February 4th, 2010
Earn Extra Money– In A Weekend!
In order to balance your budget, you’ve stopped eating out as much, started using public transportation to commute, made your home more energy-efficient, and trimmed your household expenses down to the bone. But as unemployment remains high, credit becoming scarcer, and the overall instability of the economy has persuaded more people to cut down spending, there is another, often overlooked way to fatten up your finances: make money.
With a multitude of “how to earn money” blog posts out there, this one is focused on ways to earn extra money quickly without too much commitment and in one weekend. Of course, you just might get hooked on the extra cash flow and keep it up every Saturday and Sunday from now on.
- Work a temporary job – Check out your local craigslist for any odd jobs or gigs in your area that can earn you money in just a few hours. People post babysitting gigs, event set-up, gardening or household services, and other one-time tasks that typically compensate fairly. Depending on whether you like to do manual labor like moving boxes or creative gigs like cooking a gourmet dinner, something is bound to fit your skill set. [Please be alert and watchful when it comes to sites like craigslist; safety is always a bigger priority than making money, so take the utmost precaution].
- Sell your stuff– There is likely to be something in your home that is in good condition or unused and has relative worth. Whether its old records, baseball cards, Beanie Babies, or stamps, spend a day listing it on eBay and you’ll get sales over the next few weeks. Or with spring cleaning around the corner, clean out your closet and take unwanted items to a consignment store like Goodwill or Crossroads Trading Co. Take a moment to do a mental checklist of what you can put up for sale. If you have a lot of knick knacks around the house, have a garage sale. If you have a plethora of leftover textbooks from college or don’t mind selling from your personal library, take an afternoon to go online to a book-selling site like eBay’s Half.com and list your books, or drop it off at a local second-hand bookstore.
- Do online surveys – If you are online often enough, you might as well get paid for it. Spend a few hours participating in an online survey and you’ll have your opinion counted and earn a few bucks too. Check out Free Paid Surveys or Opinion Place. Another, more in-person version of this is to do focus groups, which you can check out at FindFocusGroups.
- Make money on a hobby – Bake, take pictures, or love writing? You could spend a weekend making money on what you love to do most. Have a bake sale at your local church or community center, sell your photos to stock agencies like Shutterstock.com where you earn 25 cents every time someone downloads your photo, or do some freelance writing at Elance.com.
Think to yourself, what are you doing this weekend and can it earn you money like these ways can? Take up the challenge to cancel your weekend plans, pick one of the following suggestions, and see how you like a little extra money in your wallet come Monday.
