Categories: BUSINESS & FINANCE

10 Ways to Make Money Without Spending a Dime

There’s not one of us who would enjoy having a little bit of extra money in our checking accounts at the end of the month. We don’t get part-time jobs because it will take away the little precious time that we do have for ourselves, and we don’t start part-time small businesses because we have fallen for the myth that “it takes money to make money.” Here are ten unique ways that you can make some extra money without ever having to spend a dime.

1. Freelance Writing – If you’re reading this, you already have a computer or access to one. Why not head on over to a site like Associated Content or Helium and submit a couple of articles for publishing. You won’t get rich off of it, but you’ll make a few bucks that you didn’t have before, and it’s a valuable chance to improve your writing skills.

2. Recycling – Chances are you already drink some Soda (or pop, depending on which part of the country you live in). You can always recycle the aluminum cans for a few dollars. There are now services that will pay you for your other recyclables as well, such as Recycle Bank. You can get money for recycling your old cell-phone at Envirofone and money for your old printer cartridges at Cash for Cartridges.

3. Tutoring – If you got anything close to decent grades while in school, you can become a tutor for absolutely zero money, it’s just a matter of marketing yourself. You have to decide what you want to tutor, and then find great ways to advertise yourself. Pickup a book called “Guerilla Marketing” from your local library for some excellent ideas on how to do so.

4. Computer Support – If you happen to have a knack when it comes to technology, this is a great option for you. A lot of older people really don’t have a basic grasp of taking care of their computer, and this is where you come in. You can go in, set them up with a firewall, anti-virus, and anti-spyware as well as taking care of any looming problems on their computer systems before anything worse were to happen. This is also just a matter of advertising, for this it’ll be mostly word of mouth. Offer to take care of a few people’s computers for free if they’ll tell their friends about you.

5. Cleaning Service – If there’s a college in your town, you have a huge untapped market of business for your own personal cleaning service. Most dorms are messy, and there’s a good chance that students would pay $25 to have their room swept, mopped, vacuumed, dusted and organized. You can also clean other people’s homes and small businesses for some extra cash. The work isn’t glamorous but it’s a great part-time business to be in.

6. Becoming an Online Head Hunter – I’ve never personally tried this, but it appears that there are a lot of companies which will pay you good money to connect employers with much needed employees. There as sites such as H3.com and JobThread which will give a very nice commission to whoever can refer the right person to the right position.

7. Blogging – If you have any sort of writing talent at all, and are willing to put in effort on how to market your blog, there’s a very decent chance you can turn blogging into a part-time job. Open up an account with Blogger or Word Press, start writing and learn how you can monetize it. If you’re looking for a resource on making money with your blog, look no further than problogger.net.

8. Cork Boards and Craigslist – We all have a lot of stuff sitting around our house that we rarely ever use and really don’t need. Why not sell some of it to bring in some extra money? In many cases, it’s not worth it to bother with eBay or the local classifieds, because it costs money to do those. Open up word and make a little poster to hang up around town of whatever you’re selling, and often times you can sell stuff without having to spend any money on advertising. You can also place a free listing on craigslist, for nothing as well!

9. The “Get Paid To” sites – There are a lot of websites out there which will pay you to receive commercial email advertisements from them and take focus group surveys. Be very careful when doing this though, a lot of these sites are more trouble than they’re worth. Do a lot of research on sites you participate in and never pay anyone for some topic secret information about making money on the internet. Don’t expect to get rich either, at best this is a very part-time job in which you don’t have to leave the house for.

10. Babysitting – There’s always a young couple around that needs some time to themselves and would like to unload their kids for an evening on someone else. If you need some extra money, consider starting your own Friday and Saturday night daycare service, parents will be able to go on dates without having to worry about their children, and you can make some money in the process.

These are just a few different ways that you can make money without spending anything. Remember, there are no magic secrets to become wealthy, just common sense. A lot of it’s hard work, but you’ll actually have some money when all is said and done.