Make Extra Money - Six Unusual Ways

By: Steven Gillman
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:16:08
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher | Social Bookmarking
Rating:
 

I was young and wanted some way to make extra money - something other than another fast food job. A friend of the family owned a small insurance agency. The owner decided to get into the business of process serving, and I applied for the job. Tracking people down and handing them their court subpoenas sounded like fun.

It was more interesting than most of the jobs I have had. I had to find two defendants in a lawsuit stemming from a school football injury (they worked for the school). Both had moved to the area, leaving no forwarding address. After using my best phone pretexts to get information from the family, and doing a little investigating locally, I found them both working in the same place.

I walked up to each, asked their name and handed them the papers. They were served. The problem was that the company was billing by the hour, and I had found these two quickly, meaning little profit. They dropped the idea for the new service, and dropped my job along with it. So much for getting ahead by doing a good job.

I had a wide variety of unusual jobs and other ways to make extra money when I was younger. Sitting here reminiscing at the keyboard might be considered an unusual way to make money too, but hey, it works. Here are some of the other ways.

Make Extra Money By...

Stealing cars: At twenty-one I was willing to try almost anything to make extra money. My brother's towing business got a contract to repossess cars, and I became a "repo man." Prowling the night with my brother, looking for and legally "stealing" cars - this was fun. Don't expect to make too much money doing this though, unless you live in the right area. Oh, and it did involve getting chased, having a gun pulled on us, and other little adventures.

Making walking sticks: I sold hundreds of my own handmade walking stick alongside our other items at flea markets. I added handgrips made from recycled leather jackets, so they cost about 50 cents to make. I sold them for anywhere between $6 to $26. You may also want to make a hobby into a way to make money, but there isn't too much money involved most of the time.

Financing other peoples plans. I put up the cash to buy cars for a couple friends. They knew cars, I had cash. A friend needed $3200 to buy and fix a corvette, for example, and two weeks later sold it for $4200, netting us $500 profit each. Letting your money do the work to make extra money - this is one of the best ways.

Rent rooms. At one point I had almost $10,000 per year coming in from renting the rooms in my home. I owed nothing on the home at this point, so this was a nice income. I had decent renters, and I had built a efficiency apartment on the back of the place for privacy for my wife and I. Easy ways like this are my favorite ways to make extra money.

Steve Gillman has studied unusual ways to make money for thirty years. To learn more, visit his website, Unusual Ways To Make Money: http://www.UnusualWaysToMakeMoney.com

Article source: Expert Articles

Most Recent Articles in Personal Finance category

  • Tips And Options For Packing And Storage - By: Saith James
    It might be that you are concerned about your stuff. You need to pack and move it to a storage facility. Now you can say good bye to all your packing and moving concerns for you will find great tips here to guide you through this difficult process and make the experience fun and hassle free.
  • 10 Healthy habits of wealthy women - By: Melvin Bulan
    Many people have this misconception that those who are wealthy cannot have healthy habits. But it is not true. Often people feel that if you have money, you would have the habit of spending extravagantly and not saving even a single penny. However, it is not actually correct. One can stay wealthy and yet form this habit of saving which definitely a healthy habit.
  • Getting Your Finances Back on Track - By: Gregg Camp
    With so many people struggling to make ends meet in our current economic situation, it is more important than ever to take the time to inspect your finances to make sure that your money is being spent where it's needed.
  • Debt: Fifteen Amazingly Simple Ways To Reduce Debt - By: Margaret Rogers
    Do you find yourself in debt but not really conscious of how you got there or how you can get out of debt. We found ourselves in the same position and these are some of the steps we took to get back on the road to recovery. Here are some simple easily manageable ways to start the journey to financial freedom.
  • 7 Tips to Control Un-necessary Shopping - By: Melvin Bulan
    Recent studies have shown that almost 20 percent of the working people are in some kind of financial debt. The situation is very serious in the United States.
  • Getting the Best Home Mortgage Loan - By: Cristian Stan
    Any family would surely love to have a house which they can transform into a happy nest of a home later on. Aside from this want, a shelter that a home can give is the one of the first basic needs of man, according to Maslow's Hierarchy of needs.
  • Quick Cash from Payday Loans - By: Cristian Stan
    When you are in between big problems which seem like boulders trying to squish you, you must be working so hard to get out of these and get yourself out to safety. This situation may certainly happen when you are knee-deep in financial crisis yet you do not want other people to know about this.
  • Take Time for a Credit Self Check - By: Mark Zuckerberg
    Merchants, banks, employers, insurance companies: in today's economy, they're all busy reducing their risk. One way they do that is to run a credit check before lending you money, hiring you or even before selling you insurance for your car or your health. But while the institutions and companies are being pro-active in protecting themselves, you too can be pro-active by regularly performing credit checks on yourself. Just as breast self-exams are recommended for early detection of cancer, credit self-exams can discover threats to your credit in time to prevent serious problems.
  • Tips for What You Can Do to Regain Control of Your Debt - By: Mark Zuckerberg
    Debt counseling, debt management, debt settlement, bankruptcy—so many options, so little time. You don't know where to turn. What you do know is you need help. If you go to one of these companies, what will that do to your credit report? How much does it cost? Are you better off dealing with your creditors by yourself? As a board-certified consumer bankruptcy specialist in Indiana, I help clients find solutions. Sometimes bankruptcy is not the best choice in a given situation, so it's important for me to refer people to places they can get the help they need.
  • Organizing Your Finances - By: Geoff Springbaum
    If you're looking for debt settlement, one great place to start is with your own finances. Getting your finances organized is a key step in getting yourself on the road to financial freedom.