I’ve been out of school for 31 days and I’m just now selling my text books from last quarter. And the quarter before that. And that quarter before that. A few books are even from my senior year of high school when I took community college classes to get a head start on my bachelor’s. You could say I have a procrastination/laziness problem.

The important thing though is that I’m getting rid of them. I have enough clutter in my room; I don’t need text books I’m never going to open again. I want as much cash as possible, but I’m willing to take a smaller amount if it means I do less work. I’m using 3 different services to get cash for my books:

eBay – I listed one of my accounting books here. It’s easily an edition or 2 out of date, but accounting is one of those subjects that doesn’t really change that much so a lot of instructors might still be using this one. One recently sold for $50. I’d be happy with that, since I paid nothing in the first place.

Half – eBay owns Half.com, but you can list things separately. I put a philosophy book I used my senior year of high school on here. I think it’s more likely to sell on Half compared to eBay and for a higher price if it does.

Chegg - I’ve bought a book or 2 from Chegg.com and had a good experience. This is my first time selling through them, but so far the process is easier than tying your shoes. I typed in the 2 books I had, printed out a packing slip and all I have to do now is drop them off at a UPS store. I should receive a check in 10 days.

I predict Chegg will be the easiest method to use and the one that gets me the most cash. Once I actually get the couple hundred bucks I expect though, the question becomes what to do with it? As much as I want to consider book money to be free for spending, I know I have to buy…more books. .

Where do you sell you sell your textbooks? Does anyone else just want to blow any money they get back?

I don’t think I’m doing this making money by blogging thing correctly. If you would have asked me 1.5 years ago how much money I thought I would ever earn through blogging, I would have said zero. Maybe $50 bucks. In the back of my mind, I had quasi-serious goals like earn $100 or $500 somehow. But I never honestly thought I’d earn any type of real money.

Things have definitely turned out way cooler than I ever could have imagined. Since my entry into the blogging universe, I’ve taken something like $2,300 to the bank. Not bad for something I still consider to be a hobby. Once you subtract out all the costs I’ve had, (not many), I’m left with $1,998.

That money is split between separate business checking & savings accounts. At first I tried keeping it all together, but that didn’t turn out to be such a hot idea. Separate accounts make my life soooo much easier. Other than paying for website hosting and buying some business checks (ladies love business checks) though, I haven’t spent a dime of that money on anything. I basically forget it even exists on a day to day basis.

I’ve mentally locked that money away and now I can’t find the key! Other than keeping a bit of it in business checking to pay for website hosting, all that money could really be treated as the same as my normal paycheck. Keyword is “could“. For some reason, I treat this money differently than the rest of my income.

The key issue at hand is that blog income is more unpredictable than what comes out of Charlie Sheen’s mouth. Some months I’ll bring in $800. Other months it’s close to $0 or some random # like $88. Until it stabilizes at a nice big number like $1,000 each and every month (I wish!) there’s no easy way for me to calculate what I should pay myself each month.

So readers…how do I unlock my cash and actually put it to use? I could pay down some student loan debt or start saving up for a new car. Or maybe continuing to act like it’s not really there is the best option?

I thought I’d show off my comic creating skillz in today’s post. Above, you can see my reaction to a statement I heard on Fox News last week. I actually saw the clip on The Daily Show, which you can watch below. 33 seconds in is where the action starts.

This lady straight up says “$250,000 is not rich. For a family of four sending kids to college, it is actually close to poverty.” What is she smoking?!?!!! There is no way you can realistically describe $250,000 as being close to be poverty. A household earning that much money would be in the top 5% of households in the United States. That amount is also more than 10x the federal poverty level.

To break it down even further, let’s consider the tax burden this hypothetical family would have to deal with. According to H&R Block’s tax estimator, this family would owe $53,000 in federal income tax. This calculation was based on the family having 2 children, one in college and one in high school. They took the standard deduction along with personal exemptions. No other methods were used to reduce taxable income, like contributing to a 401K. If we also subtract state income tax, based on California’s rates, this family would owe an additional $19,000.

Even after taking away income taxes, the family would have $178,000 to live on. That’s $14,833 every single month. That’s enough to pay for almost 2 years of my tuition at a public 4 year university. In one month. Even living in a super expensive city like Los Angeles would be easily affordable on that salary. A $250,000 LA salary is rougly equal to a $168,000 Columbus, Ohio salary according to CNN’s cost of living calculator. Cbus is not far from where I live. You would be extremely comfortable with that kind of money.

