The College Student's Guide to Finding Money when Broke

You want to go out, you'd like to go shopping, and dinner anywhere but the school cafeteria sounds nice. But, you're out of cash. What do you do? Pick any one of these ideas for easy cash, or combine the ideas and go on a shopping spree! All of the ideas take little time and make money fast. Tried and true!

1. Change in Your Change

Simple as that! Go around your room, check all your pockets, clean out your desk, your car, jewelry box--anything. Pick up every penny you see. Put it in a ziplock bag, and take it to your nearest Coin Star machine.

Forget wrapping your coins, these Coin Star machines can be found at your local grocery store. All you do is dump your change into the machine, and watch with wide eyes as the screen tells you how much you have collected.

If you don't have that much change, offer to do laundry or clean your roommate's desk if you can have the change you find. Between my change and my boyfriend's change, I've gotten myself fifty bucks before!

2. Sell Your Stuff on E-bay

It's not that hard, seriously. Go into your closet. If you have one pair of Abercrombie and Fitch jeans you don't wear anymore, sell them on e-bay! You could easily make 10-20 dollars off of just one brand name clothing item. Brand name clothing and handbags are the easiest items to sell.

Go to www.ebay.com. Sign up for a free account. Go to www.paypal.com. Sign up for a free account there as well. This is where your profit will go, and you can transfer the money to your back account to use it right away.

On e-bay, click "sell your item". Follow the simple steps.

Upload a picture of your item, give it a title, write a description, give it a price, and enter it's weight for shipping. Make sure to include the brand name, and give a true description highlighting why the person should buy your old jeans, bag, etc.

Search for your item on e-bay to see about where to price it. Always price lower than what you want to get for it, people will auction against each other and the price you receive for the item will go up. I start most of my clothing at $.99 or $1.50. I always get more than that. The psychology is, my first bidder thinks they might get an American Eagle jacket for $.99, but when other people bid and the price gets higher, they still want their jacket! They bid more money...etc, etc, etc.

Most clothing items are safely one pound or less. If you think not, get out your bathroom scale. Print postage online. Priority mail is the fastest shipping in my opinion, and boxes are free at the Post Office. Also, boxes are free at www.usps.com

Set your auction up as a three day auction. You should have your money in about a week. Pay your e-bay fees with what you made on your items. Typically e-bay's fee is $.70 per auction, sometimes they have sales.

3. Offer Your Services

Haircuts go like hotcakes on a college campus. Use what you know how to do, and make some quick cash. Walk around with your clippers and charge five bucks a haircut.

Think about it. What a great business plan! I don't know any college guy who enjoys going out and spending 15-20 bucks every three weeks for a trim when they can get a five dollar buzz in their own room.

Also try cleaning rooms, selling baked goods, picking up groceries, dog walking, etc. Use your imagination, but don't do anything illegal!

4. Find Odd Jobs

Look in your local paper or on www.craigslist.com for odd jobs. Sometimes they have need for writers online, (cough, Associated Content, cough) or sometimes they even need a hair model at a local salon, or a secret shopper. You never know what you might be good for!

These jobs are freelance, no long term commitment, and quick pay!

5. Open A Checking or Savings Account

Check out the websites of your local banks. Often they offer promotions for opening a free checking or savings account. I received a one hundred dollar gift card from my bank for opening an account. However, my bank did require me to put fifty dollars in to start, but I could spend it as soon as I received my checks.

6. Gamble Online

Well, hey, it's your last resort, right? Why not go on a website right now where you can attempt to win a few bucks. Check out www.netwinner.com
Pick some numbers and click the win button. Maybe you'll get lucky!

Be creative! You may be a college student, but that doesn't have to mean eating Ramen Noodles everyday!