We’ve had two days full of income creating ideas. Are you looking for even more ways to make extra money? Good, let’s get started!
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Budgeting – Income Vs. Cutting Back
Budgeting your money each month boils down to making sure that there is more coming in than going out. If you have more money going out each month than you have coming in, you really have just two options:
1) cut back on your spending, or what’s going out; or
2) generate extra income.
If you’ve already cut back spending, here are 5 simple ways you can make a little extra money to balance your budget.
Sell On eBay Or Craigs List
Two well known options today are selling items on eBay and Craigslist. Both work a little bit differently, but essentially you’re doing the same thing. The easiest way to get started is to search around the house for unused items. As you would with a garage sale, just price the item at a fair price and list it for sale. If you want to get a little more advanced, you can shop around for good deals and resell lower priced items you’ve purchased for closer to their retail price.
Buy Groceries Low And Sell High
Many of you have heard about playing the Grocery Game. Basically it’s a way to buy groceries at cheap prices using the Grocery Game lists in addition to manufacturer coupons. Surprisingly, I recently heard of someone turning the game into a business model. Rather than focus on the cost cutting aspect for their own budget, they focused on the resale of the products at cheaper than retail prices. The idea was to use the lists to buy low and sell higher with hosting their own grocery garage sales.
Become An Expert At Something
Most people have a talent or skill they have a lot of passion about. If you’re interested in taking the skill to the next level, you can perhaps market it as a service to people. For example, let’s say you’re interested in personal finance and you’re good with managing money. Or perhaps you just have a strong passion for it. You could initially volunteer your time as a financial coach to help others get their finances in order. You might then choose to turn your volunteer efforts into a business by offering fee based coaching, speaking engagements and run your own website. The possibilities are endless here.
Become A Computer Wizard
With it becoming practically impossible to survive in business (and now home) without knowing computer basics, there is a real need for people who can train the essential skills. There are some companies around who have built their entire business model on providing basic computer services for people at home. But if you’re good in this area, there isn’t any reason you couldn’t market yourself as a consultant or technologist who helps people with their computers. With the right skills and motivation you can get started at a relatively low cost.
Sell Clothes On Consignment
My wife has become quite the expert in buying and selling clothes on consignment.
On the cost savings side, she dresses our children in extremely nice clothes of which most of them have been purchased from consignment. She finds many designer brands that have hardly been worn and buys them at extremely large discounts. On the money making side, she often drops off clothes for sale that our kids have outgrown. Sometimes we just give things away, but she has made some extra money on nicer items she’s chosen to resell.
Well, I hope these 5 ideas have stimulated your thinking and creativity. Making extra money is mostly about the effort you’re willing to put forth into something. If you’re serious about it, or have enough motivation behind it (like making money to pay off debt); you can definitely find ways to increase your income!
What do you think about these 5 money making possibilities? Which one do you like the best? Do you have your own ideas for creating income? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
Awesome post…. A lot of talk about making extra $$$ right now. I have cut my expenses right down and am successfully growing my online business…. This is going to be a good year I hope.
The grocery resale is a very interesting one!
Thanks,
Forest.
Forest´s last post ..Get Over The Fear Of Cooking At Home…
Yes, the Grocery Game is an interesting one, isn’t it? I heard about this and thought why not. I suppose you could do it and make some extra money grocery garage sale style!
There are so many ways to make extra money, delivering pizza is one of my favorites. It is easy, the shifts are usually short, you get to drive around all night, and the money can be pretty solid.
Love the first tip Jason, simply budgeting existing income will allow people to reclaim hundreds of dollars that seemed to be flying out the window before.
Matt Jabs´s last post ..SEP IRA Contribution Question: AJ Answered
Matt, I think the pizza idea is a good one too! Doing all that driving around could be education too. Great time listen to books, podcasts, etc. Work, make money and learn!
This is a great series being presented here. Wonderful and creative ideas. I can remember when we were working our way out of debt searching for a way to earn extra money. Working a 9 to 5 with two kids and a husband who worked evenings, I just couldn’t fit anything else in the schedule. Once the kids are a little older, maybe :-)
Patrenia, I can relate. With two young children at home it’s hard to find time for anything else. But, maybe the kids could help with a garage sale or getting items ready for eBay, etc. There’s always a way to make extra money with the willingness to work at it. :)
Chances are, you already are an expert at something! We all have some sort of God-given talent. Its just a matter of manifesting it into something that other people will pay money for.
David/Yourfinances101´s last post ..Don’t Be a Mule: Auto Repair
Well said, David. We all have God given talents that could be used to help others and provide a source of income.
Thought I’d give a success story if people think consignment shops may not work for them. I used to have a thing for designer shoes (in my carefree days of high living off of credit cards). There were many pairs that I sold on eBay for about $800, but they were mostly unworn Jimmy Choos. I had a few other pairs that were equally lovely but I couldn’t get any interest on eBay, so I took them to a local consignment shop that only deals in high end merchandise. Out of the 8 items I’ve taken in, so far, I’ve made $250. I didn’t expect to make as much as I did on the other sale because all of these shoes were worn and weren’t quite as high end as Jimmy Choo. But it was a great alternative. I’m really happy with the service and results I’ve gotten.
Danielle´s last post ..TFL, Blogher and Business Lady
Hey Danielle, thanks so much for sharing that story. You’re right. Selling on consignment does work. As I mentioned my wife has done quite well with this. Thanks for adding some additional value here with your example.
Hey Jason everything is good that you are saying,but I struggling right now I have been laid off my job have a son in college my savings is very low don’t know what to do or if I will be able too keep my son in college don’t know where to go from here
My husband and I have turned my hobby of making hair bows for girls into a business. I think if you have a hobby with the potential of making some side money that it is worth it to anyone to look at starting up a small business. There’s nothing wrong with doing something you love.
Hair Bow Girl, that’s really cool. I suppose that’s similar (but could be differnet) to using your talents. Why not find a hobby or something you really enjoy doing and market a product or service. Thanks for sharing this example.
I have been wanting to start this business for some time now. Getting things from Craigslist free stuff and sell them like an online thrift store. Or taking people’s request and look for the items even posting items for sale at a 10% charge only if it sales. I named we got you 24/7.
How would I go about to get funded or maybe patent it.
I would like to sell A some old TVs