Where & How to Find More Money....Besides Robbing a Convenience Store

Since today is INCOME TAX RETURN DAY and most of us are shaking our heads about what percentage of our income we are required to give to Uncle Sam every year, one of the topics at the forefront of most people's minds is how to make MORE MONEY!

Face it, outside of Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and George Soros, who can't use more money?

So how do you find more money?
Where do you find more money?
The possibilities are endless and all around you if you just take some time and think about it.

Now many bloggers will tell you that you can make money online quite easily by reading emails, doing surveys, being part of a research panel and that sort of thing....just click on this link and go sign up.


Yes, you can make money this way.  I don't consider this a very lucrative way to get cash.
It takes little skill but it takes A LOT of your time filling out surveys, clicking on links, reading emails.
And all the ones I've ever tried or heard of make you spend a lot of time jumping through their hoops to make anything substantial.  Some bloggers promote these ways of making money because they want you are a referral, meaning if they recruit you, they make something when you sign up through them. 

And most of these internet moneymaking deals don't pay you in cash but in gift cards.  You can't fund a 401K with a gift card...lol
And the ones that do pay out in cash don't offer you enough 'work' per month to make a difference in your bottom line.

Now I am not talking here about Mystery Shopping.  That's a whole other story from what I hear.  If you get in with the right company & you have the availability, you can make significant income.



Besides your regular job(if you have a regular job), you could get a second job....also called a side job or a side hustle.

That second job can take many forms-working at a regular business in your off hours, as a cashier at Target, waiting tables at Olive Garden, restocking shelves at Bath & Body Works, or any other of the endless possiblities out there.
This type of second job can be good in that you put in the time, collect the paycheck and go home.  Beyond the stress while you are at the job, you don't take this kind of job home with you like you may a regular job.  But usually you need to be pretty flexible and available to work the hours your boss needs.

Or that second job can be working for yourself, at your own business.  If you have a hobby, you can parlay that love of whatever it is into a business. Usually you can make money via a product or a skill.

Products
Have a love of tying flies?....sell those flies you make to flyfishing people all over the world via internet or locally at a specialty sporting goods shop or via word of mouth or Craigslist.
Do you sew or do ceramics?  Stitch or paint up some inventory of goods and hit the craft show circuit.
Love to cook?  Get a food cart and hit the county fairs & carnivals to sell refreshments to hungry fair-goers this summer.

Skills
Are you a wiz at math or can play a musical instrument?  Parlay those skills by offering tax preparation to the math challenged adult, math tutoring to school students needing extra help or offer music lessons.
Another teaching outlet is to find a local Adult Education program and offer to teach a class in a subject you are proficient in to night time learners.
If you are a cooking fool offering in-home chef dinner services to folks too busy to cook.

Another way to find money is on eBay or Craigslist or a local online Sales site.  If you have stuff you no longer need or use, go sell it and recoup some cash.  It's a win/win situation doing this.  You add to your bank account and you get clutter out of your life!

Notice I didn't say make money by selling on eBay, etc.
To actually make money on these sites is quite difficult now.  To make money you need to make a profit.  If you are selling items on eBay that are used that you bought for retail price which is higher than what you can get for them used, you are NOT making a profit on them(except in rare situations like items in such high demand that they sell used for more than they cost new at retail price).
You are making money true, but you are just recouping a portion of what you paid for it in the first place.

I think it's so deceptive(not maliciously so)when bloggers post that eBay and such are great ways to make money.  They are great ways to turn stuff into money and recoup some of what you have spent in the past.
But don't look at eBay as a way to finance your life.
Unless of course you are buying things low and can sell them on eBay for more than what you paid(on clearance at retail or for dirt cheap at a yard or estate sale, etc)...plus all the fees(eBay, auction management, Paypal, photo sites, packing supplies, paper & printer ink, etc.)you need to pay.  And don't forget that when someone pays you for the item and shipping via Paypal, the amount they send you as the part for shipping costs will NOT cover the full amount to ship, because Paypal takes a portion of those funds with the portion of the funds sent for the payment on the item.

So how have I found additional money in the past?

