Besides having a solid emergency fund, one of the best ways to hedge against financial ruin while surviving a layoff is to have one or two (or three) side hustles. Side hustles are a little different from traditional part time jobs in that they generally involve you starting up something on your own. They can range in complexity from selling yard sale finds on eBay to starting your own small business.

1. Dog walker. On the way to work each morning I pass a lady walking five or six dogs, usually three leashes in each hand. She carries a small shovel like a sword strapped to her waist, and has quite a few plastic grocery bags stuffed in each pocket. I’ve never seen them in action, but I assume these tools are for performing the neighborly deed of removing dog poop from lawns along the way.

Pros: You are getting exercise; your own dog can tag along and get exercise
Cons: Clean up (need I say more); untangling twisted leashes

2. “Date-night” sitting service. This is an idea we kicked around a few months ago when we were looking for ways to boost our income, without being away from the kids. A date-night sitting service is basically a Friday and/or Saturday night in-home service where neighbors and friends drop off their kids for a few hours while the parents enjoy a “date night.” Hosts charge a little less than a single babysitter would, but make a little more because they have more than one child to watch. Kids can play games, watch movies, and hosts usually order up some cheap pizza, or grill hotdogs and hamburgers (always a crowd favorite).

Pros: Your kids can participate in the fun; hourly earnings typically higher than retail job
Cons: Liability issues; five extra kids running around the house; no date night of your own

3. Survey participant. Anyone who has been on the web any length of time knows opportunities abound for participants to earn money completing surveys. What is less known is that there are only a small handful of reputable companies offering this service, in a space crowded by many scams. I have personal experience working with CashCrate, where I used to net $40-$60 a month working surveys a few minutes each day. Over time, I’ve managed to take advantage of their lucrative referral system and I now make a couple hundred dollars a month. It won’t make me rich, but it does add a little to the grocery budget.

Pros: No costs to participate; can be done from home
Cons: Email box full of offers (use a separate email account if you sign up)

4. Blogger. I’ve been writing for nearly a year now, but if I read this myself this time last year I wouldn’t have believed being a blogger could actually become an income-earning opportunity. The money comes very slowly, but for those with patience it can actually add up to become a nice supplemental income. It is not completely passive income though, as there is a lot of writing, editing and behind-the-scenes administration that goes along with being a blogger. Still, if there is a subject you are passionate about it is worth a try.

Pros: Work at your own pace; minimal startup costs; interacting with readers and other bloggers
Cons: Time consuming; requires mental effort tough to conjure up at the end of a long day

5. House sitter. I have family member that recently graduated high school. He is headed into one of the military services, but his enlistment was delayed. Instead of hunting down a place to rent, he got the opportunity to house-sit for a couple that would be away from their home for a few months. While this job doesn’t pay an income, money saved is money earned. Rather than shelling out several hundred dollars for a half-year lease, now he gets to live rent free and pocket earnings from his job.

Pros: Free rent; take advantage of amenities (pool, home gyms, etc.)
Cons: No place for your own things; wondering when you’ll be asked to move out

6. Lawn painter. No, that’s not a typo. Painting houses has always been a nice way to make a few extra bucks, but in times of dry climate and numerous foreclosures, greening up lawns with paint is in high demand. Realtors would much rather show a “green” home than one with a brown yard. But the benefits of a green lawn don’t stop with curb appeal. A green lawn makes the house looked lived in, lessening the chances of the home being vandalized, or squatters taking up residence.

Pros: High demand (especially in winter months)
Cons: Product costs; green legs and shoes

7. Holiday Decorations Installer. This one is seasonal, obviously, but with the holiday season approaching I’ve heard of many enterprising people advertising their services to install decorations. Many homeowners enjoy adding icicle lights and yard decorations, but don’t have the time, energy, or know-how to set them up themselves. That’s where you come in. Charge a flat fee based on the amount of decorations the owner wants displayed, and offer a discounted fee to come back after the holidays and take down the decorations and pack them away for next year. Who knows…you might earn a little extra Christmas shopping money by helping out your neighbors!

