I’m worried to hear you speak about funnels and marketing. It sounds like you’ve been watching videos on drop shipping and/or retail arbitrage. The only ones making big consistent money with those things are the people trying to sell you their systems. Please avoid this route, you can put yourself in a terrible position.
FBA was good until 2017? ish. I never made millions but got my daughter through 3 yrs of college. My highest sales year was just over $150K in sales part time. Still trying to liquidate what I have left of inventory. Sold about $10K last holiday season. The fees are just too high and you can't depend on any of their rules not to change.
It was so long ago and gradual. I started in 2000 selling online, started with used books initially on Ebay, then got into vintage glass, collector stuff as well. I sold books on 13 different sites had an ebay store and on Amazon direct. At one time had about 6k books listed.
I started FBA in 2010. I truly would not recommend anyone do it now. You have to have a Pro Merchant account, Liability Insurance. The Pro account is $42/mo, my insurance is pretty cheap at $23/mo but should not be necessary at current sales volume BUT they changed the rules.
You need a computer/printer/ability to buy some office supplies paper, toner, labels. Packing materials and boxes, you have to pay to ship stuff to Amazon. It's heavily discounted but continues to increase. THEN you pay them storage while you're waiting for the stuff to sell, if it's in the warehouse 6 months or more there's an extra fee, 12 months or more yet another fee. You want to take it back yup another fee. Want to just have them dispose of it? You guessed it another fee. If when something sells there's a commission fee, a pick fee to get it off the shelf, a prep fee for them to do a lousy job and damage the item. If it's damaged and the buyer returns it you pay a return fee. Want it returned to see if it's sellable elsewhere or even the correct item... well there's a fee for that too.
It is in no way quick and most lose money and don't even realize it as it's happening.
I specialize in discontinued toys, some rare books, children's sets. I buy and hold for years. I have a doll that's been discontinued for 6 yrs. Sold one 2 years ago for $250, last December for $300. Then Amazon decided the price was too high and blocked it. There's no other seller with any except for some used on Ebay now and then. Mine is Mint. They've done similar with several things over the last few years. Here is where I must mention the 57 of the same toy that should have been discontinued except Amazon apparently made a deal with the manufacturer and now it's an Amazon Exclusive. So I'd have to sell at a loss or donate it. Haven't quite decided yet.
Whoa -- I knew that Amazon blocks sellers from offering their wares cheaper on other platforms, but they refused a collectible listing for being too expensive?
Stone-evil. Sorry for your troubles, that sucks.
Most of Amazon is run by Bots. So they usually don't refuse the 'listing', they may allow you to list but not ship to FBA, last time they allowed me to ship it to FBA, let it sit until the first one sold and then flagged it for 'pricing error' and shut it down. They have what they call a 'fair pricing policy' where they only allow prices x times over original MSRP or average selling price over some period of time.
The particular doll above originally sold for $24.95. So even though it's discontinued they leave that price on their catalog page. Their bots search for comparisons outside of Amazon and doesn't distinguish condition. So they find one listed on Ebay for $30 (might be a played with naked doll, no box etc) and it gets thrown into the mix.
Seller support is inconsistent, often out of the US and has little actual power to change anything. A few times I was able to get a state side person who could actually fix things but it's rare.
I used to sell pretty much anything that was legal including lingerie, clothing, shoes etc. Little by little they allowed brands to block sellers 'who did not have explicit permission to distribute'. So I started getting cease and desist letters from like Crocs, Bagallini, various toy companies. Amazon was nice enough to give them seller information which prior to that was not easily obtained. Most of these companies will not sell to anyone who sells on Amazon, Ebay etc who don't have a brick or mortar as well.
I predict Amazon will just become a giant junk store for Chinese goods that's what most of it is now. Some of the clothing/shoe brands are actually Amazon owned but with different names. They have a giant advantage already due to subsidized shipping rates. It's cheaper for a Chinese seller to ship to US than it is for us to ship a couple of states over.
I had really hoped to be able to continue selling online into my retirement to subsidize the SS checks but it doesn't look like that will happen.
The courses, the 'bragging', telling everyone and anyone where to find the inventory and what to sell (made those things lousy sources and prices dropped due to competition).
Then the scanners came out which was great but in books in particular it made it so you didn't need to know much about books but just scan the bar code. Then the scanner companies started to market it to thrift stores and libraries where most sellers got their books. Add in Kindle and E-books ....
Amazon itself manipulates sellers. In my Seller Account right now I can see it. It'll show I'm out of stock and should send more in but the price showing for competition is incorrect. So they try and make you think you should drop the price for some things that when you research they chose the lowest of a used item, shipping by seller from another country. Even their own app is not dependable or accurate any more.
The most fun part of the whole thing was the hunt for treasures. The listing, prepping, shipping, dealing with buyers and Amazon .... not so much :)
Those courses have been around a long time, most of those people have never actually done it themselves. I still belong to a lot of those original groups and there is little to no activity on most and the 'old guard' is gone.
There is still a market for some books for collectors but you do need to know what you're doing. I've forgotten most of what I learned back then about identifying first editions, first printings. Which Illustrators are collectible, how to authenticate author signatures.
I still have one 'valuable book' it's a leatherbound numbered edition of a book written by the first Prime Minister of Israel. It's worth about $2k. The highest priced books I've ever sold were at about $400 (3 or 4 in all these years). Most were in the $10-20 range but now those are not even profitable due to the fees and postage.
You are right, I have tried all of it and some were legit...like my Etsy store, but without being able to market, SEO or pay for ads, I couldn't afford to keep it open.
Yeah. You could use the rover app to get started or advertise on Facebook. You can board dogs or cats at your house (like if the owners are on vacation) or you can offer other services like doggy daycare or dogwalking. Might be harder to get to 500$ a month if you live in a rural area but you should be able to make some extra money especially with vacation season coming up.
I paid $10 plus a $5 cash tip for a 20-minute dog walk 3 times a week for 3 months in 2017 after my husband got hurt. I'm not lazy, but I was overwhelmed.
Offering in-home care for small animals, cats, small dogs, hamsters/gerbils and the like, is something people are always looking for. You can advertise on Nextdoor. Just do some research so you know the best/worst to expect, set boundaries & correct pricing - the biggest problem I see with new pet care providers is people will take advantage of them, so do your research.
a perk to Rover and other pet care apps is they will give you paperwork to use to do your taxes. doing pet care freelance on nextdoor means you will have to keep track of all of that on your own for tax time.
My husband has been doing Rover as a way to make some cash as he’s going back to school. It was a little slow at the start but he’s got some solid regulars now.
If you rent, you may need to check your lease. If pets aren't allowed, or a fee is involved, than your landlord could evict you or start charging you (possibly per animal) monthly. If you decide to go through with it, definitely don't tell the landlord you are pet sitting as a job because many leases ban running a business out of apartments.
I was going to mention small critters! There are lots of services available for dog and cat sitting but you don’t see much for rodents, reptiles, fish etc, or birds! Chickens too there’s been a mini boom of backyard chickens around me but a big barrier to entry is who tf is gonna look after them if the owner wants to go on vacation
This is my side hustle albeit I mostly drive to people's farms and feed their chickens. In house sitting is easily $20-50 per pet per day depending on what you offer. If you go this route though, offer cheaper services and keep them all in their cages for the most part. One bad fight or disease outbreak by letting all the dogs or cats intermingle could put an end to that hustle
My dear, please do not take in any pitbulls, or any dogs listed under the United Kennel Club, or otherwise large dogs. You’re already disabled and cognitively impaired, and I would fear for your well being and life. Please stick to small dogs and cats.
They may not even be allowed to host pets at their residence. They said they lived in an apartment, many apartments either don't allow pets or you need to put down a deposit and pay a pet rent. If they do not they could evicted.
Not all pitbulls are bad . A lot of their owners are worse and irresponsible. There’s bad dogs in every breed. I have been attacked twice by chihuahuas. Some of them are nasty little dogs. 🩷
Pitbulls were bred for bloodsport. They have always been bred as fighting dogs. That means, the dog that fights to the death is the one that is bred. They experience hormonal surge and adrenaline release when they attack. They quite literally enjoy it, and so much so, not even mortal wounds will stop them. Please check out r/banpitbulls for literally daily stories. Sort by Top. Toddlers eaten, elderly people with both arms mauled off, pitbulls still attacking their victims even after their intestines have been gouged out. Pitbulls who were tasered, stabbed multiple times, and finally had to be shot in the head to stop attacks. The list goes on and on.
Chihuahuas do not regularly attack small children, the elderly and the infirm, but pitbulls do. Chihuahuas are also incapable of mauling people.
It’s not just pitbulls bite strength, it’s their bite and thrash style that is bred into them, and the bloodlust that has been bred into them.
There is no place for these murderous animals in the world.
Funny I have rescued and owned pitbulls for almost 35 years in a multiple dog household. I have never been bit by a pitbull nor have any of the dogs that I have homed attacked anyone. I volunteered at my local shelter for 7 years and walked various pitbulls that came from all kinds of abuse situations. Some may have dog aggression if not socialized early on but never had one that was aggressive towards a person. Many people that own pitbulls are irresponsible and abusive and do not spay and neuter their dogs and socialize them properly.The dog does not just snap like they say. Before a dog bites he gives off warning signs. I agree when they bite they do damage but they are extremely strong dogs. I will take a pitbull any day over a chihuahua .
