Where did you find your money tree?
 

Ouch, I realized I spent over $300 in a 2 day period, where nothing cost more than $50 a peice, with the exception of the crt.5 roller, which was $100. Now I am broke again, but still need to buy more stuff! I know alot of people seem to experience this too, so I was wondering what everybody else is doing to get some money to keep fueling their hobbies. I've tried jobs but noone is hiring... I was supposed to have a paid internship at Lockheed Martin this summer($17/hr) but then they realized that I was a graduating sophmore, and not a graduating senior in high school. They broke the news to me at the end of June, so all the summer jobs that I could've applied for are gone. So what's everybody else's money tree when a normal job won't do?

http://joe.siegler.net/images/moneytree_small.jpg

I beg for money on the streets while playing a tune on my harmonica. My sign says:

"Why lie.... I need money to fuel my R/C Addiction... God Bless."

how successful is that? the closest city(Philadelphia) is about 40 miles from here. do you think gas money will cut out of my pay that much?

Mike i can get you a job, you complain about not having money, when all you need to do is fill out the application.


And the main reason for us not getting the internship is this damn economy- Lockheed had to let people go and really condensed the Internship program anyways.

i know, i want to see other people's ideas too

You can always sell yourself to the older widows... Not a good idea though, old ladies can be very aggressive!

I have made money for the hobby by trolling the various forums and buying up lots of stuff, then breaking it up and selling the individual parts for a bit more each. You can turn 300 bucks into 400 pretty easy, but it takes a few weeks, and some startup money.

You can always cut grass... Or offer your services as a helper for just about any job. Always nice to have a helper for alot of jobs, usually get paid cash too...

There is no such thing as a money tree. Almost everyone of us works for our money, and quite a few are working at jobs they dont like. I listened to this same kind of thing from my nephew a month ago, then the next day his dad pulled his cell phone, then a few days later cancelled some kind of other internet subscription he had, 'cause the nephew couldnt pay the bill (they had an agreement that the nephew was supposed to pay for these extras). Turns out, he had been offered a couple different jobs, but turned them down because they didn't seem like "fun" to him.
Unfortunatley, this hobby isnt for someone who doesnt have an income - if you dont, then you should either scale down your RC level, or go find some other hobby until you can afford it.

So true JT... I do not mind my job, and being the boss has its "perks" but working for a living is a must for most people.

So I will throw out my trick! When I want to buy something new, I must first sell something (or multiple items) that I already have to fund the purchase. This "recycling" has paid for every single rc and personal purchase I have made for the last 10-12 months (must be close to 10 grand, or maybe more)... And you guys know how often I buy stuff. With sites like ebay, and local ads such as craigslist you should be able to move on your old stuff and get some cash for the new stuff you want. It can be a full time job just selling off stuff, so make sure you have time. I am getting back into firearms, so all of my crawler rc stuff needs to go. I could also do with thinning out the rest of the rc collection too.

Well said....I know that I am going to offend someone but....a lot of younger people today do not have a good work ethic. There is almost always some means of earning money if you are creative and MOTIVATED enough. One of my first jobs was cleaning up after rock concerts and let me tell you, it was a nasty job....but I made money doing it.

Just so no one thinks I don't work hard...I work 40 hrs. for the town where I live and another 15-20hrs. on my own Irrigation business. Even with all the work I do, money is tight and mu rc budjet has almost dried up so I know how a lot of people feel.

I've run across that problem even with kids coming out of school these days with engineering degrees. They don't want to listen to how things are done where I work, nor do they want to work any overtime when it's needed. I think it's a huge problem with society these days. People have no sense of personal responsibility.

You are not going to like this but I guess you could say mine was school. College than postgrad and now a professional career with a 6 figure income. The balance is 13 years of scaping by after high school until I started making money and another 5 years before I really started rolling. So 18 years of growing my money tree but it does seem to be very healthy.

Good luck. I hope things turn around.

mow an old persons lawn, $10/pop Umpire baseball/softball $15-25 a game. Buy/resell stuff like linc does. clean up dog crap.

A great way to have more money is to spend less money. Drive to save gas (I went from 13mpg to 17mpg just by changing my driving habits). Eat more ramen noodles. Don't go out to eat as much, even with fast food.

It might help going to a lazy/old persons house and tell them you want to make money. They'll say no, sugest somehing for you to do, or ask you what you want to do. Be sincere and selfless.

Your last line says it all. Today there is a feeling amoung younger people of entitlement which is disturbing.

People that age tend to not want the OT. Until they get to the position where they 1) have responsibility for getting projects completed, or 2) realize that they need extra money to pay for houses and cars. I seem to recall that I didnt work any OT until I got divorced (when I was 25), and I needed the money. Once I started to get project management jobs, I almost lived there. Now, after almost 20 yrs, I avoid it like the plague again!!
For what its worth, my oldest daughter and her fiance' just moved into my house from Waco, TX. I thought this was a really stupid time to move, with jobs being so hard to come by. But within two weeks they were both employed, and both had a choice of several jobs. None of them were "ideal" as neither has a degree, but they were motivated enough to get out there and get what they could. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to get rid of him.....!:intello:

James - if you could actually find half of your RC collection to sell, you could fund all of us for a year!

