While the specifics haven’t been revealed and now everyone is reeling from the former Yahoo CEO’s most recent admission that he has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, there is a clear lesson personal finance truth seekers can take away from this business page gossip. In today’s challenging and incredibly competitive job market, finding an edge to set you apart from other candidates is the thing every job seeker desperately pursues.

The web is bloated with both good and bad advice on interviewing, resume writing, job searching, follow-up protocols and the rest of the nonsense we all must deal with when enduring the employment acquisition rigmarole.  Instead of sending you to a host of other resources, this is actually an area, as a freelancer and consultant, with which I have some serious and unfortunate experience. Here are a few basic tips you can count on to help put your best foot forward with potential employers.

Demonstrate Value:  First and foremost, sending out the same resume to every employer rarely works. While you may not have to reinvent the wheel every time you apply for a new job it is imperative that you read the job description and then tailor your resume, accomplishments and descriptions of your professional experience to the needs of the employer and the position they are advertising. In other words, find specific aspects of your professional life that clearly demonstrate the value you will bring to the company and the position.

Personalization:  Cover letters are tricky. Deciding what kind of tone to take, how formal or informal you may be, or perhaps even how honest you want to be about your personal circumstances all depend on what you can glean from the temperament of the employer. Are they all business, do they appreciate a bit of humor, can I express how badly I may need the job? All of this is part of a gut feeling you should get when you investigate the company itself. Sadly, no one can really teach you how to do this. However, the most important research you can do when building a cover letter is who will be receiving that letter. If you can avoid it, never start a cover letter with “To Whom it May Concern”. Find out who makes the decision, do a little digging and find a way to connect your self with the person who is hiring on both a personal and professional level.

Digitize Yourself: People are going to Google you and the way of the attached word doc resume has gone the way of the dodo. There are some web-based options to help you build your digital self, but my favorite is www.zerply.com. In addition to ensuring you don’t have any naked pictures of yourself on your Facebook page, it is time to create a digital resume that is easily accessible by prospective employers.

Fudged Resume Shakes up Yahoo was originally featured on Quizzle Wire

Quizzle.com is the easiest way to get a complete understanding of your credit. Visit Quizzle.com to get your free credit report and score. No credit card or social security number necessary!

Economic News that Affects Your Budget:

• Student loan interest rates might be going up: The interest rate on federally subsidized student loans is due to double on July 1 (from 3.4% to 6.8%) unless Congress takes action.
• It’s getting easier to get credit cards even with less-than-perfect credit: The number of credit cards issued to people with subprime credit (credit scores less than 660) increased 41% last year.
• College prepaid cards are popular on campus: Many banks stopped offering credit cards to college students after new regulations issued in 2009. Today, many banks are issuing prepaid cards for college students that can also double as a college student ID.

Quizzle Links of the Week:

• Employers are checking credit scores: More employers are asking prospective employees (or current employees) to go through an employer credit check to help find the most trustworthy, reliable employees. Is your credit score ready to pass the test?
• Why Calvin Johnson is a financial planning role model: Calvin Johnson is a wide receiver for the NFL’s Detroit Lions. Known as “Megatron” for his impressive skills on the football field, Calvin Johnson also made headlines for his financial savvy. Find out why.
• Lessons in charitable giving from Elizabeth Gilbert: The bestselling author of “Eat, Pray, Love” learned a valuable lesson in why you should “give till it helps, not till it hurts.”
• Spring Cleaning for your Credit Score: Find out how you can improve your credit and start fresh for the rest of 2012 with six easy steps.
• Money and career management lessons from Bubba Watson: The new champion of the Masters golf tournament is unconventional in many ways, but we can all take inspiration from how he achieved his success on the golf course. Learn more about this fascinating new golf champion.

Quizzle Weekly Must-Reads – April 20, 2012 was originally featured on Quizzle Wire

Quizzle.com is the easiest way to get a complete understanding of your credit. Visit Quizzle.com to get your free credit report and score. No credit card or social security number necessary!

Why are employers using credit checks, and what does it mean for your job search?

Making Better Hiring Decisions

Some employees feel they can judge a person by the way they manage their own personal finances. These employers feel that if employees have good credit and good money management skills, then they will make better employees. However, according to an article in MSN Money, there is no factual evidence that employees with good credit make better employees.

