This post is a companion to the one I wrote the other day,
"20 legal ways to put cash in your pocket this week." Like I said in that post, we all have our favorite go to ideas when we need to come up with a little extra cash for some reason. The point of making this big list is to expand your thinking, to some ideas that maybe didn't cross your mind. Warning, the links in this video might be offensive to humans, or NSFW. But you're reading a post about free money, so there's a good chance you don't have a job, so that probably won't be a problem.
(One) Cash in change you've been saving- Yes, change. Coins. Icky physical money. Yes, it's old school. But it's one of the easiest ways to save some money without really trying. When I was a taxi driver, years ago, I had a small cup, in the cup holder of my cab, with some change in it. Sometimes in a taxi, when a fare was, say $6.65, there are people who wouldn't round up and pay me $7.00. Really. They wanted that 35 cents in change back. So that's what the cup was for, change I could grab quickly for those passengers. Taxi driving, in the mid-2000's, was a mostly cash business. I was buying gas every day, and food, and I paid for those in whole dollars, and threw the change in the cup. So my cup of change kept filling up.
At the time, I was living in my taxi, and had my clothes and personal stuff in a storage unit. I bought a little plastic water jug, put it in the storage unit, and started throwing the extra change in there. Once the change started adding up, I wanted to add more change to it. It just happened automatically. Then I started throwing a dollar bill or two in the jug. When I was in a bind, I'd shake some change out of the jar, to cover what I needed. Eventually, I bought separate little jugs with quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. When I finally had to move out of my storage unit later on, I finally cashed it all in. The dime jug along had over $100 in it. I saved over $100 in dimes, without trying. For real. Just by paying for things with cash, paying in whole dollars, and throwing th change in a cup, I was saving $30 to $70 a month, without trying. So if you make this a habit, and get in a bind, cash in some of that change.
(Two) Cash in aluminum cans/other recyclables you've been saving- This is another habit you can do pretty easily. If you have a bin for aluminum cans, and maybe glass and plastic bottles, if they can be cashed in where you live, then you have some untapped money growing day by day. When you're in a bind, cash in those recyclables in and use the money where you need it.
(Three) Tap into a "slush fund" you have for "rainy days"- A "slush fund" is my name for some savings set aside, in a place or account seperate from every day money, and separate from long term savings. So you may have your checking account to use for every day expenses, and then CD's or a savings account destined to go into retirement, investments or some long term goal. I've found that having an "in between" savings account, maybe $50 to $200, is good for the mid term things in life that just come up. With a slush fund, you have a little back-up money when a tire blows on the car, or the kids need money for a trip at school, or whatever. It's more than can you can easily pull out of the checking account. You can pull some money out of the slush fund to handle a problem, without having to touch your long term savings for retirement or investments. So if you have a slush fund, pull some money out of there, take care of the current issue, then build that money back up in the slush fund again.
(Four) Pull money from savings/CD's- If the reason you need money is big enough, and important enough, and you have a savings account or CD's, you can tap into those to pay the unexpected expense.
(Five) Pawn something at a pawn shop- Pawn shops go back to anicent China, around 3,000 years ago, and were also around in Ancient Greece and Rome. That doesn't surprise me. Since civilization has existed, there have been people who got into a bind and needed some money for an emergency. Pawn shops loan people money, and hold a physical object as collateral. The loans are generally fairly small, $20-$500 maybe, most of the time, and the interest rates are pretty high. But the interest is not that much in total, since the loans are small. The most popular things to pawn are jewelry, musical instruments, guns, power tools, and electronics, though they make take other items with value. You take something to a pawn shop, they offer you a certain amount, far less than the value of the item, and they give you cash, and hold the item until you pay off the loan. You come back, usually within 30 or 90 days, pay off the loan and the interest, and get your item back. Simple and effective. There's a reason pawn shops have been around for 3,000 years.
(Six) Sell something at a pawn shop- Pawn shops also buy physical items outright. Jewelry, guns, musical instruments, sporting equipment, power tools, and electronics are the primary items they buy. They may buy other things if the items have inherent value. Usually they pay 10% to 20% of the current value, so you don't get a high price, but you get CASH RIGHT NOW. That's the point of pawn shops.
(Seven) Sell clothes at a consignment shop- These primarily buy women's clothes or baby clothes and gear, depending on the shop. You take in used clothes, they pick what they like, and pay you cash for those pieces.
(Eight) Sell something of yours to a friend or family member- Find someone in your immediate life, and sell them something of yours. "Hey Bob, you know that motorcycle helmet I have in the garage, I'm in a bind, will you give me $50 for it?" That kind of thing.
(Nine) Sell collectibles to a local shop- There aren't as many brick and mortar collectibles shops as there used to be. But if you collect something, and there's a shop that buys those things in your area, then you can sell pieces of your collection. This can be sports cards, comic books, action figures, high end watches, collectible figurines, stamps, or anything else that people collect.
(Ten) Sell collectible coins to a local coin shop- This is another kind of collectible, and there are still some physical shops in many areas where you can sell collectible coins.
(Eleven)- Sell used furniture to a local consignment shop- Do you have some high quality furniture that you don't really need or want anymore? There are furniture consigment shops that may buy it. In many cases, they may come to your house, check it out, and make an offer. If you accept the offer, they give you money on the spot, and haul the items back to your shop. In some cases, you may have to take the furniture to their shop to get it checked out.
