Need to find £1,000 quickly!

globbits

skintchick wrote:

Two things:

Mystery shopping. You have to register as self employed and pay tax and NI on these jobs to be properly legal. A tenner gross for what works out as about two hours' work is rubbish.

Women's mags. It will cost you more than a stamp to sell your story. I work for one, and we need an hour or more of your time to tell the story, and another hour or so for pictures. Plus to earn good money like £500 plus you need a GREAT story, you have to be named and pictured, everyone in your story will have to be named and probably pictured too, and it takes a month AFTER PUBLICATION to get your money. You may wait a few months for it to be published.

Not to put a dampener on the idea, but it isn't quite as easy as send a letter in and get £500.

HOWEVER, the one I work for pays £60 for a tip, which IS just a letter, AND if you include a picture of you or someone else doing the tip INCLUDING THE FACE (v important) it is VERY likely to get used as most people send in pix of their hands but no face.

I can PM people the magazine and address if you want to do this. Just PM me.

I GET NO BENEFIT PERSONALLY FROM THIS AT ALL.

Still, if you do enough tips you'll be fine. One last hint - nothing involving vinegar or lemons!!!!!! We get those all the time.

Sorry, but I have been writing for women's magazines for about 20 years - worldwide. I write, send the article, and they either accept or decline. It costs no more than a stamp, as I say, and - monetarily speaking - the 'photos' etc do NOT cost you any more, except your time. How much will an hour of your time cost, in pounds sterling? Sure, you need time to be researched etc by the mag, but hey, writing an article takes time as well. Also, I didn't say 'send a letter' in; perhaps you'd like to point out in my post where I said 'send a letter in and get £500'?

Obviously, you need to be fairly dedicated and write only what the magazine is interested in. Note I mentioned the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, which will also relate how snippets, anecdotes (check my post, as I mentioned these as well) and '£60 for a tip' can also earn money. It's all in the Yearbook! Further, a 'great' personal story doesn't necessarily have to involve other people; for example, I'm due to have an article published in a medical journal and it concerns me, my experiences, and mentions nobody else.

I'm always paid BEFORE publication. As soon as the article is accepted, I grant First British Rights and send an invoice. Payment is always sent to me, before the article is published. Not sure which magazine you work for!

Annie021063

globbits wrote:

Sorry, but I have been writing for women's magazines for about 20 years - worldwide. I write, send the article, and they either accept or decline. It costs no more than a stamp, as I say, and - monetarily speaking - the 'photos' etc do NOT cost you any more, except your time. How much will an hour of your time cost, in pounds sterling? Sure, you need time to be researched etc by the mag, but hey, writing an article takes time as well. Also, I didn't say 'send a letter' in; perhaps you'd like to point out in my post where I said 'send a letter in and get £500'?

Obviously, you need to be fairly dedicated and write only what the magazine is interested in. Note I mentioned the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, which will also relate how snippets, anecdotes (check my post, as I mentioned these as well) and '£60 for a tip' can also earn money. It's all in the Yearbook! Further, a 'great' personal story doesn't necessarily have to involve other people; for example, I'm due to have an article published in a medical journal and it concerns me, my experiences, and mentions nobody else.

I'm always paid BEFORE publication. As soon as the article is accepted, I grant First British Rights and send an invoice. Payment is always sent to me, before the article is published. Not sure which magazine you work for!

I have PM'd you.

brokenwings

along a similar line - there was a thread/sub forum once entitled ' great bit on the side thread' or something along those lines with loads of suggestions for making extra cash.

i cant seem to find it now
anyone know where it was or is ?

domestic_goddess

that thread is in the mortgage but.... I think its a sticky one right at the top

domestic_goddess

i meant mortgage bit.....

not too good at typing with a three year old sat on my knee....lol

globbits

To those who have asked me for information, I will get back to you as soon as I can! Those who have asked for lists of suitable publishers/magazines, I can't respond to these, except to say the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook is what you want - at any library. Meanwhile, I'm taking a coffee break; normal service resumes tomorrow!