Since I know how to sew, I have sewn for people who can't sew.  I made gowns for a high school chorus, I did alterations on clothing for neighbors, I made costumes for a production at a dinner theatre, I served as a wardrobe mistress for a local opera company.  I was going to teach sewing lessons but that particular time it didn't pan out.  I made drapes for Industrial Shows and for a big name Shoe Designers Fashion Show in Manhattan.  Back in the '80's when the Cabbage Patch Dolls first came out,  I couldn't sew doll clothes for them fast enough to sell.

I also have some skill at painting and crafts.  I have sold painting at art shows, I have painted ceramics and sold those at craft shows, I taught art lessons to kids.  I made assorted crafty Christmas ornaments, Wreaths, Pillows, Quilts and sold them as craft shows as well.  When my Native American ceramic pieces did well I taught myself how to make intricate Dream Catchers with sinew, leather, beads and feather to augment my sales.

I have bought items and resold them on eBay for a profit, though this was a much easier thing to do about 6 years ago.  I don't recommend this to anyone nowadays unless you really know what you are doing!  You can easily lose money trying to do this now.

While in college, I matted and framed art posters for the Admissions Office, I assisted an Art Show curator in putting up an Art Exhibit, I hemmed dresses & jeans for other students, I typed research papers for a blind student, I tutored someone's Haitian nanny in reading English,  I read and sorted play submissions  & sewed costumes for the Theater Department.

Almost anyone can find something they can do, or teach or make that someone else will pay you for.

Have you had any luck turning a hobby or skill into a side job or even a career?  Leave a comment and let us know what and how you did it!

Sluggy

eBay....Yet Again.....The Fun Continues!

RE: My China/NY/CA buyer.....

He won't respond to my request for clarification about where or who he is since he seems to be in 3 places at once.
So I wrote him after waiting 48 hours for his response and told him the deal is off and he'd be getting his Paypal $$ refunded after I sent this email off.

Paypal refunded....check
Transaction canceled with eBay....check
Items relisted.....still to-do

I went and did some checking on this Buyer's activities.
He has been registered since this month on eBay.
He had bid and won(not counting the items he didn't win) 32 ITEMS between 4/11 & 4/13!
32 items....2 iPads and 30 Transformer toys.
3 days.
Over $2,500 worth of stuff.

At that point, my Fraud Radar was spinning out of control.

After I cancelled the transactions, refunded the money and blocked him from my listings I reported his 'suspicious activity' to eBay.
I doubt that eBay will do anything(as they have failed to in the past in my experience)until this clown starts throwing Chargebacks at sellers from Paypal.
At least I won't be one of them....this time!

Perhaps I need to add an "I only ship to the address listed on your Paypal payment" Term of Sale?


Excuse me now....I need to go answer some Emails to Seller from Overseas Buyers who want me to send heavy stuff internationally.  I predict their asses will promptly drop off their posteriors when I quote the shipping costs to them.

Sluggy

The Most Important Advise About Money You Will Probably Ever Read!

*Yeah, I KNOW my Post Title is a bit over the top but I DO feel that this Post information is oh so VITAL and if taken to heart could help so many people.  
I am NOT showing off just trying to impart what passes for wisdom in my world...just open up your mind and hear the message.
--slug

I am not some high finance guru.
I don't have degrees in economics or lots of designations after my name.
I don't manage oodles of money in stock portfolios that belongs to other people.
Benjamin Bernanke doesn't consult me before he makes high profile financial decisions....heck, he doesn't even consult me about which tie goes with his shirt each day.

I'm just a slob with some money who wants to hang onto as much of it as possible for as long as possible.

I read enough to be dangerous.
But I use some common sense to stay out of trouble with my money.

I am not a young thing.  I've been around the block more times than I would like to remember....and some days before the caffeine kicks in, more times than I CAN remember!

I am now going to impart onto you dear readers the single most important thing I have learned about money.
But before I do I want to explain how I came to this great revelation.

Some time in the past....waaaaaay back in my past I saw some statistics.

The statistics were about debt and how much debt people at different income levels carried.
Now in my simplistic way of thinking you would reason that as your income went up the amount of your debt would go down.

Person A who makes $20K a yr. would need to carry a 30% debt load to live a modest life since they don't make alot of money.

So if Person A made $50K a yr. they wouldn't need as much debt since they have more money to pay for things.

