Side Business of the Week

Ok, so you are a single mom, and you are looking to make some quick cash.  You know this is not a blog about “How to Get Rich Quick” or “Make a Million with Google!”  But, if you need to raise a little emergency cash in a hurry, this is the place to be!

So, back when I was in high school,  I used to find little ways to make extra money until I found a real job.  Especially once I started driving and needed gas money! I came up with a really simple way to make a nice, legitimate profit, that my daughter and I still use occasionally today.  So, when I was 16 and in school all day, everybody was stuck buying those icky school lunches. And yes, icky does equal healthy, but that does not make a bunch of  teenagers very happy!

Then I went to Sam’s Wholesale Club one day with my dad. I didn’t want to look at boring grown up stuff, but I was kind of stuck doing bulk grocery shopping.  That’s when I spotted a box of 100 Blow Pops for something like $5.oo. I had a major sweet tooth back then, so I bought them. Yes, I had more than a few! But, I took most of them to school, and sold them between classes and at lunch for a quarter apiece. Now, that is a $20 profit per box, and sometimes I sold up to 2 boxes a day! Not bad.

This is something you and your kids can easily adapt to several different places. If you live near a park, you may do well with a cooler of cold soft drinks or water. Buy a case a cheap as you can find them, and sell them for 75 cents or $1.00 a piece. Or, if you live someplace where there are a lot of public events, like neighborhood block parties or 4th of July fireworks displays, this can be a really good opportunity to do the same thing…and sometimes even charge slightly more.

You may be able to sell in your office or workplace (check with the boss first) and you can get your kids in on this, too. My daughter is big on selling water at the park; we don’t have to have a permit to sell pre-packaged goods, and the vending machines are ALWAYS broken there! Makes for a nice profit on a hot summer day.

Other variations on this would be to sell donuts, coffee, and soft drinks when your neighbors have a yard sale, or to sell candy bars and snack size bags of chips at bars that don’t sell food.  (ummm, don’t take your kids to the bar though!) Pretty much anypace where people gather will work, especially if they are already spending money, and there is no other food or drink available. So, keep this one in mind….easy cash, low investment, and put your kids to work too!