Earn More Challenge, September 2009

OK, Tomorrow I (and all the lovely ladies and gentlemen listed on Money Funk's Blog) officially kick off the Earn More Challenge.

I am setting myself a goal, straight off, so that I know what I am aiming for:
$555.56 in extra earnings this month. That will be exactly $500 after tithe.

I was going to be sensible and aim for $200, but I am pretty sure that I can make that. So I decided that I would aim for $500, and I plan much prayer, because this will only be accomplished with divine aid.

I owe a family member $30,000 that I borrowed five years ago to pay for my education. It was borrowed to be paid back "in full, when I could afford it," but, unfortunately, I made the decision to get into even more debt, and I have only saved about $2000 toward this debt in the intervening years. I plan to add the $500 to this account, currently in various securities, and hope that the market will do better for me than a savings account (even Smarty Pig is down to 2% APR QQ). For various reasons, I have never achieved the gazelle-like intensity that Dave Ramsey talks about on my debt, but this month, I am planning to go all out.

I plan to accomplish this by:
(1) prayer. Since I have made almost no extra income since I quit my last job, $500 is a quantum leap for me.
(2) Selling clothing on ebay and through consignment stores. My test run on ebay leads me to believe that I will do better at local consignment stores. I plan to take clothing there tomorrow, and ebay anything that they won't take.
(3) Selling books on half.com. Basically, I will list my entire bookshelf, and see what sells. With a Kindle full of free books and a library, I don't really need most of them anyway.
(4) Plasma donation. This is a big stretch for me; I have never donated before. However, I called my local center, and I estimate that I could make $350 this month donating plasma alone (including the new donor bonus on the first week). Of course, I have to qualify and I have to be able to make it all 10 possible times for that to work out. I plan to make my first visit tomorrow, and see how possible further visits look afterward.
(5) Picking up cans. This is actually a big maybe, as I have not been able to find anyone in my area that buys them. More on this as I learn whether it is viable or not.
(6) ??? I don't think that I have quite enough yet, even if plasma donation yields $350. This is where prayer comes in. I will also be checking the other bloggers for inspiration, so get cracking guys!