The idea that this family would be poor is blatantly and demonstrably false. It’s insulting to people who are actually living in poverty, both in the US and around the world. The fact this this obviously privileged women would suggest such a thing is moronic proves she’s a horrible person.

Does anyone not agree with me? I’d love to hear your opinions on this!

P.S. Do you like the comic? Should I incorporate more of them into posts?

Today is the day the U.S. Census Bureau releases the first stats of the 2010 population count. I worked for 4 months in my local office helping get the job done, so the results are way more than just numbers to me. As my first (temporary) full-time job, I learned a lot about money and whole bunch more about people.

A Steady Paycheck is AWESOME

Knowing the exact day I’m going to have an infusion of sweet cash is a great feeling. It makes planning, saving, and budgeting ridiculously easy. Weekly paychecks are better than biweekly. Wednesday was usually my favorite day at the office. I think more organizations should try out a weekly pay period, it’d probably improve employee morale with minimal increase in cost. For me, a weekly paycheck made the connection between the work I was doing and my compensation incredibly strong.

Positive Cash Flow is Even Better

I like a consistent schedule, but I could handle variable income as long it provided me with enough income to save/spend/invest. Having more money coming in than going out is the key to not sucking at finance. For the first time in my life, I was building something that resembled wealth.

Young People Can Save Money Ridiculously Easy

I was the youngest employee at our office. A few others were in their early twenties. Everyone in my department though had at least ten years on me. While I put most of my money in the bank, they used theirs to pay bills and provide for their families. As we get older, it’s unlikely that our cost of living will ever decrease. Cars are bought, mortgages signed, and children are fed. These things are expensive and reduce the amount we can save. When you’re young, use your lack of obligations to your advantage.

There Was Waste

No lie, money was wasted during the 2010 Census. I would never deny that. But, there’s always going to be waste whenever an organization does something. Companies waste money too – it’s impossible to eliminate it all. Expecting the government to be perfect just because they’re using public funds is an unfair expectation. A lot of people I worked with had been laid off because of the recession and probably would have filed for unemployment. Either way, money was going to get spent. At least this way people were working and not sitting at home.

The Public Caused a Lot of Waste

Not kidding. Uncle Sam threw plenty of money down the toilet, but taxpayers did their share of flushing cash too (I just earned 10 blog points for that metaphor!). The idiots who refused to mail back their forms had to be visited by a Census employee. Paying someone both wages and mileage is a hella expensive way to get communication done. Not Joe Public’s brightest move. On the other hand, I might not have gotten a job if enough people had returned the form. Thanks!

How Much Someone Makes is the Most Heavily Guarded Information In Existence

I know a lot of people are private about their income, but I didn’t realize it was that secret. Even the people who provided every other piece of information often refused to list their income. The most popular line in the note section: “Respondent refused to provide income, says government doesn’t need to know.” OK, but the IRS already knows so that ship sailed a lonnnggg time ago. Also, individual census form data can’t be released for 72 years.

Overall, my time at the Census Bureau was awesome. Learned a lot, made some good money, and counted all of you! By myself. In 6 feet of snow. Both ways.

What did your 1st real job teach you about money/life?

What are your feelings towards the census? Should we just go off of mathematical estimates instead of actually counting?

Ah man, I bet you’re wondering what the hell this post could possibly be about with that kind of image, eh? Im a member of SurveySavvy, where I get paid to complete surveys on all kinds of topics. Usually, the surveys are pretty easy – they just ask about my experience with different running shoe companies or cell phone manufacturers. I answer some questions – takes about 20 minutes – and they toss a few dollars my way, usually $2-$3. So when I got an email saying I had the opportunity to earn $20 for one survey and then $5 a month indefinitely, I was interested couldn’t open it fast enough.

That of course is when any hopes of making some easy money vanished. From the email:

If you qualify, all you would need to do is sign up your email account in order to automatically forward a copy of your email to a private designated address. Only your spam and solicitation email will be used as part of the study. Your personal email correspondence will not be included. Once you set your email to forward, no further action from you will be required. You will receive $20 after one month and $5 every month thereafter credited to your account until the conclusion of the study or until you choose to disable the forwarding.

