Hobby Income

[bizlady]

Check out elance.com for ideas. Find something you like and bid out your work.

Hire out as a blogger. Lots of small businesses start blogs but do not have the time or inclination to keep them going.

Consider "dog sitting" or dog walking for those on vacation in your communty. My sister-in-law does this. Pets stay in their own homes, and she goes over 2-3 times a day to feed, water and play with the pets. Will water plants while there too...

[ejman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrammieD I couldn't fin a thread on this topic. Does anyone 'work' at their hobby for extra income? I am thinking about crocheted afghans or sweaters or baby sets. Another option could be bird house building and/or painting. Anybody have any other ideas, or something that works for you?

My wife loves animals and after we ER'd to our 7 acre place in SW Oregon we set out to turn the place into what I thought would be a micro hobby farm. In my mind (I'm a city boy) this meant a few chickens pecking around the yard, perhaps a goat or two with their antics and me sitting out on the porch at the close of the day drinking a nice glass of wine while overseeing a bucolic countryside.

Well, as you can imagine this nice dream intersected with reality and a total lack of understanding of the powers of reproduction. A few chickens turned into a hundred, a few ducks turned into numerous mama ducks followed by trains of 15 or so baby ducks, a couple of goats turned into a herd of 50... And guess what - they eat! a lot!(There is also a lot that comes out the other end). Spending thousands on animal feed was certainly not part of the ER plan.

After several attempts, we came up with something that works for us. A small number of Kinder goats that my wife milks and whose milk becomes part of goat milk soap which I sell at a couple of growers markets.

This approach meets our needs on several levels. My wife is quite happy with her (smaller) menagerie, I really enjoy doing the growers markets and the wonderful response to my wife's goat milk soap is very satisfying emotionally. Plus the income from the sales as turned out to be quite a nice supplement to our original ER budget. And now, I occasionally do get to enjoy that glass of wine...

[Moemg]

I sell on ebay . I started with just excess things from my house and have expanded into selling clothes to young professional women .I enjoy it but in order to be successful you need to know your product and your customers . It's still a hobby but it has become a profitable one .

[ksr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrammieD I never thought about checking out ebay or Craigs list for prices etc., but that is going on my to do list.

I've found that crafts and handmade items generally don't fetch very good prices on eBay or CraigsList. These just don't seem to be the right avenue for selling craft items. However, you might want to consider etsy (www.etsy.com). I have a small etsy shop and sell an occasional handmade item or excess craft supplies. Sales are fairly slow for me, but at least items will go for fair prices.

[accountingsucks]

I love poker and have started playing "live" at a casino as my city has 5 poker rooms. I average around $10 an hour so far but have only put in about 60 hours (in 1 year) so far which is about 2000 hands. I believe $20 an hour is very achievable and many make a "living" doing this. My goals is for it to provide me about $250 every month. I played online for a few years - mainly clearing bonuses when available at over 50 sites and made a little over $10,000 doing that. Online is a much tougher game and to make it worth ones while you should play 6+ tables at a time which is too tedious for me. Playing at an actual room one gets alot of interesting characters and the time flies by for me.

[GrammieD]

These are all awesome ideas. Thank you everybody.

Here is the list that I have so far: Photographing, blogging, paint pictures, build and/or paint birdhouses, crochet and teach crochet, quilt, work on cars, grow and harvest veggies and/or fruits, internet research for local media, tax prep, concierge, dog sitting, plant watering, elance, check out ebay Craigslist, and etsy.com., play poker?

Maybe I should also consider taking polls.

That's quite a list, but let's keep going if possible. More?

[bruce1]

I garden, raise a few chickens for the freezer but find that specialized decorative chickens are profitable. I have an incubator and people are always wanting me to hatch their eggs on shares. I have to go on ebay again to get rid of some excess stuff I have accumulated as well. I have bought and sold collections people are no longer interested in. Spoons coins and other small stuff.

Bruce

[GrammieD]

Quite few years back, my daughter and I made a homemade incubator for a science project. We put 8 fertile eggs in it and hatched 5 of them. One died shortly after hatching but the other 4 were kept by us until we found them a nice home on a farm. It was a lot of fun and would be something I might like to do for profit. With a real incubator this time. I live far enough away from the city that I would be able to do something like that. Thanks for another wonderful idea.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by accountingsucks I love poker and have started playing "live" at a casino as my city has 5 poker rooms. I average around $10 an hour so far but have only put in about 60 hours (in 1 year) so far which is about 2000 hands. I believe $20 an hour is very achievable and many make a "living" doing this. My goals is for it to provide me about $250 every month. I played online for a few years - mainly clearing bonuses when available at over 50 sites and made a little over $10,000 doing that. Online is a much tougher game and to make it worth ones while you should play 6+ tables at a time which is too tedious for me. Playing at an actual room one gets alot of interesting characters and the time flies by for me.