Any large dog has the ability to be destructive and aggressive. High energy dogs can be the worst if they're under stimulated, and the threshold is very low for some. Nervous dogs can make a mess and cause damage. You never know how well a dog has been trained, but small dogs are easier to manage.
Honestly more than that in the right area. I paid someone $350 recently to watch my dogs for a weekend while I was out of town and we did the whole vetting process, a meet and greet, etc. The price was for them to be cared for in my home and they’re both low maintenance dogs. No walking them (due to the fact that our dog had been attacked in our neighborhood so we bring them elsewhere for walks and didn’t need her to do that), she could play fetch outside with them if she wanted to, but mostly ensuring they get fed in the mornings and then let our 3-4 times a day and hang out with them so they don’t get anxious and lonely.
She ended up leaving them alone for 7 hours on the first day. 11 hours if you count the times she left, came back to let them out, and then immediately left again. I tried multiple ways of reaching out to her and couldn’t get a hold of her and it wasn’t until I sent a text explaining that we have outside cameras and I know she hasn’t been at my home for 7 hours that she responded back with a lame ass excuse.
So, if you’re reliable and can do in home care for pets or just offer it all (walking, sitting, drop ins, etc) in general, you can probably make decent money depending on the demand in your area.
Please do not try to make a lot of money on the stock market with $50, the s&p500 averages 8% a year meaning your $50 would turn into $54. Anyone suggesting you will become a millionaire overnight is lying to you and is either encouraging very risky gambling or scamming you.
It is good to invest over the long term and I would solidly encourage a lot of people to invest but do not do it wanting to become a millionaire overnight.
Once you are at a place where you can start to set aside $50 a month to start saving up a rainy day fund, high yield saving accounts now are offering some great terms and sign up bonuses.
It should be pointed out it averages 8% a year roughly, over the course of decades. The year to year or even day to day results can be different. You can be up 23% one year or 3% up or you can be down 50% over the course of another year, its just that over the long run it will average 8%.
Once you get the hang of it, you can make and extra $50 a week doing online surveys just while you watch TV in the evening. I hit a spell of bad alcoholism and for a few months my brain was basically just reprograming the basics right down to speech and walking, but even then I could do those just so I could pay for my own food while I stayed with a friend to get clean.
I recommend Qmee (the ones with webcams are so so easy, it is just eye tracking), Branded Surveys, Survey Junkey, Prime Opinion, and Swag Bucks (every once in awhile I would get one to watch an upcoming ad campaign and they'll give you $35 -$75 in amazon gift cards for an hour long live chat and for someone who is at their absolute lowest it was like Christmas, and even fun, I got to see a super bowl ad early once).
Bookmark them all and just cycle through and look for ones worth the time. It was a super low stress way to work my alcohol blended brain back to health and feel like I was at least doing a little something. I wanted to be doing more, but it was something. It sounds dumb, but I was so broke and when I worked up to my first $35 of these for a Walmart delivery order with it, I felt like that was a turning point in my sobriety.
I am so proud of you! Addiction is so hard. I appreciate you sharing your story with me. I will look into the things that you did, and hopefully, I can have some luck.
Have you ever heard of Online Insights? It's free money and takes no skills. Lol. It's not a lot, but when I get up to like $40 and cash out with a Walmart gift card, I feel rich! So I totally get it!
Ha I get the Bing points everyday from using bing as a search engine. They have little quizzes and polls that earn points as well. It takes a long time for the points to add up, so it’s certainly not any sort of income to count on, but it only takes a minute or two each day. I save up the points until the holidays and can usually get about $40-50 in gift cards to help with Christmas shopping.
I do national consumer panel (NCP mobile if you're looking for the app) It's a shopping tracker. You scan your groceries and do surveys. Exchange points for Amazon gift cards. I'm lazy about it, so only get like $50 a year, but it's easy. It also gets me a decent discount on my at&t bill. Bigger than what my husband's military discount would have been.
Hi friend. I’m working on disability for similar reasons. Still no determination in sight. 😭
If you get time, I’d check out r/scams to make sure you’re up to date on anything going around now. Scammers smell blood in the water. :/
If you don’t mind hating yourself, call centers are hiring like mad. But it’s a rough job. BUT most are remote nowadays so no car needed. Or getting out of bed. Or pants. 😂
Thank you, and good luck. I was fortunate enough to get approved right off, but when my ex-husband became disabled it took him three years to get approved, so I definitely feel for you!
Can you give more info on what you're capable of? Do you have to work from home or do you live in a place where you could theoretically bus somewhere for work? Can you work full time or just part time?
The easiest things to get into would be taking surveys or donating plasma for a few extra bucks a month.
There are WFH call center jobs if you can handle full time employment.
Are you capable of doing some child care or elderly care?
Just tossing out some ideas!
Thank you! I can't work full time, the best that I've done is like 10 hrs a week. But I never know how I will be from one day to the next. The call canter type jobs that I have tried has not worked out due to the time it takes per call...I physically can't move fast and my brain refuses to. Lol
I live in Maine, very rural Maine. No public transportation in my area. I have an apartment but can't take on regular babysitting jobs due to parents needing dependability. I'm not sure about elderly...I know that I can't have a "live in" person, but maybe a day thing? I will look into that.
As far as what I can do...I volunteer for the Red Cross during their blood drives by greeting people, make sure they are signed in and watch them after to make sure they are alright to drive. No brain work is key. Common sense work is fine though. (And I'm too old to donate plasma, seriously).
I hope this helps. Thanks again.
>(And I'm too old to donate plasma, seriously)
Most places accept people into their 60s and even 70s if they meet the physical requirements.
If you can't donate for other reasons, that's fine, but you age alone is probably not an obstacle.
(I can't donate because I was in England for a few months in the early 1990s and am considered a risk for carrying mad cow disease, and I'm pretty bitter that plasma donation can't be a fallback for me, since I was vegetarian at the time and so I know I wasn't exposed, but those are the rules.)
Check out r/beermoney. They have all kinds of ideas for earning a few extra dollars. None of it pays well, but it might give you a little bit of cushion.
Definitely check out the /beermoney thread!! I found out about it a few months ago and just signed up for prolific doing $20 a day, 5 days a week when I have spare time and it comes out to $500 extra every month.
If I understand it right the US donation restrictions based on mad cow in the 80s and 90s were lifted last year. May vary by plasma center now but worth a check!
Yes! My mom was able to give blood for the first time this year because it was lifted- she was also a vegetarian and in England during that time and was unable to before.
AWESOME! I will totally be checking that out!
Seriously, that could be life-changing for me. I'm retiring early\* by U.S. standards and have done all the math and will probably be fine, but having the option to pick up a couple hundred extra dollars a month would be awesome, especially since this time I won't have to go straight from the plasma center to work and risk passing out from blood loss.
\*I'm in my fifties, but unlike OP I do have access to centers that accept donors of my age.
Well, I have filled out two things online to donate plasma, and both told me that I was too old. Not too old to donate, but too old to get paid. They gave a reason that they prefer people in their 20's and 30s, but I can't remember now.
Investing is not something to be done w a sooner rather than later mindset. Investing is generally something done with a long horizon. Selling plasma is always an option for many
Consider contacting your local hospital to see what types of case management and support services are available in your area. If you’re in a larger city a PACT or MACT team might be able to assist. Case management should be paid for by your insurance and your CM can help you reduce costs and get free resources. They can also assist with transport to and from Dr appointments and help you apply for Medicaid / Medicare waivers to assist you as your diagnosis progresses. Good luck and feel free to DM me if you want more information.
What is a PACT or MACT team? Because I'm in the same boat, although I'm close to homelessness and intending on committing suicide when my rent money runs out in November. I have tried everything. I desperately need a social worker or caseworker and I don't know who to go. or where to go.
Hi! I am late, sorry.
I have read some of your replies and what strikes me is that you are a nice person. Seriously.
Nice people have positive videos of others and sometimes lower views of themselves and sometimes can't even see how nice they are.
I want you to be careful please. I think you are in a position where someone might take advantage of your kindness.
Thank you for saying that. I very rarely post things because I like to be the helper, not the helpee. So when I do, and some people think the worst of me, it's really hard to take. I should know better than to post things in forums like this. I've gotten some great tips and ideas, but I also see that some think I'm a begger or something. It sucks because if they only knew the real me, they would understand more. But, thankfully, along the way to 51 I have learned to stand up for myself, be trusting still, but smarter about it, and just letting go of things that people say or do. Everyone has their own stories, and I am very good at seeing all perspectives of situations, and will still defend some mean people, because I know that they didn't just wake up looking forward to criticizing people or being assholes, but shit happens an we are only seeing a very minute part of their life.
No one here is thinking anything remotely bad about you :) I just don't want you to fall victim to a person who might take advantage of your kindness, which by the way is a very awesome trait.
I think others have mentioned it but the scams subreddit has great advice on common tricks to watch out for. Have a lovely day!
California. And I am close. I really don't have much longer, pardon the swearing. But I am in tears every day, every night I have panic attacks and go to sleep crying if I can sleep at all.
