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Earning Extra Income
By Jay | January 29, 2008
A few days ago I wrote a post called Pay Off Debt, or Build Up Savings (sounds like the title of a task on the Amazing Race). Single Mom in Debt from The Quest to Become Debt Free responded to my comment asking if I had considered part time work or consulting. I have considered part time work, but I can’t handle any more work right now. I spend far too much time in the office as it is — often 50-60 hours per week — and my work is mentally very demanding. I rarely get downtime during the day to surf the net or to do anything else and, by the time I get out at 7pm, I usually have just enough energy to go to the gym, eat dinner and go to bed.
But her question got me thinking, because extra income would be a way to get out of the debt trap more quickly. And there are many ways to get some extra income. I’ve written about some of my finds on the sidewalks of Brooklyn. I live in a neighborhood where a lot of well-educated, wealthy people live in small apartments; they read a lot, and they throw books away frequently. So I have found lots of books. In fact, M. and I went riding around the neighborhood on our bikes a couple weekends ago and, within two hours, had brought home three loads of books that we found. I keep them in my basement, and have put them up for sale on Half.com and Amazon.com. Believe it or not, I have made almost $500 in the past 3 weeks. One book sold for $40, and another sold for $35. But my best find was a book that sold for $96 the day I posted it. I’ve also found some other antiques that I have sold on eBay for $30+.
I enjoy doing this sort of thing. Rather than working as part of a group, I am on my own, which is less stressful. And I’m not in an office, so it doesn’t feel like work. If I can make $100 per week just on stuff that I find, imagine what I could make if I really applied some effort to this. The problem is getting books to sell. I can probably make $500 per month selling books that I find — Spring is coming up, and a lot of people throw away books then. But I would like to take this to the next level, and find a source for books or other products to sell online in order to earn extra income.
Anyone have any ideas on how to go about this?
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Stumble it!
January 29th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
That’s a great idea, but don’t be blinded by the need to do *everything* online! What about a good ol’ local used book store? Call around to ones that are even a little out of your area and make it a monthly trip to sell books to them! Even if you do end up selling them for slightly less than you might get online…you won’t need to pay for shipping.