5 Ways To Get Money To Pay Off Debt

Ways To Get Money To Pay Off Debt
All hail to the yard sale to get money to pay off debt! Photo courtesy Sandra Cohen-Rose and Colin Rose via flickr. Used under a CC BY 2.0 license.

Making extra income takes time and hard work. Sometimes you have to be willing to think outside the box and outside your day-to-day employment for ways to get money to pay off debt.

If you are wanting to pay down debt, but do not really have the extra disposable income from your current employment then you might have to be willing to work even harder.

Here are five ways to think outside the box for ways to make money to pay off debt:

1) Sell what you do not need or use

Do you have any items that you are okay to part with? More than likely you can rummage through closets, boxes in the basement and the garage to find a few items that you no longer need or use.

Gather your no-longer-needed belongings up and sell them. There is no shame in getting money to pay down debt from items that you do not need or want any longer.

The saying “one person’s trash is another’s treasure” exists for a reason.

The hardest part of gathering items should be deciding how and where to sell them.

There are several different venues — such a as yard sale, craigslist, ebay, etc.

Remember that almost any item that you no longer use and is in decent condition can be sold.

After you have sold what you can then take the money and put it towards your debt.

Do this more than once a year and not only will it keep your house de-cluttered, but it can boost your extra income just enough to help you pay down those bills.

2) Get a second job

Does your current job have a set schedule? It might be attractive to pick up a few hours in the evenings or during the weekends to make some extra money.

Especially during the holiday season, there are many retailers that look for extra, temporary help with little time commitment each week.

You can take your paychecks from the part-time job and apply the whole amount to your debt.

If you are able to make ends meet by your first job then you could quickly pay down your debt by simply using your part-time job’s income.

Once your debt is paid off then you could either keep your second job to build up your savings or quit the job without any hurt to your standard of living.

3) Offer to babysit or house sit for friends

Have any friends that could use an adult night out or a weekend away? Well make it known that you are available for hire as a babysitter or a house sitter, and that you are happy to do it.

It might give your friends a peace of mind knowing that their friend, who is a responsible adult is able to take care of their prized belongings.

If you have the time and are willing to be around young children then you could easily make it known in your workplace that you are around if needed.

Making yourself a go-to person for friends means that you can earn extra money to pay off debt.

4) Sell homemade items online

Good at anything? There are several online retailers out there, like Etsy that offer a space for normal-everyday people to make money online.

If you like to craft, sew or design, then an online retailer would make sense. You can complete orders in your spare time and are in charge of the amount of time you are willing to put into it.

If you can find something that you can efficiently produce with little to no overhead costs then selling online would be a good place to look.

For example, opening an Etsy shop is free and sellers are only charged a small listing fee. Etsy takes a nominal fee for processing credit card purchases, but the rest is automatically deposited in the seller’s preferred account.

However, it should be known that your shop will only be as successful as you want it to be and will depend on the time you are willing to put into it to get it started.

5) Sign up for medical tests

Are you feeling brave? Because if you are then you can always sign up for medical experiments.

There are larger universities across the United States that enlists volunteers for medical trials that pay a pretty penny.

These research projects tend to test the effectiveness of a new trial drug or procedure and measure side effects of new drugs prior to them entering the market.

Researchers need volunteers that are willing to take these medicines or go through these procedures. Since not everyone is willing to complete a medical trial then the volunteer could be nicely compensated for taking that risk.

There are ways to add to your normal income, but you will just have to be willing to work hard and be patient.

Paying down debt takes time and if your income is already strapped to provide your necessities then you will have to decide which avenue is best for you.

Typically the extra work is just temporary to give you the jolt you need and once you have your debt paid off then you will be able to scale it back or stop the side work all together.

I hope these 5 ways to get money to pay off debt have been useful.

Originally posted 2023-01-06 17:26:54.