Hobbies that bring in cash

[Nords]

Home improvement. We've saved thousands by doing the work ourselves, and now the solar array is paying a dividend.

Handyman. Neighbors are happy to pay me $25/hour to make their repairs. Why, last year alone I pulled in over $50, and our kid learned a lot about spackling & cleaning out plumbing drains. She can't believe that she's getting paid $10/hour to learn it...

Investing. It's certainly been educational, and it's been breathtakingly volatile, but in the last four years it's made money. Of course I could have made about the same amount of money investing in the right index, but I wouldn't have answered all these pesky testosterone-poisoned "what if?" questions.

Yardwork. We've been growing our own fruits & vegetables and generating our own compost.

One of these days I will eBay the pile of crap valuable collectibles on my desk, and this time I really mean it!

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

What about simply running your own website with quality content and selling advertising? If you can generate enough hits, the ad prices go up.

 

[Cut-Throat]

Nords,

I am also doing some renovations on my lower level this winter. I need to do some spackling. Got any tips?

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Nords,

I am also doing some renovations on my lower level this winter.

Find a good urologist.

JG

 

[Cut-Throat]

Find a good urologist.

JG

I asked for it, didn't I?

 

[Nords]

I am also doing some renovations on my lower level this winter. I need to do some spackling. Got any tips?

OK, now that the comic relief has cleared the stage...

If you're filling little holes (1" diameter or less) then I like the Red Devil or the DAP spackle.  Sometimes it can just be pushed in with your fingers and smoothed over.

We don't usually use the wall-repair kits.  Bigger holes benefit from a backer board and maybe a small piece of drywall.  It's easier to use joint compound to fill in the leftovers.  It's also easier to spring for a 6" or 10" taping knife to smooth the whole area. Here's one example.

Taping drywall joints is a whole 'nother topic...

 

[sgeeeee]

Nords,

I am also doing some renovations on my lower level this winter. I need to do some spackling. Got any tips?

It's really hard to screw up spackling. No matter what you use, let it dry/set before you paint it. If you don't like the results, sand it down and do it again. If it's a deep/large patch, the patch material might shrink when it drys -- so add a second application.

Joint tape can take some practice to get it right. Don't get in a hurry to get the job done and if you don't like the results, take it down and do it over. Spackle material is cheap. Labor is costly.

 

[justin]

Apply the first layer so it protrudes slightly from the wall - it'll shrink or you can sand it - don't worry about getting it perfect.

Apply second layer - get it perfect, let it dry at least 24 hrs, and it and if it looks good, paint it.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I just buy the spackle in large boxes...about a foot square, add your own water. To hell with joint tape and backer boards. I just jam a huge handful into the hole, come back the next day and do it again. Repeat until it just needs a little touch up, texturing and paint. I probably have a few walls that are 75% solid spackle.

My wifes favorite line when i'm doing this: "So THATS how the pro's do it..."

 

[SteveR]

I just buy the spackle in large boxes...about a foot square, add your own water.  To hell with joint tape and backer boards.  I just jam a huge handful into the hole, come back the next day and do it again.  Repeat until it just needs a little touch up, texturing and paint.  I probably have a few walls that are 75% solid spackle.

My wifes favorite line when i'm doing this: "So THATS how the pro's do it..."

Back when I used to rent out my house the renters would "fix" small holes in the walls with either stick deoderant or toothpaste. It covers the hole but paint won't stick to it very well. Vinyl spackle is my favorite on nail holes. The bigger stuff (door knob holes in walls---boys with anger management problems ) requires screen or backer board to keep the stuff from just falling into the wall cavity. I would hate to even thing about the hundreds of holes I have patched up to this point in my life. (Used to paint houses in school).

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

The bigger stuff (door knob holes in walls---boys with anger management problems ) requires screen or backer board to keep the stuff from just falling into the wall cavity.

Clearly you werent using a big enough handful, or you didnt jam it in there fast enough. You use a glob the size of a couple of softballs and slam it in there, it sticks between the two pieces of drywall.

Dont try this at home, even with adult supervision...

 

[Outtahere]

ooooy ooooy you're all giving me a headache, my dh was/is a sheetrocker/taper, I can't even mention the word Spackle around him because of all the spackle jobs he's had to go in an fix.

 

[TargaDave]

I like making beaded jewelery, and have donated it to charitable auctions, and thought about trying to sell some in local gift shops, but never got a round tuit.

Exactly what DW loves doing. I think it will be her "second" career.

For me diving instructor in my college days, windsurfing instruction in my 30's and kitesurfing instruction now. Guess I got sort of theme going here

 

[Sheryl]

Dave,
That reminded me of one of my FIRE dreams - I'd like to get my scuba dive master certificatation.