I agree. It's a shame it's gotten so screwed up in the last 10 years or so.

I work 2 jobs to pay off a house (total 52 hrs a week), my wife works part time, and runs a business while raising our 3mth old son, but for rc, I can only spend what I gain selling old stuff.


Simple as that. We both have government student loans to pay off ($90k total) as we were both stupid enough to go to university and in this country the government enforces compulsory repayments at a level $14000 a year BELOW the average wage.

Living week to week sucks.

My money comes from working 40 hours a week (hopefully)and when I'm done there I'll go to my garage and fix motorcycles and mountain bikes for whoever needs it done. Repair and sell lawnmowers (usually someones garbage found along the road), cut and sell firewood. (this stuff is just laying there if you know where to go) A couple of days a week I try to line up driveway sealcoating jobs, usually on the weekends though, and in my spare time I do this RC thing and ride dirtbikes. You need money? Hustle, wheel and deal, buy cheap and sell for a profit. The bottom line is get off your ass turn off the TV and computer, hang up the cell phone roll up your sleeves and make something happen. No one is going to come looking for you to give you easy money.


This isn't directed at anyone in particular but if it does offend you.....:na:

You guys are describing society so well right here. Being a teenager (17yo), I understand this very well because all my friends expect to get handouts and free stuff, whether it be from the government or their parents. You rarely find someone that is willing to work hard, and take responsibility for their actions instead of blaming others on why they can't buy something, why they did got in trouble, etc. I do live in a very upscale neighborhood, which could explain why the kids are spoiled, but parents need to teach there kids some responsibility. Many of my friends have brand new BMW's, Mercedes and other $30,000+ cars. And it is not uncommon, for them to wreck the car and get a brand new one a couple days later.

I ref soccer games to make money on the weekends where you can make anywhere from $17 to $33 per hour depending on the age of the players. Yah its boring, yah you're in the sun all day with parents and coaches yelling at you, but when you need money, you work for it. Anything that is not needed to live comfortably, I have to buy myself which sounds reasonable to me being a teenager living with my parents. Housing, clothes, and food are all provided, which is kind of expected. But anything for enjoyment, from going out with friends to rc's to bikes to anything else I would spend money on, I need to work for it. If you need money bad enough and look hard enough, you should definitely be able to find a job.

Heres an idea I learned from a friend. He calls it "treasure hunting" I call it dumpster diving...

Go out on trash night with a few buddies and a truck. Just drive up and down the streets eyeballing the stuff on the curb. Vacuum cleaners are a good bet, people toss those and they still work. Same with other stuff. My buddy did this for a few weeks, cleaned and fixed some stuff, then made $1100 with one 1 day garage sale. He did it again a few weeks later and made 800 bucks. Free money, I need to go out with him when he does this again.

Another trick, buy the broken rental tools from the various places that rent. My buddy bought 8 chainsaws for 40 bucks, gave them to me and I got 5 of them working. He gave me 2 and sold the rest, 200 bucks a pop. Turned 40 bucks in a grand (600 on his end).

Just keep ypur eyes open, there is plenty of stuff you can do.

Albert Einstien once said it drove him crazy because he could see sooo many ways for people to make lots of money, but they just got regular 9-5 jobs. I try to look out for things...

I was umpiring today and I got the infamous no-armed coach. He makes a game out of intimdating the umpires and yelling. He got his teams fans to yell too. One call the kid slid uner the tag at home and I got it good for calling him safe... I should've called him outl :oops:

I only could umpire 4 games but I made $60. It's pretty fun too, you get free food. I'll almost volunteer if they offer free food. :party: Some tournaments you can make over $200 in a weekend and if you're a softball umpire around here you can make upwards of 300-400 dollars. Too bad I chose baseball. :diablo: :lol:

I miss basketball coaching, I used to pull $70 an hr as a Level 3 State level coach.

@ lincpimp:

I've done the dumpster diving a few times with a couple push mowers here and there, but it is quite tough around these parts. the night/morning before trash pickup and i see 3 or 4 trucks going by. there must be alot of competition.

@ everyone else:
ok, so can you guys tell me how goes this for creativeness? feel free to give me your input, and try it out if you so choose.

tinyurl.com/MikesComputerServices

As far as I know, nobody's in this market with this kind of business plan. Kind of unique, and stands out, which is good from an advertising standpoint. Its not too cheap to be "too good to be true" but not so expensive so that people will be willing to give it a shot. when it works out for them, they will brag to their friends how they fixed the problem themselves for $3 instead of having someone come out on site to fix it for hundreds of dollars. Then, the next time they think they know what they are doing, but aren't 100% sure, they'd gladly pay a mere $3 to make sure, instead of risking it.

tell me what you think!