Emphasis mine. Ummm….no sale? I’m supposed to send a copy of all my email to some random marketer? They say that they’re only interested in spam. riiiight. Or maybe they are telling the truth – but someone would have to be on crack if they think I’d let ‘em read every message my family, friends, bank, or credit card company sent me.

The money is good for the effort required – literally none. But $20 one time and then maybe $60 a year for the privilege of having a stranger read my email? Never gonna happen. I do admit that I’d probably be willing to do this if the pay out was significantly higher – 10x or 20x what they offered. Yep, I can be bought!

Would you let a company see a copy of every email you receive? What type of price do you place on personal information?

I landed a job yesterday! It’s a retail position at a company you’ve all heard of. I’m not revealing the specific company – I don’t want any blogging/employer issues. I also don’t want any of you coming to visit to me at work. That’s creepy. Don’t come to my house either.

So this job is one more thing I’m adding to my plate, along with school, hanging with friends, and family obligations. Some might think it’s not a good idea to work at the same time you’re attending school, but I disagree.

1. Working a part-time job is going to force you to get your work done with plenty of time to spare. This is a good thing. Busyness makes you tackle the things you need to complete. My grades in high school were actually higher when I was playing sports (fall and spring quarters), and therefore, busier. Running 40 miles a week takes a good amount of time – I can practically guarantee a part-time job will require less commitment.

2. Financially, a job is great. You receive a consistent cash-flow and while the amount may not be large, it’s something. Enough to pay for books perhaps or the interest on your student loans. It’s also nice to have money when you want to go out with friends. A few hundred dollars a month can do incredible things for your budget and can help keep you from going into credit card debt. Save just $50 a month during your 4 years of college and you’ll finish with a bank account balance of $2,400. That’s a a nice graduation present! Without a job, you’ll end up using debt to finance your entire lifestyle.

Don’t be afraid to take on an additional responsibility. Most employers are flexible with hours and are willing to work within your schedule. You also never know when an entry level position might turn into something more serious once you receive that degree.

What you major in can have a huge impact in how much you earn. Here are some of the worst paying degrees, according to Wallet Pop. The number in parentheses the average mid-career salary, so you’ll actually be making less than the quoted figures right out of school.

1 – Social work ($41,600)

No surprise here. Social work is a thankless job with pretty bad pay. I understand someone has to do it, but this isn’t a great job for building wealth. I think it takes a very strong person to give up many of the luxuries that come with making more money.

2 – Elementary education ($42,000)

I was surprised to see this on the list. But once I thought about it some more, it makes sense. High school and middle school teachers make more because the subjects they teach are often more difficult – calculus, physics, literature, etc. Of course, part of a teacher’s education is to learn how to manage a classroom full of children, not an easy task.

3 – Theology ($51,500)

I don’t think anyone goes into this field for the cash flow. It’s all about the guy upstairs, right? I personally find religious discussions and concepts really interesting, but have no interest in making it my career.

4 – Music ($52,000)

I’ve always heard that the only job you can get with a degree in music is teaching. This obviously isn’t completely true, but the music field is definitely for those with a strong passion (that doesn’t include money!).

5 – Spanish ($52,600)

Hmmm. I thought Spanish was one of the fastest growing spoken languages? Maybe translating and the like just don’t pay well? I would consider a language minor, but I’d never major in one. To me, one language doesn’t seem broad enough.

6 – Horticulture ($53,400)

I don’t find plants too interesting, and I guess employers don’t either. I’m guessing the non-financial benefits make this job more appealing.

7 – Education ($54,100)

Not for me, but I know quite a few of my classmates who can’t wait to start teaching. I’m somewhat surprised to see this one on the list. Teaching has decent pay, good insurance, summers off (kind of), sick time, etc. Of course, the argument of whether or not teachers are paid what they’re worth is a debate for the ages.

8 – Hospitality and tourism ($54,300)

I think this is a low ball estimate of salary because it doesn’t take into account tips. Being able to see the world for cheap, if not free, isn’t a bad deal.

9 – Fine arts ($56,300)

Definitely not for me! I wouldn’t ever tell someone not to major in the arts, but I wouldn’t encourage them either.

10 – Drama ($56,600)

If you make it big, then drama has a great return on investment. If not, you might be waiting tables for a long time.

