I need to raise £500 this month - help!

giantmutantbroccoli

Warning - long post!

Abbey are asking for £500 of my student overdraft back this September, otherwise I'll be charged interest on it. Unfortunatly, this is the month that all my non-monthly bills come out, and I haven't really been paying attention to my bank balance. Ideally I'd like to raise the full £500 asap and pay it off before they charge me, although if I can't make it in time I'll just have to bite the bullet and pay the charges next month
I'm doing a PhD so I don't have much spare time, maybe a couple of hours a night, plus I usually work weekends too so I don't have time for a second job. I can't move for all the party-planning type stuff & catalogues that get shoved through my door, so nothing like that. And I have no car.

Anyone got any ideas for how I can make £500 quickly?

So far I've got:
◘About £100 (maybe more) worth of old textbooks to sell. I'm thinking eBay.
◘Some bits and bobs of clothing to sell, although I don't think I've got more than £20 worth tops.
◘I could make jewellery to sell. I often make it for presents etc and for myself - not proper, braised/soldered stuff or fancy metalwork, just beads and interesting twisty-wire bits. This would mean spending about £10-20 on findings, wire and chains etc, and then finding somewhere decent to sell it. Anyone with experience of etsy have any ideas?
◘I could have a go at selling a painting. I'm alright at art-type stuff, I think, but I've never tried to sell it. I had a look at a few website, but prices varied wildly - anything from £10 to £300. The canvas costs £10 for a decent sized framed square, fortunately I have all the paint etc. Anyone think it's worth a try?
◘An idea for writing an ebook. Not the sort that promises to make you a millionaire online. It's someting like "101 things to make for your rat/small pet" except obviously I'd have to call it something less dumb. Basically just instructions on how to make rat toys, beds etc out of household things. I can't imagine it'd be that popular, but if I set the price low enough I could get some interest, maybe?
◘Some sort of editing/proofreading service? Not really sure about this, but someone over on the student forums suggested (sort of jokingly) I charge money for fixing someone's personal statement. I have a fair bit of experience doing constructive criticism on short fiction and non-fiction from participating in a writer's forum. I have no idea how that could translate into getting paid, though .
◘Oddly, I can't think of a way of making money from anything related to my degree. It's in biosciences (specifically genetics). All I could think of was tutoring, but I think that'd take up too much time.

Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated!

Nico151

Have you considered matched betting?

If you can get about £100 together as a float you should be able to make £500 in a month. Just make sure you fully understand the concept before jumping in. There's plenty of kind folks on the [EMAIL="http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?s=&daysprune=&f=41"]Gambling Introductory Offers & Loopholes[/EMAIL] board here that will help you.

xnatalie81x

If you have a degree then i am assuming you have a high level of written language. Join dooyoo - get reviewing and although you may need a cple mths to build up the £50 you could try borrowing that £50 from somewhere else and pay it back when needed.

Also could make £40 quite quickly doing the paydayuk loan thingy through quidco (on here somewhere) but again may miss sept and get paid oct. Although even if you get this in oct it can still all go towards the overdraft or be saved for future emergencies.

Topcashback and do all the freebie sign ups - like vanquis credit card about £26 and all the quotes and things - potentially make about £30 - again might be a few mths to clear, but can all go towards o/d.....

I just made you £120 in about 3 mths - HTH

KaramelRose

Have you got any stuff you could sell at a Car Boot? I know you said you work weekends, but could you perhaps just get one Sunday off? It's quickest way I know of getting cash in your hand! Why not try asking friends/family if they have any old stuff you could sell if you dont' feel you have enough of your own.

Everything else I can think of takes a bit of time...

fionafionalondon

Car boot sales can be a great way of getting money for old rope (and tax free) - you might be surprised at what you have lying around. Friends and neighbours might be happy to palm stuff off on you.

brians_daughter

If you dont want to sell your belongings and want to do something form the comfort of your own home then people per hour is a good site, you bid for projects. Many start asap. You can use your skills and get paid. I have just wona small project to design a access database - it took me 2 hours all in all to tweek it and get it back to client and i got paid £175 for it! There are loads of ad hoc things on there, ie help to set up email, help doing databases, webdesign etc and longer project such as sales just depends on what you are good at.

Time wise if the project wants you to start asap... i bid for a job last thursday spoke to the co friday, started monday, invoiced tuesday and was paid today - money should hit my account tuesday due to bank holiday weekend

hth

giantmutantbroccoli

@Nico151 - Hmm, very interesting! I'll see if I can understand the explanation before I jump in. I've never done anything like that before, but if it works I'd happily do it again!
@xnatalie81x - I've steered clear of reviewing sites so far, as you don't really seem to get your money's worth for the amount of time you put in, but it sounds like it might be worth trying sometime. All a bit too long-term, though, for me. Thanks all the same!
@KaramelRose & fionafionalondon - I don't think a car boot would really work for me. Most of the stuff I want to sell is textbooks, and they're pretty specialised. I don't have a car, either, so I'd be transporting all the junk via taxi or bus. I also don't want to ask my parents for help - they would probably just give me the money, and they've got their own things to deal with at the moment. Not to mention they'd be pretty naffed off at my for having dipped back into my overdraft after they already paid it off (long story :embarasse).
@brians daughter - I don't know what an access database is! Sounds ve-ery interesting, though. I shall take a look, thankyou.

Still looking for more ideas, but thankyou v much for what you've said so far!

hartcjhart

Walk around your neighbourhood and look at their gardens etc offer to mow the lawn/weed/tidy up etc,overgrown hedges are a good one

also look at their cars and offer to wash them,

if you have a garden try doing a table top sale from there with some of your stuff and jewellery

if you have a local hair salon ask if you can do a table sale of you jewellery from there and offer them some comission,make up a load for display/sale

GavB79

How much is the interest going to be on the £500? Can't be worth stressing about surely? Pay what you can, but don't get worked up over it.
If you are a PhD student you could probably get a better student bank account elsewhere and transfer the debt to another fee-free offer. Banks would love to get you on board to get your loyalty for when you're earning a post grad salary. That would take less than a couple of weeks to arrange.

Fulham_Mark

Medical testing?

there was something in this week's metro asking for people who drank quite a lot to test a new drug. if you can spare days midweek i think this is very well paid.

Market research? £50 a night. Only know places in Hammersmith I'm afraid

giantmutantbroccoli

@hartcjhart - Mm. It's a nice idea, but where I live is a bit too rural to make much having a stall in my garden.
[STRIKE]Maybe I'm lazy[/STRIKE]yeah, I'm lazy. I don't want to mow other people's lawns for them. It'd make me feel childish, and I don't really want to go round the neighbours and ask if they've got any jobs they need doing because I'm strapped for cash at the minute.
I might try asking the hairdressers, they seem pretty easy-going.
@GavB79 - Yeah, I do tend to stress. You're right, I doubt it'll be much.
I've already got another graduate account with RBS (who are awesome, btw!). I gave them my Abbey account details etc when I joined and they said they'd transfer everything, but they never did. After a while I dipped the overdraft, so I didn't tell them they'd fogotten to transfer me
@Fulham_Mark - Luckily for me, I can't do medical testing That stuff's dangerous! I think the fear would probably adversly affect their results.
Sadly I live up near Edinburgh, but I'll have a look about for market research, it sounds promising.

Thanks again!

P.S. I joined People per hour and bid on a job, so fingers crossed!