Some here probably have regular jobs and shop on the side, but what about those piecing together income bit by bit? I'm looking for other ways to make some dough on short-term assignments without a set schedule.

Freelance writer, photographer, delivery driver...and a few other jobs I can't discuss.

Regular job as an accountant, small bookkeeping business, notary, etsy.

I run a small business from home making solid lotions, lip balms and the old style cold process soaps. I sell via our website as well as do shows in the fall. The fall shows make most of my income.

I was a tax agent for years. Now I do financial counseling (budget coach) for Dave Ramsey.

Train dogs and horses.

I teach -I have a full time job as a special education teacher and a part time job as a professor at a local college. I also will be scoring essays for a scoring company in the later part of spring.

stand on a street corner with a sign

I am going to sell some things at the Swap Meet

I also do merchandising (heavy) and demos (sporadically).

I work part time for a cemetery. Those funeral home calls? A breeze for me. I make most of my income from selling Legal Shield and Identity Theft Protection.

I'm a part time hit man. The TV shows vastly overrate how well the profession pays though. :/

Because you are a lazy hit man. Left that part out didn't ya

I am a librarian as my day job, but I also make hair accessories and sell them. In the past, I did some SEO writing, but I never built up a strong client base and that kind of fizzled.

I'm fairly certain you can leave "hit man" out of the sentence.......

@TexGmn wrote:

I teach -I have a full time job as a special education teacher and a part time job as a professor at a local college. I also will be scoring essays for a scoring company in the later part of spring.

I have also worked for a scoring company. A teacher friend told me about it. I started out onsite in the next county and did it a few years. It requires a college degree. Later, I did it online. For me, the type of scoring is counter-intuitive, not at all like grading a paper. Anyway, they require so many hours per week that I can't do because I also do merchandising.

Anything for a buck.

Audit hospitals programs and services, simulations customer, evaluate mortgage lender compliance..I am a listener for those calls, 'that may be recorded.'

To be more specific, I own rental properties, do horse boarding, publishing, editing, writing, have a part time "real" job, business consulting, accounting, tax work, selling eggs from my hens. My own tax return is one of the most complicated that I have to do.

I do this, I clean cottages on the island (made $180.00 in the last 2 days), I do drop-shipping on ebay, I sell Avon, and I am still able to watch my 2 granddaughters in between school hours! Winning!!!

My other means of income derives from being a QC for a major internet company as well as owning rental property within Florida as well as that of the south caribbean (quite challenging to manage). I do local work with small businesses and others by writing their business plans, as well as consult with with several mid-sized companies. I travel frequently and tend to do my mystery shopping with major projects that usually keep me on the road from 4-6 weeks at a time, or in 10-day local projects.

My spouse says that I should write a book on mystery shopping, of which I'm considering.

I shop at Goodwill and then resell on ebay using my Post Office shops for free shipping =)

I have two great housemates whose rents more than pay all of the expenses of my house. As a bonus, one of them tends an organic garden from which I get my veggies and they both handle all of the landscaping, snow removal and trash/recycling chores for the household. We do not share a kitchen (there are 2) and each has private space, so we are not trying to cook, eat or socialize together (no arguements over TV shows, etc.) Having housemates is not just for the young any more!

@Shoptilyoudrop wrote:

I shop at Goodwill and then resell on ebay using my Post Office shops for free shipping =)

May have to try that when Goodwill shops start again here. Too bad rummage sales aren't shopped...

Are the Goodwill shops going to start again? I've been missing them the last 3 months!

What?!?!? There are goodwill shops? Fabulous! Yesterday I bought a brand new ergo baby carrier - they run like $120 for $1.91 at Goodwill and I resold it for $85 on ebay buy it now last night. I'm shipping it today, getting free shipping, and getting paid $10 to ship it. =)

The goodwill shops haven't stopped in my area...I get emails for them each week! I live in Chicago.

I'm also an accountant on the side, and just do this to supplement my income.

Reviewer for the FDA (do store evals for the Food Stamp Program), merchandiser for 3 different manufacturers and long time E-Tailer on Etsy. Ebay and Amazon, and I maintain a small boutique of products I produce in a local store (3 actually).

No downtime for me ...

I rent out my extra rooms in my house and resell things if I end up finding something worth the time to do so.

I used to do private tutoring sessions for math, physics and engineering. I might start doing that again, but I am a little rusty with those subjects.

I also began churning credit cards too.

And of course, I have my day job as a pipeline engineer that supports the majority of my income.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2015 03:54PM by Tarantado.

Expressed loftily, lol, I perform social research. In humble reality, I work for a small research company affiliated with a university and gather information about assorted [not-for-discussion] topics. It's not too mysterious, as in one sense this is like mystery shopping and auditing. People at my level gather data which is forwarded to others who deal with the data on behalf of their clients.

After I and the others at my level complete the information-gathering process, that phase of the project is closed and the full-time staff here analyze and package this information as raw data or reports, according to client specifications. (In theMS-ing world we submit preliminary information and/or reports for inclusion in the final project report to clients.)


The information I encounter varies from project to project and may be interesting, personal, over the top nosy, timely, sensitive, etc. (And don't we all have opinions about the info we deal with as shoppers and auditiors!?!)

My job is at the bottom of the organization heirarchy, and this is perfect. As long as I can self-schedule and am free to fit this job into a schedule with my shopping and other jobs, I'm happy. Each job gives me some skill or perspective which somehow contributes to me as I improve in my various roles in this large world of gathering information.


p.s. @ OP~ Some colleges and universities have research operations similar to this one. If you like to talk to people and don't mind asking some nosy questions, you might find out if any schools near you have a similar research division.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2015 04:55PM by Shop-et-al.

I have an almost full time other job but since you are not asking about that...I and my friends are whizzes at finding free things to do. We don't make money at it but we sure save a lot and have lots of fun doing it. Just yesterday I was able to get $30 of "free groceries" by purchasing 6 bottles of wine. The wine itself was $11 a bottle wine but were on sale and I ended up getting them for under $2 a bottle after I purchased the groceries I would have bought anyway. And using coupons and joining rewards clubs last month I don't think I paid for any of the many free meals I got since it was my bday month. It is amazing how much you can save by finding these legal deals and putting the savings in the bank for using elsewhere. I also do focus groups which pay well and dream of being a tv/ movie extra when I retire. Not much work for the older folks in that industry but once in a while with fabulous meals and some $$ and sitting around on the set reading or just chatting I find fun and relaxing.