Thoughts…

Interestingly, it doesn’t seem like the pay potential for these majors is absolutely horrible. Engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc. will of course make more, but it’s not impossible to make a life by making $40,000-$50,000 per year. If you’re thinking of going into one these fields, you might want to double check that your chosen school is affordable. Spending six figures for a job that pays less than $50,000 probably isn’t the best idea.

This video from Chris Rock does a pretty damn fine job of showcasing the difference between rich and wealth. Warning: Extremely explicit language. Plug in head-phones or bookmark this post for a later date if you’re located in an office or school.

Obviously, Rock is using the example of the super wealthy (see: Bill Gates) and the super-rich (see: celebrities that could lose their money in a summer with a drug habit).

But the general concept is the same for “middle-class” citizens.

Usually, we use the words “wealth” and “rich” interchangeably. Someone who has a really nice home, car, and job is said to be rich. Likewise, we assume they are wealthy.

But realistically, the two terms don’t mean the same thing. At least, I don’t think they should.

Rich is subjective. My definition of rich might differ from yours. Plus, you can appear to be rich when you’re actually broke. Rich can be taken away or lost in the blink of an eye. This is because the rich are often controlled by other entities like banks and corporations. Or, they squander away their new-found richness (see: lottery winners).

The financial crisis going on over the past few years is proof of this. Tons of people in the U.S. borrowed to “buy” private school educations, fancy cars, and huge homes. They whipped out a credit card to fuel exotic vacations and a nicer day-to-day life.

Then, banks tightened up credit. Credit card interest rates went through the roof. Companies downsized and rightsized. People suddenly found themselves in a big mess.

These individuals may have been rich (by living off credit cards and using their decent income to secure financing) in appearance, but they certainly were not wealthy.

Wealth can’t be faked. Wealth can’t be taken away because of the decisions other people make. Wealth, in its simplest form, is a set of behaviors that lead to financial success.

Some of these factors include:

• Saving a certain amount or percentage from every paycheck
• Refusing to take on debt except when necessary (like a home mortgage)
• Spending less than you earn

These factors aren’t new or exciting. They’re honestly just common sense. If the entire working population (including teens) were to just simply start saving 10% of their pay, millions of people would be better off. And that’s just one small behavioral modification

At the end of the day, remember that you have the power to make wealth happen. Being rich though, is often just a fad.

Rusty Car by dandeluca on Flickr.

There are lot of theories on what’s the best way for a new driver to get a car. Some think the parents should pay for it all while others prefer a 50/50 split. Still others think the best way is for the child to save up all the money himself. I’ll admit I’m not sure which is the best policy. But I explain how my own came to be in my possession.

My state is the home of the 4-H program. If you haven’t heard of this before, I’d encourage you to check out the Wikipedia entry here. Basically, it’s a youth organization that for me, always had an agricultural center. Through this program and participating county fairs, you purchase and raise animals (dairy feeders, steers, pigs, goats, turkeys). At the end of the fair, you sell the animal through an auction style market.

I was able to buy a car through the selling of these 4-H “projects”. There are other projects that deal with other fields of agriculture like soil quality and crop growing along with science and civics. I took dairy feeders (what most people would call cows) and pigs during my 4-H career. At first glance, this might seem like I was just earning all this money by myself. But that’s not the case. You have to remember that:

Caring for livestock is not cheap. You have to buy the animal, feed it, shelter it, and transport it. All of this costs money. My dad covered most of these expenses. In later years, I was responbile for buying the animal. If my dad had not covered these costs, then 4-H would not have been nearly as financially lucrative as it was for me. But it was lucrative in another way…

It taught me that sometimes you have to do stuff you don’t want to.

I was never huge fan of 4-H. There were meetings to go to. I had to feed my animals. I had to walk my animals. Pulling a 400 pound dairy feeder around my yard was not fun. I never really wanted to play the role of farmer. The months of work were rewarded by one week of fair. But it was pretty much the only option I had to make enough money to buy a car someday. So I joined and participated for four years. After those four years, I quit because I didn’t want to do it anymore and I figured I had enough money for a semi-decent automobile.

Looking back now though, I realize my dad was a reward-child-for-hard-work genius. It was made clear in my family that if you didn’t participate in 4-H (or figure out another way of earning money), you would not be receiving a car as a gift. This motivated me during the few years I participated. Now I wish I would have continued with the program until at least the beginning of high school. I could have accumulated much more in savings and possibly even purchased a nicer car.

