Free Ways to Make Money

Do you need extra money? Do you want to make it quick without spending a fortune doing so? Then I have several answers to help you pad your wallet without breaking the bank in the process. Some of these money-making ideas do charge a final fee; however, most of them do not charge an upfront fee to use the service.

If you are in the administrative, marketing, writing, graphics, computer programming, web site development or similar occupations, Elance (www.elance.com) offers the opportunity to browse hundreds, sometimes thousands, of jobs that you then bid to win. The basic service is free and you only pay if you win the job and are paid, it is a percentage of the final payment, you are still making extra money.

The basic package has limitations in that you only have 5 credits to bid with (each job costs from 1 to 4 credits). You can purchase extra credits by upgrading your package to the $9.95 monthly fee. The trick to using Elance is to be creative in your proposals and your profile in order to attract the attention of the person/company posting the job. You are bidding against people from all over the world, not just the United States. It is not necessary to upgrade to the $9.95 package in order to make money, it can be done using the free package.

With Elance it is possible to obtain repeat business and create a steady flow of extra money. It does take perseverance and not giving up when you aren't awarded the job the first time out of the gate. There are other sites similar to Elance. Google freelance work and you can find a large number of sites specializing in many different areas of freelance work. However, having used and been successful with Elance I can vouch for its credibility and payment processing is quick and accurate.

Associated Content is another avenue that brings extra money into your bank account. If you like to write you can generate a steady stream of income. It also takes patience and implementing some key tools like key word placement and marketing your content across Internet through social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. With Associated Content there are no fees to pay other than those PayPal charges for processing your payments.

Ebay (www.ebay.com) and Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) are both ways to sell merchandise such as clothes your no longer wear, household items you would normally donate to charity and other items you might typically toss out. The drawback with Ebay is that you have to ship the items and although you charge the recipient for shipping, you have to be accurate in your calculations. Additionally, you have to pay Ebay a listing fee and a final value fee (a percentage of what the item sold for) - then you also have to pay PayPal for processing the payment.

Craigslist on the other hand does not charge any fees. Additionally, because you are targeting your local market, there are no shipping fees to deal with, unless of course you specifically offer to ship the items. You list your item along with pictures if you have them and Craigslist creates a blind email for viewers to reach you at. If you choose to sell your item to the person who inquires, you set up a time and place to meet to exchange money for the item.

Finally, there is the free section of Craigslist. Here, people list items they are giving away just so they can avoid having to remove them from their home or property. Peruse the free item list on a daily basis; inquire about any items in the free list that are re-saleable. After picking them up you can either relist them for sale on Craigslist or Ebay or even have a yard sale. You can find everything from large appliances to toys and clothes on Craigslist/Free.

Implementing one or two of the above money making ideas can increase your household income. How much it increases depends entirely on how much time you put into it. Good luck and happy money making.