There are going to be several posts this week on this topic. I mentioned a flash of inspiration last week, and I’ve been working on it all week, posts on that are coming starting tomorrow. However, in the short term, I need to make a little cash!

Bruce always gets a little panicky when I say we need to either a) cut back; or b) earn more – for a lot of reasons we lost our house in 2005, and now he gets worried when I say things like this (becaue I keep our budget). I’ll have to write a full blown post about the house some day, but you can read about part of what caused that here.

I’ve assured him we’re no where near losing the house. In fact, if we were content to simply make our minimum payments, we’d be fine. But I’m not – I’m serious about crushing some debt this year! So as of yesterday, I posted ads on Kijiji, and printed posters for our neighbourhood. I’ve also scoured Kijiji and local classified sites for casual employment opportunities. What am I doing so far?

1. Pet sitting services – I love animals, but have chosen not to have them right now – this way I can play with furry critters without the commitment!

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2. Babysitting. Especially infants. Would you rather leave your child in the care of a reliable 40 year old mother of 3, or a 13 year old girl? Yeah, that’s what I thought. I’m counting on a lot of parents feeling that way!

3. Casual security. We have a few security companies that hire casuals to do event security, and who drive around and check businesses, construction sites, etc. Bruce wasn’t crazy about this one, until I pointed out that I’d be safe in a vehicle with a cell phone – I’m not being a bar bouncer!

4. Mystery shopper. I’m already signed up with 2 companies, but their shops have been thin lately. I just signed up with another company, so hope I can get offered more shops through them.

5. Movie extra. The Rob Lowe movie of the week (the Casey Anthony story) just finished filming here, so I missed that chance, but we get a lot of movies here (a few years ago Brad Pitt was here; we’ve had Keifer Sutherland here filming… we do OK) So I’ll be on the lookout for casual extra opportunities.

6. Pizza delivery driver. We have a lot of pizza places near us, and my friend’s husband used to make over $100 a night in tips more than 15 years ago!

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7. Other part time work. My FT job schedule is not fixed – it’s shift work and it’s pretty crazy, so I’d have to find an understanding employer, but once triathlon race season is over, I’ll be looking for any PT job, including but not limited to Starbucks, bookstores, waitress, bartender, etc.

So there we are! My current side hustle plans. The ball is rolling on the first four, plus tomorrow I’ll be posting about my plans to launch another hustle. I will get this debt knocked out!