Everyone could use some extra money, particularly in hard times. Perhaps the bills were a little more than you’d expected this month, or maybe you’re trying to raise some starter cash for your own internet startup or business. As the first article in an ongoing series, here are ten handy ideas to bring in some extra money.
Donate blood
Blood banks will often pay $20-$40, up to twice a week.
People often overlook this, but it’s a good way to make money providing a desperately-needed service. Donating blood is traditionally done through the Red Cross on a volunteer basis, but many blood collection services will compensate donors for between $20 and $40 per donation… and donors can often donate twice a week. It’s a good way to help out both you and your fellow man. You’ll want to check in your Yellow Pages for blood banks and hospitals local to your area, and call around. Be aware that California does not allow financial compensation for blood, and seems to insist that doing the good deed of providing blood cannot involve enlightened self-interest in any way. Also take note that the FDA has forbidden people who it considers to be at a high risk of HIV from donating at any price whatsoever, and would-be donors who admit to having had male-male sexual intercourse since 1977 are rejected on the basis that they “might have been exposed to HIV” – despite the fact that being at risk is not limited to any one sexual orientation. I haven’t spoken with any blood bank staff who agree with this policy, but they all seem to perpetuate it through their enforcement of it regardless. For many who find that desperate financial times require considering unconventional sources of raising money – particularly students, although increasingly anyone in the middle-class – donating blood on a paid basis is an approach that works.
If you donate, you will want to be sure to eat immediately beforehand and to drink lots of water – to replace that lost fluid. Donating too often can cause temporary physical weakness and exhaustion, and if it’s done in the same place too frequently without enough time to rest up it can result in some scarring of veins around the withdrawl area. Rotating sites and giving your veins a chance to rest up is generally a good idea.
Donate bone marrow
Donating bone marrow like this can make you $450 in a few hours.
While it hasn’t yet gained as much noteriety as donating blood, many college students are finding that they can donate their bone marrow for quick cash. Over six thousand people seek bone marrow transplants each day, desperate for the marrow that could save their lives. A recipient can only accept marrow that matches their marrow type, and so the potential for donors decreases significantly for any one recipient bent on finding that matching donor. And donors aren’t in high supply… yet. That won’t be the case soon as this approach continues to grow in popularity.
Most people tend to think that donating bone marrow requires surgery, and this used to be the case. Today, it’s done with a needle and an incision that’s so small it doesn’t even require stitches. Nor does it require a hospital stay – donors frequently drive themselves to their appointment, and drive themselves back home afterwards. Within seven to fourteen days, they’re back to normal. Bone marrow generally goes for:
$125 for 25 cubic centimeters, $200 for 50 cubic centimeters, and $450 for 100 cubic centimeters
Additionally, white blood cells can be donated for about $350 in a procedure that lasts approximately five hours. A longer process, involving daily injections to raise the white blood cell counts, takes three to four days and pays $750. Lidocain, a topical anasthaetic, is used to numb the pain of injection on the skin, although this does not affect the pain that occurs when the marrow is actually drawn out of the bone. One donor, a college student, described it as hurting “really frickin bad”. He also described the pain as increasing with each withdrawal on a given day. Since 25 cubic centimeters of marrow are drawn into each syringe, there are two marrow draws each, from either side of the pelvic bone. General anaesthetic is available at the discretion of the doctor overseeing the process, and the donor maintains communication with the doctor throughout the procedure regarding the level of pain he is currently experiencing.
While certainly not the most pleasant means of raising money, marrow donation is one of the few legal means of raising over $100 dollars an hour over four hours. In increasingly desperate economic conditions more people are turning less-orthodox methods of making money, and the idea hasn’t yet become as prevalently-known as blood donation.
Appallingly, many facilities who perform the procedures for bone marrow donation do not make that information widely-known, in order to prevent financially-desperate and, in their view, health-suspect donors, from donating marrow. This includes one facility I spoke with which had recently been documented as financially compensating a marrow donor in an article describing the procedure. They replied matter-of-factly that they do not compensate their donors, although the donor himself wrote his own article in a firsthand account, providing more information and even pictures of the procedure. Evidently, facilities take the view that it is better to let some people in dire financial situations die from being rejected from the procedure, than risk accepting donors who might be “at risk”… which, from the position of other authorities such as the FDA, is both unrealistic and subjectively-defined. Be aware of this problem if you attempt to donate bone marrow.
