a better idea for cash than selling blood plasma?

[Zorba607]

I'm struggling to make ends meet. I have a decent job but credit is a problem due to some personal setbacks. An extra few dollars would really help me out right now and I'm wondering if anyone knows of a better way to get funds. I don't much care for the idea of having a kid that I know nothing of so selling my, ahem, prodigious sperm is an unacceptable option. The pawn shop route is another no go as I was recently robbed and, ironically, anything I could have pawned is probably there already care of theives. No homeowners insurance either.
I'm tired of eating ramen noodles. Any suggestions on how to snag some quick cash? What's the going rate for blood plasma?

[scarlet_owl]

1. My husband sells his plasma

every week and he gets $15 the first day and $20 the second. That extra money goes to pay our power bill. It really isn't that bad, but if you like to drink, you'd better watch out. Our plasma clinic will disqualify you if you have alcohol in your system. You get one warning, but after that you can't come back.

[SOteric]

2. I have occassionally been able to tide myself over

during a rough time by taking on an early morning paper route. The nature of such work is transient and most larger metropolitan newspapers expect a high turnover. They've eagerly taken me back when I've turned up a year or two down the road for another 6 or 7 months of time.

The pay isn't scintillating, but if you're just looking to pay off some bills and put together a Christmas nest egg, - it's workable.

[liberalnurse]

5. Aventis is real strict!

They have a detailed questionaire; no tatoos in the past year, not incarcerated in the last year; never have male homosexual activity...etc...

[dolo amber]

3. You could do what I thought about doing...

And ask everyone on DU to send you $1 :D

[liberalnurse]

4. Depends on the city.....

and your body weight. The determine how much plasma to remove; the more plasma...more money. Average fee is $19.00 to $25.00. You can earn up to $200.00 a month. You also get more for Tetanus. They give $5.00 one time and your plasma is then rich with antibodies where they then make the Tetanus vaccine. They have other programs.

[binaryline]

6. If you live in a college town,

make sure to check the college paper and local newspaper for research subject want ads. In my last year of college (during my first bachelor's degree... crappy economy has forced me back into school), I had so many credit hours that I couldn't work many hours. I totally got by with Psych dept. studies/surveys/whatever -- some of them would pay 15-20 bucks for half an hour of my time.

Also, one of my roommates got paid $900 dollars to participate in a cold/flu study last semester. Not bad for a week, especially when yer a starvin' grad student.

[Zorba607]

7. gimme gimme antibodies

as for asking for a dollar per DUer, there's 31000 of us and I don't quite need that much generosity. If you wish to give me a dollar though that would be most wonderful :)
I can't have alcohol in my system? Does that mean I can't be drunk when getting stuck or can't drink for days beforehand? What luck, just when I need a drink the most I can't have one.

[scarlet_owl]

8. Best not to drink 24 hours in advance.

That is what they told my husband. He had a couple of beers the night before plasma one time, and he got his warning the next day. I don't know if body weight matters, but he is a rather large guy. They should give you the specifics at the clinic. Also, you can't "donate" if you have a heart condition and you should drink lots of fluids before hand. The fluids make your plasma flow better. If there is too much fat in your plasma, they will turn you away. I don't know if you have been there yet, but if your clinic is anything like ours, don't expect to be out of there in a short amount of time if it is your first visit. At our clinic, you have to sit through a video and get a physical first. Everytime you donate after that, you have to be screened, which can take a while if there are lots of people ahead of you. The donating itself only takes a half hour, though. I hope some of this helps.

[Shanty Oilish]

9. Taxi!

See if your local cab needs drivers.

Actually if you hadn't mentioned it I'd have suggested selling plasma first. As long as you're healthy, it's a cinch. Takes little time, pays great.
If you're a homeowner you have stuff. Go through your stuff and do ebay with it.
If you're not eternally wed to your job, and you live where taxes are high, consider moving. Maybe not right away; moving isn't cheap; but there are still towns in America where you can buy a decent home under $50k, and pay peanuts for taxes.

[Kamika]

10. making cash

Stop drinking
Stop smoking

if you dont do any of those two i dunno anything that havent already been said here :)

goodluck

[laconicsax]

11. Testicles make good money

A lot of medical schools and research places will pay 70,000-90,000 for a testicle if you're willing to part with one.

[sfwriter]

13. YOU ARE KIDDING!!!! I have three!

I'm NOT kidding.

-Sandy

[laconicsax]

14. I did some checking,

and it seems that selling a testicle falls into the category of disproven urban legend.

It appears to be illegal to sell organs in the US. Sorry

[sfwriter]

12. Your milage may vary....

Try this...

I found $960 worth of work through here this moth using teh Secret Shopping board on teh left side. Their other "moneymakers" are crap.

http://volition.com/mysteryUSA1.html

Secret Shopping and merchendising are freelance gigs wher you either evaluate a service or product in a store or keep it stocked and straightened.

I'm repricing all of my area KB Toy stores for instance...

I'm a writer and techie, but this is quick money between gigs and clients.

-Sandy

[midnight armadillo]

15. Mystery shopping

My wife was signed up for this stuff for a while. We got a lot of free meals and movies out of it - we mostly did this for restaurants and movie theaters.