How to Make Fast Cash

1. Hold a yard sale. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. With only a few days preparation, holding a yard sale can yield a tidy sum in the span of a weekend. Another benefit is that it helps you clean house get rid of things that you don’t use very often. Scour your home and take a good look at all your stuff. Ask yourself how much you would pay for it at a yard sale, and if you’d be willing to part with it if someone offered you that amount. Hang signs not just in your own neighborhood, but near by neighborhoods, and at the stops of major bus lines that go by your neighborhood. Place ads on the internet and local fliers. Tell all your friends and neighbors. The better the turn out, the better your earnings.

2. Be a guinea pig for scientific research. Offering your body to science can be profitable. Universities are often seeking test subjects for studies. You can make anywhere from a few bucks to a couple of hundred by participating in a single study. To find work as a guinea pig, check your newspaper classified ads, campus newspapers and bulletin boards, online ads such as craigslist.org, or call the science department of your local university and ask if they ever look for test subjects. Ask if you can be put on a list of contacts. You may not be able to (or willing to) participate in every study, but if one that suits you arises it can be well worth your while.

3. Turn trash into treasures. If you are handy with a paint brush, good at crafts or have some skills with tools, try to find some furniture to refinish and sell. One option is browsing garage sales or thrift shops and making a small investment in something you think you can spruce up or fix. Another option is to save yourself some money and find something for free. Ask friends if they have any junk furniture you can haul away, check local ads in papers and online for freebies, or look for things left out on the curb. With a little sanding and painting, replacing a hinge or screw, or some decoupage, you can turn junk into a work of art, and then turn a tidy profit when you sell it.

4. Offer services: make a couple of hundred fliers and shower your neighborhood with them. Offer to do any tasks you have experience with or feel that you can handle. Some things you might consider doing is dog walking, cleaning, junk hauling, repairs, painting, yard work, running errands, snow shoveling, house sitting, baby sitting, companionship, typing, or car washing. People are always looking for someone to help with odd jobs, so the more you make yourself available and get the word out, the more work you will find

5. Share your knowledge: If you have a skill or knowledge of something that others might be interested in learning, offer to teach a course, or a one-day workshop, at a community center, homeschooling co-operative, a local church, or to give private lessons. There are probably lots of things you can do that you can share with others. If there is something you can do well, there are probably a few people in your community who would like to learn it. Really think about what you can offer. Perhaps you’re good at a particular craft like scrapbooking or glass painting. Perhaps you’re athletic and can teach kids yoga or basketball. You might be very handy and can teach people how to build a book case or do a few simple home repairs. Maybe you could teach someone how to knit, play the piano, or arrange flowers. Don’t downplay any of your skills, as things you’re used to doing that you don’t think of as particularly difficult or exciting might be things that other people always wanted to learn. I once found myself strapped for cash in the Fall and turned a quick buck by offering a jack-o-lantern carving workshop at a community center at $10 a head and the enthusiastic turn-out was far greater than I had expected.