Make Money Challenge: AKA the laptop fund
Time to make some extra money. I’ve recently realised it’s time to upgrade my trusty laptop and have decided to create a new Make Money Challenge. If you could use a little extra cash yourself, read on.
Firstly, I’ve set a target for the amount I want to raise, as this has always helped with money-making and savings challenges in the past. My target is £300 cash (not vouchers, not store credit, just plain old money in the purse / bank account / Paypal account), but you can set any target that you like. There’s no specific end date of this challenge, as there are a few things I haven’t tried before and I’m therefore unsure of what a realistic time scale might be, but I’m going to make a big effort and try to get there as quickly as possible.
Why might you want to make money quickly? This depends upon your personal circumstances, but you might decide to:
- Pay off an urgent debt quickly, to get some breathing space
- Start a small emergency fund, because ideally everyone should have one
- Save up for a holiday you otherwise might not be able to afford
- Get some seed money together for a venture (business idea, training and so on)
- Replace something in your home (electrical goods, decor, furniture etc)
As mentioned earlier, I’ve decided to raise £300 towards a new laptop. Tech advances rapidly and it’s good to keep on top of it, especially if you’re a freelancer. My current souped-up one one is still functioning fine, so I can’t justify taking the money out of my emergency fund (I would if it was failing or died completely), so it’s more of a wish-list item – hence the wish to make more money to cover the cost.
My planned ways to make more money will include the following:
- Selling unwanted items to raise cash
- Cashback deals and apps
- Paid web search and similar add-ons
- ‘Get paid to’ clubs and sites
- Surveys and market research
I’m not including selling services or taking on a part time job, as I’m a freelancer already and that would eat into my working week too much, but will mention a few of these as we go along in case other people are interested.
Weekly roundups:
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How long do you think it’ll take to get £300 together using additional / supplementary sources of income? Are there any nice little earners I should be including?
I’ve already started on a declutter/make money drive, so I’m definitely joining you on this challenge. Hadn’t thought of having a target beyond more space, but maybe that would be more motivating? 🙂
Hi Clair – thanks for joining in! Please let us know if you find any big wins 🙂
I’ve found that if the object is simply to declutter, my subconscious attitude is ‘please, take all this unwanted tat away’ but with a make money challenge it might encourage me to hold out for better prices.
Best of luck with your challenge.
I had a big declutter of my old room at my parents at the weekend and found 10 or so dresses that I’d like to sell. I’m hoping to make at least £50 from them. I’ve also just popped up a guest post for £50, so I’m going to count that towards it as I don’t often do guest posts.
Hi Emma – good luck with your eBaying. Think you can sell 20 items per month before they start hitting you with listings fees. Good luck with your selling and other money-making efforts. Have you decided on a target, or will you just be seeing how it goes?