Some companies conduct random credit checks on existing employees as well. There are even some employers that will not allow employees to work for them any longer if they have accounts that go into collection or the employee has to file for bankruptcy.

Improving Money Management

Employee credit checks are especially common for employees in financial services and money management positions. It makes sense that if an employee is responsible for managing a company’s finances that the company wants to know that the employee has good money management skills under their belt.

Positions that deal with the company finances and money management are not the only ones that employers are pulling credit checks on, however. Some companies conduct credit checks on all of their employees.

Reasons for the Credit Check

According to SHRM, the number one reason companies cite for credit checks on employees is a means to reduce theft, embezzlement and other criminal activity. The reason is that some employers believe that if an employee is having financial problems, they might be more likely to dip into the company funds than an employee that isn’t having money issues. Again, MSN Money states that there is no evidence that supports this finding – just because someone has bad credit doesn’t mean they are going to steal from the company, but some companies prefer to maintain a higher standard or practice “better safe than sorry.”

The second biggest reason employers say they pull credit is to reduce their legal liability in negligent hiring. Again, if the employee steals from the company’s clients or harms its customers in some way, the company can use the credit and background check as a way to cover themselves in a lawsuit.

The third biggest reason for conducting employee credit checks is to determine the overall trustworthiness of the employee or candidate.

If you are a job seeker, it is important to be aware that your credit score might factor in to whether or not you land the job. If your credit is good then you have nothing to worry about. If your credit score needs some improvement, then you might want to take necessary steps upfront, before you apply for the position.

Employers are Checking Credit Scores – Are You Ready? was originally featured on Quizzle Wire

Quizzle.com is the easiest way to get a complete understanding of your credit. Visit Quizzle.com to get your free credit report and score. No credit card or social security number necessary!

The Masters is one of the most famous golf tournaments in the world, played each year at Augusta National in Georgia. The famous Green Jacket is awarded to the winner of this PGA Major golf tournament, and the Masters championship is synonymous with grace under pressure, professionalism, and tradition.

Bubba Watson, the 2012 Masters champion is a unique person, to say the least – he does not fit the mold of what most people would expect from a golf pro.

Bubba Watson is a PGA golf pro who has never had a golf lesson. (He learned to play from golfing with his dad.) He has an unusual swing and an unusual personal style – he appeared in a boy band video called “Golf Boys” with a few other PGA golf pros to raise money for charity. (Bubba Watson is the one who is barefoot and wearing overalls.) He owns one of the original “General Lee” cars from the Dukes of Hazzard.

Bubba Watson is an unconventional Masters champion, but his success offers a few interesting lessons for how manage your career and your money:

• Be creative: Bubba Watson was in a sudden-death playoff for the Masters championship. He hit an unfortunate shot and his ball went into the trees. It looked like he wouldn’t be able to recover. But then Bubba took out a wedge and hit a daring, reckless, crazy shot – he couldn’t even see the green, but he somehow hooked his ball around the trees, onto the green 10 feet from the hole, putting for birdie. He went on to win the hole and win the championship with this daring move. What could you do in your money management or career that would be a little bit daring? How can you take a risk in exchange for a greater reward? You don’t want to gamble with your money, but sometimes it pays to take some risk (investing in stocks instead of leaving all your money in a bank savings account, taking a new job that has a higher potential income even though you have to learn new things and take some chances) in exchange for bigger rewards down the line.
• Be generous: Bubba Watson is a dedicated philanthropist who is using his high profile to raise money for many good causes. The whole week of the Masters, he used a special pink driver and wore white clothes to raise money for children with birth defects. How can you be more generous with your money and your time?
• Never give up: Bubba Watson is 33 years old and just won his first PGA Major championship. He overcame a lot of adversity along the way. His father died of cancer in 2010. His mother worked two jobs while he was in high school to help support Bubba’s dreams of becoming a PGA golf pro. Bubba Watson came from a small town called Bagdad, Florida – he was not a stereotypical “country club” kid with lots of money and privileges. Instead, he worked hard to get where he was and overcame long odds. If someone as unconventional as Bubba Watson can win the Masters, what can you accomplish in your career?

Most of us will never be Masters champions but we can all become champions of our own financial lives, our own careers and families, and serve our communities with generosity and energy. Congratulations to Bubba Watson and thanks for the inspiration!

