20 ways to make $100 more a month

By Liz Pulliam Weston

Sometimes, all you need to bridge a budget gap is a few extra bucks a month.

If you've cut your expenses as far as they'll go and your gimlet-eyed employer turned down your request for a raise, moonlighting can be the way to make those ends finally meet.

I asked posters on the Your Money message boardfor real jobs that can help real people earn $100 or more a month. I also plucked several great suggestions from a thread about the same topic that started earlier this year on the Women in Red board.

To make the cut, the jobs had to be:

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

• Flexible -- something people could do either 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.

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.

Assistant

Leaner staffs mean plenty of workplaces don't have anyone to help with administrative tasks like filing or making photocopies. One place to start looking is your current workplace.

Poster "LSG7168-WIR" makes photocopies for a university department chair while serving as a teacher's assistant for another professor. "At least around here, a lot of people have too much paper-pushing to do it all themselves, but it's not enough work to warrant a full-time assistant," wrote LSG7168-WIR. "Thus, a few hours of my time a week gives them some breathing room and gives me some extra cash. But you have to ask around. No one advertises a 3-hour-per week photocopying job."

Auction seller

Plenty of folks make part-time income selling stuff on online auction sites such as eBay.

Poster "momOnARoll" says she usually makes more than $100 a month on the site. "If you look around your house, there is usually something you don't use anymore or your kids don't play with anymore that can be sold," she wrote. "When I don't have anything around my house, I go to thrift stores and buy things cheap and sell them on eBay for more. Some things that I've always been successful with are old 'vintage' concert t shirts, sports team clothing, designer brand purses, and collectibles like figurines or commemorative plates."

• Video: The eBay effect

But she warns: "Be careful that if you are buying stuff to resell, you need to know at least a little about it. It ruins your profit if you buy a nice purse and it turns out to be a knock off brand or something."

Catering staff

Poster "designgrad08," a student, makes extra money on weekends as a server for a catering company. Experience as a waiter, waitress or bartender can help land these gigs at weddings and swank parties.

Check with local catering companies and popular wedding locations for opportunities.

Cleaner

Office buildings need folks to tidy up nights and weekends after the occupants have gone home.

Poster "book" wrote: "I do this extra job two nights a week. With my teenage daughter's help that earns me an extra $70 a week, about 3 to 4 hours work per week." Check with janitorial-service companies or directly with local building owners. Or start your own home-cleaning service, as poster "sekh1976" did: "I charge $20 an hour (with a four-hour monthly minimum). I make my own cleaning products, so very little overhead (other than gas for the car). This will clear me a minimum of $160 this month."

Continued: Clinical trial participant

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