I sure didn’t realize the benefits of this type of system at the time. But I really think it did a great job of teaching me that “Stuff” requires work and thanks to my dad’s help, my work really paid off. I’d encourage you to try this type of deal with your parents. Maybe they could match your earnings from a part time job up to a certain amount. It might just be the motivation you need.

One of the easiest ways to make a bit of cash online is through survey and GPT (Get Paid To) websites. Many allow kids as young as 13 years old to participate, so these options are great for those who can’t yet drive to a regular job. They’re also great for students with some free time on their hands or for stay at home parents who want to earn an extra few bucks.

The 1st service I’ll review is called CashCrate. CashCrate is a site where you get paid to complete offers and “surveys”. I use the term surveys loosely because they only take a few seconds/minutes to complete and it’s just a bit of personal information. Best of all, you only need to be 13 to sign up.

Sign Up

The sign up process is extremely easy. All CashCrate asks for is your name, email address (yes, you can give them your real one) and home address.

Completing Offers

Doing the offers isn’t hard, but it does take some practice. So far, I’ve only done the  free ones so those are the ones I’ll talk about here.  To select only the free offers, click the down arrow next to “Show” and select “100% Free” Then click go.

From the list, select an offer.

A new window will appear. Sometimes, other windows will pop up. These are almost always ads. But go ahead and let them load, just keep them minimized.

For most of the offers you just need to complete the 1st two pages. Usually the 1st one just asks for your email address. Then the second asks for your mailing address. You do need to give an actual email address, but do not give out your main address. Make up a new one at Gmail, AOL Webmail, or Yahoo. You will receive tons of emails everyday to this address. But remember, it’s technically not spam because you gave permission to be emailed.

Some of the offers have a few pages of yes/no questions. You need to click “Yes” on one of them. But don’t worry, on the next page you’ll be able to cancel. This process takes a few minutes.

You’ll know you’re done when you reach a page like this:

Click to Enlarge

Or you’ll know you’re done when you are presented with a page that says something like “Complete 2 Offers Below to Claim Your Gift”. There is no gift and CashCrate will credit your account without completing those offers.

Once your offer is complete, you can click “Submit” back at the offer listing page. Note: You don’t have to do this, the money will be placed into your account regardless, but this is a helpful way to keep track of which offers you’ve already done. After a few minutes or hours (sometimes days) your account will be credited.

Payment

All this work would be for nothing if CashCrate was a scam and never actually paid. Well I can tell you that CashCrate does indeed pay out.  To get paid you just need the following:

• A mailing address on file
• A minimum of 20 dollars in your account
• Time

CashCrate sends out checks once a month for the previous month’s earnings. If you earned $50 dollars in November, you would receive a check around the end of December.

Here’s some proof of payment:

Click to Enlarge

Referrals:

Once you’ve been  on a site for a few days and gotten the hang of doing offers, you’ll probably start to hear a lot about referrals. A referral is someone who signs up under you. You get a percentage of every offer they complete. This does not change the amount of money they receive. Referrals can be especially helpful for those under 18, since many of the offers say that only 18 year olds qualify.

Without a doubt, referrals are how many people make most of their money. I would say that offers by themselves can get you 10-100 dollars per month. But all the people you see making a few hundred or even thousand per month have gotten a bunch of referrals to sign up.

Tips:

Every few offers, clear out your cookies and cache. You can do this in FireFox by clicking Tools>Clear Recent History. Make sure “Cookies” is checked. Click “Clear Now”. This will help you get more offers approved. Many offers are run by the same company, so a lot of times, they will only pay out one time. Clearing your cookies, along with using new and different email addresses prevents them from knowing you are the same person.

When filling out offers, never give out your real email address. Make up a new one through Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc. Tons of spam will be sent to whatever address you give in the offer.

Use accurate information. I haven’t noticed any increase in the amount of junk mail I get. I did notice an increase in phone calls though. I put a stop to this by asking the people who called to put my number on their do not call list.

Check out the forums. There are a ton of people that hang out there and are willing to help you. Plus, there’s a large section of payment proofs here. Checking out this page keeps me motivated.

Finally

CashCrate is not a a get rich quick scheme. You actually will not get rich doing these offers. But you can make a little extra money on the side. And some members make around $1000 dollars per month, so it’s possible to make decent money, but you won’t be living off of your CashCrate earnings.