Pros: Minimal equipment needed (maybe just a ladder, scaffold, etc.); set your own schedule
Cons: A lot of patience needed (ever try to unwind a 100ft strand of tangled Christmas lights?)

As part of my 75 Tips to Survive a Down Economy post a couple weeks ago I mentioned CashCrate as a legitimate part-time income opportunity.  I received quite a number of questions about the service, and I thought I would address them all here.  It just so happened I received my June earnings check last week, so I am including a copy of the check along with the post to show you what’s possible with CashCrate.

What is CashCrate?

CashCrate is a survey hosting site that hosts surveys for a variety of marketing companies.  Members may select surveys to participate in and receive compensation for their time.  CashCrate takes a percentage of the earnings for running their business, but passes the remainder of earnings (up to 75%) on to members.

How Much Money Can You Make?

The amount you may earn is really a function of how much work you put in at CashCrate.  Some members barely earn the minimum payout of $10.00 each month, while others earn over $1,000 (including earnings from referals).  Speaking of referrals, CashCrate has one of the better referral systems out there.  In the interest of full disclosure, the majority of my earnings come from refererrals, but it is possible to earn a decent amount of money each month just by completing surveys.  If you have a blog of your own, adding a CashCrate referral banner or link is a great way to diversify your income.  Here’s a look at my earnings from the last six months, and my most recent CashCrate check:

• January 2008:  $19.22
• February 2008:  $21.10
• March 2008: $75.91
• April 2008:  $47.05
• May 2008: $15.91
• June 2008: $203.22

How Do We Use the Earnings?

For the most part we use the earnings check from CashCrate each month to supplement our grocery budget.  I like to cash the check and put it in a “stockpile” envelope.  If our grocery store is having a particularly good sale on meats I’ll stock up using the CashCrate earnings and throw a few bags of frozen chicken breasts in the freezer.  This last month was our highest earnings to date, and this time we’ll take half of the earnings to make an extra payment on the debt snowball.  Don’t forget to account for taxes by holding a little back in savings to pay taxes at the end of the year (we save about 25% of our extra earnings for taxes, but this amount could vary based on your tax bracket, deductions, etc.).

Will My Email Inbox Be Flooded With Spam?

Most offers do require a valid email address, so it is a good idea to create a separate email account to dedicate to CashCrate.  Otherwise, you will receive email from various advertisers at your primary email account.  Remember though, this is not technically spam as you have agreed to receive offers by participating in the survey.  Of course, this has little effect on me because I only check my dedicated CashCrate email account once a month or so.

What’s the Fastest Way to Make Money at CashCrate?

The fastest way to earn a $10.00 payout (which can easily be done your first day as a member), is to complete the 100% free offers. From the “Complete Offers” menu select “100% Free” from the “Show:” drop down filter.  These surveys don’t pay as much, but they are typically shorter and do not require a credit card or trial-offer agreement to participate.  When I work surveys these are the only ones I complete because I don’t like the idea of signing up for things just to earn money.  I’m too forgetful and am likely to forget to cancel the trial offer in the required time.  Stick to 100% free offers and the daily surveys, unless you are feeling adventurous.

If you are interested in signing up for free simply follow one of my referral links sprinkled throughout this article, or click on one of the CashCrate banners around my site.

I’ve had a strong desire over the last few weeks to de-clutter our home. Currently, our closets, attic and garage are all packed full with things we rarely use. My wife isn’t a big fan of yard sales (hosting them, that is) so it looks like me and the kids may be on our own if we plan to get rid of some of this stuff. Growing up my mom was the queen of yard sales. We used to joke that if I didn’t want something included in a yard sale I should lock it away in my closet. Looking back, she was setting a great example in the hopes I wouldn’t grow up to be a packrat. Admittedly, I have accumulated my share of our household junk, and I am trying to inspire members of our household to get rid of theirs. Yard sales are also a great way to generate some quick cash to get that emergency fund in place, or to contribute to your debt snowball. Here are a few yard sale tips our family has implemented over the years to have a successful yard sale.