Do a few odd jobs through local online resources
Using online resources like Craigslist and GenieTown is simple – it’s designed to be.
Easier and more painless than these are doing odd jobs in your local area. Painting jobs, for example, can be very lucrative in a short span of time. Construction sites also need manpower, and many pay well. Folks who are advancing in years and finding it more difficult to do yardwork also often need assistance, and often receive significant retirement money from the government, resulting in levels of disposable income that are disproportionate to the rest of society. Some of them even require live-in care, not only to take care of them physically but also to attend to needs such as mere cooking and housekeeping. A live-in caretaking job can often be arranged that will eliminate rent expenses while providing a small amount of income for the caregiver at the same time. In-home caregiving is the fastest-growing job in America as many citizens reach retirement age, and in fact more Americans are retiring than are working. A live-in caregiving job can be ideal for people who also work online, since they can be on-site for the majority of the time.
All of these jobs and many more can be found in your local area through online sources like GenieTown and Craigslist. It’s worth keeping an eye out for, and Craigslist even has an RSS feed for each of its areas, so keeping up with it is easy, right from your desktop if you’d prefer. Checking the classified ads in your local newspaper might be worthwhile as well.
Tap the unused potential of the homeless
People on the streets are often motivated, and simply lack opportunities to apply their potential.
While you’re looking through the ads for people in your area who want services anyway, consider that there are people in dire circumstances whose work potential remains untapped – people who are homeless. Contrary to popular belief, many of those on the street desperately want to work, but do not have access to resources, like the internet or the ability to make phone calls, that are necessary to arrange it. Acting as a go-between for people on the street and painters or construction crews who need the manpower can be prosperous for all involved. Earning a finder’s fee, or a percentage, from connecting them together yourself can be a mutually-beneficial relationship. You may even consider creating a housecleaning service using primarily homeless manpower to staff it, and advertising it for free in your local area on Craigslist. Or a carwash. These people could use the money, and have huge amounts of manpower collectively that is just going to waste because they cannot apply it effectively. You, however, can. Make money while creating something that will provide a constructive approach to solving the homeless problem in your area, and you will have two bites at the cherry. You will also have access to a resource, untapped manpower, that most people seeking ways to make money – and who are to some extent competing with you in the market – have not even considered. This will put you ahead of the game.
Connect with paid posting jobs online
You can make some quick cash being paid to post on forums.
You’ve probably considered writing on a site like HubPages because you can write, because you enjoy writing, and because you’d like to get paid for it. In addition to paid articles from sites like HubPages, Helium and Triond, and even paid letter-writing sites like LetterRep and paid product review sites like epinions and ReviewStream, paid forum posting is a particularly interesting concept from a writer’s perspective. The basis for forum posting is that with new websites springing up on a constant basis – and many wilting away to nothing just as quickly – it becomes difficult for the creators of those websites and forums to build a base of users. It’s the ghost town phenomenon – and few will be inclined to join and return to a forum that has no users or activity yet. With no-one joining, this problem dashes the hopes of a typical website forum to get started. Forum creators all over the net with less-than-earthshattering premises for their websites and forums have started to pay people to start the ball rolling, through “pay per post” sites. These sites register new users, allow them to select a paying forum to post on, and collects commission for partnering writers willing to post with forum owners who need the activity to keep their sites alive. PostingDirect is one such site, and offers an advancing scale of 10 to 65 cents per post (depending on the user’s feedback from previous jobs), for jobs consisting of 10 or 20 posts. These forum posts are not meant to be timeless works of literary skill, and naturally aren’t expected to be as long as HubPages articles by any means. They are meant to inspire conversation and dialogue on inactive forums. The prospect of earning $1.30 for two short forum posts is certainly an attractive one, and the concept can get even better when combined with the next tip.
Put your bookmarks to work!
You can earn ad revenue – and referral money – sharing links on GemStorm.
If you’ve used sites like HubPages for a bit, you know that you can make money writing articles like this one online. But wouldn’t it be nice to make money by turning people onto a cool website you’ve discovered, or that music video? As of this April, GemStorm has gone into public beta. There you can post a link to a website, game, video or just about anything else and, like HubPages, it will share Google AdSense revenue with you 50/50. This means that you can put your bookmarks to work, and they can be working for you just as your HubPages articles do – without the writing articles part! What’s more, when you refer someone to GemStorm, you’ll be