AmazingJulesVerne said this on the first page of the topic :

quote:

Originally posted by AmazingJulesVerne:
One good way to get some extra cash is to inventory the skills that you have and see if there might be a way to market them beyond your regular form of income.

I think really that this is the key to it all.

I suck at saving so every other tip here is useful. But to make money, you have to market the skills you have. Often, this is not something that is obvious but something that you figure out that you, and only you, are good at. Whether it be mundane or exotic.

If this skill involves traveling then, hey .... all the better.

C'mon just do what I did: work your ass off for 6 years, earn stock options, burn out, hate your life, become disillusioned with the corporate world entirely, and then cash out those stock options. So simple, jeez.

I don't know if this would work everywhere in the world (I'm from Melbourne) but this is what I do. I work fulltime in a great and fulfilling but badly paid job in the community services area. In order to make more cash to fund my travels I still work with the same companies I started working with at the age of 15. They do the catering for major venues and events in Melbourne. The pay is insanely high and they are ultra flexible. Almost everyone working there has another job or is studying so it all works out. I can earn extra money anywhere from $200 to $600 a week with them depending on how much I want to work myself into the ground and it goes straight to the high interest savings account.

if you are tech-savvy theres plenty of ways to make money. i work for a website AND run a server reselling company. #1 makes me about 100$/mo but #2 gets me over 500$/mo -- and both take maybe 5 hrs a week combined.

I agree that you should take inventory of your skills and find work accordingly. I freelance in the IT field and make good money when I can find work, small office networking, PC repair/upgrade, server installations etc. BUT i am currently working on my e-biz which I started in Sept and I think it's going to be great but we'll see. The point of it is to get REOCCURRING MONTHLY REVENUE and be able to manage it abroad.
to see what i've been doing check out onlinebizjournal.blogspot.com
i do not promote any product there, just letting others know how the business creation process is going

for the states at least, there is a tax loophole that if you do what im doing (and i assume what atomic is doing), you can declare yourself to be "self-employed" and just pay a flat tax (of like 150$ or something like that -- a YEAR) and not have to worry about incorporating or anything silly like that.

there are literally THOUSANDS of ways to make money on-line, many of which can be done by non-technical experts, and they range from:

website design
website maintainance
forum management/moderating
server management/sales/renting
advertising
technical support, ranging from forums to email to live
ebay/craigslist/etc professional selling
building computers/modding consoles (may be illegal -- check your jurisdiction)

like atomic said, the easiest thing to do is to run something with a set monthly fee. also, you generally want to find the cheapest place/way to get something. oftentimes if you're in the US you can get something cheaper from another country then resell it to US people.

as an example, here is a (simplified) explanation of what i do:

buy a server (with unlimited bandwidth) - 100E setup fee + 260E/mo
setup the server with linux, and 10 user accounts
sell each user acct for ~38 USD each

so basically im paying about 50$ out of pocket to set up a new server, and after that im making 100$/mo off of each full server (less for non-full server)

i even subcontract out the server ordering and bill paying stuff, so all i have to do is wire the money to my guy and he takes care of that end.

Keep a very clear vision of what you're trying to achieve to keep you motivated.

First off, cut something out of your budget. Downgrade the cable, sell the car and get a used one, sell your clutter on ebay or at a garage sale, skip going out for dinner one weekend night, start buying generic, and clip coupons.

Start going to every free event in town. You'll end up feeling busy without spending much and meet new people. Art openings usually serve wine and cheese; so hit anything that might serve food.

Sign up for focus groups on craigslist under the ETC section to try and scrape together extra cash. Do odd jobs, walk dogs on weekends, and brainstorm on ways to earn a little extra just a few hours a week. Keep it manageable or you'll burn out.

You also need to open a savings account, like ING, where you can't get to your money too easily. Once you've identified where you can save, put it aside. Don't let it get reabsorbed into your lifestyle. So if you downgrade your phone or cable plan and save $40, make sure it's going into your savings automatically.

Look at budget travel options and reevaluate how much you're going to spend. Where are you going? Look at staying in convents instead of hotels, camping, and a free crash at couchsurfing.com.

