5 Ways to Make Extra Money at College

So, The Broke Student Guide typically covers ways to save and get things for less money. But what about when you need to make some money - fast? Here are a few tips to help you out! Try one, two or all of these next time you need to make a quick couple of bucks.

1. Donate plasma. Donating plasma is just like donating blood, except you get paid for it! Most cities have a plasma donation center. Donating plasma is fairly easy - as long as you don't mind needles - and you can do it up to twice a week after you pass a screening and fitness exam which takes about 2 hours (additional visits take much less time). You can make roughly $200 or so extra a month donating plasma. Plus, as a bonus, you'll be helping out patients who need plasma for medical reasons! For more information and to find a donation center near you visit this site: http://www.bloodbanker.com/plasma/ or try googling "Plasma Donation [Your City]"

2. Paid studies and experiments at your university. whether Most universities that do academic research host paid studies that you can participate in for cash. For example, the psychology department at Indiana University offers up to $10/hr for certain studies, and they are always looking for demographics like people who smoke pot, drink often, don't drink at all, have good hearing, etc. You'll be helping with ground-breaking academic research AND earning cash. To find these studies, try looking around your school's Psych department building or Googling "Paid Studies at [My University]." The link to Indiana University's paid studies can be found here: http://cognitrn.psych.indiana.edu/busey/PaidSubjects/

3. If you have a marketable skill, earn money by offering your services. Marketable skills can be anything from tutoring in a subject you're great at, to cleaning houses, walking dogs, babysitting, making websites, creating artwork, or mending/hemming clothing. If you can't think of any skills, how about helping people move for $8/hr? I guarantee you'll find some takers at the end of the semester. Or how about putting up flyers around campus for clubs and organizations? You can advertise your skills online at put up an ad on your local Craigstlist or school classifieds - and while you're looking around in the classifieds, try to respond to any ads for "odd jobs" that you could do. You can also put an ad up at http://www.fiverr.com/, a website for exactly the purpose of getting people to pay you $5 for whatever random skills you may possess.

4. Sell any extra stuff you might have lying around. Some things you might sell include clothing, textbooks, CDs, video games, DVDs, action figures, key chains, jewelry, unused makeup, purses, or shoes. There are loads of ways to sell your extra stuff. You can have an old fashioned yard sale, or sell your items to stores that buy used items such as Plato's Closet or your local comic book or video store. If you have access to a camera and can take pictures of your stuff, you can sell it online at Ebay, or Craigslist . If you're absolutely desperate and have low standards, people will also buy your used underwear. (I've never tried this, but apparently you can get $30 for a pair of your panties on Craigslist. Hey, if the demand is there, why question it?)

5. Paid-To Sites Online. I talk about these a LOT, and even though they are not the fastest way to earn extra cash - typically it takes about a month or so to get the first check from each site - there are so many options available to anyone with an internet connection! Here is a list of the ones I use (they are all legit).
- Treasure Trooper. Get paid to do offers, take surveys, and click links, as well as get cash back for shopping online.
- SendEarnings. Get paid to click on links in emails, take surveys, complete offers, use grocery coupons, get cash back for shopping online, and more.
- InboxDollars. Get paid to click on paid emails, watch videos, complete offers, take surveys, complete tasks, and more.
- SwagBucks. Earn cash and gift cards by taking polls, watching videos, searching the internet, playing games, using grocery coupons, taking surveys, and completing offers.
- MyPoints (comment to request an invite to this one). Earn points by clicking on paid email links, playing games, taking surveys, and shipping online.
- CashCrate. Get paid to complete offers, take surveys and shop online.
- Mturk. This is a website owned by Amazon where you get paid to complete simple low-skill tasks such as identifying whether or not photos are blurry, or verifying an address of a company on its website.
-YouData is a site where advertisers target paid ads to you. Fill out a profile answering questions about yourself (try to be as open to everything as possible - the more things you're into, the more ads you'll get!) and then you'll be given some videos or text ads tailored to you. You'll get cash just for looking at the ads. They pay out via paypal with no minumum!

And there you have it. 5 easy ways to earn extra money in between sleeping and studying. For a few more suggestions, check out this link: http://www.walletpop.com/2011/03/03/college-students-guide-to-making-money-online/
Did I miss something? Comment with your experiences earning extra money at college, and any suggestions I can add!