Decent idea, up your price to 7 bucks...

well never rely on an intership, my GF was chosen to do a physics intership with NASA this summer and was gonna be making about 20 an hour from what we figured up, well they didnt get their budget in soon as planned and then put everyone on hold, and then demanded that the interns stay for 4 weeks longer than planned... well she told them no because we were moving and fixing our house the last half of this summer (the last 4 weeks actaully) and she was supposed to be gone and back by july, they wanted her to leave mid june and stay till mid august...... so now she sits around here while i work nights and pay the bills


speaking of which our roommate found out how much i make an hour ($16) and actaully said something along the lines of man "thats crazy you make more in two days then i do in a whole week" i said "yea but i already graduated from one college (suma cum laude 4.0 and 81 hours in 4 semesters), got my certifactions and have started a real job" i still have 6 more semesters of school and over a 100 more hours to go, plus my required 30 hours a week to keep my full time employee status at my job, but it surprised me that my "friend" said something to me in a tone of "hey you make way more than me you could help me out this month or cover the whole deposit..." he didnt actaully say it but he implied it.

rant over! a good idea get one of those rolling broom wands and a gas powered pressure washer and go power wash driveways and sidewalks for people, there is alot of money in this, i would know my little brother is doing it on the side this summer, you can just go around to house that have dirty or blackened concrete and offer your services..... my brother make about 40-100 bucks a pop depending on size and extent of cleaning needed and it never takes hime more and 2-3 hours a job.....

Must be a 2 yr degree????? That's a pretty low wage for a 4yr degree.

Not sure what you are saying here? Yes, the price of college now is astounding. But really unsure what you mean by them forcing you to pay off the loan? Of course there is going to be a minimum payment level, and of course you have to pay those loans - that's what a "loan" means....hopefully I misunderstood what you said.

Definately worth a try. No start up cost and minimal overhead.

Linc does your friend come to the southshore? We have put out a sleeper couch, a barbecue grill, patio umbrella, iron bench and a TV all of which disappeared before the trash men came.

I do not think he has ever gone over to the south shore... Although it sounds like you guys are "sitting on a goldmine"!!!!

Apply for a job at pizza shops. The work isn't horrible, you can usually have fun working in a pizza shop, at least I have been for the last 8 1/2 years! Also the turnaround on employees is short, usually a person only lasts a couple months due to calling in or not showing up. Don't expect much more than min wage but that's still better than the $0/ hr your earning now

ima sound like a spoiled little college kid but i get most of my money from leftover scholarship funds. Its quite a lot actually. Full ride with books, fees, travel expense, housing, and "living" costs and there is a lot left over.


BUT i also work at a contracting company, engineering firm, and flowershop during the school year.

During the summer i work for all of the above and also teach at a engineering summer camp for about $40 an hour.

but all dont go to the R/C....life comes hard with insurance, car payments, tax, girlfriend....etc.:whip:

I work 30-40 hours a week at a internship right now for an Accounting firm. I hate it but it pays the bills. I also cut grass when I'm off netting about $300 a week extra. But subtract car note, insurance, cell phone, food, girlfriend, going out, getting drunk.... Not much net profit. But I do save a percentage weekly.

correct but i had to do it to enter the progam i wanted to at my 4 year school. and its actaully very low pay in general for the job most are starting about 18-19, but the company would work with me around my school schedule (told me to work whenever i wanted during school just keep atleast 30 hours) they are the only one within reasonable distance from my school, they also have great benefits, and the free unifroms are nice since ive only had to wash clothes once in the last month lol. plus they have a very nice tutition reimbursement program that i will get to cash in on at the end of every semester which will MUCH more than make up for the low wage since my school is already covered, so that reimbursement will be going straight to my checking account :party::yipi::party:



you give the concrete washing thing any thought? itd be even easier if you could convince your parents that they need one and get them to buy it:yipi: youd have to clean your own driveway 1st if they bought it but then you could use it as practice and as a marketing example. make some little flyers and stick them in all your neighbor hoods mailboxes and list your house as an example of a completed job, dont list a price unless everyones driveway are close to the same size and all.....

After graduating I did have a litle trouble finding a job. Currently I'm working contract to full time coming this fall. Pays the bills, but not exactly what I expected to be doing with my engineering degree. I feel like I'm slowly losing what I aquired in school. I would like to be doing something more in line with engineering but I'm not going to complain with the job market continuing to get tighter. A job is a job and as long as I have one I'm doing "better than I deserve".

What's your degree in?

B.A. M.E. (Mechanical Engineering)

Or is that B.S. M.E.?

Just called it Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

matthewslandscaping.com...my money tree!...i am a "Field General"...i love my job!!

lol... I love Linc's "treasure hunting" suggestion. Actually it really works. I made a good amount of spare cash doing that in college. Search around craigslist and backpage too.

I once found a dude who used to work for sony and got fired, so he was selling all his old swag that he got free from the company. I got a ps2, an old school ps2, and about 30 games (half were still sealed in plastic wrap) all for $200 because he was too lazy to sell everything individually. I broke everything up and ended up grossing around $1300 for all the stuff. It turns out he had two extremely rare games in the lot and one single game sold for over $600 on ebay. The other sold for $300.

I have a "normal" job now, but I still find myself searching craigslist from time to time for good deals. Its always fun to make a quick buck out of someone else's "junk".

get in a horrific accident and give up all your personal freedoms. the government will pay you to sit on your butt!:lol: