Ideas for adding a few hundred $ in your pocket.

[~gd]

hit yard sales and estate sales. look for old broken jewelry. Many are glad to get rid of it for little or nothing. And if it is real gold or silver you can turn it in for quite a few $$$!

too many others around here doing the bulk gold/silver route, I examine the stones used and look at the workmanship often these are worth more than the metal is. the key is having a market and I know a group of jewlers who are looking for 'found' materials and every once in a while you will find stuff made and marked by a master well worth the cost to repair.

 

[Wannabefree]

I just have to throw this out there since it is what I am doing today..scrap metal is high right now. It'll go up again in the summer, but we are using it to supplement our present income, and it's paying the bills. We get anywhere from $100-200 per truckload for steel. It's hard work, but like I said...it's paying them bills.

 

[big brown horse]

WBF, where do you get the scrap?

I have a little booth that I rented and even though I sell handmade aprons, laundry soap and soap, people have been snatching up my other things like old clothes, saddles, house plants and even my daughter's used flute first.

 

[cheepo]

hummh...
would say...look at your skills and resources. and research...
I am hoping to sell goods at the farmers market, unique jams, & plants..
though got a 1/2 built greenhouse...and winter is here...so my idea is far from completed...
also thinking home made bath and beauty.
sell on ebay...most anything vintage goes....but research research
find out what is hot..I was selling vogues...did quite well...but the high cost of postage didn't make it easy
but if you specialize and provide a good selection...it is nice to just wake up too sales...
look around you may have something available in your area that can't find anywhere else...
for me I have tons of sticks...if I had the time and patience to turn them into something..
someone mentioned jewlery...
tons of money to be made there...refurbishing...I was selling...what I couldn't use in lots...
if the pictures are good...anything goes...

 

[me&thegals]

Selling eggs has netted several thousand a year for us.

Same with soap, body balm, lip balm.

Meat birds at least a few hundred, but hard earned.

Selling veggies on 1 acre yielded enough to buy a shed and tractor this year (small Massey Ferguson, but a very nice, barely used one)

My friend makes quite a lot on her 5-6 hives of bees, but not me yet.

ETA: My bro makes several hundred to a thousand per year on scrap, although he works construction and is sometimes able to find it that way...

 

[Wannabefree]

WBF, where do you get the scrap?

I have a little booth that I rented and even though I sell handmade aprons, laundry soap and soap, people have been snatching up my other things like old clothes, saddles, house plants and even my daughter's used flute first.

Out of our woods. We got permission from IUncle to get the two old dozers and half dozen other big pieces of equipment (with trees grown up through them) out of there and haul them off for scrap metal. His granddad owned a bridge company, so there is also a crane back there somewhere...we haven't found it yet though LOTS of junk back there to haul off. I do get the occassional call from other family members to come haul away freezers/fridges/stoves/cars/piles of whatever etc. So, we do pretty good. First load today was $182 I just came in for a few and about to go back out and load again. Sucks the magnet at the place was down, and I had to unload 1400 pounds of steel by myself. My arms hurt We're trying to get the cash to make the trip to get the foster kiddos without having to ask for help though No pain, no gain

 

[the funny farm6]

We had an accidental litter of puppies. Kids let the english bulldog and the beagle out together on day when I wasn't home. I was telling friends that we had puppies to give away and to tell their friends. They yelled at me and told me I was crazy to give them away, so I told people we wanted $200.00 each for them. Sold most of them in about a week. Got 175.00 per puppy after the vet fee for shots and wormed. And got the mom fixed with profits. And money left over for christmas. Not something I wold do agin but surprised that people wanted them that much!

 

[me&thegals]

We sold purebred Lab pups for about 7 years for $350 for males, $400 for females, usually about 10 pups per year. The vet bill was significant, and we fed them high-quality feed, but it was great fun and definitely a money maker. The kids keep begging for a dog. If I can get past my terror of the first 2 years of chaos/digging/chewing/destruction, we'll probably get back into selling pups

 

[Mackay]

I have a little booth that I rented and even though I sell handmade aprons, laundry soap and soap, people have been snatching up my other things like old clothes, saddles, house plants and even my daughter's used flute first.

I've been making and selling aprons and soap also. I make hand and face soap and my neighbor makes Laundry soap. I also make earrings.. I use to make all kinds of jewelry when I lived in Salt Lake but found that mountain people are not interested in necklaces, only bracelets on occasion, but lots of earrings... I sell earrings from $8 to $15 a pair depending on how much silver is in them.
I also sold lots of greens this summer... mixed greens pre- washed and ready to go is what people wanted the most.

I now have a formula for making a wood stove glass cleaner. Im thinking of marketing that next year

I may try the sunflower bird feeder as I grow lots of sunflowers.
I also find that people want plant starts in the spring and perennial flowers through the summer. I also managed to sell quite a bit of carrot pound cake and homemade vanilla extract.
all this I did at the local farmers market, which thankfully only charged $25 for the whole season.. and our season is not over yet. We are doing two christmas sales ... not much produce but I did sell potatoes that I grew.

Other neighbors sell jam and jelly like crazy, sugar free with stevia also.. as well as pies. She has found that small pies sell well. They're about 6 inches across. And another neighbor makes and sells herbal heating packs, you know, those things you heat up in the microwave. She also sells herbal hot pads to put under hot dishes on the table.. here's her site.. www.herbalscents.biz so you can see what sells.. she also has them in several stores in the city. Another gal makes decorative hair bows for little girls. I also promote my massage work at the farmers market and often give away free neck massage samples.

Oh, and I forgot. My neighbors raise rabbits, slaughter and freeze them and market them at the farmers market. They deliver or you can pick them up. $8 each.

 

[the funny farm6]

Has anyone had any problems selling like the procesed meat rabbits/ chickens or eggs, or canned food like green beans - pickles or jelly?