Photo credit: http://twitter.com/bubbawatson

Whether you’re a financial planning rookie or a personal money management pro, Quizzle.com can help you save more money and spend smarter. We offer free personal finance tools and resources to help you set a budget, improve your credit, and enhance your financial life.

Money Lessons from Bubba Watson, Masters champion was originally featured on Quizzle Wire

Quizzle.com is the easiest way to get a complete understanding of your credit. Visit Quizzle.com to get your free credit report and score. No credit card or social security number necessary!

This global record jackpot is attracting millions to this cheap entertainment that sparks million dollar dreams. And when those dreams are just a lottery ticket away, we all want to know: how can I make my chances of hitting that jackpot better? Or is it pure and simple luck?

How Does the Mega Millions Lottery Work?

Let’s start with how the game is played.

The Mega Millions lottery is a multi-jurisdictional lottery game. Each lottery ticket cost $1.

The game is played in 42 jurisdictions, including Washington DC and the US Virgin Islands. As a result, the jackpot often grows very quickly from its $12 million dollar starting point to eye-popping hundreds of millions.

Last year (2011) alone there were two record jackpots over $300 million.

In its most basic form, the Mega Millions lottery is played by choosing five numbers (White Balls) from 56 potential numbers and then choosing one Gold MEGA ball number from 1 to 46.

That means to walk away with $500 million you need to pick correctly all six numbers drawn on March 30, 2012.

Can I Win the Mega Millions Jackpot?

The MEGA question is: “Is there a winning strategy?”

Mathematicians will tell you very clearly that the odds are against you.

Calculating the statistical probabilities, of you guessing not only the right 5 numbers out of the 56 white balls and also the correct single number out of the 46 Gold MEGA balls, will put your chances at 1 in 176 million.

Perspective? That’s roughly equivalent to the odds of the Chicago Cubs winning the next five World Series. Any Cubs fans want to sign up for that bet?

However, there are some patterns that might hint at probable strategies.

Matthew Vea, an Army reservist and software engineer, has been tracking and calculating the probabilities inherent in the numbers drawn in the playing of the Mega Millions lottery.

Here’s the skinny…

If you want to pick the most frequent numbers that are drawn, grab 48, 36, and 53. If you want to pick the numbers that have a hot streak, grab 36, 29, and 6. But, be mindful to avoid 41, 48, and 49, which are the least frequent numbers.

If you want to go with a strategy that gets you most of the way to the six most common combinations, look at these top three quadruples:

1, 4, 6, 11
1, 4, 6, 14
1, 6, 11, 14

Unfortunately, before you think you have the key to the millions take a look at the winning numbers from the last drawing on March 27, 2012: 9, 19, 34, 44, 51, 24.

Notably absent are all of those most probable strategic numbers.

What Do I Do If I Win the Lottery?

To avoid being a complete killjoy, let’s just assume you do win tomorrow–what should you do?

First and foremost, take a deep breath, find a secluded place, and scream your head off. You just won half-a-billion dollars!

Now, get control of yourself and think clearly about your next steps.

Sign the back of the ticket. This will help ensure you are the only one that can claim your ticket in the case it is misplaced.

Make a photocopy, if possible, and in all cases put it in a safe place.

Find a good attorney and financial adviser and avoid updating your Facebook status with, “I just won the lottery.” This is most likely a radical change in your economic status. It’s only smart to surround yourself with wise counsel.

Having taken these prudent first steps, it’s time to go collect your millions and carefully manage the many other decisions that are about to confront you as a new millionaire.

And, of course, at Quizzle, we’d recommend paying off any debt that’s hurting your credit! You might be cash strong overnight, but that doesn’t mean your credit will skyrocket too.  And just because you can, it doesn’t mean it is the best idea to go out and buy your dream home in cash.  You should still monitor your credit and check mortgage rates like anyone else!!

Winning the Mega Millions jackpot could be an unbelievable long shot, but for a chance at half-a-billion dollars can you afford to skip on $1 of entertainment…and hope!

P.S. If you win make sure you let us know.

Mega Millions, Is There a Winning Strategy? was originally featured on Quizzle Wire

Quizzle.com is the easiest way to get a complete understanding of your credit. Visit Quizzle.com to get your free credit report and score. No credit card or social security number necessary!

Money may be a common topic between you and your co-workers, significant other, and friends, but with your boss it can get a little awkward, especially if you’re asking for more money. You’ll be encouraged to know that, according to several media outlets, employers have been planning for pay increases since the middle of last year. A survey of over 1,000 U.S. employers found that 97 percent intend to increase their workers’ rates of pay in 2012.

