Does anyone know what I can do for some quick extra cash? I'm broke!

[HobokenChickenEmergency]

This is all off topic now.

I wasn't criticizing banks in general, or people who use them. I was telling the OP WHO HAS THIS PROBLEM what a solution was. Don't take it so personally.

Edit for sp.

 

[jbowyer01]

Quote:
Plasma is a quick way to make a little money just get to the drawing station early (like before it opens up) in todays economy they are usually packed with people wanting to give they also usually close early. You can always pawn a piece of jewlery and just pay on the interest until you can get it out of pawn. Good Luck!

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
I'm usually really good at budgeting, and knowing exactly how much money I have to work with each month, but I had the unexpected expense of not one, but two tires blowing, plus the cost of the towing on the second blowout, and that is what killed me. Normally I am a cheapskate (or so my family tells me), and I always have at least a little extra money to work with each month. I had already bought groceries right before the first tire blew, and then I got hit with that. I know something has to change. I think it's inevitable that I will have to give my two week notice and find something that pays better, and if possible is closer to the house! Cause I don't often get into this situation, and I don't like it. My mom is broke cause she paid all of her bills and had some other personal expenses come up. She had taken two of her cats to the vet, and it was on the way back from that vet visit that the second tire had blown. So that's why she's broke. She isn't usually broke either. She's nearly as much of a penny pincher as I am. Almost, lol. I told her that next month, when I have the money I'm looking into the Angel Food Ministries cause it will be a more affordable way to feed our family. But that's for next month. I'm going to go post some of my birds on craigslist, and maybe here too. See if I can get some money that way. And I'm going to see if I have anyone interested in the car.

See the thing is we used to live like that too. If something major came up,well you get the idea.
Getting credit counseling helped us see where the money went. Sometimes it was just bad choices. Living paycheck to paycheck was just to stressful and that can lead to trouble.
One thing for sure quiting your job or giving notice without having another is just plain foolish. Clearly you need help in making the right decisions.
Obviously the choice is yours, ask for help or go on the way you are. It's not enough to be a penny pincher LOL, you've got to be a saver for a rainy day person. If your spending every cent you have, your not.
One thing I've learned is that it wouldn't matter if some people had a million dollars they'd still be broke. Cause they just don't know. how to manage their money enough to save some. And they don't want to know. To them money talks. It says Good Bye.
"Even a penny spent on something that is not needed is a waste.". I won't bother you again.

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

I didn't read all of this so my ideas may have been mentioned but...

Put things on ebay.
Sell eggs, sell chickens, sell jewelry, sell anything valuable that isn't precious to you.
Do a yard sale.
Do a bake sale.
Pick up pecans, or whatever is in season that brings $.
Scrap metal (we had a lot of that this past year and when we cleaned up the back of the
woods we made a couple hundred bucks!)
Make hair bows, wreaths, or some other crafts to sell. If you have the supplies already.
Sell driftwood. We collect lots of it on creek outings and people will pay $$ for it.
Just get creative...and pray about your situation.

 

[CallyB57]

chicken-china-mom - I feel your pain.

There is a very good chance that I will lose my job soon- I am 57, alone financially...you get the picture - I am Civil Service and my state is laying off around 6500 state employees over the next 3 years. I am absolutely terrified, but am trying to prepare for the worst. I bought a soap stone stove, invested in chickens and good quality protection for them, and I am thinking of trying to set up an 'aquaponic' system (small) so that I will have an occasional fresh fish to eat and plenty of greens. I possibly might lose my vehicle, as I have only paid on it for a year. To be honest, I am terrified, but I'm doing the best I can. I trust God to care for me because without Him, I have nobody else. So...I pray He will care for you also, and that things will work out for you.

 

[jbowyer01]

chicken_china_mom just a thought are you toooo rural to have a yard sale? That might bring in enough gas money for the week.

 

[Ellie_NY_chick]

First, what you're going through sucks, and I feel for you.

You didn't mention a husband or the father of your children. Is he stressing about the dire straits his children are in? Because if you have a negative bank balance, no gas, and you can't get to your job, then that's pretty dire.

In the short term you're going to have to find someone to borrow gas money from to get to work, but in the long term you're going to have to come up with something better than a minimum wage job 30 miles from your home.

When Martha Stewart was in your shoes she baked a few pies and sold them in front of a store. You know the rest of the story.

You can make easy money cleaning houses or offices. Check your local Craigslist or place an ad yourself. The good thing about cleaning offices is you work in the evenings and just power through a couple real quick and collect the money. Offices are not usually that dirty - just empty a few trash cans, shake the dust off the fake plants, a quick clean in the bathroom, vacuum and you're done. Avoid medical offices - too much work. Stick with regular 9-5 type places. If you clean houses it's harder work but you can usually go home with money in your pocket and can avoid having to be licensed and bonded.

Good luck. Someone posted that a lot of people are a paycheck away from the street, and it's really true. And to think some idiot paid $300,000 for a parking space in Boston. When I hear stories like that it makes me sick.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Quote:
Yard sales don't do so well out here cause in order to reach our little town people have to drive in 5 miles off of the nearest highway. Only people close enough are two other really small towns, and the people there are hurting too. I've never seen a garage/yard sale out here, only in the bigger towns and cities. Cause if it would work out here, you bet I would find SOMETHING to sell.

