One Snarky Chica with Issues

If you are like me and have a lot of debt that you need to pay off then you have probably already realized the key to overcoming that debt. You simply must spend less than you make. If you do not, you will never be able to get out from under all of that debt.

If you have a full-time job and can’t seem to get another that pays you any more do not get a feeling of despair. All hope is not lost. In fact, you can make money in your free time. Actually, that is how I got started with my online ventures that now earn me full time income each month.

CNN did an article on how to make extra money in your free time today.  I want to point it out as there are things on there that you do not hear very often that might be of interest to some people.

Like joining a focus group. I often see those little ads in the back of the LA Weekly. It seems like you can get paid quite a lot if you qualify for some of those focus groups. I knew someone once that managed to get into a focus group on television shows. Each week she got paid to watch tv for 2 hours AND she got dinner for free! The article suggests checking Craigslist for these types of opportunities.

Blogging is also listed in the article. I can attest to the fact that you can make money with blogs. However, the key piece of info that is missing from the article is the amount of work involved. Do not be mislead  into thinking you can get a free Blogger account and post in random spurts and wait for the riches to roll your way. So, yes you can make money blogging, but do not be fooled into thinking it is easy work.

Purge your life of excess. Yes, you can make hella cash getting rid of stuff on eBay and Craigslist. But does that really count? I mean, you are just basically getting rid of clutter and/or junk. And once it is all gone, well, that revenue stream will be dry.

Etsy is not a site that I personally have used to make money but I read enough about people doing so to know you can. I’m not sure how much money you can make from Etsy. However, I suspect it is relative to the amount of time that you put into it.

Shop & sell is another thing the article advised. I categorize that under “risky.” I would only buy things that can be returned. Otherwise you could end up spending money on things you can’t sell. The result is that you get stuck with more clutter or you sell at a loss. Either way those are bad outcomes. A while ago I was buying stuff from Tuesday Morning and sell it on eBay for profit. You can return items there, so things that did not sell got returned. The key here is anticipating what people will want. It’s harder than it seems.

Pet sitting. The whole pet industry in general seems like a great place to start when looking for extra income ideas.  And if you like pets anyway, this is proabably a pretty good gig.

I would add to the list things like looking on Craigslist for freelance opportunities. If you have skills in things like writing, accounting, tutoring, etc. then you can probably make money off those skills. If you have anything that you do to make money in your free time that is not on the list, feel free to share!