Just Melancholy

College tuition costs have reached an all-time high and with no relief in sight, students all over the country are feeling the financial pain. Diminishing state and federal financial aid, fierce scholarship competition, and dwindling fund raising have made paying for college a difficult, near impossible task for many students.

So what’s a cash-strapped college gal to do?

The key to acquiring the money to fund your higher education is thinking outside of the box for atypical resources. Here are a few creative ways to help you pay for school…

Contests – There are a myriad of contests and competitions open only to college students. Whether it is writing an essay, a science contest, or business competition, there is a contest apt for your talents and abilities. And typically, the bigger the contest, the more money there is for multiple contestants to win.

Egg Donation – Consider becoming an egg donor for a couple unable to conceive. Because demand for fertile eggs is so high, fertility clinics are known to pay as much as $10,000 for one donation cycle.

Marketing Groups – Corporations pay marketing firms big bucks to conduct focus groups to review particular products or services. Sign up with a focus group panel (such as Focus Line or E-Callroom) and get paid for each forum you participate in.

Home Business – Start your own business (like I said before, think outside of the box). There are numerous ways to do so without having to fork out a capital investment. Try something like e-commerce; open your own online store using drop shipping services. Doing so will allow you to sell items online without having to carry an inventory; you order a product from the drop shipper only after it has been ordered by a customer.

When my husband and I first started out, we were very money strapped. I soon began to understand why they say that couples argue frequently and even get divorced over financial issues.

Especially in our “more” society, it can be tempting to try to stay up with all the latest and nicest cars and fashions. However, this choice is not always practical or good for the wallet.

Here are some creative ways I found to earn an extra income.

-Babysit - This is great if you already have kids or are good with kids.

-Clean houses, blinds, etc . - This is completely flexible and can turn into a great side business.

-Freelance jobs - With the use of the internet there are many opportunities for freelance writing, advertising, internet marketing, computer work, etc.

-Sell items on eBay - Use a dropshipper like Doba for products after you’ve cleaned out the basement and house of excess items.

-Work from home - Not stuffing envelopes but legitimate jobs for typing, reading emails, editing, etc. Search the internet for opportunities.

-Be creative - Turn your skills into extra income. For example, do scrapbooking, computer repairs, photography, pet sitting, etc.

-Teach - Teach your area of expertise to others. You can be employed at a community college or start your own seminars at night.

-Franchise opportunities -There are many franchise opportunities including financial services, computer training, bridal consultant services, home remodeling, medical suppliers, physical fitness instructor, publishing services, and many more.

Like most people, you would probably like to be debt-free. I am actively working towards that goal. Here are some ways I found to be helpful to pay off the debt sooner:

-Snowball credit card bills. Tackle the smallest first and pay it off. Then add the minimum payment that you were paying on that card (or the amount that you can afford) to the next credit card, and so on until you have all your credit cards paid off.

Set a budget. This is imperative so that you know where you are spending money and don’t waste money on entertainment or other things. Set a budget for all your expenses and don’t exceed that. (tip: don’t go to the grocery store hungry, make all meals at home, don’t raid your fridge late at night, and rent movies from Redbox).

-Try the Money Merge Account from United First Financial . If you want to pay off your mortgage early and save money, try using the money merge account software. This helps you calculate how much you need to pay towards your mortgage each month so that you can pay it off in about 10 years or less. It can help you save and budget your money too.

-Get a side job. Try making one of your talents, like teaching sports or piano, computer skills, scrapbooking, photography, etc. into a lucrative side business. You can do odd jobs for money. Or use the internet, sell items on eBay, do SEO work, etc. There are tons of ideas that can help you make extra income to pay towards the bills.

-Put your written goal somewhere visible. I stole this idea from my weight loss regimen, but it helps when you are trying to be debt-free too. Write down what you are doing to pay off your debt and hang it somewhere that you will see it. Perhaps put a note in your wallet so you remember what your goal is and you don’t spend!