In_Search_Of_Me

I spoke to tax office today about this (have to say didnt get THE most helpful person!) who said that you are best to keep 30% of earnings back for tax & NI...you can look on the tax office website and need to keep all receipts/accounts, register as self employed within 3 months of starting and submit your tax form next April (they will calc for you but you need to keep receipts) ...you will also need your P something (60 possibly!) from current job...tax before paying higher rate is (he said) £36,000 but unsure if this was my bracket! Best thing is to ring your tax office and be certain or they'll whack you for higher rate tax! Also said make sure you keep the money by fortax payments! Hope that helps - sorry if I've repeated something!

moongarden wrote:

assuming the following it is relatively easy to work out roughly how much tax you will pay:

1- if you use all your tax allowance on your main job (if you pay tax on your main job you will most likely be using all your tax allowance)

then you will pay tax on all your second income

2- if all the money for the whole year from both jobs is less than £32k

then you are probably not in the 40% tax bracket so you will be taxed at 22%


3- you will pay some national insurance on the second income - not sure about this so please check.

personally i just deduct 25% from whatever the second job says it pays. for example bar work:
4 hours tuesday and 4 hours friday
8 hours at £5.75 = £46
deduct 25% leaves you with £34.50 a week

if you do that for a month (34.50 X 52 / 12) you will bring in £149.50

Ebany

skintchick wrote:

Two things:

Mystery shopping. You have to register as self employed and pay tax and NI on these jobs to be properly legal. A tenner gross for what works out as about two hours' work is rubbish.

Having just signed up for one of the two mentioned (tns) then reading the handbook which they then test you on explains that they take away tax and NI before they pay you, so with that company at least you don't have to worry about it. I don't know how the pay is yet, but there is no harm in giving it a try.

skintchick

globbits wrote:

Sorry, but I have been writing for women's magazines for about 20 years - worldwide. I write, send the article, and they either accept or decline. It costs no more than a stamp, as I say, and - monetarily speaking - the 'photos' etc do NOT cost you any more, except your time. How much will an hour of your time cost, in pounds sterling? Sure, you need time to be researched etc by the mag, but hey, writing an article takes time as well. Also, I didn't say 'send a letter' in; perhaps you'd like to point out in my post where I said 'send a letter in and get £500'?

Obviously, you need to be fairly dedicated and write only what the magazine is interested in. Note I mentioned the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, which will also relate how snippets, anecdotes (check my post, as I mentioned these as well) and '£60 for a tip' can also earn money. It's all in the Yearbook! Further, a 'great' personal story doesn't necessarily have to involve other people; for example, I'm due to have an article published in a medical journal and it concerns me, my experiences, and mentions nobody else.

I'm always paid BEFORE publication. As soon as the article is accepted, I grant First British Rights and send an invoice. Payment is always sent to me, before the article is published. Not sure which magazine you work for!

You're talking, sort of, about working as a freelance writer.

I am a commissioning editor and won't read articles written and sent en spec. My freelancers all pitch ideas to me, and I would only commisison an unknown writer if I'd seen their cuts.

You seem to work for a different market to me, and perhaps I did get the wrong end of the stick, but my comments about selling a real life story still stand, as do my comments in this post about commissioning in the real life market.

Most people won't be able to write to a sufficient standard to be commissioned, although I accept that trade mags and that sort of thing have much lower standards than the market I work for.

So their option will be to sell their own story, which is what I was referring to.

For my market, a great real life story will always involve other people. Medical stories are health, not real life. The sort of thing I work with is My Dad Made Me Pregnant, and delightful stuff like that.

Think very tabloid!!

Bambywamby

Most people won't be able to write to a sufficient standard to be commissioned, although I accept that trade mags and that sort of thing have much lower standards than the market I work for....The sort of thing I work with is My Dad Made Me Pregnant, and delightful stuff like that.

Hmmmmmm.