18 ways to earn $100 a month

By Liz Pulliam Weston

A couple of years ago, I asked posters on the Your Money message board what they did to bring in extra cash to make ends meet. The answers, which ranged from online auction selling to pooper scooping, became a column, "20 ways to make $100 more a month."

With a recession on and unemployment high, I thought people might be finding it harder to land those outside gigs. If it is, you couldn't tell it by the message board posts.

Not only were people doing many of the jobs mentioned in the previous column, but they mentioned a whole slew of new ways to generate cash -- some of which didn't even exist a few years ago.

As before, to make the cut the jobs had to be:

• Real -- something the posters were actually doing or had done recently.

• Flexible -- something people could do before or after a regular workday.

• Available -- something that people in most areas can find.

• Not speculative -- something that doesn't require a big upfront investment or have a high probability of failure. Day trading and multilevel marketing schemes were out.

Obviously, not every idea will work for everyone, but you should find at least a few options that could work for you or at least get you thinking about the possibilities.

1. Artist

Poster "Joylein1" paints murals for children's rooms, while "Adrian Black" draws cartoons and caricatures.

"It's not very steady, but when someone wants me to do something for them, I make $50 and upward per drawing," Black wrote.

Theme parks and other tourist attractions often employ caricaturists. As an alternative, you could set up a booth at a community fair to get started.

2. Bartending

This time-honored way to garner tips and new best friends somehow missed our last list.

Poster "Fedupwithitalready" tends bar on Saturdays and calls it "a part-time job sent from heaven. Great money, and in these times socializing and alcohol are a good escape."

3. Blackjack dealer

Casinos are a source of off-hours employment in many areas. Poster "STL1976" attended a free, six-week course offered by a local casino to learn how to be a blackjack dealer, then accepted a weekend job there.

"It was tiring since I had to work 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. (especially on Fridays after working till 5 p.m., and then doing this) but it was good money," STL1976 wrote. "With tips it was around $17 to $18 an hour."

4. Bookseller

Selling stuff on eBay or Craigslist is a moneymaker for many, but some specialize in reselling one thing: books. There are a number of sites that facilitate used-book sales, including Amazon.com, Half.com and Cash4Books.net. Some folks haunt yard or library surplus sales, but poster "elizabethann" gets books for free at her job.

"We get brand new books at work," elizabethann wrote. "I take them and sell them to (Cash4Books.net). I have a box of books near my desk that they will pay me $22 for. They even pay the shipping and handling."

5. Coach

Shaping young athletes can be a profitable sideline for someone with flexible hours and coaching skills, wrote poster "IrishSeanPatrick," who coaches high school track and field.

"I am self-employed so I have the flexibility to be at practice at 3:30 every day," IrishSeanPatrick wrote. "I am also considering coaching basketball in the winter for one of the local schools as well. Total compensation for these two seasons would be $4,000 to $5,000 per year, depending on the school. (Private schools usually pay less for coaching than a public school does, at least in my area.)"

Continued: Turns crafts into cash

 1 | 2 | 3 | next >