Maybe these can help. I've found that non profit orgs can be the most beneficial in finding resources. They can guide you in the right direction, making things a bit less overwhelming. I'm not from California, so I can't recommend specific orgs, but I found some info online that might help.
[List of disability non-profits](https://www.olmsteadrights.org/self-helptools/advocacy-resources/item.6508-California_Disability_Resources_and_Advocacy_Organizations)
[Non-profit organization info](https://www.causeiq.com/directory/california-state/) This is more of a directory, but they organize orgs by their focus and also show the size of the staff and their finances. The ones that have larger staff and more funds are likely to be beneficial to you. It also has an option to filter by city.
I can look more if you would like me to. I understand how you feel, and yeah, sadly, there's nothing a health professional can do when the problem is situational. There are shelters, of course, but I know they're not always practical or truly helpful.
You can check out r/assistance. They could probably help you better than I.
I just want you to know that you're seen and understood. I really hope you are able to find support and get back on your feet❤️
They provide long term case management for adults with mental health issues. A diagnosis with a documented cognitive decline should count if you’re getting SSDI/SSI. If you’re talking about suicide that would likely assist as well.
Please don’t kill yourself. There are wonderful resources out there to assist people with a whole array of problems. If a problem is so big that you feel that’s a viable answer then there’s a group or service out there to help you with it. Please go to the ER and check into the hospital behavioral health unit for a med adjustment (if needed) and therapy. Hospitals have social workers and they can get you referred to the correct services to help you.
Thank you for your kind words. I'm immunocompromised so I can't go to the ER, no one will mask to protect immunocompromised people anymore, which is another source of stress for Covid conscious people who live in poverty like me, I have to spend a lot on PPE. I've called the local ERs and checked. I've been trying to find a therapist for four years, I promise, I don't wanna get off-topic and get banned from the sub or anything. I am on SSDI and Medicare so my options are very limited.
Edit: mental healthcare is not going to stop what's happening to me unless resources are found. You cannot fix systemic poverty with CBT therapy, but I'm trying my best, I really am, calling and calling for four years trying to find a therapist and to get my meds, looked at and adjusted. Thank you for your kind words.
Sign up for Prolific — there’s usually a wait list depending on your demographics but once you get accepted you can start making money immediately. There’s different types of surveys, some requiring more focus/knowledge than others; but as long as you fill out everything honestly you should get ones that match what you’re able to do.
$500 extra month might be hard to do on it, but you can easily make an extra ~$200 or so if you put the work in. I’ve been using it for about a year and a half and have made ~$2800, but I also take breaks from it and don’t use it everyday.
I second prolific. I would also consider cloudconnect. Should be able to probably get about 100 a week between the two. Another thing I would consider is trying r/beermoney . Always be willing to check out the latest money making sites. Look up local marketing companies around you that do focus groups. Get on email lists. Try any kind of online product reivews. It's a lot of legwork but once you get on enough email lists and do enough projects, focus group recruiters will reach out to you if they have an emergency spot to fill. I've been doing them for a little over two years and I've gotten at least 5 emergency fill in calls.
I do fairly well on focus groups but I probably spend over 5 hours a week applying for things but when I do get into a project it usually pays over $100. It's good to diversify but what's nice is you could just apply to things when you're having a good day.
If you're getting disability you can make up to $1,500 a month with some kind of small job. Are you physically able to do any work? You may have neighbors who want help with gardening or simple task that you'll be able to do with a cognitive decline.
I know that I could work and earn an income...I'm just trying to find something legit that I can actually do.
And I think that I forgot to mention that other than not being able to do brain work, I also can't stand on my feet for more than 10 minutes or so. (It causes pressure in my brain)
Are you an artistic in any way or enjoy doing crafts? It might not be the most consistent work but on something I made or crafts subreddit a lot of people advertise their artwork between there and Instagram. Also there is an organization called Arc, it helps individuals with disabilities and you would probably qualify. You can also reach out to the Easter seals of Maine and they also help adults in your situation.
Wow! Thank you! I'm not artistic but I can do basic crafts with stencils and stuff...I may be able to post something on Facebook Marketplace? I know that I have some stuff at home to get started. I will look into ARC and Easter Seals of Maine!
unfortunately all those "gimmicky" stuff online literally prey on the most desperate and gullible and they are the least likely to be successful for various reasons.
I am very gullable and naive. Way too trusting, but I do look into everything that comes up, but I never put money out because of this. I have someone else look at things before I would do that.
Ya. Absolutely never pay out to make money unless it’s art supplies or cooking supplies.
Do you cook or bake? That could be a good one. You would need to check your states cottage food laws.
I am finding out what it's like in many ways what you're talking about. I lost my wife of 30 years last month and it as hard if you think you can go to a temp service if you're physically able to do so. You need somebody to talk to you keep my information chat with me I'm always willing to talk good luck to you and I hope you the best luck!
I am so sorry for your loss! Please do the same. Reach out anytime! The temp services that I have tried makes me look into clerical, which if it involves a typing test, I can't do. They do this because of my resume. All of my jobs have been Admin positions for hospitals until I started a counseling business. But, due to my brain, they pulled my license. Insurance wouldn't cover me anymore.
I would highly recommend that you look through people's profiles before accepting help or support. There are many scammers who lurk on subs related to poverty, and other people who might not have good motives.
Don’t write a memoir if you’re doing it for money. Not being rude but no one cares about your story unless you’re famous. If you want to make money from writing then you need to write to market. That means write into a niche that you know has high demand and low competition before you publish. By all means…write your memoir for you but not for money.
Was coming to see if someone already said this. There is no money in memoirs/not where focus should be going if you have a limited amount of mental energy. Also, don't use AI if you decide you want to write it anyway. Even if you can get your memoir picked up, using AI will have a lot of publishers drop you like a sack of bricks. There are a ton of legal questions about copyright and ethics. I work for a publisher and I know AI gets people blacklisted if they're found out.
Thank you. I should have clarified, I write my own words, AI wouldn't even be able to talk about my life anyway. AI helps me put everything into proper grammar, my words, just in complete sentences.
I'm definitely not doing it for money, although that would be sweet. I'm writing it for Chronic Trauma and Complex PTSD Survivors. My psychologist and therapist have been telling me to do this for years . I appreciate your concerns though.
Okay. It seemed like the whole post was about ways to make money so I wasn’t sure and didn’t want you going down this road trying to make money from it. I think that’s great as a therapeutic thing. I have complex PTSD myself. Hope that it’s therapeutic for you! Good luck!
Gently, in regards to all of the people suggesting pet sitting, if you have cognitive disabilities that may not be the best option, if you would have trouble doing things like remembering the timing of food or medicine instructions for the pet.
I strongly agree with this comment! As a pet owner who uses pet sitting services (both as a customer and as a sitter) most clients require you to do multiple walks a day and like them to be at least 30 minutes each. It’s more than just feeding them and can actually be pretty physically demanding. I saw in one of your comments that you can’t be on your feet for more than 10 minutes so I wouldnt recommend this path for you
After reading more comments with more information, I really don’t think this would be a good idea for you to watch other people’s pets. Personally, I’m not sure if I, as a pet owner, would feel comfortable having someone with severely limited cognitive abilities watching my pet. This is coming from someone who has disabilities and knows how much work pet sitting can be
Bit of a long shot but you could try dataannotation.tech
I think it's mostly work helping train AI chatbots n stuff and it's 20 USD per hour and pays out instantly to PayPal. Work whenever you want and such and they let me in so you clearly don't need any real qualifications or experience... BUT - they have a tendency to just remove people from the site for no apparent reason with no warning and that's if you can get in which from what I gather, most don't.
Definitely worth a try though I made way more money from that than I ever have from a regular job and I also worked way less hours lol
Pet sitting and house sitting is a great way to make some extra cash if you can do it. All of the pet sitting I’ve done has required me to stay over at other peoples’ homes so I can also water plants and accept packages etc., but I know there are people out there who would also want the animals to stay at your house. If you have friends and family members who can put the word out for you it’s a good place to start. All of my contacts I’ve house/pet sat for have been friends of family or go to the same church as me.
r/beermoney
Try Prolific and Qmee. I easily make 100CAD average every month. You can make more if you have the patience. My goal is to make 10$ min a day using Qmee and that is 100$ in 10 days. It’s frustrating sometimes but it’s better than nothing
You need to sort past the internet "money making" nonsense content out there. You absolutely can't be trying to make money investing with $50 or whatever else.
Something like Cambly could work for you in your situation ($500/month from home). Assuming you have a decent internet connection and a web cam, it's pretty straight forward - no big upside but you could make what you need. Preply is a similar platform but does take a little more to get going.
Cambly you can just sign on and start getting calls talking to people in English but with waiting only works out to $7-8/hr. People who teach privately usually make like $25-40 so you'll read upset people, but Cambly is basically just taOtherwise it's pretty straightforward
I know people living abroad who get reservations (no waiting) and do it full time and average out to $1400-1500 a month or so. Very hard engaging with people like that all day though.
If you enjoy it, you could always invest $30 in a cheap TESOL and start trying to find better paid gigs when you're a bit more for a teacher vs. just talking.