Scheduling

• Schedule yard sales around the first of the month. Most people who are paid monthly, or bi-monthly, receive a paycheck around the 1st of the month (or the end of the previous month). For this reason, we try to schedule yard sales on the first Saturday of the month.
• Check the 10-day forecast. Nothing ruins a good yard sale faster than rain. Keep an eye on the 10-day forecast before submitting your advertisements and selecting a date. There are no guarantees, but significant weather patterns (fronts, tropical systems, etc.) are fairly predictable within a couple days.
• Plan on starting early. Most hard-core yard sale scavengers will start looking around 7:00am (some as early as 6:00am).
• Consider a pre-sale the Friday night before and invite your friends and coworkers. Assuming you don’t mind friends going through your belongings, ask them to come by the night before to look through things ahead of time. I’ve sold some larger items by doing this, including computer monitors, baby furniture, etc. A side benefit of a presale is the more you sale the night before, the less you have to put out on Saturday morning.

Advertising

• Join forces with friends, neighbors or family members. Block yard sales, or multifamily sales, tend to bring a lot of foot traffic. Consider splitting the cost of advertising amongst all participants and use a portion of your sales to pay for it.
• Check out free advertising sources. Credit union bulletins and community websites are a great source to advertise your yard sale. Many people also list their yard sales on Craigslist.
• Use traditional advertising (newspapers) for larger sales. If you are planning to try and sell some high-end items, such as electronics, furniture, or a used car, consider paying to advertise in your local newspaper.

Signage

• Keep it simple. Nothing works better than poster board and Sharpie markers. If you have some old boxes lying around you can also gather up some pieces of cardboard to write “YARD SALE” on and include your address.
• Piggyback on neighboring sales. This is a little trick I picked up as a teenager when my mom would send me around the neighborhood to hang up our signs. I looked in the newspaper Saturday morning to see if there were any other yard sales around our house. I would go to the end of the street these sales were on and hang a sign for our yardsale with a big arrow pointing in the direction of our house. As people left the advertised yard sales they would inevitably see my sign and then look for ours.
• Advertise around heavily traveled intersections close to your neighborhood. Once you get potential customers in your neighborhood, use remaining signs to lead them to your house.
• Keep a count of the signs you post, so later you can remember how many to take down. There is nothing worse than seeing a huge, hot pink YARD SALE sign for one that happened last month.

Pricing

• Leave sentimental value inside the house. People shop yard sales for one reason – to get a deal. Just because the change purse used to belong to your great, great Grandmother who brought it with her from Ireland, it doesn’t mean you should stick a $10 price sticker on it and call it antique. Remember, things are worth only as much as people are willing to pay for them.
• Sell kids or baby clothing from a big box or plastic bin. Based on the type of clothing, set a fair price for the entire bin and hang a sign made from a half-sheet of paper indicating the price of all items. For example, “BABY CLOTHES – $0.25 each.”
• If you are short on folding tables, sawhorses and a sheet of plywood make a good table. If you have some old sheets, hang them over the plywood to protect against splinters. This also provides some space under the tables to hide your empty boxes, or additional inventory.

The Day of the Sale

• Use a staging area the night before the sale. If you have a garage, or another enclosed space you can safely store things overnight, it helps to set up tables the night before. Our family backs the car out of the garage, sets up tables and throws out everything from the boxes the night before. At 6:30 the next morning all you need is some help walking the loaded tables out into your driveway or yard.
• Have plenty of change on hand. The day before the yard sale I usually make a run by the bank to get some smaller bills and rolled coins. $50 in quarters, ones and fives ought to do it.
• Consider getting a cash box. Make change from the cash box and place larger bills underneath the cash tray. If your yard sale becomes wildly successful, consider making a cash drop by withdrawing the larger bills from your cash box and taking them inside the house. This minimizes the chances of someone making off with all your cash.
• Remember safety – use the buddy system. The people I’ve encountered in my experience hosting yard sales have all been honest, hard-working folks and genuine collectors. However, the allure of electronics and cash sometimes brings unsavory guests. These types like to try to create a distraction so another one can make off with the cash box. Work in pairs and assign someone to always have an eye on the money.