(Twelve)- Sell gold, silver, or platinum to a local shop or jeweler- If you bought gold, silver, or platinum as an investment at some point, you can sell these for cash at a gold and silver shop, coin shops, and many jewelry shops will also buy them, for cash on the spot.
(Thirteen)- Sell jewelry to a jewelry shop- They may not pay top dollar, but they will likely pay more than a pawn shop for quality jewelry, and gemstones.
(Fourteen)- Go collect aluminum cans/recyclables, then cash them in- If you don't have a bin of aluminum cans or other recyclables, you can go out and pick some up. There's a lot of competition if it pays well, but you can find a few dollars worth if you put some time in searching.
(Fifteen)- Sell record albums, CD's, or DVD's to a local shop- There are lot less of these music shops than there used to be, but they do still exist. You can still sell used vinyl records, CD's, and DVD's, if you have any, to local music shops.
(Sixteen) Take money out of the offering plate at church, and leave God an IOU- OK, I'm kidding, DON'T do this. I just wanted to see if anyone was really reading this far down this list.
(Seventeen) Take item back to a store (keep your receipts)- If you have some item you bought recently, and have a receipt, like clothes, an appliance, even canned foods, you can take them back to the store and get a refund.
(Eighteen) Babysit for someone- Does anyone you know need someone to watch their kid(s) today? This one makes sense more for younger people, like teens, who may do some babysitting already. Babysitting pays a lot better now than when I watched neighbor kids while in high school. Back then the pay for watching two demon spawn boys was $1 and hour and all the government cheese I could eat. I don't like governemtn cheese. Things have improved since then, from what I've heard. If you babysit, get word around, see if anyone needs you to sit the kids today.
(Nineteen) Do a job on Fiverr if you're already signed up and active- If you have some basic design/technical skills, and are already signed up on Fiverr to do gigs, try to get one or two today.
(Twenty) Do a job on Mechanical Turk if you're already set up and active- If you have some design or technical skills, and are already signed up and ready to go on Mechanical Turk, try to score gig today.
(Twenty-one) Offer to do some service for friends or neighbors- See if any of your neighbors have a small project you can to to earn some cash. Ask them in person, on social media, or use a site like Nextdoor to find some local gig to do and earn some cash.
(Twenty-two) Teach a skill to someone for a fee- Do you have a skill that someone in your area would like to learn. Teach the neighbor's daughter how to do a cartwheel for her cheerleader tryouts, teach Aunt Ester how to work Instagram, teach someone how to play a song on their new guitar. Whatever. Actually, you can do this online/on-phone as well these days, so it could be a person anywhere. Be creative.
(Twenty-three) Do homework for someone for cash/trade- I used to do this for a couple of my roommates in community college, back in the day. I once read 90 pages and filled out a 7 page worksheet for a $6 pepperoni pizza. Hey, I was young and needed money. Work a better deal than that, but you get the idea.
(Twenty-four) Give someone a haircut (if you know how and they actually want one)- Got some skills with the clippers and scissors? Give someone a haircut and style for some cash. People in the hood know about this one, barber skills are highly respected in the hood, homeless shelters, and jails. But haircuts can be done anywhere. Well almost anywhere. I saw some guy giving haircuts in the back row at church once, and that didn't go over well.
(Twenty-five) Ask for money on social media (Good, LEGIT causes only!)-Sites like CyberBeg and Begging Money are two sites left where you can do this. If you have a LEGIT cause ("I need beer" is not a legit cause), you can log on and ask strangers to help you out. I've never tried either of these, but they are out there, and you can try them if you want.
(Twenty-six) Ask friend or family for a loan- There's a reason why this is near the bottom of the list. Loans from family and friends can really help out in a time of need. They can also turn into long term beefs that keep people from talking to each other for years. That's why this is so far down on the list. Do not ask a person close to you for a loan unless you actually intend to pay it back.
(Twenty-seven) Panhandle money from a stranger- "Panhandling" is asking money from a stranger in the streets. That's the actual definition, paraphrased. Panhandling is begging for money, something that has been happening since money was invented. There are so many people who do it now because there are a lot more down and out people in society these days, and because it works. You can either just ask a stranger for money somewhere, or make a sign asking for money, and sit or stand in a place where a lot of people will see you. Crazy as it sounds, about 1% to 3% of people will give a complete stranger a small amount of money. If you do this, be polite, and say "Thank you."
There are four main types of panhandling: (1) One on one- asking a stranger for money on the street, (2) "Flying a sign"- holding a sign in a popular location, asking for money, (3) Running a non-profit organization- have your volunteers ask strangers for money, then pay yourself $250K a year as CEO, and (4) Becoming a politician- Put on a suit, make bullshit promises, and ask strangers for money in the street. Even if you lose the election, your meals, travel, hotel, and bar tabs get paid for the whole time you're running.
(Twenty-eight) Put granny on the corner to turn tricks- OK, I'm joking again, don't do this to granny, even if she has false teeth and can take her dentures out and really do a good job. I just wanted to see if anyone made it to the bottom of the list.
So there you have it, 25 LEGIT, potential ways to put money in your pocket today. And two funny ways to give you a laugh and get you to read the whole list. As an added bonus, I'm going to add one more. Start your own blog, and put a donate button on it, a "cyber tip jar," as they used to call these, where people can throw you a few bucks to buy a cup of coffee, or buy lunch, or something. Like this one below... where you can send me a couple of bucks from the money you'll make off these ideas.