 So, if you’ve been considering talking to your boss about a raise, now is as good a time as any. Asking for a raise can feel uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have to. Here are 4 Dos and 3 Don’ts to help you prepare.

 Know the market value of your job.

Go into the meeting with your boss prepared to make a case for your request. Do some research into the current pay range for your position. There are several websites that track salary averages for a wide variety of jobs. The key is to find information based not only on title, but responsibilities. At your company, a Marketing Manager may have wide-ranging duties including setting budgets and hiring new talent. At another company, however, a person with that same title may have a very different set of responsibilities.

 Take the time to find salary information for positions that are similar in responsibilities, even if the titles are different.

** A quick side note here: if, during your research, you find that you are already near the top of the pay scale for your position, consider asking for a promotion, rather than a raise.

Know what your boss and your company are looking for.

If other people in your department have recently gotten raises, take note of their job performance. Did they take on more responsibility prior to the raise? Did they complete a big project or take the lead in solving an important issue? Take these things into consideration when deciding when and if to approach your boss.

 Also, talk to someone in your HR department. Find out what the company’s philosophy is regarding compensation and pay increases. The people in HR have a good understanding of how your company compensates employees and why. They can tell you how your salary fits within the range for your job, and what criteria has to be met in order for you to qualify for a raise. 

Pick a strategic time.

When asking for a raise or promotion, timing isn’t everything but it’s a lot. Don’t ask for a raise if your department just missed an important deadline or sales goal, or if your company’s profits are down. If you’re in the middle of a difficult project, wait until it’s been successfully completed. Similarly, if your company just had a successful quarter or year, and your department played a key role, now is a good time to talk to your boss.

Be prepared to sell yourself.

For most people, this is the hardest part about asking for a raise or promotion. However, it’s one of the most important – maybe the most important. In that same survey mentioned at the beginning, most companies only intended to offer raises to their top performing employees.

With that in mind, be ready to market yourself to your boss. Put together a list of the ways in which your work benefits the company as a whole and your department in particular. Focus on the things that make you stand out.  

Don’t threaten to quit.

This is a bad approach no matter how your meeting goes with your boss. If she tells you she can’t or won’t give you a raise, threatening to quit isn’t going to persuade her. Similarly, if you open with a threat – even a veiled on, like hinting that you have other job offers – you significantly decrease the likelihood that your boss will be willing even to consider increasing your pay.

 Don’t get personal.

This means a couple of different things – first, don’t get personal about your boss or other employees. In other words, don’t make the argument that you deserve a raise because you know there are other people in the company who make more money than you but don’t work as hard.

Second, don’t focus on what you need or want. Your boss isn’t likely to care that you want a raise so that you can pay off your debt or save for a vacation. Your boss wants to know what you intend to do for the raise, not with it.

Don’t give up.

Finally, if you’ve made your case and your boss has said no, don’t give up. Ask what you can do to improve your chances of getting a raise or promotion at a later date. Let your boss know that you intend to be with the company long-term, and would like to explore the possibility of raise or promotion again.

Good Luck!!!!

The Do’s and Don’t's of Asking for a Raise was originally featured on Quizzle Wire

Quizzle.com is the easiest way to get a complete understanding of your credit. Visit Quizzle.com to get your free credit report and score. No credit card or social security number necessary!

Earlier this year I read a great blog post from Ramit Sethi about how people often focus on the wrong side of the personal finance equation: we’re often told to save money, be more frugal, stop drinking so many lattes, etc. but few people ever try to earn more money. Instead of saving money, maybe people should try to make more money.

I have experienced this conundrum in my own life. 3 years ago, my wife and I were new parents to a 6-month-old baby boy, and we were living on one income from my job in corporate America. Although we were making ends meet, I was not totally comfortable with our monthly income-and-outflow; sometimes we didn’t have enough money left at the end of the month, and sometimes we had to dip into savings to make it till payday.

Instead of waiting around for a pay raise at my corporate job (which wouldn’t have been much – the entire company was in a semi-salary freeze at that time), I decided to see what I could do to make extra money on the side. So I started freelancing. I took on some side projects as a freelance writer, working from home a few extra hours a week at nights and on weekends, and before I knew it, I was making more than enough extra money to cover our needs.

