"What is your best money 'making' tip?"

[Enuff2Eat]

In respond to "What is your best money saving tip?" how about

"What is your best money 'making' tip?". I don't mean making a living but a quick making money tip.

Here is what I did, however, it's NOT the best. Cleaned out the junk in the garage and got $167 for it on Craiglist. It took 6 hrs of work which including taking picts, posting, showing and dealing with emails. Some might not think it's not worth it but it kept DW happy and you know it's priceless when DW happy.

Any idea you want to share?

enuff

 

[W2R]

Good question! I think it's a lot easier to save money than to make it, especially now that I am not working.

 

[LOL!]

Open checking accounts everywhere for the $100-$200 kickback. They need direct-deposit, so just divert $1 of each paycheck to that account. My employer's paycheck software allows a paycheck to be divided up among several direct deposit sites.

Stooze: Take advantage of those 0%-interest, no-fee cash advances on credit cards. Do this every year. It's worth at least $1500 a year.

 

[ksr]

Open checking accounts everywhere for the $100-$200 kickback.

I've considered doing this, but wondered about the hassle factor. Do you then close the accounts after having kept them the minimum required time?

 

[LOL!]

What hassle factor? They are on absolute auto-pilot. You don't really use them for anything. Yes, close them after withdrawing all the money and the bonus. Rinse and repeat.

 

[ksr]

Whenever I do a major de-cluttering in the house, I separate the stuff into piles: sell, donate, toss. I have sold tons of stuff on eBay over the years. In the early years (first few years eBay was around), I literally made several thousand $. Now it's much less, since there is less clutter and I find eBay to be not quite as profitable as it once was. Still worth it, though.

 

[SecondCor521]

I've done both the stoozing and the kickback routine, and lately I think the kickback thing is easier from a hassle/$$$ perspective given todays low savings rate. (If you're using those high interest checking account things, that could tip the balance towards stoozing.)

2Cor521

 

[Coach]

I sold some sterling silverware that I inherited from my Grandmother and some odds and ends of gold jewelry that I inherited from my Mother. I was very surprised at how much even small, broken pieces of gold jewelry are worth.

Coach

 

[freebird5825]

Don't w*rk for the government.

 

[FUEGO]

Credit card sign-ups. Similar to checking account sign ups. The last 6 or 8 were for free frequent flyer miles. That will provide roughly 10 long distance international round trip tickets.

Maybe I need to look into the checking account sign ups more seriously. How many of these $100-200 sign ups do you guys do per year?

 

[traineeinvestor]

For non-investing related money making ideas:

1. keep your recepits for work related expenses - the gremlins in the accounts department will not reimburse without the recepits (or a major grovelling exercise)

2. put everything you can on your credit card instead of paying cash - the points add up and free flights etc are as good as earning extra money

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Sadly, the best money making tip for me would be to defer FIRE. The day you quit, you rarely reclaim the human capital you had the day before.

It's a bit like selling your soul to the devil, and I finally moved past that. But if I needed a bit more money for any reason, it would be most quickly achieved by delaying the gold watch.

After that? E-bay. Wanna buy a couple of motorcycle helmets? A huge RV cover or power cord? Maybe a 36" Sony TV?

 

[REWahoo]

It's a bit like selling your soul to the devil...

Geeze doc, that's not the way I see it at all. The day I pulled the plug I felt as if I'd died and gone to heaven.

 

[bbbamI]

DH makes a few bucks by playing a gig now and then. So far I have refused to wear a little cap and hold a tin cup in my hand....

 

[smjsl]

Regarding the hassle factor for checking account sign-ups...

To determine if it's worth it, I figure it requires ~3-4 hours of hassle work:

- 1.5-2 hours to set it up properly, i.e. make sure you get all the details right, setup work direct deposit (DD), make sure to check that everything is arriving correctly once it gets going, keep account notes

- ~1 hour to close account and DD properly, i.e. so that DD does not arrive into already-closed account and account that required DD does not think it's been too long since DD was closed and starts charging a fee

- ~1 hour total for next 6-12 months to collect the statements, beginners checks, whatever other stuff from the bank, and glance over whatever you get; perhaps withdraw your original deposit too and periodically whatever money is being DDed (sometimes $100 DD per pay-period is required)

- time it takes to read posts like this

 

[LOL!]