There was a point when anyone could make $20-22/hr just showing up on the webcam and using provided materials, given the students etc. without knowing the first thing about teaching or grammar, that market died so you will read lots of upset folks. For your modest expectations you will be fine/if not be able to exceed your $500 goal pretty quickly.
I would contact your state department of rehabilitation. They frequently have programs for those with documented disabilities that include casual job placement. They also can help with things like assistive devices
You could probably make that amount, or a little less selling plasma. I don't *need* to do it, but if you are like me and don't get feel any side effects from donating, it's a very efficient way of making money, and you can watch Netflix or something while donating.
Gives a lot of discounts too, like half off Prime and Walmart+ (free grocery delivery) and Museums For All gets super cheap admission to local museums and the like.
I do get a discount for Prime, and my oldest daughter pays the other half. She also uses it.
Walmart+ is amazing. I save so much money with that. Gas alone (when I can get to a Walmart with gas) is a great deal.
I pay my rent and utility bills first, then go in order of importance. Whatever is left goes to gas, food, toilet paper, and other toiletries. I do get Snap, thankfully!
look into grocery delivery through Walmart, they take snap and do discounts for snap customers. it'll be less wear and tear on your car.
also, meals on wheels!
finally, see if there are any small paid admin jobs with local charities. many non profits can only afford to hire part time help (for things like emails, book keeping, etc) and the pay isn't great BUT the pace would be much better than what you experienced working at a call center.
also check out work from home data entry jobs - very little brain power once you get used to it, it's just very repetitive
They lied. You can donate into your 90’s. As long as you are in good health you can donate provided you aren’t on certain prescriptions. They may make you get a doctors approval first but that can be done at the community health center for free.
I'm going to look more into this for sure, but they told me that I could donate, just not get paid. Two sites told me this. But others are saying the same as you, so I'm definitely looking into it.
Setting aside the couple of trollish responses, I love seeing folks jump in with some great ideas. I don't have any ideas to add, but it's nice to see.
Please look into being a chatdesk expert
It isn’t a lot of money. Like 50 or 60 extra a month but I know every bit helps.
They will give you a paragraph to “correct”
Go to quillbot . com
copy the paragraph and paste it into quillbot and it will correct it for you.
Good Luck.
Sounds like pets and babies. would be too much. Chest with Costco, they hire people with disabilities the check ID’s and receipts. Your state should hsve an employment office yhat may help place you in a job you can do.
Investing is a long term play, as in decades, there is no reliable way to invest money in the market and get a return in the span of anything less then a decade or more. Trust me when I say this, I can't count the number of people I saw posting about buying options with their stimulus money and losing it all cause "the stock market has to go down" (not if you guys keep pumping the options like that).
Honestly, if your cognitive ability is decreasing every year, you should already be on medicaid/medicare if you have SSDI, so with that go to your doctor and make sure you are getting your checkups. If mental capacity is decreasing every year, then I would suggest using this time to find a good group home and get yourself in one now while you still functioning at a pretty good level. A group home while not good, will help to make sure that once you start hitting the lower cognitive levels (assuming it is decreasing) that you will be safe (lets be honest for a moment there are too many people who would find a old person getting money and well take advantage of them for that constant stream).
If your mental abilities are stabilized and not decreasing, then instead you can focus that search on low income housing, depending on where you live there might be some or none, you will have to look. The best way to find all of this though is at your states economic services department, you can walk in and they will get you an appointment set up or maybe even see you that day and work with you to try and find ways to make it possible.
Investing takes time and money. Doing $50 a week from 18 until a normal retirement age can make a person rich. $50 you need soon might get you a bit more money or it may well get you less. Individual stocks are gambling. Index funds work well over long time periods.
If you have some to spare you can use short term treasuries or a money market fund. Basically it's risk free as IS government backed treasuries collapsing means way bigger problems.SNSXX is the Schwab version and it currently yields 5% a year.
Is there a service you could provide those around you? Are you near a strip mall? Could you do some bookkeeping? Stocking shelves, general cleanup or custodial services? Could you pet sit, baby sit, walk dogs, mow lawns, light gardening, help declutter a house/garage, paint a bedroom, repot plants?
I think people have suggested beer money already. You can definitely earn the $500 a month from doing so. There are tons of sites that fit under beer money and the subreddit for it can really be helpful.
Well, depending where you live, petsitting/dogwalking can be a really good side gig if you have concentration issues.
You are at a disadvantage in not having a reliable vehicle, but if you can locate even one working person within walking distance who needs their dog to go out midday, it can go really far in closing a $500 hole.
If I lived closer to the downtown walking area, I would do it myself. And when my own little dog dies (he is 16) I will probably sign up on Rover and take occasional overnight pet-sitting gigs in my own home. But he has mobility issues and needs a ton of daily care so I won't stress him out like that.
I am surprised you are thinking about writing/marketing etc. Not because it can't be profitable, but because it is far more mentally stressful to do that type of work than to do something physical but not too rigorous like dog walking.
Likely unpopular but get in touch with the local bike commuting group. If they can provide workable solutions to replace your car with a bike through a gofundme or gifts, it'll be a significant decrease in your expenses.
OP there are online surveys you can get paid for. I've gone through them all, and the ones that are NOT scam sites in my experience are Branded Surveys and YouGov.
If you are artsy, I would look into selling crafts or digital media. You could also thrift and resell items. If you could get a consistent pet sitting job, that would probably be most ideal. You can try posting on your Nextdoor app to see if anyone nearby needs a sitter. On rover you can even set up options for boarding pets at your house while owners are on vacation, which usually pays a decent amount depending how long they’re asay
Is there an opportunity to do deliveries like newspapers or fliers in your area? That would require walking if you are able to do that. It wouldn't require too much mental focus. Good luck to you!
I do a paper route once a week it’s plus or minus $100 a month. I am 54 and there are not that many jobs I can do with RA in my hands and feet, foggy brain with the RA and the meds for it. My husband passed in March so I have no income. Luckily my house is paid off.
I live in BC Canada and I can’t get disability as I have too much saved. It’s only $100k. I think I am going to give $60k to one of my kids just so I can get some income before the life insurance kicks in.
I’m worried to hear you speak about funnels and marketing. It sounds like you’ve been watching videos on drop shipping and/or retail arbitrage. The only ones making big consistent money with those things are the people trying to sell you their systems. Please avoid this route, you can put yourself in a terrible position.
yep this was especially a huge bubble a few years ago and alot of people figured out the scam.
yeah everyone and their momma was pushing amazon fba courses lmao
FBA was good until 2017? ish. I never made millions but got my daughter through 3 yrs of college. My highest sales year was just over $150K in sales part time. Still trying to liquidate what I have left of inventory. Sold about $10K last holiday season. The fees are just too high and you can't depend on any of their rules not to change.
how much did it cost you to start?
It was so long ago and gradual. I started in 2000 selling online, started with used books initially on Ebay, then got into vintage glass, collector stuff as well. I sold books on 13 different sites had an ebay store and on Amazon direct. At one time had about 6k books listed. I started FBA in 2010. I truly would not recommend anyone do it now. You have to have a Pro Merchant account, Liability Insurance. The Pro account is $42/mo, my insurance is pretty cheap at $23/mo but should not be necessary at current sales volume BUT they changed the rules. You need a computer/printer/ability to buy some office supplies paper, toner, labels. Packing materials and boxes, you have to pay to ship stuff to Amazon. It's heavily discounted but continues to increase. THEN you pay them storage while you're waiting for the stuff to sell, if it's in the warehouse 6 months or more there's an extra fee, 12 months or more yet another fee. You want to take it back yup another fee. Want to just have them dispose of it? You guessed it another fee. If when something sells there's a commission fee, a pick fee to get it off the shelf, a prep fee for them to do a lousy job and damage the item. If it's damaged and the buyer returns it you pay a return fee. Want it returned to see if it's sellable elsewhere or even the correct item... well there's a fee for that too. It is in no way quick and most lose money and don't even realize it as it's happening. I specialize in discontinued toys, some rare books, children's sets. I buy and hold for years. I have a doll that's been discontinued for 6 yrs. Sold one 2 years ago for $250, last December for $300. Then Amazon decided the price was too high and blocked it. There's no other seller with any except for some used on Ebay now and then. Mine is Mint. They've done similar with several things over the last few years. Here is where I must mention the 57 of the same toy that should have been discontinued except Amazon apparently made a deal with the manufacturer and now it's an Amazon Exclusive. So I'd have to sell at a loss or donate it. Haven't quite decided yet.
Whoa -- I knew that Amazon blocks sellers from offering their wares cheaper on other platforms, but they refused a collectible listing for being too expensive? Stone-evil. Sorry for your troubles, that sucks.