I guess I could make some money with that hobby, but probably not enough to pay for the equipment. I don't really like the responsibilityand liability issues of being a guide, either. But living in a tropical climate for a few months might convince me.

 

[sailor]

For me diving instructor in my college days, windsurfing instruction in my 30's and kitesurfing instruction now.

Dave,
I was wondering how hard is the learn kitesurfing, let's say for an average Merkin?

sailor

 

[HFWR]

Exactly what DW loves doing. I think it will be her "second" career.

For me diving instructor in my college days, windsurfing instruction in my 30's and kitesurfing instruction now.  Guess I got sort of theme going here 

My rule, at 51, is that the a$$ always stays lower than the head... :

 

[Nords]

I don't really like the responsibilityand liability issues of being a guide, either.

Once we got to Rescue Diver we began to realize that there are a lot of stupid divers out there, and we weren't too happy about the implied moral (legal?!?) obligation to make an effort to save them from their own good ideas. By the time we finished AI we decided we'd had enough.

When we're diving today we keep an eye out for the people we wouldn't want to have to rescue, and we've even cut one or two beach stays short just to avoid the inevitable. We can always go diving some other day, but when people spend thousands of dollars to get here, hundreds of dollars a night for lodging, and more hundreds to get their gear... well, they're not gonna be very patient with bad diving conditions.

 

[guesswho]

where's the kite in that picture anyway?? That looks like something that I could get hooked on all too quickly.

 

[TargaDave]

where's the kite in that picture anyway?? That looks like something that I could get hooked on all too quickly.

Here's another one with the kite just barely at the top of the shot (down in the Keys). Video frame grab so lousy resol. Much easier than windsurfing to learn-progress even for us oldish geezers but you need a few professional lessons to get going and stay safe. I just stuff everything into a golf bag and take it along on a lot of my biz trips. My version of golf addiction, and something my 15 yr old daughter actually likes doing with me. DW just laughs and rolls hers eyes at the whole thing

 

[mathjak107]

selling potato chips at the old age home...get your lays....get your lays here

 

[Sheryl]

Once we got to Rescue Diver we began to realize that there are a lot of stupid divers out there, and we weren't too happy about the implied moral (legal?!?) obligation to make an effort to save them from their own good ideas.  By the time we finished AI we decided we'd had enough.

Yeah, I've seen some incredibly stupid and irresponsible people in the short time I've been diving, including dive masters that were supposed to be concerned for my safety...

I am really interested in biology and fish ID - I think they only thing I'd do as a paying gig would be to teach something like that - I think the people who are interested in identifying fish are less thrill seekers...   But I have a lot to learn before I could do that!

 

[Nords]

I am really interested in biology and fish ID - I think they only thing I'd do as a paying gig would be to teach something like that - I think the people who are interested in identifying fish are less thrill seekers...   But I have a lot to learn before I could do that!

I saw on a PBS special that the Monterey Bay Aquarium has a staff of over 150 volunteer divers who scrub the marine growth off the plexiglas windows.

Another "free air" diver option is research assistant. One of our Monterey dive instructors earned subsistence cash by crawling slowly over reefs, clipboard & marker in hand, to do population counts. UH has several trips a year to the northwest islands (liveaboard) to do the same. Minus the marker, it's pretty much what spouse and I enjoy doing on our dives anyway.

 

[Sheryl]

I saw on a PBS special that the Monterey Bay Aquarium has a staff of over 150 volunteer divers who scrub the marine growth off the plexiglas windows.

Another "free air" diver option is research assistant.  One of our Monterey dive instructors earned subsistence cash by crawling slowly over reefs, clipboard & marker in hand, to do population counts.  UH has several trips a year to the northwest islands (liveaboard) to do the same.  Minus the marker, it's pretty much what spouse and I enjoy doing on our dives anyway.

I need to start researching these things as ER approaches.  I heard of a "friend of a friend" here who spent a month in Thailand documenting the damage the tsunami had done to reefs and marine life - it would be really fun to get in on a project like that...

 

[ESRBob]

Well lets see, I like kayaking. I have several including one I built. I have led a bunch of paddle outings for my church outdoor group.
But the prospect of turning this into a business is just too much. I would have to get an inventory of boats, someplace to store them, a way to transport them. And I would need my wife, son or a paid assistant as it is really necessary to have at least two leaders. Insurance would be a problem. And at that point it may not be fun anymore.

Yakers,
What about just getting paid by the day to be a guide for someone else's kayaking company? One of my friends does this -- show up, run a tour, get paid, go home.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I like fast sports cars, designing little electronic projects for cars and drinking wine. Not in any particular order and not at the same time. You can see them on my web site. www.impconcepts.com

Anyone want to buy a turbo boost gauge....... or and Air Fuel Meter......... 8) or an Injector Duty Cycle Meter........

SWR