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Which Money Saving Hobby is right for you?
1. Start your own Website Everyone is an expert at something. Maybe you grow orchids, love photography, or know everything about Florida beaches. Whatever your hobby specialty is, you can turn that knowledge into cash. How? By building an income producing website. My passion is helping people save money. With the help of my favorite web hosting company, Solo Build It, I was able to build this site. I chose this company because of their simple to follow, step-by-step video tutorials. If you want to share your knowledge, and make some extra money in the process, I recommend you start a site, and use Solo Build It as your host. 2. Mystery Shopping If getting paid to shop or dine out sounds fun to you, then try out mystery shopping as your next hobby. When companies want to evaluate their customer service, they turn to mystery shopping companies. Shoppers go in, posing as customers, to see how the front line workers are doing. Not only do these shoppers get paid for their time, but sometimes they get extra perks as well. During the years that I was a mystery shopper, I enjoyed many freebies, like hotel stays, gourmet dinners and tickets to local events. Sadly, I must note that there are many scams out there regarding mystery shopping so please don‘t pay anyone upfront to work as a mystery shopper. If you want more information on this hobby, you can begin with these mystery shopping companies.
3. Sweepstakes Entering sweepstakes is a great hobby for optimists, because in order to win, you have to believe it’s possible. While I can’t promise you’ll win the big prizes, like cars, cruises, or cash, I can say that it is very possible to win smaller prizes on a regular basis, depending on how much time you put into this hobby. In the twenty years that I have been entering sweepstakes, I have never won a major prize, but I have won hundreds of great items like cell phones, ipods, jewelry, cases of paper towels, and many food products. Those prize items that I don’t use, I give as gifts. If this sounds like a hobby for you, check out my favorite sweepstakes site, www.online-sweepstakes.com to get started. 4. Cooking/Baking Cooking and baking are wonderful hobbies that don't require a lot of initial skill. You can pick up most any equipment, (bread machines, baking pans) at various garage sales or thrift stores. Making your own foods can help cut your food costs, reduce additives, and improve taste. Start by watching the foodtv to find inspiration and tips. You don’t have to make everything from scratch at once, just pick one area to focus on, like cakes, cookies or casseroles. Check out my favorite recipes source, all recipes.com and my article on dinner ideas for additional encouragement. 5. Gardening Growing your own food is becoming a big deal. From small container gardens, to full sized yards, gardening has become appealing to many. Not only is it good for our bodies, it’s good for our wallets as well. Getting started is easy, if you pick the right plant. Since the tomato plant is one of the easiest to grow, pick up a tomato starter kit 6. Couponing If you have seen the TLC TV show, Extreme Couponers, then you know how crazy, fun and lucrative clipping coupons can be. For those who haven’t, clipping coupons is fast becoming a popular way for everyone to save money. You can easily begin this hobby because coupons are everywhere: newspaper inserts, back of receipts, grocery store aisles, online coupon sites, etc. When you have time, just sit with your coupon stack, and clip out coupons for items you normally purchase. Check with your local stores to see if they have double coupon days. Try and match your coupons with store sales to save the most money. Keep your coupons organized in a coupon binder so you will always be prepared. That’s 6 great money making hobbies. Pick one, and make a plan on how you are going to get started. You, and your budget, will be glad you did.
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