Right?

The statistics didn't bear this out!

The Person with the larger income had a greater debt load than the Person with the smaller income.
Seems that as the income rose, the amount of debt the person carried increased as well.

What was happening here was that....as a person made more money, they increased their standard of living.  Even though Person A could live on what they made at their higher income level, without the debt load when they made less, they chose to increase their spending when they made more money and keep the debt component and even INCREASE it!
Instead of continuing at the same standard of living after the raise in income and throwing the additional money at the debt and eliminating it, they chose to expand their standard of living beyond what their higher income could handle.

This is something I don't comprehend.

If you have a standard of living that is fine.....you have shelter, food, clothing, etc.  Sometimes you have to have a reasonable level of debt in order to pay for this standard of living(mortgage, car payment, credit card debt, etc.)if your income is not sufficient.

Then you raise your income level.
And instead of keeping your same standard of living--which was just fine and dandy and do-able before-- and eliminating your debt with your increased wealth you choose to upgrade the things in your life and keep your debt.
And the statistics show most people not only keep the debt but choose to increase that debt!
In the statistics, the higher the income the MORE debt that person had!!

Now here is MY alternative to this usual American income/debt scenario.

You have an adequate income to provide for your needs plus some debt to maintain that standard of living.
Then you get a raise in income(promotion at work, new job with a higher pay, etc.).
Instead of raising your standard of living with that higher income, use it to eliminate your debt.

Do this every time you get a raise in income until you have no debt left.

After you have no debt feel free to take a little of that higher income and upgrade your life.
Buy a better car.
Buy a bigger house.
Take a trip.
Eat more expensive food.
Buy clothes from the fancy pant stores.
Etc., etc. etc....
But do NOT do this until you pay off your debts!
And more importantly, you do NOT go into debt to pay for these upgrades!

Of course, you'll spend CASH to do/buy all these things because you have left the debt lifestyle behind at this point!

And you won't spend ALL that extra income when it comes around!
No, no, no.

You will save some of it for emergencies.
Because sooner or later an emergency will happen in your life and you don't want to go back into debt because of it!

So this is my Earth Shattering, Ground Breaking Revolution about money......

***When you get a raise in income, do NOT arbitrarily increase your Standard of Living!***


This is what DH and I have done since we married in 1982 & he began his career in 1984.

We lived modestly.
When a raise came we paid off debt.
When the debt was all gone, we saved for emergencies.
After we built enough of a money cushion, we splurged a bit here and there.

Now it was not all smooth sailing.
There were bumps along the road.....emergencies......times we got off track and forgot to save and spent too much.
But we got back on course as soon as we came to our senses.

Was it easy?
Not really.
Especially when all your family, friends and neighbors were buying shiny new cars, bigger houses, fancy toys, exotic trips, and on and on.
It is hard being the one who doesn't have the new toys...at first.
But once you decide not to care what other people think of you and how you live, it gets easier.

And where has this way of living for the last 26 years gotten us?

We were able to pay off 2 student loans in 5 years after DH finished his Master's degree.
We were able to have me be a stay-at-home mom since 1991.
We haven't had a car payment since 1998.
We haven't paid interest on a credit card since 2000.
We have had a paid off house since 2007.
We are cash-flowing college tuition for 3 kids over the next 8 years.
We have contributed every month, since 1984, to our retirement accounts and will continue to do so until the job goes away or DH retires.

If you are toward the beginning of your working life, think very carefully about where you want to be in 30 or 40 years.  What you do with your money now is going to impact not only your life now but the life you hope to have in the future.
You can spend MORE THAN YOU MAKE and over the next 30 or 40 years use your money to pay debt on a lifestyle you can't afford or you can life more simply with cash over those years and have enough saved to take care of yourself in your 'golden years'.

Now go out into the world and use my Great Advice to your advantage!

Sluggy

Stockpile Cleaning can be Hazardous to Your Health

So after almost 2 weeks of doctoring, my shoulder is finely feeling back to normal.  I guess it was a bout of bursitis like the doc suspected.  I hope to heck I never have bursitis again!!
Not.
Fun.