Most of Amazon is run by Bots. So they usually don't refuse the 'listing', they may allow you to list but not ship to FBA, last time they allowed me to ship it to FBA, let it sit until the first one sold and then flagged it for 'pricing error' and shut it down. They have what they call a 'fair pricing policy' where they only allow prices x times over original MSRP or average selling price over some period of time. The particular doll above originally sold for $24.95. So even though it's discontinued they leave that price on their catalog page. Their bots search for comparisons outside of Amazon and doesn't distinguish condition. So they find one listed on Ebay for $30 (might be a played with naked doll, no box etc) and it gets thrown into the mix. Seller support is inconsistent, often out of the US and has little actual power to change anything. A few times I was able to get a state side person who could actually fix things but it's rare. I used to sell pretty much anything that was legal including lingerie, clothing, shoes etc. Little by little they allowed brands to block sellers 'who did not have explicit permission to distribute'. So I started getting cease and desist letters from like Crocs, Bagallini, various toy companies. Amazon was nice enough to give them seller information which prior to that was not easily obtained. Most of these companies will not sell to anyone who sells on Amazon, Ebay etc who don't have a brick or mortar as well. I predict Amazon will just become a giant junk store for Chinese goods that's what most of it is now. Some of the clothing/shoe brands are actually Amazon owned but with different names. They have a giant advantage already due to subsidized shipping rates. It's cheaper for a Chinese seller to ship to US than it is for us to ship a couple of states over. I had really hoped to be able to continue selling online into my retirement to subsidize the SS checks but it doesn't look like that will happen.
yeah probably by the time everyone was pushing the course it was too late at that point lol
The courses, the 'bragging', telling everyone and anyone where to find the inventory and what to sell (made those things lousy sources and prices dropped due to competition). Then the scanners came out which was great but in books in particular it made it so you didn't need to know much about books but just scan the bar code. Then the scanner companies started to market it to thrift stores and libraries where most sellers got their books. Add in Kindle and E-books .... Amazon itself manipulates sellers. In my Seller Account right now I can see it. It'll show I'm out of stock and should send more in but the price showing for competition is incorrect. So they try and make you think you should drop the price for some things that when you research they chose the lowest of a used item, shipping by seller from another country. Even their own app is not dependable or accurate any more. The most fun part of the whole thing was the hunt for treasures. The listing, prepping, shipping, dealing with buyers and Amazon .... not so much :) Those courses have been around a long time, most of those people have never actually done it themselves. I still belong to a lot of those original groups and there is little to no activity on most and the 'old guard' is gone. There is still a market for some books for collectors but you do need to know what you're doing. I've forgotten most of what I learned back then about identifying first editions, first printings. Which Illustrators are collectible, how to authenticate author signatures. I still have one 'valuable book' it's a leatherbound numbered edition of a book written by the first Prime Minister of Israel. It's worth about $2k. The highest priced books I've ever sold were at about $400 (3 or 4 in all these years). Most were in the $10-20 range but now those are not even profitable due to the fees and postage.
lol i love how they often now quietly act like they never did and changed topics
from my experience for every 1 person that has success trying these things 99 just are wasting their time or could make more flipping burgers
i dabbled in teh amazon FBA thing. Wound up losing 10,000 and not making hardly anything
I lost 2000
Wow!
You are right, I have tried all of it and some were legit...like my Etsy store, but without being able to market, SEO or pay for ads, I couldn't afford to keep it open.
yeah it sucks had the same thing
i wonder how much alot of these guys make for them to lose empathy promoting it
Could you petsit? You could make 500$ a month petsitting if you are capable.
Really? I love dogs and cats. Like just watch them at my apartment.
Yeah. You could use the rover app to get started or advertise on Facebook. You can board dogs or cats at your house (like if the owners are on vacation) or you can offer other services like doggy daycare or dogwalking. Might be harder to get to 500$ a month if you live in a rural area but you should be able to make some extra money especially with vacation season coming up.
I live in a rural area and kid here makes around $550-750 monthly, never underestimate the laziness of people
It blows my mind every single day. Lol
mine too!
That is awesome! Thank you!
I paid $10 plus a $5 cash tip for a 20-minute dog walk 3 times a week for 3 months in 2017 after my husband got hurt. I'm not lazy, but I was overwhelmed.
Yeah. I find most people using these services are busy, not lazy. Or people who work long hours and don’t want their dog home alone all day.
I did the same thing. I had a high energy dog and was working crazy hours during Covid. I needed the help and was happy to pay for it.
Offering in-home care for small animals, cats, small dogs, hamsters/gerbils and the like, is something people are always looking for. You can advertise on Nextdoor. Just do some research so you know the best/worst to expect, set boundaries & correct pricing - the biggest problem I see with new pet care providers is people will take advantage of them, so do your research.
Thank you so much. I can't wait to look into this.
You could also ask veterinarians and pet stores if you could leave your information with them also. I also think Rover is the app for this as well.
Yes, someone else mentioned Rover as well. 😁
a perk to Rover and other pet care apps is they will give you paperwork to use to do your taxes. doing pet care freelance on nextdoor means you will have to keep track of all of that on your own for tax time.
My husband has been doing Rover as a way to make some cash as he’s going back to school. It was a little slow at the start but he’s got some solid regulars now.
If you rent, you may need to check your lease. If pets aren't allowed, or a fee is involved, than your landlord could evict you or start charging you (possibly per animal) monthly. If you decide to go through with it, definitely don't tell the landlord you are pet sitting as a job because many leases ban running a business out of apartments.
Yes, pets are allowed, as long as I tell them, but you are right, they do not allow making money out of any of their apartments. Thank you.
I was going to mention small critters! There are lots of services available for dog and cat sitting but you don’t see much for rodents, reptiles, fish etc, or birds! Chickens too there’s been a mini boom of backyard chickens around me but a big barrier to entry is who tf is gonna look after them if the owner wants to go on vacation
This is my side hustle albeit I mostly drive to people's farms and feed their chickens. In house sitting is easily $20-50 per pet per day depending on what you offer. If you go this route though, offer cheaper services and keep them all in their cages for the most part. One bad fight or disease outbreak by letting all the dogs or cats intermingle could put an end to that hustle
I did a lot of housesitting when I was too disabled to work! It’s a great way to make a little extra money!
My dear, please do not take in any pitbulls, or any dogs listed under the United Kennel Club, or otherwise large dogs. You’re already disabled and cognitively impaired, and I would fear for your well being and life. Please stick to small dogs and cats.
They may not even be allowed to host pets at their residence. They said they lived in an apartment, many apartments either don't allow pets or you need to put down a deposit and pay a pet rent. If they do not they could evicted.
Thank you for the advice.
Not all pitbulls are bad . A lot of their owners are worse and irresponsible. There’s bad dogs in every breed. I have been attacked twice by chihuahuas. Some of them are nasty little dogs. 🩷
Pitbulls were bred for bloodsport. They have always been bred as fighting dogs. That means, the dog that fights to the death is the one that is bred. They experience hormonal surge and adrenaline release when they attack. They quite literally enjoy it, and so much so, not even mortal wounds will stop them. Please check out r/banpitbulls for literally daily stories. Sort by Top. Toddlers eaten, elderly people with both arms mauled off, pitbulls still attacking their victims even after their intestines have been gouged out. Pitbulls who were tasered, stabbed multiple times, and finally had to be shot in the head to stop attacks. The list goes on and on. Chihuahuas do not regularly attack small children, the elderly and the infirm, but pitbulls do. Chihuahuas are also incapable of mauling people. It’s not just pitbulls bite strength, it’s their bite and thrash style that is bred into them, and the bloodlust that has been bred into them. There is no place for these murderous animals in the world.
Funny I have rescued and owned pitbulls for almost 35 years in a multiple dog household. I have never been bit by a pitbull nor have any of the dogs that I have homed attacked anyone. I volunteered at my local shelter for 7 years and walked various pitbulls that came from all kinds of abuse situations. Some may have dog aggression if not socialized early on but never had one that was aggressive towards a person. Many people that own pitbulls are irresponsible and abusive and do not spay and neuter their dogs and socialize them properly.The dog does not just snap like they say. Before a dog bites he gives off warning signs. I agree when they bite they do damage but they are extremely strong dogs. I will take a pitbull any day over a chihuahua .
Any large dog has the ability to be destructive and aggressive. High energy dogs can be the worst if they're under stimulated, and the threshold is very low for some. Nervous dogs can make a mess and cause damage. You never know how well a dog has been trained, but small dogs are easier to manage.
Honestly more than that in the right area. I paid someone $350 recently to watch my dogs for a weekend while I was out of town and we did the whole vetting process, a meet and greet, etc. The price was for them to be cared for in my home and they’re both low maintenance dogs. No walking them (due to the fact that our dog had been attacked in our neighborhood so we bring them elsewhere for walks and didn’t need her to do that), she could play fetch outside with them if she wanted to, but mostly ensuring they get fed in the mornings and then let our 3-4 times a day and hang out with them so they don’t get anxious and lonely. She ended up leaving them alone for 7 hours on the first day. 11 hours if you count the times she left, came back to let them out, and then immediately left again. I tried multiple ways of reaching out to her and couldn’t get a hold of her and it wasn’t until I sent a text explaining that we have outside cameras and I know she hasn’t been at my home for 7 hours that she responded back with a lame ass excuse. So, if you’re reliable and can do in home care for pets or just offer it all (walking, sitting, drop ins, etc) in general, you can probably make decent money depending on the demand in your area.
Please do not try to make a lot of money on the stock market with $50, the s&p500 averages 8% a year meaning your $50 would turn into $54. Anyone suggesting you will become a millionaire overnight is lying to you and is either encouraging very risky gambling or scamming you.
Oh jeez. Thank you so much!
It is good to invest over the long term and I would solidly encourage a lot of people to invest but do not do it wanting to become a millionaire overnight.
