Nearly everyone gets into this situation at some point. Crazy ideas may pop into your mind. You think about selling a kidney, but that sounds really painful, and you don't have a black market organ donor in your Snapchat contacts. You could put Grandma on the corner to turn tricks. She's got dementia, she wouldn't remember, anyhow. But that's mean... and she was the Grandma that always made you cinnamon toast as a kid, you don't want to do that to her. You could start selling crack, but, let's face it, you're not as street as you pretend to be when you sing along to old gangsta rap songs, and Biggie and Tupac got shot. You don't want that. You need a LEGIT way to put a little bit of cash in your pocket TODAY.
Here are some real ideas...
1. Get cash a advance on your credit card. Yes, you have to pay it back, it's a loan, usually with hefty interest. But it might be necessary of you're really in a bind.
2. Draw money out of a line of credit you already have set up. Again, this is actually a loan, and you have to pay it back, with interest. But it can help in tough times.
3. Go to your bank, talk to the manager, and ask for a line of credit that you can draw on today. If you've been banking there a while, and are in good standing, it's likely you may qualify for a line of credit. Again, this is a loan, and you have to pay it back, with interest, over time.
4. Sell something you have laying around to a friend, family member, or neighbor.
5. Sell something you have laying around on Craigslist. Yes, we've all heard bad stories about Craigslist. But those are rare. Use your head, take a friend to the meet up, meet in a public place that has video. You can even meet in front of the local police station. Be safe, but it works. I've done this many times myself.
6. Sell something you have laying around on an app like Let Go, Wallapop, or a similar apps. Same thing, be safe, you know the drill
7. Cash in a jar of change you have. Coinstar machines take a HUGE cut, nearly 12%, but they're convenient. There are similar machines, with no fee, at most bank offices now, and the money goes right into your account. If you roll up coins, old school style, you may be able to sell them to a local store. Hint: If you actually use money, like real, old fashioned paper money, to buy things on a regular basis, take the change left over and put it in a jar somewhere. We tend to forget about these things, until we really need them. See that change in the photo above? Guess where it came from. That's right, my "change for a rainy (or broke) day" jar.
8. Cash in recyclables. Here in California, these add up pretty quick. Most other states they don't have the same deposit they do here, but aluminum cans are always worth a little.
9. Pawn something of value (power tools, jewelry, musical instruments, guns, bicycles, your kid sister, etc.) at a pawn shop. Pawning something is a way of getting a short term loan. The pawn shop gives you a tiny loan, usually about 10% of the resale value, for an item, and you pay them back with a little bit of interest, usually in 30-60-90 days. See all that stuff sitting in the pawn shop, that's mostly stuff people pawned and never picked up. Don't be one of those people.
10. Sell something at a pawn shop. Pawn shops buy stuff, too. They'll pay you a low price for it, but it's cash in your hand on the spot. In tough times, it can be worth it, especially if the item is something you don't use anymore.
11. Have a garage, yard, or inside sale. This takes a bit of planning the night before, and you can post your sale online, and make actual signs to hang up, directing people to your sale. This, obviously, is mostly a weekend thing. An "inside sale" is a garage-type sale when you live in an apartment. Direct people to your door, and set stuff up in your living room or kitchen. This has some risks, but in a decent neighborhood, with friends there to help you keep an eye on things, can be done safely.
12. Sell plasma. Plasma is basically the fluid in your blood. It's almost the same as giving blood, except that you're hooked up to a machine for 45 minutes or so. If you don't like needles, this isn't for you. There are basic health criteria you have to meet. If you have a recent tattoo, have been in jail in the last 30 days, are homeless, or have spent lots of time in foreign countries, you probably won't qualify. This can be done twice a week, generally, and you get around $20 the first time, and $40 or so the next time. Drink lots of water the day before, and get to the place an hour before it opens, and get in line. Yes, I've done this before. It's not bad, actually, if you have the time.
13. Sell jewelry, gold, or silver coins to one of those "Cash for gold" places.
14. Sell jewelry, gold, or silver coins to a local jeweler.
15. Sell an old cell phone in one of those "Cash for phones" machines. I've seen these most in Walmart entry ways. I've never done it, but it's another possibility.
16. Sell vinyl record albums, CD's or DVD's to an old school record shop. This isn't near as big a thing as it once was, but there are still record shops in most large cities that will pay cash for good music.
17. Sell old CD's and DVD's to a pawn shop. You won't get much, but it is possible.
18. Do some kind of small job for someone. It could be a friend, family member, someone in your dorm, or whomever. Clean out the garage, walk the dog, clean up the dog poop in the yard, paint their kitchen, whatever. You get the idea.
19. Drive around your area, check the curbs, the dumpsters at local apartment buildings, and pick up the things people are giving/throwing away. Then sell those things on Craigslist, Let Go, or similar place. Curb giveaways, and dumpster giveaways. You'd be surprised what people give away. True story, I actually found an antique, oak dining table, handmade in France in the 1870's or so, by the dumpster at my storage unit. This was in 2006 or so. It was in two pieces, and needed work, but was really high quality. So I put it in my storage unit, and I took some photos of it, and took them to 5 or 6 antique shops. One shop paid me $150 cash for the table, about 4 days later. If I would have spent $1,000 getting the table repaired and refinished, I could have sold it for $5,000 to $8,000, on consignment, in a few months. That's how good of a table it was. But I didn't have a grand to drop repairing it. There are some really amazing things being given away. People give old pianos away all the time on Craigslist. They need work, and they're hard to move, but there's money to be made for the right person.
20. Go to the Craigslist section called "Free," and find something that has a little value that someone is giving away. Go pick up that item, then sell the item on another site or platform, like Facebook Marketplace, or LetGo. Yes, Gary Vaynerchuk made this idea famous a couple years ago. But it's a variation of the idea above, which I actually did before I ever heard of Gary Vee. His content rocks, by the way. Check it out.
21. Babysit for someone.
22. Panhandle. This is for the really desperate people out there. Get a piece of cardboard and a marker. Write "down and out," "homeless," "just lazy" or whatever applies on it. Then go to a local freeway off ramp, or urban street corner, look pathetic, and stand there until someone gives you a little money. I've been homeless where I had to do this to survive. People panhandle because a small percentage of strangers will give you a little money (or food) to help you out. ONLY do this if you are homeless or truly in need. I'm talking to you, you young hippies who travel this way because you don't want to get a job. You can get a real job, but many people can't. Always be polite when panhandling, and always say "Thank you." When you get back on our feet, give to someone else in need. Keep the circle going.
Check out WPOS Kreative on Pinterest for more ideas on building a small business and to see my Sharpie art, #sharpiescribblestyle
No comments:
Post a Comment