Stretching Your Dollar on Textbooks

For most college students, our number one out of pocket expense - after tuition, of course - is textbooks. Every semester we all have the shell out upwards of $300 for a bunch of books that we may or may not use or even open for 6 months, and probably won't need for the rest of our lives. The solution to this problem, of course, is to spend as little money as possible buying textbooks, and earn back as much money as possible selling them. The technique to stretching your dollar when it comes to textbooks is all about timing.

As all of us who have sat through a micro-economics course know, markets are ruled by supply and demand: the more demand there is, the higher prices rise, and the less demand there is, the lower they fall. As a seller, you want to earn the highest price: therefore, it is in your best interest to sell whenever demand is highest. The opposite is true as a buyer of textbooks. So, when do the stars align for textbook buying and selling?


1. If you are BUYING textbooks, the best time to do it is whenever other people AREN'T typically buying textbooks. Put it this way: the WORST time to buy textbooks is at the beginning of the semester, when everyone is looking for the same book and frantically fighting over beaten up used copies in the college bookstore. Practically any time except the beginning of the semester is the best time to buy your textbooks. As for where to buy your books, the best thing to do is price comparison shopping online using a site like TextYard (started and run by an Indiana University student!) or a free-market site like Amazon.

Of course, there's always that one giant obstacle: maybe you CAN'T purchase your textbooks before classes begin. What if you don't know what textbooks you need before you start classes? What if you want to wait to see if the professor is one of those "you don't really need the book, just take good notes" types? What if there's a test on chapter 1 on the second day of class and you're bookless?? That's where selling timing comes in, to help you earn back some of that $600 you shelled out the first week of classes after all the used textbooks were already gone (ugh!).

2. When SELLING textbooks, the very best time is when demand is highest: aka, the beginning of the semester. That first week of classes when everyone - including you - is scrambling to acquire everything they need is prime time to get the best price possible on last semester's textbooks. I know it's tempting to sell them before you leave for the semester, because who wants to cart around a bunch of insanely heavy books? But it's so worth it. No one is buying books at the end of the semester (that is, no one who didn't read this blog! you know better now!) so the prices will be driven down by lack of demand. So keep your textbooks with you over Christmas break or the summer holidays, so you can sell them at the beginning of the next semester.

3. Now that you know WHEN to sell, the next question is WHERE. We all stopped at the college bookstore as freshman, overpaid to get new books (or maybe we went early and were one of the lucky 3 people to get an over-highlighted, chewed up, but discounted copy) and then returned to the same bookstore at the end of the semester to get back a whopping $00.03 for our zillion dollar textbooks (hyperbole, maybe, but let's face it - not by much). At my school, there are competing bookstores that set up stands across campus to buy your books back for marginally more money than the college bookstore - but still, you'll never make back more then 30% or so of what you paid. Where can you sell your books back for almost the full price of what you paid for them? The answer is The Internet. (Cue harp music and angels singing) The internet is a magical place where people like you are willing to pay close to the same price that you were willing to pay last semester. As long as you list at the right time, you can get back practically the full price for your book (provided a new edition hasn't come out in the past year, in which case, ouch.) My favorite site has always been Amazon because you can set your own price based on the market price (what other people are selling for), the site is easy to use, has a huge market of potential buyers, and Amazon covers your shipping costs. Many other sites give you a price once you ship your book to them, which I don't like because it's really no different than selling it to your local bookstore. I'm sure there are other sites like Amazon where you can set your own price, but I don't know about them (if you do, please comment and let me know)! I think Amazon is really the most popular one, which means more people use it, which means a better chance to sell your book.

4. Now, say you do sign up for a seller account on Amazon, list your book, and it sells. What now? There are a couple of steps before the money lands in your pocket. At some point, either before or after a book sells, you'll need to link up Amazon with your bank account. There are instructions for that on the site. Once you do that you are eligible to receive payment from Amazon. Now, once a book sells, you'll need to confirm the sale - Amazon will send you an email with further instructions once your book sells. Next, print out a shipping label or packing slip, stick the book and packing slip in a bubble mailer or box, and take it to the post office. At the post office, ask to send it by Media Mail. Media Mail is a special shipping rate for books and other media items that makes it much cheaper to ship heavy books. Most packages are judged by weight, which would drive up the price to ship significantly. Within a few hours of confirming shipment, Amazon will put money in your Amazon account, and that money will be deposited in your bank account after a certain period of days.

Now that you know when and how to sell your textbooks online to earn back as much of your money as possible, go forth and sell! Happy saving!!

(Note: one glaring absence from this post is any mention of renting your textbooks. I've never tried this, but I know it's possible. One site to do that is Textbooks R Us, where you can also buy and sell. If you do rent, let me know how it goes!)