Remember a few weeks back when sweet, generous payday finally came around? The sun was shining (probably); the birds were tweeting and you treated yourself to a multipack of comforting, quilted loo-roll with the funny patterns on them. Then as quickly as you can say ‘nappy rash’, a week had gone by and you were back on the Tesco value tampons and ‘borrowing’ toilet roll from restaurants.
In this current climate of Internet domination where dorky dudes like MySpace Tom and that guy from Spare Room.com (who studied 'Pop Music' at Uni, btw) make squillions in their sleep, there is no excuse for your current state of destitution. Here’s some quick and easy ways to pay your bills without having to put your best mate on Ebay.
1 Get to knowTaskrabbit
Ever built an IKEA flat-pack unit before? Know how to change a lightbulb? You’re hired! TaskRabbit operates all over the world and has created an army of friendly, non-murdery folk who are more than willing to sort out your life admin. If you love life admin (or can tolerate it if it’ll make you quick cash), then join the army. Simply sign up as a 'tasker' online, input your skills or specialist subjects – options include ‘standing in queues for a long time’- and you’re good to go. The app notifies you when appropriate jobs are nearby and you’re able to choose if it’s one for you at the touch of an iPhone screen. Pick your hourly rate wisely – chances are, no one’s gonna shed out £500 to watch you clean their oven.
2. Make some stuff and sell it on Etsy
Make like Metal Artist, Timothy Adam, and sell the fruits of your arts and crafty labour on the billion dollar e-commerce website. Timothy’s blogincludes some handy tips on the best ways to make your Etsy business actually profitable, including watching the most successful Etsy sellers like a hawk and tweeting an annoying amount about your latest lollipop stick thingy majigy. Go wild in Tiger, invest in some super strength superglue and make a couple of cute hair scrunchies. You’ll be dining at The Ivy in no time.
3. Get paid for your written ramblings
I am always shocked when any normal, functioning human pays me actual, money when I write something – and I totally shouldn’t be. One person’s Sunday afternoon hobby is another person’s gold-dust, so if you’re good, why not make some dollar out of it? A good, original feature idea is a commissioning editor’s nourishment and if you can write something coherent, without more than a couple of typos then even better! Most websites will pay a fee for a written piece, so pick one that you think is best suited to your awesome, ground-breaking idea, Google who the commissioning editor for that section of the website is and fire off a totally sweet (yet not bum-licky) email with a couple of links to writing you’ve done in the past. If you can’t find the email address, Tweet them and ask if you can send them a pitch. Oh, and make sure you spell their name right otherwise they might hate you forever. Trust me.
4. Sign Up For People Per Hour
People Per Hour is a 'community of talent available to work for you remotely, online, at the click of a button'. Basically, you sign up, list your 'talents' (which can literally be anything from make-up writing, to ‘good at Facebook’, to filing) and browse hundreds of jobs listed by big bosses. And by big bosses, I mean some bloke in Chessington that needs his plants watering while he goes off on his jollies to Centre Parks. With some bosses paying more than £11 per hour for simple graphic designing, blogging and even social media assistance, you’d be surprised at how quickly you emerge from the depths of your overdraft.
5. Flog Your Gear
It’s hardly a revolutionary concept, but finally getting round to having that clear out is definitely worth doing – especially if you’re so poor that 80 per-cent of your meals are in tins. Not only can you sell Topshop and H&M’s finest on Ebay, Depopand Gumtree, but if you’re lucky enough to have designer garms lurking around, you can get big bucks from second hand shops. Google your nearest second hand designer store, take your old Louis V handbag in and the store owners will give you a cut of the price If your swag sells. Here’s a neat tip – raid ANY elderly relative’s wardrobe and you’re bound to find some high-end heroes. Don’t worry, it’s not stealing….right?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.