[famograham]

Hi everybody

Money is getting really scary right now. Liam's turning 9 on the 16th, Christmas is coming, house insurance is over $500.00 due by Jan 10th, credit cards are high, Rudy is going to Portugal for Xmas (the trip is free, but he'll have no paycheck while there), the furnace needs $200.00 worth of oil, and we have to hook up the property to the new sewer system by year's end
($1,000-$2,000)..........and the list goes on!

SO, I need to try to bring in some cash. Rudy works full time, but only makes $11.50 an hour at the moment, which is a take home of about $750.00 every two weeks.
I'm an ebay member (100% positive feedback,with selling experience) but need product to sell, and can't figure out what would be a good seller without investment.
I thought about putting an ad in the paper offering personal assistance services...such as taking people to appointments, shopping, esthetic services, possibly meals etc. for seniors, but I'm pretty sure that there's a government program in the area for that.

May I pick your brilliant brains' for ideas??? I'm deep need right now, and panic is stunting my imagination.


Linda

[phantastica]

Child care? Probably wouldn't pay that much, but would be easy to do if you have a child at home already.

[midwife]

Government programs usually have waiting lists (at least where I live they do!). I think that sounds like a great idea, giving people rides. Also sometimes I see ad's for "mom's helpers", giving kids rides from school to sports activities. Pet sitting might be good. The woman who watches my son for me when I work gets $35/day. Childcare might be a great thing...there is a lack of providers here certainly, and while they do not get paid what they are worth, they can make some money that might help.

[kfs151]

Don't know the details (like even the web link grrr) but a friend of mine told me about a program that amazon.com runs (they're sort of the umbrella website for it). Someone will post work they need done (say transcripts typed) and how much they're willing to pay (not a ton) and then you submit that you'd be willing to do it. We were talking about it terms that if you need something fairly basic that anyone with a computer could do it would be a win-win because the work got done for not a lot of money and someone with time on their hands got paid for doing it.

I'll poke around and see if I can find the actual website for this...

[famograham]

Thanks everybody!

Kim...I'm very interested in that! I hope you do find the site!!!!

Keep 'em coming, friends!!

Linda

[ChocLabLover]

Linda do you need to work from home? Otherwise retail will definately be looking to staff up for the holidays. I actually knew someone who worked with a company who decorated malls for the Christmas season. The hours are tough, you work nights, but she was able to make some decent money after a few shifts.

[wip]

Not what you were looking for but...we have struggled with money as a family over the years and I have 2 good resources for you - Oprah's debt diet (on her website) and my personal fave a book called "All Your Worth". It is a very realistic approach. Good luck. Money woes are awful.

[AmberD]

you might check out www. craigslist .com. I'm totally addicted to the site. It has EVERYTHING. Maybe nose around the "gigs" portion. They usually have stuff ranging from giving rides to helping someone organize a messy room they have. They have a bunch of different areas, so I hope that they have something near you.

If you do go this route, be super extra special careful!!!! Especially if you're going to a strangers house to clean, or letting a stranger in your car. Let someone know exactly where you are and exactly where you're going. Have check ins with a friend once an hour or something via the phone.

Good luck!

[caroldiaz]

My husband is the only one that works as well, and he doesn't make much. I sell Avon on the side. Maybe starting a direct selling business. There are lot's of companies who don't require you to invest alot, and then you make as much as you want(you have to actually work the business though or you won't make anything).

Also, I belong to a couple of focus group companies. They pay you for your opinion, 1 or 2 hours for $40-125. You can look in your local newspaper or on sites like craigslist to find them.

Childcare might be a good option. I would do it myself, but I already have three of my own, who would leave their kid with me, lol?

Some other options you can look into are mystery shopping,
www.beyondhello.com
http://www.baiservices.com
http://www.dsgai.com
www.experienceexchange.com
These are some websites I heard are good.

I hope some of these can help you, good luck.

Carol Diaz

[kfs151]

My friend got back to me - the site is Amazon Mechanical Turk
http://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome

Let me know how it goes!