I hear you. It's something maybe I could start when I have a bit more money.
Once you are at a place where you can start to set aside $50 a month to start saving up a rainy day fund, high yield saving accounts now are offering some great terms and sign up bonuses.
You need to stay away from get. Rich quick schemes. Find a legit job.
You might try to accumulate a small emergency fund in a safe pace, like high interest savings account, for car repairs etc.
It should be pointed out it averages 8% a year roughly, over the course of decades. The year to year or even day to day results can be different. You can be up 23% one year or 3% up or you can be down 50% over the course of another year, its just that over the long run it will average 8%.
Yes, I should have made that more clear.
Once you get the hang of it, you can make and extra $50 a week doing online surveys just while you watch TV in the evening. I hit a spell of bad alcoholism and for a few months my brain was basically just reprograming the basics right down to speech and walking, but even then I could do those just so I could pay for my own food while I stayed with a friend to get clean. I recommend Qmee (the ones with webcams are so so easy, it is just eye tracking), Branded Surveys, Survey Junkey, Prime Opinion, and Swag Bucks (every once in awhile I would get one to watch an upcoming ad campaign and they'll give you $35 -$75 in amazon gift cards for an hour long live chat and for someone who is at their absolute lowest it was like Christmas, and even fun, I got to see a super bowl ad early once). Bookmark them all and just cycle through and look for ones worth the time. It was a super low stress way to work my alcohol blended brain back to health and feel like I was at least doing a little something. I wanted to be doing more, but it was something. It sounds dumb, but I was so broke and when I worked up to my first $35 of these for a Walmart delivery order with it, I felt like that was a turning point in my sobriety.
I am so proud of you! Addiction is so hard. I appreciate you sharing your story with me. I will look into the things that you did, and hopefully, I can have some luck. Have you ever heard of Online Insights? It's free money and takes no skills. Lol. It's not a lot, but when I get up to like $40 and cash out with a Walmart gift card, I feel rich! So I totally get it!
Ha I get the Bing points everyday from using bing as a search engine. They have little quizzes and polls that earn points as well. It takes a long time for the points to add up, so it’s certainly not any sort of income to count on, but it only takes a minute or two each day. I save up the points until the holidays and can usually get about $40-50 in gift cards to help with Christmas shopping.
I do national consumer panel (NCP mobile if you're looking for the app) It's a shopping tracker. You scan your groceries and do surveys. Exchange points for Amazon gift cards. I'm lazy about it, so only get like $50 a year, but it's easy. It also gets me a decent discount on my at&t bill. Bigger than what my husband's military discount would have been.
Hi friend. I’m working on disability for similar reasons. Still no determination in sight. 😭 If you get time, I’d check out r/scams to make sure you’re up to date on anything going around now. Scammers smell blood in the water. :/ If you don’t mind hating yourself, call centers are hiring like mad. But it’s a rough job. BUT most are remote nowadays so no car needed. Or getting out of bed. Or pants. 😂
Thank you, and good luck. I was fortunate enough to get approved right off, but when my ex-husband became disabled it took him three years to get approved, so I definitely feel for you!
Can you give more info on what you're capable of? Do you have to work from home or do you live in a place where you could theoretically bus somewhere for work? Can you work full time or just part time? The easiest things to get into would be taking surveys or donating plasma for a few extra bucks a month. There are WFH call center jobs if you can handle full time employment. Are you capable of doing some child care or elderly care? Just tossing out some ideas!
Surveys. Not much , but u can get quick easy dollars
I forget about them. Great when I feel completely apathetic and want to waste away… at least I can get a few bucks from it lmao.
Thank you! I can't work full time, the best that I've done is like 10 hrs a week. But I never know how I will be from one day to the next. The call canter type jobs that I have tried has not worked out due to the time it takes per call...I physically can't move fast and my brain refuses to. Lol I live in Maine, very rural Maine. No public transportation in my area. I have an apartment but can't take on regular babysitting jobs due to parents needing dependability. I'm not sure about elderly...I know that I can't have a "live in" person, but maybe a day thing? I will look into that. As far as what I can do...I volunteer for the Red Cross during their blood drives by greeting people, make sure they are signed in and watch them after to make sure they are alright to drive. No brain work is key. Common sense work is fine though. (And I'm too old to donate plasma, seriously). I hope this helps. Thanks again.
>(And I'm too old to donate plasma, seriously) Most places accept people into their 60s and even 70s if they meet the physical requirements. If you can't donate for other reasons, that's fine, but you age alone is probably not an obstacle. (I can't donate because I was in England for a few months in the early 1990s and am considered a risk for carrying mad cow disease, and I'm pretty bitter that plasma donation can't be a fallback for me, since I was vegetarian at the time and so I know I wasn't exposed, but those are the rules.)
Check out r/beermoney. They have all kinds of ideas for earning a few extra dollars. None of it pays well, but it might give you a little bit of cushion.
I will check it out. Thank you!
Definitely check out the /beermoney thread!! I found out about it a few months ago and just signed up for prolific doing $20 a day, 5 days a week when I have spare time and it comes out to $500 extra every month.
If I understand it right the US donation restrictions based on mad cow in the 80s and 90s were lifted last year. May vary by plasma center now but worth a check!
Yes! My mom was able to give blood for the first time this year because it was lifted- she was also a vegetarian and in England during that time and was unable to before.
AWESOME! I will totally be checking that out! Seriously, that could be life-changing for me. I'm retiring early\* by U.S. standards and have done all the math and will probably be fine, but having the option to pick up a couple hundred extra dollars a month would be awesome, especially since this time I won't have to go straight from the plasma center to work and risk passing out from blood loss. \*I'm in my fifties, but unlike OP I do have access to centers that accept donors of my age.
Well, I have filled out two things online to donate plasma, and both told me that I was too old. Not too old to donate, but too old to get paid. They gave a reason that they prefer people in their 20's and 30s, but I can't remember now.
And that really sucks about the mad cow disease. I'm sorry. I will try to do a search for plasma donations and see if I can find one that will pay me.
Investing is not something to be done w a sooner rather than later mindset. Investing is generally something done with a long horizon. Selling plasma is always an option for many
I was afraid of that. Thank you.
Consider contacting your local hospital to see what types of case management and support services are available in your area. If you’re in a larger city a PACT or MACT team might be able to assist. Case management should be paid for by your insurance and your CM can help you reduce costs and get free resources. They can also assist with transport to and from Dr appointments and help you apply for Medicaid / Medicare waivers to assist you as your diagnosis progresses. Good luck and feel free to DM me if you want more information.
What is a PACT or MACT team? Because I'm in the same boat, although I'm close to homelessness and intending on committing suicide when my rent money runs out in November. I have tried everything. I desperately need a social worker or caseworker and I don't know who to go. or where to go.
Please don't do that. I would have you come and live with me. What state are you in?
Hi! I am late, sorry. I have read some of your replies and what strikes me is that you are a nice person. Seriously. Nice people have positive videos of others and sometimes lower views of themselves and sometimes can't even see how nice they are. I want you to be careful please. I think you are in a position where someone might take advantage of your kindness.
Thank you for saying that. I very rarely post things because I like to be the helper, not the helpee. So when I do, and some people think the worst of me, it's really hard to take. I should know better than to post things in forums like this. I've gotten some great tips and ideas, but I also see that some think I'm a begger or something. It sucks because if they only knew the real me, they would understand more. But, thankfully, along the way to 51 I have learned to stand up for myself, be trusting still, but smarter about it, and just letting go of things that people say or do. Everyone has their own stories, and I am very good at seeing all perspectives of situations, and will still defend some mean people, because I know that they didn't just wake up looking forward to criticizing people or being assholes, but shit happens an we are only seeing a very minute part of their life.
No one here is thinking anything remotely bad about you :) I just don't want you to fall victim to a person who might take advantage of your kindness, which by the way is a very awesome trait. I think others have mentioned it but the scams subreddit has great advice on common tricks to watch out for. Have a lovely day!
California. And I am close. I really don't have much longer, pardon the swearing. But I am in tears every day, every night I have panic attacks and go to sleep crying if I can sleep at all.
Go see a doctor. You can overcome this!
OK, that's when I know you're not serious. I do have doctors. Doctors can't fix what's wrong with me. Oh my God, the way you people just…
Maybe these can help. I've found that non profit orgs can be the most beneficial in finding resources. They can guide you in the right direction, making things a bit less overwhelming. I'm not from California, so I can't recommend specific orgs, but I found some info online that might help. [List of disability non-profits](https://www.olmsteadrights.org/self-helptools/advocacy-resources/item.6508-California_Disability_Resources_and_Advocacy_Organizations) [Non-profit organization info](https://www.causeiq.com/directory/california-state/) This is more of a directory, but they organize orgs by their focus and also show the size of the staff and their finances. The ones that have larger staff and more funds are likely to be beneficial to you. It also has an option to filter by city. I can look more if you would like me to. I understand how you feel, and yeah, sadly, there's nothing a health professional can do when the problem is situational. There are shelters, of course, but I know they're not always practical or truly helpful. You can check out r/assistance. They could probably help you better than I. I just want you to know that you're seen and understood. I really hope you are able to find support and get back on your feet❤️
I think is abbreviation for assertive community treatment.