In line with what Rich wrote, I asked for a 50% raise at my part-time job ... and got it.

 

[CuppaJoe]

I may need an intervention; today I had a relapse and remembered how nice it is to pick up a paycheck or even $40 for cat sitting. I calmed myself down and reassured myself that I do not need to cat sit. Better to do as LOL! suggests and stooze when such unhealthy urges arise. OTOH, filling out forms resembles w*rk. I'm okay now. nothing happening here.

 

[W2R]

I may need an intervention; today I had a relapse and remembered how nice it is to pick up a paycheck or even $40 for cat sitting. I calmed myself down and reassured myself that I do not need to cat sit. Better to do as LOL! suggests and stooze when such unhealthy urges arise. OTOH, filling out forms resembles w*rk. I'm okay now. nothing happening here.

LOL!!! Glad you got past those feelings.

When I feel a little insecure about not having a paycheck, I just look at my checking account online. I can see where I transferred money into it from my investment accounts on January 1st, for spending during the month of January. I can see my tiny (but undoubtedly stalwart and robust) federal pension appearing by direct deposit on January 4th.

Then I realize that I am getting paid for breathing.

In... out.... in.... out.... Both Uncle Sam and I will faithfully pay me each month for my respiratory diligence. Oh Cuppajoe, this is MUCH better than a paycheck.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Geeze doc, that's not the way I see it at all. The day I pulled the plug I felt as if I'd died and gone to heaven.

Yup - it's the staying-on-beyond-what-you-need that I was referring to.

DW caught me yesterday in a moment of "REW Syndrome" -- I casually asked whether she thought it was a good idea if I moved up my semi-FIRE date a few weeks so we could sneak in that RV trip to Top Sail. She told me to calm down.

 

[Walt34]

Then I realize that I am getting paid for breathing.

In... out.... in.... out.... Both Uncle Sam and I will faithfully pay me each month for my respiratory diligence.

That's about what I said to one of the (also retired) neighbors a few months after moving. "Wow, all I have to do is keep breathing and they send me money every month!"

Still in the euphoria stage then.

 

[jimnjana]

We do a lot of garage sales and estate sales and try to find those sales where the people are just giving stuff away (literally) or asking very low prices. We try to find unused or slightly used items with tags still on etc. or just stuff we know we can resell at a profit. Newer books both hard/soft cover if we can get them cheap (buck or less for hard cover, 25c for soft cover) and then trade them in at a used book store for cash or store credit.

 

[gomo]

Recently we switched from Ameritrade to Interactive Brokers to save money on trading fees and margin interest. By switching, we were able to save approx $18,000 per year.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

In respond to "What is your best money saving tip?" how about

"What is your best money 'making' tip?". I don't mean making a living but a quick making money tip.

Here is what I did, however, it's NOT the best. Cleaned out the junk in the garage and got $167 for it on Craiglist. It took 6 hrs of work which including taking picts, posting, showing and dealing with emails. Some might not think it's not worth it but it kept DW happy and you know it's priceless when DW happy.

Any idea you want to share?

enuff

Using our CC to purchase everything. Nice cash back card. Pay off the bill monthly. Fairly tame stuff I guess for most of the wise owls on this board. Though I got brownie points for pointing this out to my FIL who is 87. He now uses it purchase everything instead of his debit card. I made sure he was paying it off monthly

 

[TooFrugal]

I've started putting all of the monthly bills on auto bill on a rewards card. Then I just have to pay the charge bill each month, and I have a basic amount for the charge bills on auto pay from the checking. So then if I screw up and forget to pay the charge bill in full each month, the auto pay at least covers the minimum payment each month so I don't pay any late fees.

 

[RunningBum]

Recently we switched from Ameritrade to XXXX Brokers to save money on trading fees and margin interest. By switching, we were able to save approx $18,000 per year.

I think you need a "Your Mileage May Vary" disclaimer there!

I took out the broker's name in case this is an ad for a broker...first post and all. No offense intended if it's not, introduce yourself in a "Hi, I am" post and tell your story.