50 Ways to Make a Fast $50.

Cartoonist Allen Saunders long ago expressed one of life's greatest truths: "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." No matter how carefully you plan, money can run a little short at times. Maybe your child needs new shoes. Maybe your car broke down, or maybe you just want a night out on the town. Whatever the reason, if you find yourself needing extra cash, there are plenty of ways to earn it -- now more than ever.

• TaskRabbit connects you with local people who are willing to pay you for a wide variety of tasks, everything from light carpentry to picking up takeout food.
• Agent Anything. The "agents" are university students who perform tasks. "For the last two years, we've provided errand-runners for working moms, beta testers for startups, temp workers for small businesses, and street teams for major corporations," the site says.
• Zaarly matches people with local folks who will pay to have tasks and errands performed.
• Fiverr. What would you do for $5? Write a love letter for someone? Attempt to eat a tablespoon of nutmeg on video? Market your service on this website for $5 or more.
• Amazon's (AMZN) Mechanical Turk. You can make a few bucks performing a task, like writing product descriptions or selecting the best photograph for a product.
• Field Agent. This app pays you to do things like checking prices and scanning barcodes.
• UserTesting.com. You can earn quick cash by looking at someone's website and figuring out what might be confusing for the average user.

Sitting

• House-sitting. When friends or neighbors go out of town, offer to keep an eye on their house, pick up the mail or water the plants. Don't know of anyone leaving? Try a job portal like Mindahome.com.
• Babysitting. Sites like Sittercity and Care.com can connect you with a gig.
• Pet-sitting. What's better than playing with a puppy? Getting paid for it. You can start with friends or family, or sign up for a national service like Fetch! Pet Care.

Selling

• Garage sales are a great way to declutter your home and earn extra cash. Some cities require a permit for yard and garage sales.
• Consignment shops accept like-new clothes, shoes and accessories. When the item sells, you get a portion of the proceeds.
• Used-book stores. Stores like Half Price Books buy used books for cash.
• Used-entertainment stores. You can sell used video games, DVDs and CDs to local resellers, or online through sites like SecondSpin.com.
• EBay (EBAY). You can auction off practically anything at the grandfather of auction sites.
• Craigslist. You can sell anything from shoes to cars. You'll probably want to meet with the buyer and get paid in cash.
• Amazon. You can sell gently used or new stuff. Fees start at 99 cents per item.
• Bonanza. This is a marketplace for both used and new items. You can set your own prices, and it collects a small fee for anything you sell.
• Half.com. This eBay-owned website is a good place to sell textbooks, other books, DVDs and other small items.
• Gift cards. Sell them to a reseller like Cardpool or CardCash.
• Old phones. Sell your old smartphone to a site like Gazelle or NextWorth.

Renting

• Rent a room for a few days. You can rent out a room (or even your couch) to vacationers via sites like Airbnb. Note that local regulations might prohibit this type of activity.
• Make your home available. If you're going to be out of town for a while, rent your house to someone else and earn some cash. Or perhaps you have a second home you can turn into a vacation destination. Sites like HomeAway can help you find guests.

Making Arts and Crafts

• Craft fairs. If you're crafty, you can sell your wares at craft fairs. Check FestivalNet.com for upcoming events in your area.
• Etsy. This is a marketplace for artists and crafters of all stripes.
• RedBubble. If you're an artist, RedBubble can turn your work into posters, T-shirts and stickers. You do the designing; it does the selling and shipping.
• Society6. It works like RedBubble but has different options, such as tote bags, throw pillows and laptop skins.
• DeviantART. You can sell photography, classic prints and digital works. Another site, ArtFire, accepts both arts and crafts.
• Society6. Sell your art cellphone cases, T-shirts, pillows and more.

Finding It

• Claim lost money. Possibly the easiest way to make money is to check out Unclaimed.org to see if any state where you've lived is holding money you're owed but haven't received, like old paychecks, rebates or refunds.

