surviving the recession

I have written a lot of posts on how to earn extra money, both online and offline, and it occured to me that it would be handy to summarise them in a single post, so that people can see what the options are.

Why would you need to earn extra money? Perhaps you’ve lost your job, or need to raise cash to clear your debt, or simply because you are retired and your investments no longer provide an income big enough to live on. Here’s a list of ideas on earning money. Where the idea is only applicable to one country, I have put that country’s name in brackets. Where there is no country named, it is suitable for everyone.

Make money by tutoring online (USA)

Making money from YouTube

Making money from Newsvine

Making money renting out space (UK)

Making money putting ads on your car (UK)

Making money renting your goods out

Making money house-sitting (UK)

Making money participating in clinical trials (UK)

If you are a college graduate or are currently enrolled in college and live in the USA or Canada, and have a good knowledge of English, Mathematics or the sciences, you can earn online tutoring students in grade 4-12 with Tutor.com.  They are particularly interested in tutors for Geometry, Trigonometry, Algebra, Physics and Chemistry.

When you register with them, you will need to fill out an application form, and sit a series of tests/exams so that they can acertain that you really know your subject. They will also do background tests on you. They do not charge to become a tutor in their system.

Once enrolled as a tutor, you choose the hours you work from a minimum five hours a week to thirty hours a week. Payment is either made by cheque or by bank transfer.

If you fit the criteria, this might be a way of earning some extra money online. Note that I am not connected with them in anyway, and they do not have a referral program.

One big thing to come out of the recession is the importance of alternative sources of income, just in case your hours at work are cut, or you end up having to work part-time or in a lower paying job.

The best alternative income is passive, which means that the money comes in even when you arn’t actively working. So how do you find these sources of passive income?

One form of passive income is investing in shares that pay a high yield or dividend. Given the state of the stock market, these shares are particularly cheap now, which means the yield on the shares is good. But before you rush off and buy them, make sure that the company concerned has a) very little debt (as it is companies with debt who are most vulnerable in this recession) and b) in a safe industry such as utilities (everyone needs electricity and gas) or supermarkets (everyone needs food). Some shares with high yields will be in vulnerable sectors such as retail or banking - avoid these, as the high yield is temporary (it is likely that their dividends will be cut due to losses).

Another form of passive income is working online and relying on advertising income to pull in the money. The theory is that you set up your blog and the traffic will come and everything else follows. However note that for blogging, you will have to work extremely hard to establish your blog in the first place. Only when you’ve written great material, and have got your site a decent pagerank and traffic, can you afford to relax and let the money roll in.

Therefore, with both these forms of passive income you will have to do a lot of work initially (due diligence when buying shares and a lot of promotion when setting up your blog). It’s not quite the money-for-no-work gig people think it is. It’s still worth doing though - the recession is of such uncertain depth and duration, people need to take all the steps they can to ensure they have multiple streams of income coming in.

Spareground.com allows members to rent out all sorts of space - accomodation, parking spaces, driveways, storage facilities, unused gardens, unused land, you name it.

The site is completely free to use for both business and individuals, and they have no referral programs. Once you have spotted an advert that seems to meet your needs, you have to contact the person renting out the space directly, and negotiate prices and the agreement with them, and obviously you do need to take certain precautions (eg insuring your property, and getting a written agreement before you proceed).

Apart from listing spaces to rent on the site, they also allow people looking for a space to post a “wanted” ad stating what you are looking for.

This is a good way to raise a little extra cash from your existing property, especially if you are having dificulties meeting your bills.

You can make money by placing ads on the body work of your car.

Register online free with a company called AdsOnVans. They accepts both cars and vans. They will then try to match you with an advertiser. Once they have found an advertiser, you need to take your car in to have a second “skin” put on your car with the advert (it won’t damage the car).

They then pay you to carry the advert - either in free petrol or cash. Cash is about £70-£200 per month, depending on the size of your car and how many miles you do each month.

It all looks horribly garish, but it’s money, and if you need the cash, why not?