: : : : : Personal Finance : : : : :
ence,” says Barbara Winter, 66, who
lives in Las Vegas and has taught many
adult-ed courses. The pay is either by
the hour, often around $20, or a percentage of enrollment fees, which can
amount to as much as $50 an hour.
Tutor Kids
POTENTIAL PAYOFF: $20 TO $60
AN HOUR
If you enjoy kids, love to teach, and are
truly knowledgeable about your subject, try tutoring ($20 to $60 an hour).
Advertise online or in a school newsletter, or go to sites such as myngle.com,
which matches language tutors with
students from around the world. English is the language most in demand.
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Rent Out Rooms
POTENTIAL PAYOFF: $400 TO
$700 A MON TH
Extra rooms can mean extra cash. Lee
Simon, 58, makes $700 a month renting
out her son’s old bedroom. She posts
on craigslist.org, and since she lives
just outside Boston, she often finds
interesting roommates. Nationally, the
going rate for a furnished room is $400
to $550 a month, more with a private
bathroom, says Jackie Grossman of
the National Shared Housing Resource
Center ( nationalsharedhousing.org),
a free service that matches homeowners with renters. The rent includes
utilities, plus kitchen and laundry
privileges. Prices vary depending on
the area. You can also reduce the rent
in exchange for help with chores (such
as gardening or cooking). Whatever the
arrangement, “make sure you’re always
in charge,” says Grossman, “and be cautious if you don’t have an agency doing
the screening.” Check references, get
proof of income, and have a signed
month-to-month contract.
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Give Your Opinion
POTENTIAL PAYOFF: $40 TO $100
PER SESSION
Getting paid to be opinionated? It’s a
good gig: market research firms pay
as much as $100 for feedback in focus
groups on everything from products to
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shopping habits. Lauren Traub Teton,
52, of Pound Ridge, New York, enjoys
participating. “You get to talk, someone
actually listens to your opinion for a
change, and at the end they pay you.”
Look in the classified sections of newspapers and magazines under “Focus
Groups.” Or go to marketsdirectory
.com, click on “Focus Group Facilities,” then select your state. “Never pay
a firm that claims it can get you into a
focus group,” warns Michael Printz, the
site’s publisher. Another website, green
book.org, includes survey and focus
groups in your area, and mysurvey123
.com lists companies that pay, but it also
lists scam sites. Legitimate companies
will never ask for private information
such as your credit card number.
Run Some Errands
POTENTIAL PAYOFF: $15 TO $25
AN HOUR
Use your free time to help those with
no free time. Roz Jacobi, 61, of North
Miami Beach, Florida, buys groceries,
waters plants, drives customers to the
airport—“anything someone wants,”
she says—for $25 per hour. (
Personal-assistant rates range from $15 to $25
an hour.) She does have to purchase
additional auto insurance to transport passengers. Jacobi advertises in
her synagogue newsletter and at local
shops, though she is always careful
about taking on unfamiliar clients.
Some websites, such as domystuff.com,
feature jobs in your area to bid on.
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Take Tickets
POTENTIAL PAYOFF: $9 TO $12
AN HOUR
Want a paycheck and a free show?
Consider ushering at theaters, arenas,
or concert halls. Work at a museum
gift shop or health club and you can get
a free or reduced membership. Richard Fisher, 63, a former accounting-department supervisor for the federal
government, works ten hours a week at
an Arizona multiplex. “It gets me out of
the house, and I get to see free movies,”
says Fisher. Movie-theater workers
usually earn about $9 to $12 an hour.
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Sell Your Stuff
POTENTIAL PAYOFF: PENNIES TO
THE SKY’S THE LIMIT
Decrease your clutter and increase
your cash flow by selling items you no
longer want. Secondhand and vintage
stores tend to pay cash on the spot,
while consignment shops pay, generally, 50 to 60 percent of what they sell
your item for, after the sale. Susan
Kubes, 64, and her husband, Tom,
67, not only sell their own stuff; they
scour yard sales every weekend. Once
the Largo, Florida, couple paid $1 for
a ribbed vase that had a slight chip but
was made by a famous glassmaker. It
sold on eBay for $435. (They disclosed
the chip.) If online sales are the way
you want to go, consider craigslist.org,
ebay.com, and marketplace sites such
as bonanzle.com, where sellers set up
virtual booths and bargain in real time.
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Work and Wander
POTENTIAL PAYOFF: $7 TO $12
AN HOUR
Combining work with recreational-vehicle camping is a growing trend for
those who love the open road. There’s
even a name for it: workamping. People
who workamp travel all over the country
in their RVs to take part-time or seasonal
jobs at resorts, amusement parks, and
theme parks. They can earn $7 to $12
per hour, depending on the job. Frank
Banker, 69, and wife Mary, 56, have been
workampers in ten states since they sold
their Pennsylvania home and bought
their RV 11 years ago. Between the two of
them, they’ve worked at a variety of jobs
from dishwasher to gardener to electronics service technician. Go to workamper
.com to see a list of jobs, and sign up
for e-mail updates for positions as they
become available. Also, check out work-camping.com or work-for-rvers-and-campers.com. ;
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Sally Abrahms has written for numerous
magazines, including Time, Newsweek,
Parade, and AARP THE MAGAZINE.
For black-and-white reprints of this article
call 866-888-3723.