Here are few ideas on how people can create a lucrative side business that can make you some extra money.

• Use your existing skills: You don’t need to reinvent the wheel or learn a dramatically different skill set to earn extra money. Most people probably already have some skills that could be converted into a lucrative side business. For example, I used my skills as a writer to start making money on the side. Ramit Sethi wrote about a client of his named Dean who worked full time in information technology, and then used those skills to start earning $150 per hour on the side as an IT consultant.
• Make life easier for others: Even if your day job skills aren’t a good fit for a side business, look deeper into what you know how to do that can take an unwanted task off someone else’s to-do list. Do you know how to fix stuff around the house? Offer handyman (or “handywoman” services) to your friends and neighbors. (I am always in the market for a good handyperson because I am pathetic and helpless at home improvement. Chances are there are lots of people like me in your area.) I have hired a father-and-son team to clean our house’s gutters – they’re fast, efficient, professional and they get paid good money, in cash. Could you mow lawns or do snow removal? Could you show people how to fix their personal computers or rig up their wireless networks? Anything that you know how to do (especially if not many other people know how to do it) could be turned into a decent side business to bring in some extra money.
• Charge a lot: If you’re running a side business, you need to make sure the work is worth your time – and make sure you’re earning enough to cover the extra taxes that you’ll owe. So charge a lot more per hour than you make at your day job. A good rule of thumb is to charge at least 3 times as much as you make per hour in your day job salary. So if you make $50,000 per year at your day job, your hourly rate is about $25 per hour – so for a side business, you should charge at least $75 per hour.
• Make the trade-offs: It can be hard to commit to working on a side business when you’re already employed full-time. Decide how much leisure time and family time you’re willing to sacrifice. How many hours per week do you want to work? You have to strike a balance that is right for you – otherwise you’ll end up resenting your side gig, and your family life and day-job life will suffer as well.
• Market yourself to your loved ones: Many people wonder, “How will I find customers for my side business?” It’s best to start with the people who know you and love you best: your immediate network of friends, family, former co-workers. Contact these people and explain to them the value that you offer, and ask for business and for referrals. The people who know and love you best will be able to point you toward opportunities.

Running a side business can be stressful and tiring, but it can also be exhilarating and lucrative. I really enjoyed running a side business – I loved the feeling of empowerment that I got from being able to support my family and earn as much money as we needed. Eventually my side business grew to the point that I quit my job and started working as a freelancer full time.

So if you’re having trouble making ends meet, consider starting a side business to earn more money. If you’re willing to part with a few extra hours of your personal time, you can turn it into money – and keep drinking those lattes.

Whether you’re prospering, making ends meet or barely scraping by, you can use Quizzle.com to save more money and improve your financial foundation. We offer free personal finance tools and resources to help you set a budget, improve your credit, and save more money.

Don’t Save Money. Make More! was originally featured on Quizzle Wire

Quizzle.com is the easiest way to get a complete understanding of your credit. Visit Quizzle.com to get your free credit report and score. No credit card or social security number necessary!

If you’re trying to improve your personal finances, “saving more money” isn’t always possible, or isn’t always good enough. If you want to get out of debt, pay bills, save more money, build an emergency fund or plan for a specific long-term financial goal, you might want to start making more money on the side as well as cutting expenses from your budget.

I was in this situation three years ago. My wife and I had a 6-month-old baby and we had decided that we wanted her to quit her job and stay home with our baby. Needless to say, the transition from two incomes to one income was tough! Some months it seemed like we were constantly running out of money. I decided that I wanted to make more money. I had been interested in doing some freelance writing work (I’m a professional writer by trade) and I found out about a website called Elance, an online marketplace for freelance work. If you have skills in writing, marketing, graphic design, web development, programming, or many other professional fields, you can get work on Elance. It sounded good, so I decided to set up a profile and start bidding on jobs.

I joined Elance in January 2009 and got my first project ($200 from a client in Australia) in February 2009. Then more projects started coming in. I started making several hundred dollars a month, sometimes more, all while working from home in my pajamas. One month I made over a thousand dollars, in just a few hours a week, and I was getting to work on interesting projects with fun people all over the world.

Eventually, I was getting so busy with my Elance work that I decided to quit my job and be a full-time freelancer, working from home and spending lots of time with my wife and kids. It’s amazing! I still can’t believe I’m getting away with making a living like this.

