How to Make Money in an Hour
By Steve Gillman
This is a collection of ideas on how to make money in an hour,
and not one of our regular pages on one specific method. It is
indexed as part of the "fast ways to make money" section,
but its primary index is just the money articles section of the
site. Also, some of the methods suggested here are not ways to
make it so much as to "get it," meaning borrow, cash
in something, or whatever works to put currency in your hands
inside of an hour.
(Flickr photo by 401(K) 2012)
Because the presumed goal of someone who reads a page like
this is not to get a job that will pay him today--which is unlikely
to say the least--or to build a business income for the future,
we start with the obvious: Look for money you already have. Check
the couch for coins, try to recall where you hid any emergency
cash in your home or car. Take the coins from your change-jar
and get to a CoinStar machine or bank to get currency.
Now apart from just locating what you already have, what else
can you do to make money in an hour? Try as many of the following
as you think might work in your situation.
Collect Debts - Call anyone who owes you money and
see if they can pay you now. If they hesitate, offer a
reduction in what they owe you if they can get the money within
the hour. Alternately, ask for anything they don;t need in payment
and sell it at a pawnshop.
Borrow From Family and Friends - Try friends who have
borrowed from you first. If nobody wants to loan you what you
need, see if you can get several small loans from different people.
Offer collateral if necessary.
Get a Cash Advance - Use you credit card for a cash
advance.
Buy Something For a Friend - Ask a friend if he or
she can go shopping and let you pay for their purchases with
your credit card while they give the cash to you. It costs them
the same, and allows you to get a fee-free cash advance on a
credit card that might not otherwise offer advances.
Sell Videos and CDs - You can probably get a dollar
each for DVDs and good CDs at a pawnshop.
Sell Furniture - You can take furniture to a used furniture
store and sell it for cash. offer it to people you know first
if you think you can get more that way.
Pawn Something - If you have nothing you want to sell,
pawn things and buy them back later when you are able to.
Sell Things Belonging to Others - This can really work
if done right. Find a friend who wants to get rid of some things,
and help him or her out. "Borrow" the things and run
to a pawn shop or other lace you might be able to sell the items.
Once you have an offer, call your friend and offer less to buy
them. Get paid, go pay your friend, and pocket the difference.
Turn in Pop Cans - If you live in a state that has
cans and bottles with a deposit on them, round up your returnables
and cash them in. Stop at the houses of friends and family on
the way and see if they'll contribute theirs as well.
Sell Scrap Metal - Pop cans (when there is no deposit),
broken aluminum furniture and TV antennas, copper tubing left
over from a plumbing project, and other metals can be sold at
any metal recycling place for instant cash. Check your garage,
basement, attic, shed and yard, and stop at your friends' houses
on the way to find more scrap to cash in.
Cash in Part of Your IRA - This works only if your
retirement account is at a local bank, and you'll have to pay
the penalty and taxes when April comes.
Sell Books - We regularly sell books that we are done
with, and although our local bookstore pays more if we take store
credit, they do offer cash as well.
Do a Quick Job - There are two ways how to make money
in an hour by working for it. The first is to find someone who
needs a job done that will take thirty minutes or so, like shoveling
snow or mowing a small lawn. The problem with this method is
that even a generous friend is unlikely to pay you more than
$20 for such a small task. If you need more than that, offer
the work as "interest" on a loan. For example, you
tell your friend you'll do a 40-minute cleaning of his garage
if he'll loan you $150 for a week.
Get a Payday Loan - These services will hit you hard
on the fees and interest, so be sure it is worth it.
Pre-sell Your Labor - Use your computer to print certificates
worth an hour of your labor, doing whatever you are good at,
and then sell these at a discount to your usual rate to anyone
who you have done cash jobs for before. Promise they can redeem
them easily when they want, of course.
In case you're not counting, there are more than a dozen ways
to make money in an hour here. One of them should work for you.
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