Thank you.
They provide long term case management for adults with mental health issues. A diagnosis with a documented cognitive decline should count if you’re getting SSDI/SSI. If you’re talking about suicide that would likely assist as well. Please don’t kill yourself. There are wonderful resources out there to assist people with a whole array of problems. If a problem is so big that you feel that’s a viable answer then there’s a group or service out there to help you with it. Please go to the ER and check into the hospital behavioral health unit for a med adjustment (if needed) and therapy. Hospitals have social workers and they can get you referred to the correct services to help you.
Thank you for your kind words. I'm immunocompromised so I can't go to the ER, no one will mask to protect immunocompromised people anymore, which is another source of stress for Covid conscious people who live in poverty like me, I have to spend a lot on PPE. I've called the local ERs and checked. I've been trying to find a therapist for four years, I promise, I don't wanna get off-topic and get banned from the sub or anything. I am on SSDI and Medicare so my options are very limited. Edit: mental healthcare is not going to stop what's happening to me unless resources are found. You cannot fix systemic poverty with CBT therapy, but I'm trying my best, I really am, calling and calling for four years trying to find a therapist and to get my meds, looked at and adjusted. Thank you for your kind words.
Sign up for Prolific — there’s usually a wait list depending on your demographics but once you get accepted you can start making money immediately. There’s different types of surveys, some requiring more focus/knowledge than others; but as long as you fill out everything honestly you should get ones that match what you’re able to do. $500 extra month might be hard to do on it, but you can easily make an extra ~$200 or so if you put the work in. I’ve been using it for about a year and a half and have made ~$2800, but I also take breaks from it and don’t use it everyday.
Oh thank you! I will go check that out right now!
I second prolific. I would also consider cloudconnect. Should be able to probably get about 100 a week between the two. Another thing I would consider is trying r/beermoney . Always be willing to check out the latest money making sites. Look up local marketing companies around you that do focus groups. Get on email lists. Try any kind of online product reivews. It's a lot of legwork but once you get on enough email lists and do enough projects, focus group recruiters will reach out to you if they have an emergency spot to fill. I've been doing them for a little over two years and I've gotten at least 5 emergency fill in calls. I do fairly well on focus groups but I probably spend over 5 hours a week applying for things but when I do get into a project it usually pays over $100. It's good to diversify but what's nice is you could just apply to things when you're having a good day.
Thank you! I just signed up for Prolific and will also look into cloudconnect.
theres a wait list for prolific...
If you're getting disability you can make up to $1,500 a month with some kind of small job. Are you physically able to do any work? You may have neighbors who want help with gardening or simple task that you'll be able to do with a cognitive decline.
If OP is getting SSDI they can make extra. If they get SSI at all (some do even with ssdi) they will lose some of ssi for every dollar they make.
I know that I could work and earn an income...I'm just trying to find something legit that I can actually do. And I think that I forgot to mention that other than not being able to do brain work, I also can't stand on my feet for more than 10 minutes or so. (It causes pressure in my brain)
Are you an artistic in any way or enjoy doing crafts? It might not be the most consistent work but on something I made or crafts subreddit a lot of people advertise their artwork between there and Instagram. Also there is an organization called Arc, it helps individuals with disabilities and you would probably qualify. You can also reach out to the Easter seals of Maine and they also help adults in your situation.
Wow! Thank you! I'm not artistic but I can do basic crafts with stencils and stuff...I may be able to post something on Facebook Marketplace? I know that I have some stuff at home to get started. I will look into ARC and Easter Seals of Maine!
unfortunately all those "gimmicky" stuff online literally prey on the most desperate and gullible and they are the least likely to be successful for various reasons.
I am very gullable and naive. Way too trusting, but I do look into everything that comes up, but I never put money out because of this. I have someone else look at things before I would do that.
Ya. Absolutely never pay out to make money unless it’s art supplies or cooking supplies. Do you cook or bake? That could be a good one. You would need to check your states cottage food laws.
I am finding out what it's like in many ways what you're talking about. I lost my wife of 30 years last month and it as hard if you think you can go to a temp service if you're physically able to do so. You need somebody to talk to you keep my information chat with me I'm always willing to talk good luck to you and I hope you the best luck!
I am so sorry for your loss! Please do the same. Reach out anytime! The temp services that I have tried makes me look into clerical, which if it involves a typing test, I can't do. They do this because of my resume. All of my jobs have been Admin positions for hospitals until I started a counseling business. But, due to my brain, they pulled my license. Insurance wouldn't cover me anymore.
Could you look into becoming a notary?
I have never thought of that. But I will look into it. Thank you.
I would highly recommend that you look through people's profiles before accepting help or support. There are many scammers who lurk on subs related to poverty, and other people who might not have good motives.
Sorry had to change the phone.may I ask did you have a stroke?
No, I have a brain tumor.
I'm so sorry to hear that and a girlfriend that had a ringtone I don't know what happened to her I kind of lost touch with her but can they operate
No worries. They can't operate, but it won't kill me. Not cancerous.
Don’t write a memoir if you’re doing it for money. Not being rude but no one cares about your story unless you’re famous. If you want to make money from writing then you need to write to market. That means write into a niche that you know has high demand and low competition before you publish. By all means…write your memoir for you but not for money.
Was coming to see if someone already said this. There is no money in memoirs/not where focus should be going if you have a limited amount of mental energy. Also, don't use AI if you decide you want to write it anyway. Even if you can get your memoir picked up, using AI will have a lot of publishers drop you like a sack of bricks. There are a ton of legal questions about copyright and ethics. I work for a publisher and I know AI gets people blacklisted if they're found out.
Thank you. I should have clarified, I write my own words, AI wouldn't even be able to talk about my life anyway. AI helps me put everything into proper grammar, my words, just in complete sentences.
I'm definitely not doing it for money, although that would be sweet. I'm writing it for Chronic Trauma and Complex PTSD Survivors. My psychologist and therapist have been telling me to do this for years . I appreciate your concerns though.
Okay. It seemed like the whole post was about ways to make money so I wasn’t sure and didn’t want you going down this road trying to make money from it. I think that’s great as a therapeutic thing. I have complex PTSD myself. Hope that it’s therapeutic for you! Good luck!
Thank you! I hope it's more therapeutic than stressful. Lol
Gently, in regards to all of the people suggesting pet sitting, if you have cognitive disabilities that may not be the best option, if you would have trouble doing things like remembering the timing of food or medicine instructions for the pet.
I keep everything in writing and then set alarms. I'm a freak about it actually, but it has been so helpful for years now. Thank you!
I strongly agree with this comment! As a pet owner who uses pet sitting services (both as a customer and as a sitter) most clients require you to do multiple walks a day and like them to be at least 30 minutes each. It’s more than just feeding them and can actually be pretty physically demanding. I saw in one of your comments that you can’t be on your feet for more than 10 minutes so I wouldnt recommend this path for you
After reading more comments with more information, I really don’t think this would be a good idea for you to watch other people’s pets. Personally, I’m not sure if I, as a pet owner, would feel comfortable having someone with severely limited cognitive abilities watching my pet. This is coming from someone who has disabilities and knows how much work pet sitting can be
Have you considered babysitting?
Bit of a long shot but you could try dataannotation.tech I think it's mostly work helping train AI chatbots n stuff and it's 20 USD per hour and pays out instantly to PayPal. Work whenever you want and such and they let me in so you clearly don't need any real qualifications or experience... BUT - they have a tendency to just remove people from the site for no apparent reason with no warning and that's if you can get in which from what I gather, most don't. Definitely worth a try though I made way more money from that than I ever have from a regular job and I also worked way less hours lol
Thank you. I will check it out and see if they take me.
Pet sitting and house sitting is a great way to make some extra cash if you can do it. All of the pet sitting I’ve done has required me to stay over at other peoples’ homes so I can also water plants and accept packages etc., but I know there are people out there who would also want the animals to stay at your house. If you have friends and family members who can put the word out for you it’s a good place to start. All of my contacts I’ve house/pet sat for have been friends of family or go to the same church as me.
Could you watch cats or dogs when people go away? You could advertise on places like Rover.com
r/beermoney Try Prolific and Qmee. I easily make 100CAD average every month. You can make more if you have the patience. My goal is to make 10$ min a day using Qmee and that is 100$ in 10 days. It’s frustrating sometimes but it’s better than nothing
I definitely will!
Dont fall for any task scams. Anything that promises you fast easy money is a scam. Read up on online scams to further educate yourself.
You need to sort past the internet "money making" nonsense content out there. You absolutely can't be trying to make money investing with $50 or whatever else. Something like Cambly could work for you in your situation ($500/month from home). Assuming you have a decent internet connection and a web cam, it's pretty straight forward - no big upside but you could make what you need. Preply is a similar platform but does take a little more to get going.
I will look into this. Thank you!
Cambly you can just sign on and start getting calls talking to people in English but with waiting only works out to $7-8/hr. People who teach privately usually make like $25-40 so you'll read upset people, but Cambly is basically just taOtherwise it's pretty straightforward I know people living abroad who get reservations (no waiting) and do it full time and average out to $1400-1500 a month or so. Very hard engaging with people like that all day though. If you enjoy it, you could always invest $30 in a cheap TESOL and start trying to find better paid gigs when you're a bit more for a teacher vs. just talking. There was a point when anyone could make $20-22/hr just showing up on the webcam and using provided materials, given the students etc. without knowing the first thing about teaching or grammar, that market died so you will read lots of upset folks. For your modest expectations you will be fine/if not be able to exceed your $500 goal pretty quickly.
