by Anne Gader

Created on: January 05, 2010   Last Updated: February 07, 2012

Most people encounter some period in their life when they may be short on cash. The main thing is to quickly be able to "encash" what you own into liquid cash, or cash equivalent. 

1. Hold a yard sale

This will be the best time to de-clutter, and sell what you can in your home. Look at what that is of value that you might be able to sell on  eBay / yahoo auctions/ craigslist / yard sale your belongings. If you have something more special, you might be able to hawk it at your local pawn shop for some quick cash. The main thing to note is that you want volume. There might be a few special items that might give you a lot of cash, but the average household just simply has multiples of everything! 

2. Provide a Service

You can also look at providing some service on something that you might already be good at. These are some ideas that can assist to bring in some extra income on the side: manicurist, mow lawns, wash cars, babysit, assistance to troubleshoot computers, gardening work, painter, web design, translation service, car servicing, wardrobe organizer, cabinet resurfacing... There are thousands of household jobs that people would be willing to pay for because your service is available to them! 

3. Upcycle a product

If you are already selling a product or service, can you upcycle it and charge more? You would be providing more value, and possibly creating a new business product line category for yourself! 

4. Trade down

If you own a home, a car, a boat and a mobile home, it is probably too much. You would be in a position to "trade down" into a smaller home, downsize from a SUV to a sedan, and sell the boat and RV. This would probably take some time, but would potentially net you the most amount of money.

In the long term look at these three "levers" to improve your situation more permanently:: 

Earn more.
In the short term, get your behind out there and start earning some cash. Here are some quick ideas to try and get some money in the short term.

You want something that is quick, and which will bring in cash immediately after you finish the job. - babysitting - , and clear some clutter alongside - gardening, bush trimming - temp for an agency, for desk jobs - house cleaning job, especially for seasonal demands such as in time for Christmas - if you can sew, some simple alteration work, such as hemming, pants length alteration - computer maintenance, troubleshooting, etc.

In the longer term, you want to re-look

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