I know this sounds like some kind of online “work from home” scam, but it’s not – it’s a real thing. Elance changed my life. I went from being a struggling sole breadwinner to a confident self-employed entrepreneur. I make more money than I’ve ever made, and I enjoy every day of my life more than ever before. And I recently surpassed $100,000 in lifetime earnings on Elance.

Would you like to start making money on Elance? Here are a few tips for how I did it. You can too:

[Check Your Credit: Don't Guess. Know.® Get your free credit report and score. No credit card required.

Keep track of your time: Starting from day one, you need to track your time and make sure you’re being productive. I use an awesome, free tool called Toggl that gives you detailed time tracking – you can keep track of how much time you spend looking for projects, working on each project, and dealing with general administrative stuff. Toggl is fantastic, and I highly recommend it to anyone who works online (or offline).

Stay level-headed: It can be really exciting to land that first Elance project – the excitement of finding new clients and new opportunities still hasn’t worn off for me, and I’ve been doing this for almost three years. But you need to know that there will be lows as well as highs – some clients don’t keep their promises, some clients lead you on and then bail at the last minute, some clients promise you tons of work and then disappear forever. You have to learn to take it all in stride. Just go out there and bid on some new work.

Make it personal: Every time you bid on an Elance job, you need to show the client that you have read about their specific problem, you care, and you are qualified to help them. Give an original, detailed response to each and every Elance job posting – never use “copy and paste” replies. I have hired people on Elance and I can immediately tell which people have given some thought to the project and are sincere, and which ones are just sending mass-produced spam messages.

Make it punchy: Bidding on Elance jobs is an exercise in grabbing the reader’s attention. Come up with a few quick facts about you – credentials, experience, expertise, similar projects you’ve worked on – and give the client a few bullet points that are relevant to the project.

The first project is the hardest to win: When you’re first starting out on Elance, it can be hard to get work. You might have to bid on 10 or 20 or 100 projects before you get your first job. But once you win that first project, you will have a history on the site. You’ll have a story you can tell to the next prospective client. Every project gives you a foothold as you scale the mountain. Every project leads to the next one.

Again, Elance has changed my life and I will always be grateful to them for giving me a new way to work. I quit my corporate job in July 2010 and never looked back. Working on Elance gives me the income my family needs to have a comfortable life, and I have complete freedom and control of my schedule every day. I can take my kids to the park on a Monday afternoon. I can meet my friends for long lunches. I can take my family on vacation whenever we want to go.

If you want to make more money by working on Elance, I strongly recommend checking it out. You’ve got nothing to lose, and a whole lot to gain.

Related articles:

• How to Throw a Fun & Frugal Super Bowl Party
• The Secret to Successful Investing: Consistency
• Can I Use My Spouse’s Good Credit?
• Leave It to the Pros: Q&A with Financial Expert Lynnette Khalfani-Cox
• 5 Ways to Deal with a Lowball Offer on Your Home

How to Make Money on Elance was originally featured on Quizzle Wire

Quizzle.com is the easiest way to get a complete understanding of your credit. Visit Quizzle.com to get your free credit report and score. No credit card or social security number necessary!

You’ve been working hard all year, but when you sat down to make your holiday budget, it just wasn’t enough. Stick with it and you’ll be shopping for everyone on your list at the dollar store.

Don’t panic yet. There are a number of ways that you can still make some extra cash in time to bulk up your budget and get some great gifts.

1. Take a seasonal job.

Holiday shopping and partying creates lots of jobs every year in specific industries. It might not be your first choice, but if you’re hard up for cash, you could do worse than getting a temp job as a credit card customer service rep, telemarketer, tax preparer (if you’re qualified), restaurant server, or child care worker.

All of these industries tend to see a bump around this time of year. There are also true seasonal jobs like working at a ski resort or, you know, an elf at the mall.

2. Sell!

If you’re like most of us, you’ve probably got at least a few things lying around the house that you don’t really use or need. Instead of allowing them to clutter up your place, put an ad up on eBay or Craigslist – or even have an old fashioned yard sale – and set that money aside for your holiday fund.

3. Survey says…

There are a number of websites like CashDuck or FusionCash that will pay you to fill out surveys or participate in trial offers. You’re not going to replace your salary doing this, but you can certainly make a few bucks.

