her.
BTW, I’ve never been pregnant, so shouldn’t pose problems to a recipient, and my blood type is AB. You’d think they’d want that.
I didn’t realize this was a zombie - it’s all still perfectly useful information for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet (like me).
I second the notary suggestion. It’s not a “from home” job because you have to go out and go to people’s houses but you make appointments with them so you would decide when you worked. When my husband and I were buying our house the one that came to notarize the ridiculous amount of paperwork we had was suggesting I get into it. He implied it was very decent money for what is really not that much work.
I worked for a while as a merchandiser for Hallmark. That was great because you could choose how many stores you wanted to do and when you went in so if you had another job it would be easy to work around it. You have a little hand-held scanner assigned to you and you scan a barcode on the “flapper” below one of the sections. (the lower third of the card racks open up to where all the spare cards are stored.) Go to the storeroom and pick up your cards, then spend an hour or two putting the new cards in their slots and straightening out the misplaced ones, reordering new ones (via the scanner) sorting out the damaged cards. (You would not believe what people do to cards. I’ve seen people spit out their gum into a card and put it back on the rack. The funniest is someone picked a card. Wrote a message in pencil, erased it and put it back on the rack - LOL!) Then you take all your trash to the compactor and scan out. You put the scanner into a special dock (they give you) at home and transmit all the info. I loved being able to pick and choose when I wanted to work and how I essentially had no co-workers. I was friendly with a couple store receivers but some I never even met. The downside of this job is Christmastime is a NIGHTMARE and you need to have extra time for it. (Though you have to do your Xmas cards within a couple days after Thanksgiving which most regular jobs give you off.) One store I worked with a very large display took me 8 hours to set up. Also once I’d stupidly left my purse open in the cart seat and someone casually yoinked my wallet and by the time I noticed and was able to get home and call and cancel the card the thief had managed to buy a couple hundred dollars worth of BART tickets and multiple rolls of quarters from a machine at a nearby laundromat.
I had a friend who got herself into a super pickle with her credit cards and actually did the phone sex thing and from what she’s told me I do NOT recommend it.
Yet another former plasma junkie here. The center was just a few blocks from my apartment in college, so I happily sat in a chair and did my homework while they sucked out my precious bodily fluids on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fifty bucks a week bought plenty of cheap beer and pizza, and I eventually enjoyed it actually.
I’ve also worked night shift at UPS and FedEx, but those were more last-ditch efforts to stay out of the poorhouse than ways to pick up extra spending money. I’d only do that again if I really needed the money.
My friend started a group on Facebook where people from our area can buy and sell kids’ toys and clothes (and some household items) for cheap. I got into the group because I have nieces and a playroom, so I have toys.
Since all my friends are working parents, they don’t have time to take pictures of their stuff and be home to sell it. So I have been taking their stuff, doing photo shoots, posting it, and selling it during the day while I’m at home (I work from home). I take 50% and my friends are happy because they get rid of stuff and make money that wouldn’t have come if they’d donated the stuff to charity.
So basically I’m in the baby junk trade.
These days, any extra cash comes from the occasional music performance gig.
When I was younger in high school/college, I worked lots of odd jobs as part-time or as one time events: yard work, shoveling horse turds, research surveys, restaurant work, cleaning houses, clerical office work, running errands, tutoring in math, music lessons, car repair, and tube amplifier restoration.
I don’t care if this is a zombie thread - it’s still a good one.
Lets see, I have:
- Sold my sketches (Never made much money with this - my best year was $280).
- Maintained a small website using HTML.
Most of my work these days is part-time or “one-off” jobs.
Working as a Bouncer on the weekends is my “steady” job and I do PC repair, builds, upgrades and training fairly regularly. I’ve done food delivery and/or commercial kitchen work a few times, tended bar, waited tables, house, pet and baby sat, post-hurricane demolition of flooded homes, learning assistant for disabled students, filled in for a vacationing security guard at a construction site, took notes at community support groups for traumatic brain injuries that were submitted to the NJ fund for same so as to better address the needs of the affected, written papers and done on-line school projects.
I’ve done a few more unsavory/immoral/illegal things as well but I’ve grown out of any desire for that sort of work.
Basically, if someone is willing to pay me, I’ll probably take the job. I’m a whore…not cheap, but I can be had.
I’ve recently started participating in an online forum for pay. It is weird. Industry specific, I was approached and offered this “job”. A couple times a week I log in and basically comment in threads that are pre existing. Some of the other “participants” appear to be industry shills, while others are people like me. There are also surveys.
I get paid a decent amount, in the form of Amazon certificates. They spend like cash. It is a bit skeevy; I feel odd doing it. But I’m making around $45 an hour and am not about to rock the boat.