[lavatea]

What are some ways you have found to make "extra" money? I'm really trying to up our income in as many ways as possible. I also just love alternative ways of making money. Here's some things I do/have done to make money on the side.

• online surveys
• focus groups
• demonstrations
• mystery shopping
• donating plasma
• participating in a consignment sale - but this money is generally spent at the sale buying new clothes, so it's more like a trade

[Labhaoise]

Well for me, I guess the main one is babysitting, except I don't do much of that, and the people I sit for are friends, so I don't really like the idea of taking money from them (especially because I have a great time hanging out with the kids anyway!)
I guess if you were crafty as well, you could make things and sell them at a stall at the markets or something.

[Labhaoise]

Sorry to double post, but you really got me thinking now, lol. I remember watching on a "current affairs" program about people that enter all sorts of competitions, constantly and win them constantly because lots of people dont bother entering them. They won all kinds of things I think, money, whitegoods, holidays, toys etc.
Maybe you could give that a go.

[mama2riley]

A lot of my friends have had success selling things on Craig's List or ebay or just having a traditional garage sale. I think you can also "find" extra money in your budget by cutting back. We decided after only having cell phones for years to get a digital land line and get rid of the cell phones and we are saving $700 a year.

[lavatea]

I've read about people that enter all kinds of sweepstakes. I guess it wouldn't hurt to work on that.

Mama2riley, does your digital landline cover long distance? We could probably at least scale back to one cell phone if that's the case.

[mama2riley]

Yes we get coverage for all of the US, Canada, and PR. One of the drawbacks of our cell phones was that we have family in Canada and could never talk to them on the phone without paying over $1 a minute! eek! So we are very happy to be able to do that now, and don't have to worry about racking up extra minutes on a cell phone bill!

[BudgetMan]

Universities always have paid experiments. I did this a lot when I was in college and it was fun too. We would play economic games, test out teleconferencing, group theory experiments, etc.

Many people can earn money blogging too.

[FlamingPanties]

I have an unusual knack for finding gold all over the place, and I have success selling it for scrap. Sometimes I walk away with hundreds of dollars, and spent just a few on the gold. There are several tricks to it, and the biggest trick is to be the one hovering over the box of old jewelry. Most people just pass it by. Here's a site that gives specific information on finding and selling gold: Buying and selling gold for profit

What can I say other than it worked for me? It's really important to sell the gold to a refiner, because a jeweler will give you about 1/3 the price that a refiner will. I find the gold at flea markets, holiday sales, white elephant tables, etc. It's loads of fun when I haul off a lot of it.

[mcmama]

Thanks, I have done this and it is a great way to bring in cash.

[mcmama]

One question - outside of a major city, how can you find a gold refiner instead of a jeweler? google for this in my area turns up pawn shops. That can't be right.

It also turns up those mail in your gold places. Has anyone used those? Do they work? What happens if your stuff is lost?