Dream of Making/Earning Extra Money or Income

I dream about making extra money all of the time. Some questions I ask myself are, "What can I sell on Craigslist?" "What legitimate websites offer opportunities to earn extra income?" "How can I optimize my website and blogs using the tools Google (and other search engines) offer?"

Using Craigslist was easy but a hit and miss endeavor. It involves testing items to sell. Last Spring when I started my garden I decided I would test selling young, three inch tall sunflower and tomato plants. Once they were to height, I listed them in two separate listings for $2 each. The listing titles simply said, "3" Sunflower Plants", or "3" Tomato Plants".

To my surprise, I sold them all and had to plant more to sell. I concluded young plants generate interest as Spring gets underway; that next Spring I will plant other flowers in addition to the sunflowers and vegetables in addition to the tomatoes. I will also ask $3 for the young seedlings upping the price by $1.

On the other hand, I have listed two solid wood end tables. These I listed at $10 each. The post generated interest but nobody was willing to pay $10 each for solid wood end tables. I'm not willing to go down on price because they're solid wood. That people don't want to pay my asking price leads me to believe people who can afford new furniture don't shop Craigslist.

I have also tested hand painted wine bottles, new teddy bears, Styrofoam(TM), plastic vases, homemade candles, etc. None of the items sold.

The thing about test marketing is this: The success (selling the item) or failure (not selling the item) depends on many factors like the time of year, consumer confidence, if people are able to get out and about to purchase (i.e. is there a virus going around or is there flooding), if what you're selling is desirable. There are more factors to consider but you catch my drift.

But I'm not letting up testing unsold items on Craigslist. I will continue listings those unsold items but I will change the verbiage, pictures, or pricing. Any one of these changes might make a difference as to whether I sell the items or not.

The other two questions I asked myself (see first paragraph) I am still researching. I'm sure to find the answers at some point.

Supplement Income

Have you ever been in a bind when you needed some quick cash? We were two years ago when my husband's doctor told him he is border-line diabetic. His insurance paid for part of the office vist and his supplies but didn't cover them 100 percent. We were left finding a way to produce more income to cover the costs and I am out of work and unable to a job.

The most immediate solution I thought of (or to stay with the theme of my blog, dreamed of) was to have a garage sale. We didn't have enough items to sell so I asked my mother and brother if I could rummage through their closets and garages explaining to them that I was having a garage sale to earn some money to help pay medical expenses for John. They were more than happy to have me go through their unused items as long as I got their permission to sell what I found. Also, they allowed me to keep all of the money I collected since - in essence - I was helping them to consolidate unused items literally cluttering their storage spaces.

Since I wasn't willing to dip into our income for the additional expense of advertising the garage sale in the local newspaper, I used Craigslist, a free service for people like me to advertise items for sale. The web site as well as the registration process were easy to navigate and in just a few minutes I was on my way to creating an ad.

I wanted to make sure I enticed not only women to the garage sale but men, too. I did this with the header or title of the listing, "Garage Sale Tools & Household items". Then in the body of the advertisement, I typed out those things I had gotten from my brother like rolling toolbox, tools, air compressor. I knew these would be the high ticket items. Below those I listed the things I had and had gotten from my mother like end tables, king sized mattress, homemade candles, etc. Making sure I had entered my address and the time of the sale, I waited for the day to come. I made no preparations like pricing items but I did set up the garage with tables on which I put my smaller, not-easily-seen items.

The ad worked. At 15 minutes to the official start of my garage sale, men began meandering in and looking. In fact, I had more men than women who didn't start wandering in until after nine. In no time at all, I had sold all of my brothers tools, tool boxes, air compressor, grinder, etc. Although the women bought nothing whatsoever, I still made a whopping $200 which was more than enough to pay for John's medical expenses.

And that's how I made some quick money.