I could bake foods, but I don't know of anyone that would buy them. And I think I just ran out of flour.

I applied online to a job for freelance writing where you paid per each piece of writing, and they were suppose to contact me within 24 hours, and here it is 2 days later and I've heard nothing back yet.

I have been listing my birds on craigslist, and my non working car, but I don't have too much else cause when we moved down here we left a lot of stuff behind. Most of what we still have is either broken, or we need it. Our initial intention was to leave stuff behind so we wouldn't be cluttered in this house. Now sometimes we think we don't have ENOUGH furniture and stuff. I have clothes in baskets because my mom and my older daughter don't have dressers yet. I plan to search yard sales later for those, they aren't a priority at the moment and we've all been surviving just fine with closets and baskets.

I am on a countdown til my next paycheck, but we won't make it 7 more days. I am going to call my minister's wife this evening cause we're all in the ladies aide society together, and hopefully the ladies aide can help us again. But she works a full time job, so she wouldn't be able to contact the other ladies on the list til tomorrow at the earliest. If I wait until church on Sunday I will be at risk of running out of gas, and no one would be able to help me til Monday, and by then it would be too late. But I plan to take the advice of the person that told me to start making things from scratch. My family will just have to deal with it.

I am going to work in a few minutes, so I can't even check to see if any of my birds sold til tonight. I pray something gives. My faith that God will see us through this has never waivered. I pray every day and will not stop praying. And it is definitely time to find extra work, or a completely new job. Once I get through this situation, I will definitely be looking!

 

[HennysMom]

Quote:
Fair enough. I should worded it differently.

Checking accounts are for people who can afford to pay exorbitant fees. Sound better?

Banks make most of their money off overdraft fees. I used to work in a bank (BOA, actually). I was a softie, always reversing fees for people who asked. Until a coworker saw me, and said I shouldn't reverse fees because "that's our Christmas bonus" I was throwing away.

Here's a scenario: You have no cash, but you have $6.00 in checking. Your baby needs diapers, so you go to pick some up. Unfortunately, the store is sold out of the cheapy diapers, so you have to buy the semi-cheapy diapers, which are exactly $6.00. Including tax, they come to $6.42. No problem, right? You can write a check, and it won't clear for a couple days. You have a $50 direct deposit going in the next day, so all's well.

You write the check.

But wait a minute. Unbeknownst to you, that store uses the same bank you do. So at the end of the day, when they make their deposits, your check sails on through with no waiting.

It's a chain reaction, because when you looked at your $6 balance, you were being technical and going by your checkbook ledger. Your current balance was actually $42, because your water bill payment check hadn't cleared yet. The $36 water check goes through AFTER the store check. You're only 72 cents in the hole, but now you have a $33 fee.

Your direct deposit goes through, all $50 of it. After covering $33.72, you're left with a whopping $16.28. But you don't know this yet, because the bank doesn't tell you that the store check cleared already. You write a check for $20 because you direct deposit cleared. Only now,

That's why a person should never go by what the balance of your account shows online. I go by the running balance I keep in my checkbook. That way there are no surprises. I never plan on a check taking a couple of days to clear. That's the way it was years ago, but it's not that way anymore.

A checking account can be for anybody, but that person has to be responsible for knowing what he or she has in the bank and what payments are still outstanding. Then they won't have to worry about paying any fees....exorbinant or otherwise.

Exactly Katy..... and thank you - I agree 100%.

Hoboken: Still sorry you feel that way and there was no reason to get snippy... it is what it is and its the responsibility of the account holder, not the bank. If you dont have the money IN your account - you shouldnt write checks on it because you dont know what bank others use and alot of places now debit electronically. So dont write a check you cannot cover immediately, its that simple. Now a days you dont even have to SIGN your check for it to go through - why do I know this? Because I forgot to sign a check I wrote to my insurance company and my bank processed it. Was I on the phone very quickly? YES I was - because it wasnt signed (honest mistake as I was writing out 3 for the same company back to back that morning) - but I was told it didnt matter if it was signed or not because they were all done electronically and ran through, regardless if signed or not. Lesson learned.

If people would budget and keep track of their money - continual overdrafts wont happen, its that simple. Do people make mistakes? Absolutely they do, and sometimes a bounced check is an oversight by forgetting to put in a debit or something. Its when someone constantly causes overdrafts that it becomes an issue. All banks take out checks/debits first - then put deposits in afterwards, it will go in the order they post. In your defense however, I have heard nightmares about Bank of America and Wells Fargo - but - that is not how it works in most banks - and I've never heard of any overdraft fees being a bank employees year end bonus. Thats shameful if that is how it is. Sad for the bank if that is what BOA is doing.

Onward and upward

 

[Wifezilla]

If garage sales wont work, sometimes you can get some buddies to go in with you on a flea market space.

I have seen people set up "garage sales" in vacant lots near busy streets. You do risk getting asked to leave, but hey...I might give it a shot in your situation.