money-making hobbies

[jrr]

I'd like to start a discussion about making/saving small amounts of money outside of the 40-hour work week. Here's some stuff I do:

Pinecone Research (http://www1.pineconeresearch.com/) Surveys - a few times a month I do a 15-20 minute survey, and get $5 for it.
prosper.com (referral link in sig) - I take the money from pinecone and fund (fractions of) loans, $50 at a time, for a decent rate of return. Referring people yields $25 bonuses for both me and the new member.
I donate platelets every couple of weeks, and though they don't pay me, they do give me free movie passes, so I don't pay for movies any more. Some people "donate" (sell) plasma, but that seems a little shady to me.


All in all, this is minor - pinecone/prosper have yielded maybe $200 in the ~6 months I've been playing with them - but they're fun.

Do any of you have profitable hobbies? Examples:

I've heard stories of buying certain items from local secondhand stores (video game traders, goodwill, etc), and selling them at a predictable profit on eBay.
Some people are good enough at certain games or know enough about certain sports to reliably make money gambling.


Chime in!

[jrr]

cricket, cricket..

[moneyman]

I read about this new start-up notchup.com that pays for attending job-interviews. It is a fairly recent web-site and employers are still registering to attract talent from the candidates registered on this web-site. Apparently you can expect 200$ to 500$ for just listening to the prospective employer. See details at - Get paid for attending job interviews (http://all-about-my-money.com/?p=9#more-9)

[kinnamje]

I got into Prosper about 4 months ago and am enjoying it so far. Seems a little risky but if you're careful you should still be able to pull down a nice rate over the 3 years...

I'm going to look at that survey link you posting, thanks!

[alwaysmakingmoneycom]

I started 5 years ago developing online businesses which have been successful. I have developed a drop shipping site which has done $41,825.13 in gross revenue in the last year; not bad for me, my computer & a website.
I would strongly suggest everyone develop at least 1-3 websites that are info based rather than product based. Why? Trust me...having been in the product based web business for 5 years, you don't want to deal with returns, refunds, chargebacks, etc. etc.
I would also recommend that all your websites be related to one another. Again, you don't want to sell info on lawn care, Eskimo food & making cabinets unless you're an expert in these areas but even then, the articles can't be massaged to move from one website to the next.

[HGI08]

I personal don't do P2P lending but it sounds like it could be fun as a hobby. Just in case you wanted other options other than Prosper.com here is a breakdown of your P2P lending sites: http://www.p2plendingreview.com/for_brwrs.html


-HGI
Pimp Your Finances (http://www.pimpyourfinances.com)

[jenllip]

I've been a fan of Amazon's mturk.com for a number of years. They post "Human Intelligence Tasks" (HITs) that "Turkers" complete for money. The tasks are things that humans are just faster and better at doing than computers are... anything from transcribing podcasts (for castingwords.com) to answering questions like "does the album cover in this image match this band name?" or completing tasks like "draw boxes around the road signs in this photo" or "select all pictures from this group that show a violin" or "write a trivia question about sports"

There are tons of HITs posted and the tasks are generally easy enough to do while watching TV. Although I personally wouldn't want to make a living off it, it's a better time waster than solitaire.

[brodiemac]

I sign up for $$$ off coupons from the likes of Staples, Office Depot, etc. then sell them on eBay for cheap. A $5 coupon will get me a buck or two while the $20 will get me as much as $10. A fool and their money....

[finpro]

Practically speaking, only a professional can be 100% sure about money making because he or she has professional qualifications to judge which one is good and which one isn't.

And so, it is probably best that you seek some professional advice. You know these guys are experts and so, they can offer you expert advice and show you the way. There are good opportunities to prosper even in this bad market.

If you need a financial planner or advisor you can try them here - http://www.respond.com/financial-planners/find.html. I tried the planners they have here and they sure looked experienced and qualified.

Thanks & Regards.

[mintuser125]

This isn't a money-making tip more than a money-saving tip.

I love Rite Aid's Single Check Rebates.

They have products that are free after rebate or really cheap after rebate. The great thing is that you don't need to mail anything...you just enter your receipt information online, it'll process in a few days, and you'll see how much you earned. Only catch is that you can only request one check per month.

If you use manufacturer's coupons with the SCR's, you can make money on the deals.

I have more toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash than I can use right now.