Opportunities for Money

My friend has a 14-year-old daughter who is looking for a job, however most of the places around her will not hire a 14-year-old. But she keeps looking for a job, even though what she really wants is money. A job through an established business that is owned by someone else is not the only way to make money. If you’re in a similar situation – need money but can’t find a job that you can take – here are some suggestions.

(How does this apply? When you’re worried about money, you don’t have the energy to do what needs to be done to birth your Future. Also, some situations that need to be resolved are more easily taken care of with some money.)

1. Mow lawns
2. Pull weeds
3. Start a lawn care service. Employ not only yourself, but also others. Not only will you be able to handle a larger customer base, but you’ll also be gaining supervisor and managerial experience, which will look great on a resume and help you in future work.
4. Shovel snow
5. Wash cars. Include vacuuming and rug-spot removal to make you stand out from the others. Dust the dashboard and wash the insides of the windows, too.
6. Make jewelry to sell. If you know how to weave, use your talent. If you prefer beading, then do that. For cheap jewelry pieces, go to a thrift shop or second-hand store and pick up their old, discounted jewelry, especially the costume pieces or the children’s dress-up pieces. Those should be cheap. Cut up the jewelry to get the individual beads and metalwork to include in your creations.
7. Make jewelry kits. Same as number 6, only instead of creating the jewelry yourself, package up the pieces that make up a nice-looking necklace or bracelet, type up some instructions, and put them in a bag. Sell them to people for their kids.
8. Create webpages for people and their families. You can get how-to books from the library, and as long as your customer pays for the website, it won’t cost you anything. If you don’t have internet connection at home anyway (for a different reason than just this), check for places that you can get connected – the library, your school, your kids’ school, your workplace (if you have a job, if they allow personal use of the web, and only on your break). People use webpages for many things, even temporary items like posting information about family reunions or similar events. If you do the first few for free as practice, then you have websites that you can show future customers.
9. Knit scarves, mittens, sweaters, etc. Cheap yarn and knitting needles can be found at second-hand stores or rummage sales. Instructions can be found in books at the library. Even if you can only make rectangles (like myself), you can still make baby blankets, hot pads, scarves, and afghans. Crocheting works as well. Use the cheap yarn to make premade items for sale. When you have the money, you can get custom orders and buy specifically-requested yarn.
10. Babysit. This doesn’t have to be at night and only when the parent wants to go out for a while. Parents also need time to go shopping or just have a break. Take the kids out to the park in the middle of the day, or come over and watch the kids in the middle of the week when the parent has to work late or has to make dinner. Or be the afternoon-place for kids after school but before their parents get home when they’re too young to be left alone.
11. Paint. While painting the outside of houses can be difficult, painting a single room should be within the capabilities of most adults and teens. Again, this is a case where your customer makes all the purchases, so it won’t cost you any money. It’ll just cost you time and effort. As always, be sure to do a good job so that they’ll recommend you to their friends and give you their own business again. And if you have a talent for painting designs or pictures, if people want something special like flowers or clowns or something on their walls, all the better.
12. Help people move. If you’re not very strong, you probably won’t be able to help with the heavy stuff, but most people’s stuff is not heavy. Think about all the clothes, books, and dishes you have, none of which are heavy by themselves. You can help with the packing, the cleaning, the carrying, the transporting, and the unpacking. There are more people than you think that still have boxes packed up from three moves ago or a move three years ago. They just never got around to unpacking them. You can help them with unpacking right away.
13. Manage rummage sales. This works very well with number 12. People who are moving usually have stuff that they don’t want to move but don’t feel right about throwing out. However, most people don’t have the time or energy to conduct a rummage sale, and others just don’t want to. They pay for any advertising and the change in the cash box, and you conduct the rummage sale for them.
14. Bake. Just make certain that what you charge for your baked goods costs more than the ingredients. That includes the eggs, milk, oil, and the mix, not just the mix.
15. Sell used books. People who put on rummage sales frequently don’t want to keep the left overs. If you go on the last day, you can usually pick up the remaining books for very cheap and then sell them to your local second-hand book store. If there are any books that the store won’t give you any money for, keep them and give them to your local library. Get a receipt for a tax-deductible donation. Pay attention to what the store will buy and what it will not, so you’ll be able to pick up those books that will make you money and leave the ones that will cost you time and gas to carry around.
16. Manage people’s eBay accounts. eBay isn’t available to people of all ages, just most ages. Plenty of people would love to make money off eBay, but they don’t want to go through the hassle of actually doing it. If you do it, using their account if you’re too young for your own, then you can charge them a percentage fee. There are books at the library for this, too. If you are old enough, then you could start your own eBay business with whatever you have around the house, the things you can make, or the things you pick up at rummage sales that you believe are underpriced. Second-hand stores usually price their items at the same rate that eBay would sell them for, however if you have patience, you could pick up an item here and an item there that when put together make a collection. This rummage sale may have one beanie baby, and that second-hand store may have another, and each one by itself is no big deal, but the two together are just too cute to resist. Or anything you fine interesting enough to collect, because this stuff will be hanging around your house until you find that last piece, and you may as well collect stuff you like looking at.
17. Clean houses. There are services for this, sure, but few people want to go to a service, unless they have enough money to afford someone to clean for them on a regular basis. However, others who don’t have regular cleaning people still have parties, reunions, sick people, visiting relatives, and the occasional time when they’ve just been too busy to deal with housework, too. That’s when you come in. You do a clean up whatever they need most. Most people won’t use this more than once or twice a year, but most people could use this. Even if you know only twenty people who use this twice a year, you’ll be busier most weeks of the year. Clean up before a party is good, but so is clean up after a party. If it is a party that they’re cleaning for, check to see if they’ll need any help afterwards. This also goes along with number 12, helping people move. Most people want their security deposit back on their apartments and townhomes, so they want to leave the place clean when they leave.
18. Cut hair.
19. Run errands. Do the grocery shopping, pick up the dry cleaning, take the cat to the vet, and if you have a few customers, you could double up on the errands. You can pick up Mary’s dry cleaning at the same time you pick up Gil’s, and that’ll save you gas. If someone wants a pound of oranges and another person wants two pounds, you can pick up a four pound bag and split it up at home. If you do go shopping for more than one person at the same time, get a cooler for your trunk, and keep the frozen and refrigerated stuff in there while you’re dropping off other people’s groceries.
20. Start a reminder service. Some people constantly forget birthdays and anniversaries. If you give them a call a week in advance, though, they’ll have time to do something.
21. Walk dogs, or whatever other pet they have that needs walking. Add in brushing or washing, if you want.

In addition to all of these, check with your library for books on jobs for kids or homemakers.