4. Odd jobs and even odder jobs.

[Check Your Credit: Don't Guess. Know.® Get your free credit report and score. No credit card required.

Have you heard of Gigwalk? It’s an iPhone app that allows you to make a small amount of money (typically $5 to $10) for doing small jobs, such as taking a photo of a restaurant’s menu for the competition. Most of the gigs aren’t worth going out of your way to do, but if, say, you’re going to the mall and there are four or five gigs there, why wouldn’t you do it?

5. Be a guinea pig.

Live near a hospital or university? Often they will post studies where participants can earn anywhere from $500 to $2000! And don’t worry, having a third eye could really come in handy some day.

6. Get crafty.

People love knick knacks around the holidays. If you consider yourself a bit of an artist, make something and sell it around town or on a site like Etsy.

Got more of a baker’s touch? Make some holiday cookies or treats and sell them to friends and families, or ask a local business if you can set up shop outside. Just make sure you calculate what you’re spending so you actually make a profit.

7. Redo that W-2.

Here’s a simple way to get extra cash that doesn’t require any extra work on your part: change your number of exemptions on your W-2. You might be scared to do this because you think you’ll owe taxes, but for most people this isn’t true.

That refund you get back around tax time? That’s the government basically saying you overpaid us and – by the way – thanks for loaning us extra money for a year so that we could collect interest on it. Correcting your W-2 to give the government the right amount of taxes means more money for you in each paycheck!

Related articles:

• Want to Save Money? Try Saving Time
• Leave It to the Pros: Q&A with Financial Expert Chuck Rylant
• 5 Secrets to Beat the Credit Industry
• Study: Foreclosure & Housing Crisis May Have Health Repercussions
• Microloans: A Good Investment?

7 Ways to Make Some Extra Cash for the Holidays was originally featured on Quizzle Wire

Quizzle.com is the easiest way to get a complete understanding of your credit. Visit Quizzle.com to get your free credit report and score. No credit card or social security number necessary!

Want to start a new side business but you’re afraid of the overhead costs involved with investing in equipment? Well, for some business ventures, you might already have the tools you need lying around the house. Here are a few ideas for making a little extra money with items you already own.

Needle and thread.

Become a seamstress! Many people are afraid to pick up a needle and thread even for simple tasks like sewing on new buttons. If you enjoy sewing, you can offer your services. Afraid you’ll get in over your head? You can always let your clients know that you don’t handle complicated things like wedding dresses.

[Check Your Credit: Don't Guess. Know.® Get your free credit report and score. No credit card required.

Offer to take care of your neighbors’ yards – for a fee, of course. In the summer months, many people will welcome a reprieve, and it’s likely you can offer your services at a much lower rate than most lawn companies.

Bike.

Have you been building up your leg muscles? You may be able to offer your services as a bike courier or even lead bike tours through your city. No fuel charges involved!

Car.

If you’re currently unemployed, it’s likely your car spends a lot of time sitting in your driveway. Companies like Getaround, JustShareIt, and RelayRides put your vehicle to work! What happens if the renter gets into an accident while driving it? These companies have insurance policies that cover the damage, and it won’t affect your rates.

Oven.

Start cooking or baking for local events, such as farmer’s markets, art fairs, and other get-togethers. Before you start, be sure to check your local laws. In some areas, cooking out of your home and selling it is against regulations.

Dog leash.

Is your neighbor’s dog barking up a storm while they’re away at work? Help the pup get through the day by offering your services as a dog walker.

Musical instrument.

It may not be a common item for everyone, but if you own one, it’s likely you know how to play it and that means you can offer lessons!

Be creative! Look around your house and find ways that you can use what you have to make a little extra cash.

For more tips and tool to help you make the most of your money, visit Quizzle.com, where you can learn how to improve your credit for the best deals on life’s largest purchases and lower your monthly mortgage payment so you can free up cash for other life goals.

Related articles:

• Is It Better to Rent or Buy a Home?
• 6 Secrets to Choosing a Financial Planner
• Important Home Maintenance Tasks that Will Save You Money
• Boost Your Retirement Savings with Individual Retirement Accounts
• Home Inspection: Don’t Buy a Home without One

6 Ways to Make a Few Bucks with Everyday Items was originally featured on Quizzle Wire

Quizzle.com is the easiest way to get a complete understanding of your credit. Visit Quizzle.com to get your free credit report and score. No credit card or social security number necessary!