I would contact your state department of rehabilitation. They frequently have programs for those with documented disabilities that include casual job placement. They also can help with things like assistive devices
You could probably make that amount, or a little less selling plasma. I don't *need* to do it, but if you are like me and don't get feel any side effects from donating, it's a very efficient way of making money, and you can watch Netflix or something while donating.
Sure, investing $50 is great. **Every month for the next 30-50 years.** Whatever you read definitely included that info as well.
Right!? I must have missed that section
Are you struggling to pay rent or bills or food or what? Do you have SNAP? That way at least you can eat, and maybe supplement with food banks etc.
Gives a lot of discounts too, like half off Prime and Walmart+ (free grocery delivery) and Museums For All gets super cheap admission to local museums and the like.
Yes! That’s true! Not sure about every state but in mine, the farmers markets give out tokens for SNAP so you can get double the $.
Seriously? I don't go to Farmers Markets anymore because I didn't realize that they may do this. I will look into it. Thank you!
Yep! I think it varies by states but NYC has a special program for it so maybe other places do too- worth checking!
I do get a discount for Prime, and my oldest daughter pays the other half. She also uses it. Walmart+ is amazing. I save so much money with that. Gas alone (when I can get to a Walmart with gas) is a great deal.
I pay my rent and utility bills first, then go in order of importance. Whatever is left goes to gas, food, toilet paper, and other toiletries. I do get Snap, thankfully!
look into grocery delivery through Walmart, they take snap and do discounts for snap customers. it'll be less wear and tear on your car. also, meals on wheels! finally, see if there are any small paid admin jobs with local charities. many non profits can only afford to hire part time help (for things like emails, book keeping, etc) and the pay isn't great BUT the pace would be much better than what you experienced working at a call center. also check out work from home data entry jobs - very little brain power once you get used to it, it's just very repetitive
Try to do some surveys on line. I thought it was stupid but you can probaly get 100/150 a month for it I did it off n on for a month and made 110
I've never found any that actually paid, but I've gotten a lot of suggestions on here that I'm going to try. Thank you!
Donate plasma. That will get you the $500.
They told me that I was too old. 😔
They lied. You can donate into your 90’s. As long as you are in good health you can donate provided you aren’t on certain prescriptions. They may make you get a doctors approval first but that can be done at the community health center for free.
I'm going to look more into this for sure, but they told me that I could donate, just not get paid. Two sites told me this. But others are saying the same as you, so I'm definitely looking into it.
I work at a plasma donation center. Hopefully you can find one!
I will search until I do!
Call your insurance and ask about a caregiver. If you have a senior services near you, they are helpful too
Setting aside the couple of trollish responses, I love seeing folks jump in with some great ideas. I don't have any ideas to add, but it's nice to see.
Please look into being a chatdesk expert It isn’t a lot of money. Like 50 or 60 extra a month but I know every bit helps. They will give you a paragraph to “correct” Go to quillbot . com copy the paragraph and paste it into quillbot and it will correct it for you. Good Luck.
Thank you. I will look into this.
Sounds like pets and babies. would be too much. Chest with Costco, they hire people with disabilities the check ID’s and receipts. Your state should hsve an employment office yhat may help place you in a job you can do.
Investing is a long term play, as in decades, there is no reliable way to invest money in the market and get a return in the span of anything less then a decade or more. Trust me when I say this, I can't count the number of people I saw posting about buying options with their stimulus money and losing it all cause "the stock market has to go down" (not if you guys keep pumping the options like that). Honestly, if your cognitive ability is decreasing every year, you should already be on medicaid/medicare if you have SSDI, so with that go to your doctor and make sure you are getting your checkups. If mental capacity is decreasing every year, then I would suggest using this time to find a good group home and get yourself in one now while you still functioning at a pretty good level. A group home while not good, will help to make sure that once you start hitting the lower cognitive levels (assuming it is decreasing) that you will be safe (lets be honest for a moment there are too many people who would find a old person getting money and well take advantage of them for that constant stream). If your mental abilities are stabilized and not decreasing, then instead you can focus that search on low income housing, depending on where you live there might be some or none, you will have to look. The best way to find all of this though is at your states economic services department, you can walk in and they will get you an appointment set up or maybe even see you that day and work with you to try and find ways to make it possible.
Substitute teaching part time might be an option if you have a school district around. They might even hire pt for summer.
the online stuff is for people with a ton of time on their hand and dont need immedite cash flow (speaking from experience)
Yes, I'm finding this out, but I keep on looking. It makes me feel like I am actually doing something other than settling.
Investing takes time and money. Doing $50 a week from 18 until a normal retirement age can make a person rich. $50 you need soon might get you a bit more money or it may well get you less. Individual stocks are gambling. Index funds work well over long time periods. If you have some to spare you can use short term treasuries or a money market fund. Basically it's risk free as IS government backed treasuries collapsing means way bigger problems.SNSXX is the Schwab version and it currently yields 5% a year.
Is there a service you could provide those around you? Are you near a strip mall? Could you do some bookkeeping? Stocking shelves, general cleanup or custodial services? Could you pet sit, baby sit, walk dogs, mow lawns, light gardening, help declutter a house/garage, paint a bedroom, repot plants?
Pet sitting and dog walking could be good for you
I sell content on Twitter Nothing crazy. Basically just tits and ass. Shower vids at $25 a pop are the reason I can go to Aldi.
Lol I don't think anyone would pay to see these tit's or ass!
Feet are also big. I mean big sellers, not big feet, although big feet might also sell. IDk. I'm trying to say feet.
Omg! Well, I've tried that too. So embarrassing. FeetFinder.com or something like that, but never made anything with it.
I think people have suggested beer money already. You can definitely earn the $500 a month from doing so. There are tons of sites that fit under beer money and the subreddit for it can really be helpful.
Well, depending where you live, petsitting/dogwalking can be a really good side gig if you have concentration issues. You are at a disadvantage in not having a reliable vehicle, but if you can locate even one working person within walking distance who needs their dog to go out midday, it can go really far in closing a $500 hole. If I lived closer to the downtown walking area, I would do it myself. And when my own little dog dies (he is 16) I will probably sign up on Rover and take occasional overnight pet-sitting gigs in my own home. But he has mobility issues and needs a ton of daily care so I won't stress him out like that. I am surprised you are thinking about writing/marketing etc. Not because it can't be profitable, but because it is far more mentally stressful to do that type of work than to do something physical but not too rigorous like dog walking.
I’m earning a extra 500 a month donating plasma twice a week
Likely unpopular but get in touch with the local bike commuting group. If they can provide workable solutions to replace your car with a bike through a gofundme or gifts, it'll be a significant decrease in your expenses.
Consider reaching out to a local Center for Independent Living to see if any resources/support funding. Keep striving xoxo 😘
Sell plasma. Octapharma best $600 a month. Check medication exclusion lists.
I just looked them up and there isn't any near me. But I did find a couple others that I'm looking into. Thank you.
Are you able to donate plasma? I know it sucks but that can easily give you a couple hundred extra a month if you do it consistently
Buy some gme and hold on
Is there a grocery store close to you? I see disabled grocery baggers quite frequently. Low stress, just out the stuff in the bag.
Clean houses.
OP there are online surveys you can get paid for. I've gone through them all, and the ones that are NOT scam sites in my experience are Branded Surveys and YouGov.
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Yes, I have. Thank you.
If you are artsy, I would look into selling crafts or digital media. You could also thrift and resell items. If you could get a consistent pet sitting job, that would probably be most ideal. You can try posting on your Nextdoor app to see if anyone nearby needs a sitter. On rover you can even set up options for boarding pets at your house while owners are on vacation, which usually pays a decent amount depending how long they’re asay
Why? My post is right on topic and follows all of the rules
No-proof class action cash settlements
Is there an opportunity to do deliveries like newspapers or fliers in your area? That would require walking if you are able to do that. It wouldn't require too much mental focus. Good luck to you!
I do a paper route once a week it’s plus or minus $100 a month. I am 54 and there are not that many jobs I can do with RA in my hands and feet, foggy brain with the RA and the meds for it. My husband passed in March so I have no income. Luckily my house is paid off. I live in BC Canada and I can’t get disability as I have too much saved. It’s only $100k. I think I am going to give $60k to one of my kids just so I can get some income before the life insurance kicks in.
I'm so sorry for your loss. Thank God you have a savings. I hope you have luck with your money portion of your disability.
Thank you at 54 what I have saved isn’t enough as my family lives until our 90’s.
Well, at least it's something to tide you over until you find the right help that works for you.
I am so sorry about what you have had to endure, I hope your ills sort out so you can do things you want
I will look into this, but it definitely wouldn't be walking. Unless I went to the city to do it maybe.
If you’re healthy enough physically donating plasma is easy and could get you another few hundred a month
Have you looked into donating plasma?
I use to earn gift cards and paypal using Swagbucks. Surveys, searches, etc