Accountingsucks (but poker doesn't?) - I have just gotta say, that is the most creative "hobby" for income post I have ever seen. I am really impressed. You've tested it and know what you can do. Amazing!

Audrey

[M Paquette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 Accountingsucks (but poker doesn't?) - I have just gotta say, that is the most creative "hobby" for income post I have ever seen. I am really impressed. You've tested it and know what you can do. Amazing! Audrey

Heh. It reminded me of my favorite WC Fields quote.

Sucker: Is this a game of chance?
WC: Not the way I play it, no.

[haha]

I have known a lot of peple who made some money from hobbies. Three intersting and lucrative ones were hydroponic mj, contracts to collect rattle snakes on private hunting reserves in So Carolina and Georgia, and poker in public card rooms. The snake hunter could also sell the venom.

Poker is the only one of these that I ever thought had any appeal.

Another good one for women is baby sitting.

Ha

[Dawg52]

The closest thing to hobby income for me is my group's daily bets on the golf course. Of course the max one can win or lose is a whopping $2. I think I netted $1 on the positive side last week.

[Moemg]

What amount makes a hobby lucrative ?

[youbet]

It's not really a hobby..... And I don't actually get paid.... But I find that maintaining our home including some fairly significant repairs on top of the normal lawn mowing, gardening, painting and decorating, etc., keeps us from spending money. That's almost like earning money, no?

[davemartin88]

I like woodworking and woodturning. I bought a sawmill while I was still working in order to mill logs for my own use as well as friends- this was a small manual mill. When I retired, I bought a bigger, more automated mill and I usually cut wood for someone a couple of days per week on average- good money, great exercise and a great way to spend some time outdoors. The mill was expensive but they hold their value well so I figure I'll be money well ahead when I tire of this and sell it down the road. I also pick up a lot of scrap wood for my woodturning club from the waste.

[GrammieD]

Hi guys. It it always nice to enjoy a little levity as we progress through the maze of life. Thanks for your thoughtful and humorous posts. I truly welcome and enjoy them all.

That sounds like a hobby my husband would enjoy, Dave. He is a retired logger and really enjoys working with wood. He has designed and special built bookcases, cupboards, and even the table in our house. He also likes to make clocks and coffee tables out of burl and stumps. AND he still gives guitar lessons. He can play his guitars, electric and acoustic, with any and all, as well as teach music theory, chord structure, and how to write music. Beginning and advanced as well as all stages in between. I pretty much figure him for a genius in his areas of expertise.

[Notmuchlonger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrammieD Hi guys. It it always nice to enjoy a little levity as we progress through the maze of life. Thanks for your thoughtful and humorous posts. I truly welcome and enjoy them all. That sounds like a hobby my husband would enjoy, Dave. He is a retired logger and really enjoys working with wood. He has designed and special built bookcases, cupboards, and even the table in our house. He also likes to make clocks and coffee tables out of burl and stumps. AND he still gives guitar lessons. He can play his guitars, electric and acoustic, with any and all, as well as teach music theory, chord structure, and how to write music. Beginning and advanced as well as all stages in between. I pretty much figure him for a genius in his areas of expertise.

GrammieD there is some good money to be made with custom wood working. Maybe not so much in this economy. I have an old friend who used to make a decent living by making tables and such.

[GrammieD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg What amount makes a hobby lucrative ?

I would say a hobby is lucrative if it brings money in to pay bills. Even just a few bills. Every penny counts and a penny saved is a penny earned.

[GrammieD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger GrammieD there is some good money to be made with custom wood working. Maybe not so much in this economy. I have an old friend who used to make a decent living by making tables and such.

Thanks Notmuchlonger. My husband does on occasion still make and sell custom made wood items. I'm trying to get him to make birdhouses so I can paint and sell them. So far its a no go. I may just have to learn how to use his tools and make them myself. Hmmmmm, I wonder. If I tried that would he perhaps be compelled to show me the correct way to do it.? hehehe

[Notmuchlonger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrammieD Thanks Notmuchlonger. My husband does on occasion still make and sell custom made wood items. I'm trying to get him to make birdhouses so I can paint and sell them. So far its a no go. I may just have to learn how to use his tools and make them myself. Hmmmmm, I wonder. If I tried that would he perhaps be compelled to show me the correct way to do it.? hehehe

Lots of do it yourself books at the library. If you are retired and looking for a hobby. People pay good money for custom made woodworking. Granted it takes time to learn and do it right.