Going back to work after having our last baby has been a challenge. We own a small internet retail business where we do a lot with drop shipping, and it can get complicated, especially when a lot of phone orders come in. It’s been a challenge for me to get back into the “working full time” mode and get into the swing of things.

We finally decided to bite the bullet and get a real phone system to help make things easier. Before we were trying to make one phone work for a bunch of orders, and I realized we were missing a lot of calls. After much research, we decided on the Avaya IP Office because it is simple for us to use, and it can expand as our business expands.

I’m excited for the new phone system. Hopefully it will all work out well, and we’ll be able to get things more efficient (and profitable!).

After paying all the bills, my husband and I seem to always be short on cash. Yet neither of us want to work more hours in a second job during the work week because it leaves us less time to spend together. We began searching for other side jobs for extra income that were flexible.

Initially I ignored all the work from home job opportunities. Yet I found a way to work from home without stuffing envelopes or selling Mary Kay (let’s face it, I don’t want a boring side job and I’m not a good salesperson). Previously I bought and sold several antique dresses and patterns on eBay. I read several people’s stories about the profits they had made selling items on eBay on the side and I decided to start selling more items on auction websites.

Although I could sell some of our junk on eBay for a small profit, I decided to sell quality items because I could make more money than selling used products. A friend recommended that I use a drop shipper for more products. I consulted a drop shipper comparison site and signed up for one that was associated with eBay. The drop shipper, Doba, connected me to about 170 wholesale distributors that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to use because they usually don’t work with small businesses or individuals.

I am so glad I decided to use a drop shipper! I can choose my products and set my own mark up price. It saves me a lot of time too because I don’t have to bother with going to the post office to ship products because the drop shipper sends them directly from the warehouse as soon as a customer orders it. Steadily, the auction sites have been pulling in more income for us. Now we can finally save for a vacation!

Living in Utah, it seems that there are business opportunities everywhere I turn. Hand drawn posters proclaim that if you buy and drink a certain type of juice, you’ll live forever, or never have wrinkles, or never get cancer. Or something like that.

I’ve always been skeptical of these types of things because I’m very frugal with my money. I have mouths to feed, and 5 childrent to take care of. I can’t be careless, however, I’m always looking for ways to bring in a little bit more money to help pay the bills, or put into savings.

My husband works long hours, and I know that he doesn’t have time to do much more than what he’s already doing. I decided to start looking for a legitimate Utah business opportunity so I could contribute to our household income.

I came across one that helps people get into the investment, mortgage, and real estate industries, and I’m excited about it. I’m able to work on it, even though I’m busy taking care of our kids. I’ve been working on it for a few months now, and it has been really helping us out. We’re hoping to take the kids to Disneyland this Christmas!

At any rate, I’m glad that there are legitimate opportunties out there - I know there are a lot of companies just looking to take your money, and I’m happy to have found one that works for us.

Before my husband and I started our family, we agreed that I would stay home to raise our children. When I had my first baby last year, it was a rough transition for me to go from working full time to being a stay-at-home mom. Even though I adore our daughter Chloe, I missed working. Plus, the bills were starting to add up, and it was harder making ends meet because not only did we lose my salary, we had more expenses.

I looked online to see what kinds of jobs I could do, and everything seemed like a scam. All these “secret shopper” jobs and “investment” companies seemed like a waste of time and money to me. I really wanted a legitimate job that I could do that could earn money.

I then stumbled on the idea of finding a dropshipping company, and selling items online. I’ve always been into jewelry and accessories, so I thought starting my own e-retail store selling those would be fun. The great thing is that I don’t have to carry an inventory. Doba, the company I found, drop ships everything to my clients. All I have to do is have a website and sell the items. Doba takes care of keeping the inventory and shipping the orders for me.

It’s been such a great experience for me to be able to work again, but still stay at home with my daughter. It helps me feel like I’m contributing, but I don’t have to feel guilty about leaving my daughter in daycare. Right now, my husband and I are going to save some of our extra money for a trip to Mexico - I can’t wait!!