Title. I found out recently that I need some major dental work in the near future and I don’t have a damn clue how I am going to raise the extra money. I want to explore any realistic options for increasing my earnings before I have to resort to taking on debt, and I suspect that soliciting ideas in a semi-public place like this will turn up a lot of ideas I would never have considered myself.
I’m not very physically fit, but I am pretty good with computers generally, and I’ve picked up a little bit of programming in my free time this year, though I wouldn’t sell myself as a freelancer in that department or anything. I am also pretty good at proofreading / nitpicking things, my regular job is in QA.
Thank you in advance for any input.
What state do you live in? And would you be willing to try dental schools?
Dental schools are a great recommendation, but with complicated work, they still charge a bit
They do charge, but it would be less than similar work at a regular dentist’s. Which would hopefully reduce the amount of money OP needs, either getting him into care earlier, or reducing the amount of stress he has while he gets the money together.
I will look into the dental schools in my area, thank you. I was so focused on finding a local dentist that would take an uninsured patient that it completely slipped my mind.
“Second job” sounds cooler when you call it a side hustle
When I really needed extra money I donated plasma. It’s one of those things that pays you more the more you do it, still not a lot but everything helps. Also seconding dental schools, it won’t be free but can save you thousands
There are lots of translation, copywriting and voice acting jobs on freelance websites but obviously that won’t pay much as the requirements are usually just knowing English (but they do prefer native English speakers, + obviously another language if doing translaiton).
I wish I had even a mote of bilingual ability, translation work sounds like it would be interesting. I should definitely try my hand at amateur voice work though! That’s a great idea, and I would never have considered it an option. Thank you!
market yourself as a computer hardware/software repair guy at all of the nursing homes/retirement communities in the area. market it towards your target demographic, using font styles and language that they’d be familiar with in the 1960s - 1980s. be sure to show up clean shaven with a tie. be polite - yes mam/yes sir. charge through the nose.
I bet you could build up a significant dental fund within 6 to 8 months.
Flipping, you can sell things on eBay, mercari, fb marketplace, Craigslist, etc. Start by selling things you already own that you no longer want. Then you go out and find things that you’re knowledgeable about and buy those, then resell them. I’ve sold over $8k this year ($5k after costs) and I don’t put a lot of effort into it.
It’s been a while, but when I was in college and right after, I used Amazon Mechanical Turk with some useful plugins and a helpful subreddit (HitsWorthTurkingFor I think it was called, not sure if its active). Prolific used to be good, but I’m sure that’s changed a lot since its early days.
Irony: I clicked on this post because an unemployed friend of mine recently had their mechanical turk account suspended for no clear reason. They’re still waiting on the appeal process two months later…
For anyone considering this work, you should also be prepared for your “employers” to randomly reject your submitted work and deny you pay. Good times.
It isn’t very well paid per time invested, but my mum sells knitted mittens on the national equivalent of Ebay, since she likes to knit while watching telly anyway. She can sell a pair for about 3 times the cost of the material
Edit: I’ve myself done some paracord bracelets and sold, in the same manner, using what is essentially “free” time. It’s fairly easy to do, and you can get the costs down quite a bit if you import and buy in bulk
