From the time I was a little kid, I never seemed to have enough “fun money”.
Sure, Mum and Dad gave me pocket money for doing chores around the house, but I was made to put half of it in the bank. (Who remembers the good old “dollarmites” school banking?)
After depositing my hard earned cash into the bank, there wasn’t enough leftover for the latest Barbie fashion or tastiest lolly that I “just had to have”. It was just soooo hard. Everyone else’s Mums gave them lots of pocket money 🙁 It just wasn’t fair.
Something had to change.
I complained to Mum about it LOUDLY!! and was told basically to “suck it up – that is life” 🙁
I looked for other ways to get money. A paper round with my brother was a good earner, but hard work in the cold and rain at 6:00am. I made a bit for a while polishing my Girl Guide troops’ brass badges ( coz it is a YUK job that no one liked doing, but we HAD to have shiny badges)
I soon found there were many simple ways a young girl could make a little bit extra, and did many different things over the years.
Growing up, we lived in an inner city location with not a lot of “suburbia”. This made looking for the usual ways of looking for odd jobs from the neighbours a little more difficult.
There were, however, shop around and most of these shops were “Mum & Dad” type businesses with few if any staff.
I soon discovered that I could earn money by offering to do jobs such as
- cleaning the front window of the shop, or
- taking the garbage out to the big central skip bin, or
- restocking shelves or even just
- sweeping the floor.
I struck a deal with Mum and Dad that anything I earned from these odd jobs was MINE and did not have to go into the bank. They agreed, and my Sunshine Cash earnings began.
As I got older, I was always on the lookout for ways to supplement my pocket money.
A suburban goldmine.
When I was a teenager we moved to the suburbs and this was a veritable treasure trove of Sunshine Cash.
- Baby sitting
- Dog Washing
- Car Wash
- Lawn Mowing
Finally, when I was old enough to have a regular job, I would still look for ways to receive extra money to “live the lifestyle I wished to become accustomed to!!”
A world of opportunity.
As a young adult, a whole new world of Entrepreneurship was introduced to me and I was soon earning good amounts of Sunshine Cash.
A super simple method was to buy things from op shops and resell them in the weekend classifieds (nowadays we use eBay, Gumtree, Craig’s List etc). I would look for clothes that were in good condition. I could often find clothes that had been donated in Brand New condition, or that just needed simple things mending ( like a button missing or a new zipper) Furniture was another great seller. A couple of coats of gloss white paint and a $20 table could sell for as much as $100.
Over the years I have rarely been without something generating a bit of extra cash on the side of my regular job. When I had children, they too were taught to look for ways to earn their own “Sunshine Cash”
As a special freebie for you today, I have put together an eBook with over 25 ways that either I have done personally or friends have done to earn a little bit on the side. Just sign in below to gain access to this and other free downloads.
Enjoy 🙂
