Let's brainstorm. There are many people out of work right now and probably more to come as much as I hate to say it. There is still money in circulation, so there's money to be made doing things other than a "job." Some things only make a few pennies or dollars and other things make more. I don't think it's wise to overlook anything that can help bring in some cash when you need it. With that in mind, here are some ideas on how to make money without a job. Add to it, please, if you can.

Temporary babysitting. Just for one family or person now and then usually doesn't mean that you have to have a license.

Returning aluminum cans. Around here you could go for a walk down almost any highway, pick up aluminum cans and other things. I haven't measured it, but I suspect you could make $25 to $50 a day.

Doing custom knitting, crocheting, sewing, etc. Put an ad in the paper and in any free place you can find. Craigslist comes to mind.

Christmas is coming, so advertise to put up decorations for people. Those who are busy working appreciate a service like that and you can give a discount to senior citizens who would enjoy having decorations but can't put them up by themselves. Bonus, you can come back and take them down after the holidays, for a fee, of course.

Sell on eBay, if you have or can get your hands on things to sell. You can sell there for other people, too, for a commission.

Watch for ads for sample demonstrators needed. Stores need people for weekend work to hand out samples of food or other things.

Grow something that you're good at and sell it. It's too late to sell pumpkins, but if you have a lot of mums, sell them for Thanksgiving centerpieces. Get poinsettias ready to sell for Christmas decorating and gifting.

Depending on your circumstances, you could sell firewood or Christmas trees.

Collect metals like copper and steel for recycling. Educate yourself on where to find them.

Those are just a few things you could reasonably do to make some cash to help tide you over. You may not be able to make a living at it, but maybe you could make the mortgage or just pay the groceries for the month.

What have you done, or thought you could do, to make money? Let's see if we can help each other and those who come looking for ways to weather this economy.

You caan set up a account with pay-pal just make sure you look it over good and make somemoney off ebay I sold up to 4 cars ayear during the 90's after 5 is considered curstoneing by law then you need a liecence as a dealer and property to get the cars off the road into the property its a pain in the keyster thats howcome I only did it about 4 times a year at my house and just made alittle extra money that way but e-bay is alot better then what I did back then....

Some out of the box ideas I've come up with off the top of my head:

-Sell your services as a gift wrapper for Christmas gifts

-Sell you services to bake homemade goods for people to give as gifts

-Pet sitting/housesitting while people are away for the holidays

-Dog walking

-Sell your services to scrapbook or make handmade cards, gift tags or calenders

-Sell "gift in a jar" gifts for profit

-Pick up electronic waste and take in for recycling

-Personal assistant/errand runner

-Ride along w/a Mom and sit in the car while she runs  various errands

-Teach a skill to a homeschool group/homeschool students (musical instruments, foriegn language, karate)

-Teach music lessons

-Sell your services as a "personal chef" for disabled or senior citizens, start a "meals on wheels" type program

-Sell your services to drive disabled or senior citizens to doctors appointments, grocery shopping, etc

Pat:

Doing custom knitting, crocheting, sewing, etc. Put an ad in the paper and in any free place you can find. Craigslist comes to mind.

One of my friends sews up the display samples for a fabric shop.  It isn't a lot of hours, but they pay her $8/hr, & she loves to sew.

Pat:

Returning aluminum cans. Around here you could go for a walk down almost any highway, pick up aluminum cans and other things. I haven't measured it, but I suspect you could make $25 to $50 a day.

I recycle both aluminum & tin cans as a little project with one of my granddaughters. If the cans are crushed,we get about $1 per plastic grocery sack, full & tied shut. If you know what you are looking for, you can buy metal items to recycle at yard sales. For example, when I recyled an large cast aluminum pressure canner that finally warped after 3 generations, DGD got $6 for it.  At a yard sale, I wouldn't have paid more than a dollar or two for it, & we still would have made money, but there aren't enough cans here to earn more than a couple of dollars a month.