And I hear you asking, just what did I do to bring on this painful malady?
I'll tell you.
It all started while I was decluttering and working on the stockpile in the garage.
Yes dear friends, couponing can be hazardous to your health! ;-)

With the assistance of hubby and surly teens(well, not so much their help!), I have made some headway on both projects using only my left arm.

Here are some things I have pulled from the stockpiles and am sending from my house either via freecycle &/or food bank donation....

There is another couple of boxes of food in the trunk I have to get photos of as well before I drop them off.

I didn't take but 1 before photo in the garage.....

Now, after 2 weeks, here is what this area looks like with everything put away and some things pulled out to donate......

And the shelf next to it.....

I moved all the pasta from the top of the shelf into the pantry in the kitchen onto the top shelf there.  I had been storing condiments/marinades/spices/and other small jarred items up there but with it being so out of sight, it was hard to find these small items up there if they weren't right in front.  That space is much better stoarge for large boxes of noodles....

The Wacky Mac, Egg Noodles and Ramen are still all out in the garage stockpile since there isn't enough room in the pantry if I want that noodle shelf organized.  I could jam it all up there but then I'd have "can't find it" syndrome again.

I got the soap/cleaners closet in the garage some what organized now too....

And the Big shelves are looking a tad less disheveled....

Top Shelf--Crackers, Cold Cereal, Rice
3rd Shelf--Sauces/Marinades, Ramen/Wacky mac, Bread Crumbs, Stock/Broth, Canned Beans, Canned Pasta, Popcorn, Pudding

2nd Shelf--Pasta Sauce, Fruit, Tomato products, Chili, Hash, Jelly, Peanut Butter
1st Shelf--Salad Dressings, more Fruit, Mustard, Ketchup, Mayo, Oils

Bottom Shelf--juice boxes, Seltzer Water, Vitamin Water, Juice bottles
In front is some overflow of Pasta Sauce, Ketchup and Applesauce.  I don't know why a bottle of Olive Oil is down there.....the kids doing probably!lol

And here is another set of shelves with lightweight items....

Top Shelf--more Cold Cereal
3rd Shelf--beverage central(tea bags, coffee, and some jello overflow)

2nd Shelf--Hot Cocoa, Oatmeals, biscuit mix, Jello, taco shells & 1 can of beer(DH didn't want-will use for fondue or rarebit)
1st Shelf--Bisquick, boxed potatoes, Nutri-Grain Bars, cracker overflow

I still have a second massive shelving unit to work on after I go through and purge more items for donation.  I'm hoping to get that done sometime this week.
Here's a tiny preview of that mess.....

It was neat and tidy at one time but then we just started piling stuff on top.
Ugh.

So now can you understand why I haven't been to the grocery store in 2 weeks and why I am in no hurry to make a trip there still??

Sluggy

eBay....Again....WWYD?

So I sold 2 items to some guy on eBay.  He contacted me twice to get an Invoice.....the 1st time he said ship to China, the 2nd time he said ship to somewhere in NY.
So he pays me and the Paypal page says the shipping address & the place I should ship these items is CA!

Now if I don't ship to the CA address(User is telling me to ship to the NY address and the shipping quote is for that location), and then this guy turns out to be a scammer and does a chargeback on me through his cc company, I have NO Seller protection through eBay.  This means he gets my items, I get the payment yanked by eBay from my account PLUS a chargeback fee eBay will charge me and I will have no recourse....I lose my items, I don't get paid for them plus I lose $10 of my own money.
(I was part of a serial scammers game a few years ago.  He bought lots of things off of lots of sellers and a month later told his bank he didn't buy any of the items and the bank & eBay yanked all the payments through Paypal. At least this guy's shipping address and Paypal address matched up so I did end up getting the chargeback reversed and my payment back.)

And this User just joined eBay on April 9th, bought some thing from someone else on April 11th, so they have no track record for me to refer to or take comfort in the fact that they have a history as an upstanding eBay member.

So if I decide this isn't worth the potential trouble and I cancel the transaction and refund his money, I can get back the $ eBay/Paypal take for letting me sell it.  I will be out .40¢ for the listing fees and then this guy can leave me negative feedback.

I wouldn't be so concerned if this was a $10 item, but it's just shy of $100 worth of stuff!  So my scammer radar went off...lol

So.....what would you do if you were me?

Sluggy