She Works Hard For the Money...

Not many people know this, but I am technically a state employee. I don't know if you have read the newspaper or watched the evening news anytime in, oh, the past year or so, but if you have, I'm sure you remember hearing about the furloughs that state employees are having to take this year as a "budget-balancing" measure. We "get" 6 days off of work this fiscal year...that is, 6 vacation days without pay. When the news broke last summer, of course everyone in my office was none too happy about it, including me. But you know what they say, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I started brainstorming ways that we could make an extra dime to offset the pay we were losing from the furlough days....after all, I am nothing if not a schemer. With that, I present....

Creative (and legal!) Ways to Make Money

1) Bake sale/lemonade stand. I know what you're thinking....Halee, only little kids do that! Yes I know, but as it relates to the adult set, location is key. You aren't going to want to have your lemonade stand on the corner of your street....but what about the tailgate lot at Keeneland? My original idea was to have a bake sale on the corner of my office parking lot before UK football games. Basically anywhere you are going to have access to inebriated people and/or a location where the refreshments inside are outrageously expensive is going to be a great location for your bake sale or lemonade stand. Just think about it....drunk people walking into Rupp Arena will definitely pay $3 for a brownie.

2) Ebay your life away. I don't know how I ever got started with Ebay; I couldn't even tell you the first thing I ever sold on there. But I will tell you this much: people will buy anything. ANYTHING. Shoes that have been worn once or twice? Sold. Perfume that I sprayed once and hated it? Sold. I'm not joking. As long as you make a note in the item description that the item has been used, if someone buys it anyway, you are home free in regards to liability. If you tell them it's used, they can't say they want their money back. The only thing I would caution you about here is not to get discouraged if your item doesn't get any bids for the first day or so. On the last day (and especially right before the auction ends) you will get a trillion bids.

3) Sell plasma. This is a classic, and admittedly, I would never do this. I just don't like needles. However, selling plasma has proven to be quite profitable for some people, and the best part is, you get paid plus you get your blood back! If that's not a win/win situation, I don't know what is!

4) Yard sale. Again, an old school idea, but there's a reason you see 500 yard sale signs on telephone poles every summer. It works! This idea is similar to Ebay, but with more instant gratification, and you don't have to ship anything. The best way to do this would be to get together with a couple of friends who have just as much crap around their house as you do, and have a joint yard sale. Money in the bank! I would also recommend that you try and have your yard sale somewhere in Winchester, KY. Based on what I have seen people will go to every yard sale in the city every weekend, come hell or high water.

I only had the opportunity to try one of my ideas this past fall.....but don't worry, we have 3 more furlough days coming up this spring so I will have the opportunity to try all of them. Look for me next football season, on the corner of Cooper & SportsCenter Drives....I'll be the one hacking baked goods.