If there are children in the family, you might be able to have relatives who work take an extra small-sized garbage can (big enough for a grocery bag liner, with permission), to collect empty soda cans at work for "Johnny's project".  Buying food "for a family in need" is a good "project", with no need to specify who the family is.  There are boxes to collect empty cans in both of the break rooms in my area at the hospital right now. 

Right now, raking leaves is timely.  If you have a garden, you cam bring them home to dig into your own garden to get a better yield next year.

Shoveling snow is coming, but customers could be lined up now.

Sell/consign whatever you really don't need.

 In my town, there are several Senior Housing projects. Many of them have their own cars. My friends son would clean off their cars when it snowed. The Apt manager plowed the parking lots but the cars would still be covered in snow. He would cahrge a dollar a car. He could do 25 cars in a short time. The people appreciated it and the dollar was a small price for them. The boy made money and did a service for people in need. Babs

 Besides aluminum cans, plastic drink bottles are also recyclable. Sporting events can create a load of tossed containers because people don't want to haul them back home. 

There are people who make a living traveling around with a truck on trash day, picking up things that can be repaired or recyled, that have been left at the curb. We've put out things like a broken lawn mower, old bicycles, etc. and they are always picked up and gone before the trash truck gets to it. These things will then turn up at a swap meet after being repaired. 

House cleaning

If you are computer literate, help for those who don't understand a computer program, or help to clean up a computer clogged up with unneeded programs. 

 Edey

Newspaper carrier or substitute newspaper carrier. I know I've told this story before but in our community, some routes go for $500-$600 a month and required hours are anywhere from 4 a.m.to 7 a.m. (must be delivered by 7 a.m., paper ready for delivery at 4 a.m.). Our newspaper splits the delivery into weekday and weekend routes along with substitute carriers who may just need to cover a route for someone's vacation. If you hate early mornings, not for you, LOL. But if a stay at home parent, out and in before spouse has to leave for the day. Plus it would cover groceries and then some for the month.

zohnerfarms:

Pat:

Returning aluminum cans. Around here you could go for a walk down almost any highway, pick up aluminum cans and other things. I haven't measured it, but I suspect you could make $25 to $50 a day.

I recycle both aluminum & tin cans as a little project with one of my granddaughters. If the cans are crushed,we get about $1 per plastic grocery sack, full & tied shut. If you know what you are looking for, you can buy metal items to recycle at yard sales. For example, when I recyled an large cast aluminum pressure canner that finally warped after 3 generations, DGD got $6 for it.  At a yard sale, I wouldn't have paid more than a dollar or two for it, & we still would have made money, but there aren't enough cans here to earn more than a couple of dollars a month.

Here I only get 25 cents a pound. I used to get 50 cents a pound before the economic crisis hit then it dropped to an alltime low of 15 cents a pound. With 8 grocery bags (to fill my car) of crushed cans, which takes us a month or two to accumulate I can only get about $8.

Great ideas here!

For the people making crafty items to sell, this is a great time of year-look for signs advertising holiday boutiques at churches, schools, etc.  You might have to give a percentage of the sales to the organization but you won't have to find your own customers.

I sell consignment on ebay.  It works well for me, I average about $12/hr, sometimes lots more, sometimes less!  I like that I can do it from home and don't need to have day care for the kids.  For anyone starting out with this idea in mind, I can tell you that it takes awhile to get into the groove of it, especially if you are new to selling on ebay.  But it's popular, you can't imagine how many calls I get, especially as the economy has been struggling.  All my clients are by word of mouth, so far I have not needed to advertise and have more work than I have time.  Luckily my clients all know that it's something extra I do as I am a mom first.  They are understanding.

I wish I lived in a state that allowed home bakers, food makers, and growers to sell items at markets!  Laws are so restrictive here . . . fines are huge for selling food items or plants/flowers without a license.  The best you could do is sell to people you know/word of mouth type of thing but it's still a risk if someone were to report you.  Most markets require you to show a license before they let you sell, and those that don't (like holiday boutiques and such) still carry a big risk of fine.  I understand they are trying to protect consumers but it really bugs me!! I'd love to sell baked goods but there is just no way to do it here . . . one fine would set me back hugely!  I'm so jealous of you guys that can do it.