Tired of Eating Ramen Noodles Every Night? We've Got Lots of (Legal) Ideas for Generating Some Extra Cash

You’ve probably watched enough movies to know that if you didn’t care about your future freedom, there are plenty of ways you could drum up some cash. But, since like most people, you really enjoy not being behind bars, you don’t want to cross the law in order to get the cash you need to take care of the debts that have been hanging over you like a dark cloud.
Feeling like debt is taking on a toll on you definitely isn’t something that’s just in your head. A 2013 study from Northwestern University found that young people with significant amounts of debt have higher diastolic blood pressure and poorer self-reported general and mental health. Since no one deserves to have their health put in jeopardy by debt, it’s time to start taking action to get your debt under control.
The first step in this process is to figure out exactly how much you owe. Although it can be painful to add up all your debts, you’re never going to get where you want if you don’t face the truth. Once you know what your grand total is, you can actually start taking action to pay down your debt instead of only struggling to stay on top of your minimum payments with interest.
One reason credit card debt makes you feel completely broke and forces you to do things like eat ramen noodles multiple times a week is because making payments with interest means cash is always flowing out of your account. Since your current income is probably tapped, what you need is a way to generate more cash. That’s why we’re going to cover quite a few different options right now. Keep in mind that even though some will only bring in a little, those amounts can really add up over time!
Donate Plasma
Depending on where you live, you can make up to $300 a month by donating plasma twice a week.
Start Selling on Craigslist and eBay
While you don’t want to live in an empty house or apartment, we’ve all got plenty of extra stuff that we don’t actually need. Although some of it may not seem like it’s worth much, once you begin doing a little research on what similar items have sold for on eBay, you may be pleasantly surprised by how much you can get.
Have a Garage Sale

If you start selling on Craigslist and eBay, you will find that some things simply don’t attract much attention. Once you have a fair number of those items, you can still get a little bit of money for them by having a garage sale.
Babysit, Walk Dogs or Mow Lawns
Don’t be afraid to take up a “simple” job! Even if it’s just ten hours a week, any of the above jobs can create a nice incoming stream of cash for you. Best of all, you can get started with just a little word of mouth advertising.
Start a Blog
This isn’t a strategy that will start paying right away. But by simply writing and publishing one post a week, you can start building a blog that you will be able to eventually monetize with ads.
Freelance Online
Whether you’re good at writing or just have some basic technical skills, there’s always a demand for freelance labor on sites like oDesk, Elance, Freelancer and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform.
What If You Have a Major Emergency?

While several of the options we’ve covered do make it possible to get cash in the next day or two, that doesn’t mean you can get a ton at once. So if an emergency occurs, what you can get from those options right now may not be enough. In that type of situation, the good news is there is a solution that can quickly provide more cash.
That solution is a loan from TitleMax.com. This company can provide title loans for up to $10,000. One thing that’s important to note is even though the loan is based on your car’s title, that doesn’t mean you have to quit driving it. Additionally, you’ll be able to set up a payment plan that’s manageable and not overwhelming.
It’s important to understand that no legitimate way of generating extra cash is going to make you rich overnight. But as long as you’re willing to work hard and don’t put off starting, in six months you’ll be in a significantly better financial situation than you are today!
About Author: Matt Goff has been a freelance writer for the last four years. He enjoys being exposed to new topics on a regular basis, and also likes really being able to dig into topics like personal finance. When he’s not writing, he’s usually honing his guitar skills.