Before I got paid to travel and started going on free trips, I traveled by saving all of my overtime checks. I was making 25k and living in NY and by the time I had paid all my bills, I barely had $300 left to eat. It wasn't easy. But I never missed the overtime since I never put it into my checking account. I also saved by eating my work's catered lunches and taking home leftovers.

There's always a way. Get serious about it and drive everyone you know nuts about it until you're eating, breathing, and sleeping your travel plans.

Good luck!

www.dontforgettowrite.org

on the subject of saving money on food, here's a big tip: get a part-time job at a fast food place that gives you free food.

for a semester, i worked part time for Little Caesar's, and (at least at our store) we had the great benefit that, while on the clock, we could eat whatever we wanted. we could just make anything (pizza, crazy bread, buffalo wings, cheese bread, etc) and eat it, free of charge and with no need to account for it. otherwise, we got 50% off, which amounted to 2.50 for a whole large pizza (and we could pay that single-topping price for a multi-topping pizza).

many fast food places will let you work as little as 2 days a week, and short swing shifts that are 4 hours. you could work 12 hrs a week (3 days, 4 hrs each) and basically get free food those days (if you can pile the food on and not eat the rest of the day, easy with filling food like bread, cheese, and meat), and 1/2 price food the rest of the week (2.50 for a pizza is probably cheaper than making one from scratch).

iirc arby's has the same deal, and i assume many other places do too.

i sell travel by the gram to fund my itch

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned already, but a great way to save is to get a job that has you working weekends. I'm a croupier in a casino, and for the last few months I've been doing almost every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. These have pretty good penalty rates. There's the downside of not having a fantastic social life, but that means I can't go out clubbing and spend $100 a night, so it's great for saving.

A good way is to utilize your direct deposit from work. So I have a "travel fund" savings account where when my paycheck is deposited that money goes straight into that fund instead of my checking. So that way I don't even miss it when it goes in and I know not to touch it. you have your checking acct, savings for emergencies, and travel fund. Just another auto deduction and after a bit you never even miss the missing bit. Even if it is only $25 or so it will still add up quickly. Best of luck!

I'm leaving for me trip in 2 weeks and can't wait!
I did a few things to raise the money:
- I've been renting out spare bedroom in my apartment for a year and a half to students. I know it's not too cool to have someone you don't know at home but it brought us quite a bit of money.
- every time I got my pay I put 40% of it straight away into separate account. What was left had to be enough until next pay. This system forced me to wisely spend money. The first few months were hard but I quickly learnt what to do to make the money last
- I've been keeping all my savings in term deposits to earn extra interest
- I've been gradually selling my stuff on ebay: books, cloths, CDs, unused kitchen equipment, sport equipment etc. It's amazing how much stuff people accummulate over the years. And most of it is never used. I made about $2k selling the stuff I'd otherwise throw away
- I minismised the spending - I've been walking to work which saves about $22 a week. I've been bringing my lunches and breakfasts to work which saves at least $10 per day. No more take away dinners. I joined local library and stoped buying books which saves me at least $50 a month. And I completely stoped buying cloaths for over a year.

This may sound sarcastic, but it is a great option...

Join the National Guard!

$20,000 bonus for just one weekend a month. You could save your monthly drill pay, which is about $250 a month and they also pay off your student loans. And...I know its coming, so I will take the dig at myself---you might earn a free trip to Iraq!

Also, many discounts on air travel, hotels, etc.

National Guard is a great option for some people and its worth looking into.

My friend suggested this...get stuff off the free list on Craig's List, and then sell it on ebay or Craig's List. Just another suggestion on how to make $$$

For anyone who is in college or thinking about going back.. might I suggest a teaching certification? For the person with wanderlust, a degree in education from the US can open doors all over the world.

My boyfriend and I are currently both working as english teachers in South Korea. We both worked as teachers in the US and never realized what a great gig it is to teach abroad. Here in S. Korea we have an easy, comfortable lifestyle and are not only able to see the world, but are saving lots of money while doing so.

We think our next move will be to apply for jobs at the American International Schools abroad. How can you beat the opportunity to see the world and experience an entirely different culture while having all your major expenses paid for and being provided with an excellent salary? ... Now that is the right way to finance a RTW adventure.

And in the end, when we decide to settle down somewhere.. we will have a nice bundle of cash to buy a home with.