Selling Body Parts and Participating in Research

• Sell blood plasma. A local blood bank or hospital may pay for your plasma.
• Participate in medical research. Medical researchers will pay you to participate in clinical trials. Check out ClinicalConnection.com.
• Sell your hair. If you have long hair that's not dyed, you can sell it on sites like OnlineHairAffair.

Doing Manual Labor

• Mow lawns. All you need is a lawn mower and customers. Start by asking your neighbors.
• Shovel snow. If you live in a cold climate, shovel driveways and walkways for a fee.
• Clean gutters. In the fall, clean out your neighbors' clogged gutters.
• Clean pools. If you know how to keep pool water sparkling, this can be alucrative.
• Clean houses. Know busy parents? They'd be happy to pay you to clean their house.
• Be a mover. If you have a truck, offer to move friends for a fee.
• Wash cars. My neighbor washes almost every car on the block once a week for $10 a pop. He can do the whole block in an afternoon.
• Paint. Some people hate to paint. If you don't, offer your services.
• Scoop poop. Offer to keep pets' yards clean. This is particularly lucrative when spring arrives.

Being a Researcher

• Surveys. There are plenty of survey-taking scams out there, but there are some legitimate companies, too. Check out MySurvey or SurveySpot.
• Marketing studies. Marketing firms like Concepts Consumer Research and retailers often test their products on a panel of paid consumers.
• Secret shopping. Secret shopping is also rife with scams, but legit companies offer cash for evaluating a business. Check out the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. You'll need to get certified, but it has job listings.
• Gigwalk. If you have a smartphone, you can earn extra cash through the Gigwalk app by doing small jobs like mystery shopping, testing app, or taking photos.

Using Your Talents

• Caddy. If you love and understand golf and think you're up to the task, which can be physically taxing, being a caddy can net you some decent money.
• Music teacher. If you have musical talent in an instrument or voice, offer lessons.
• Tutor. If you are particularly knowledgeable in a certain subject, you can likely find a student who needs help. Check out WyzAnt.com, where you can set your own prices (keep in mind its commission).
• Google (GOOG) Helpouts. You can share your special knowledge and charge for it via Google Helpouts.

1. Pay off college loan debt (if you have it) with automatic monthly payments.
2. Live small. Buy the smallest, cheapest home you can live with and pay if off before retirement. Do not count on your home's appreciation value for retirement funds. A paid off home is a cheap place to live during retirement.
3. If you want to buy a car, get a reliable beater. Get insurance for $25/month from Insurance Panda. Forget about buying a house until your debts are paid off.
4. Only one credit card per family. Keep it in a lock box for emergency use only. If you can't buy with cash, you can't afford it.
5. Be careful as you develop your retirement portfolio. The Bush years taught us not to trust the stock market and banks. Gold, cash, rare stones, high end collectables, rental properties, cottage industry cash and at-work saving accounts with a big employer contribution will keep the money in your pocket. Roth IRA's are also a good way to save without excessive taxes. Avoid annuities, and accounts that make more money for the bank than for the clients.
6. Assume that everyone wants a piece of your retirement portfolio. Beware of con artists-they come in all forms. If it seems to good to be true-it is.
7. If possible, use public transportation and cut back on car ownership. You will save a bundle.
8. Plant a vegetable garden. Learn to can and freeze food.
9. Do not buy long term health care insurance. The rates are too high to keep the policy going as you retire. It's a sucker play for young adult money.
10. Eat out once a week. Make a shopping list and learn to cook. It's healthy and you'll save a lot of money.
11. Cut off cable TV and watch shows online. You'll save over $100.00 per month.
12. Create your own power (sun, wind, whatever cuts the price of heating, electric and gas.)
13. Co-op services. Barter when you can for goods and services.
14. Work at home several days a week. You'll save on gas and meals.
15. Shop the educational market for a cheaper graduate education.
16. Live in a neighborhood with good public schools so you can skip the cost of private ones
17. Constantly look for ways to save and cut the budget.

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