Debt Free or Bust

50 + 50 Ways to Leave Your Debt

Do you remember the Paul Simon song “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”? I always liked this song because it cut through all the bull about doing what needs to be done, leave. No excuses.

I used the same mindset to make a list of 50 ways to leave your debt.

1. Extra job
2. New job
3. New career
4. Inheritance
5. Receive a gift of money
6. Win a law suit
7. Tax refund
8. Refund of other type
9. Tutor students in subjects you’re good at
10. Clean houses
11. Mow yards
12. Garage sale
13. eBay sale
14. Craft sale at flea markets
15. Snack and drink sale along with a garage sale or craft sale
16. Book sale
17. Wash houses
18. Paint houses
19. Repair furniture
20. Build furniture and sell it
21. Make clothes and sell them
22. Change oil in cars
23. Detail cars
24. Minor home repair
25. Honey-do list service
26. Write an ebook or report and give away for small donations
27. Accept donations
28. Sell a piece of land
29. Sell a house
30. Sell a car
31. Sell all your electronic gadgets
32. Sell your kid’s old video games
33. Sell music CDs you don’t listen to any more
34. Sell your vinyl record album collection
35. Sell movies you don’t watch any more
36. Sell your old camping equipment
37. Sell a camper
38. Sell your unused dishes
39. Sell your unused small kitchen gadgets and appliances
40. Sell old, unused furniture (not family heirlooms)
41. Sell advertising on your blog
42. Sell old luggage
43. Sell old or unused software
44. Sell old but useful computer (wipe your stuff off of it first)
45. Sell your old printer
46. Sell your old modem
47. Sell you cassette tape deck
48. Sell your cassette tapes if you don’t listen to them any more
49. Sell a collectibles collection you no longer want
50. Sell your used textbooks

Ok, that didn’t take very long. Let’s try another 50.

1. Beg at the interstate off-ramp
2. Play music in a downtown outdoor mall for donations
3. Draw caricatures in a mall
4. Be a clown part-time
5. Become a wedding planner part-time
6. Freelance at anything you can in your spare time
7. Work at your child’s school if you’re the parent home with the children
8. Open a home-school
9. Open a day care
10. Open a day camp
11. Work at the YMCA as a camp counselor during the summer if you work a school schedule
12. Write a book and sell it
13. Throw boxes at UPS part-time
14. Deliver pizza’s in a wealthy neighborhood
15. Throw boxes at FedEx part-time
16. Join the National Guard
17. Join the Navy Reserve
18. Join the Army Reserve
19. Sell Avon
20. Sell Mary Kay
21. Sell Amway
22. Bookkeeping for small businesses on the side
23. Help small businesses with QuickBooks
24. Assist an accountant part-time
25. Work at a coffee shop
26. Work at a bookstore
27. Work at a casino (but never play there)
28. Help people organize their homes
29. Work for an elderly person doing small chores they can’t do anymore
30. Shop for the elderly or a busy executive, doctor or lawyer
31. Run other peoples’ errands
32. Sharpen knives and tools
33. Be a wait-person at a restaurant
34. Shovel out horse stables
35. Dog grooming
36. Dog kenneling
37. Veterinary assistant
38. Nursing assistant
39. Night commercial building custodian
40. Security guard
41. Work night shift at a hotel
42. Night help desk for a business
43. Answering service
44. Work part-time at FedEx/Kinko’s during evening and night hours
45. Make a cookbook out of all your recipes, self-publish and sell it
46. Collect aluminum cans and turn them in for cash
47. Trim trees and bushes
48. Give an inexpensive seminar on a topic you’re proficient at and charge $10 – $20 per person or couple
49. Bartender
50. Declare bankruptcy (as a last resort and only if it will help you)

The second list took a lot longer. But there you have it, 50 + 50 ways to leave your debt.

Now stop reading blog posts and get busy! I’m quiting writing for today and getting busy with a few of the above that I can do right now. It’s time to take action!

Technorati Tags: get out of debt ideas, ways to leave your debt

February 6th, 2008 Posted by joubess | Resources | one comment