Ways to make income besides a job

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Well, the problem is, as a girl I guess those are acceptable excuses, as a man, you get laughed to your face for not working unless you're like a quadriplegic or have ebola virus. Romanian immigrant told me his grandfather refused to get SSI, and told him "As long as you have these (holding out his hands) you work." That's what's expected of you, as a man.

I'm partially alexithymic because of neurology, but I'm partially alexithymic because...nobody f*****g cares how you feel.

I don't wish to offend you in anyway, but I'm just telling you, this is how people perceive these things. What you choose to do is what you choose to do. I'm not in your shoes, so I can't really judge you, but this is how things are perceived.

I totally agree.

People work to live. Who cares if you hate the job?

I'm sick of people sponging off welfare... *if* they have any capacity to work.

There are double amputees, people with trachs, extremely mentally ret*d, those with CF, and all sorts of severe conditions working retail here. I admire them for it. They somehow manage to work despite serious difficulties. A few people I've known worked all throughout chemo, even working up to weeks before they passed away. I know a kid who was hit by a train and lost both legs-- guess what, he grew up, got a job, and chose to be a productive member of society. If anyone "deserves" disability benefits, I would say a double amputee or those with trachs "deserve" it. But, they choose to do the jobs they can do and do something meaningful and productive with their lives.

That's more than I can say about at least half a dozen people I know who choose to not work, instead sitting at home using their food stamps to buy premium food and Starbucks, while playing video games. Some have legit mental illnesses, but even so... they have the ability to play video games all day and go to sports events and regularly go enjoy themselves. They clearly have the ability and capacity to use the computer, yet somehow "can't" (choose not to) get a job where computer use is needed or find a job, say, in a computer lab or library.

Now, tell me it makes since that people with fibro or migraines or depression should get full benefits for choosing not to work. Or my friend's brother who is bi-polar, but chooses not to work... instead sitting home all day playing video games. Yes, I have migraines and depression and more, but I would rather excuse myself to go puke due to the pain then go back to work than sponge of society. Yes, it's hard to make myself work or to deal with the noise and everything else, but... why should society have to support me?? Welfare should be saved for those 100% truly unable to do any sort of work whatsoever, whether that's typing, pushing a broom, greeting people at Walmart, etc. The majority of people opting to use welfare today have the capacity to do SOME sort of work if they so choose, but instead choose to sponge off of society. Save welfare for those who truly, 100% need it... those who have 0% ability to do ANY sort of job whatsoever.

Other ways to make income:

- Selling things online, such as buying things from yard sales and reselling them

- Typing jobs

- Babysitting

- Pet sitting

- Lawn care, gardening

- House sitting

- Customer service: there's a few companies that hire people to answer/make phone calls for their companies at home.

- House cleaning (someone else's house, of course)

- Crafts and painting, then selling those items

- Web design, graphic design, writing, editing

- Research, personal assistant jobs

- Most paid to search or affiliate programs are scams or make a mere pennies.

I have no job qualifications and no place to even apply for jobs that I qualify for, can get to, and can do. I have no education or work experience, and I can't drive. I have too much social anxiety to work with people. No one would hire me and if they did they would fire me or I'd quit within weeks. I don't really care if people think I'm lazy because of that. I've been told I'm lazy so much my whole life that I accept and embrace that label.

I mentioned offing myself because it's not possible for me to get a job and I wouldn't even be able to get on assistance and I couldn't survive as a homeless person.

I have a hard time leaving the house frequently too so it would be nice if I could find something I could do at home but I haven't found anything yet.

In addition to my other problems I don't have an id and haven't been able to figure out how to get one which would cause problems both in getting a job or assistance. I tried to get a new one last year but I don't have enough points and don't have any way to get more.

Last edited by hanyo on 25 Jun 2012, 5:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

ChaCha pays incredibly little.

Seriously, you could spend 100 hours working with them and make under $50. And, it's tedious to research the incoming questions... for 10 cents each.

Doing ANY other sort of "real" job would mean way, way fewer work hours and much more money.

I would be applying for SSI due to an inability to function well enough to hold a job like I have already explained........not because I don't want to work, I already tried explaining myself if you all want to keep assuming I just don't want to work go for it. But I disagree I mean I really don't mind doing tasks considered work at all, its more I cannot function at most actual jobs that I've attempted to the level they need me to. I actually do enjoy 'working' though but most jobs do not want to tolerate me and my symptoms or what they'd see as baggage or whatever the hell.

I am saying if I was at a job that caused me a lot of distress I would not be able to function....so what I mean by having a job I hate would be a job that I can't function at not one I just don't really like that much. I am getting sick of people constantly assuming I'm just not trying hard enough or that I'm just pretending to have symptoms of PTSD, Depression and Anxiety or something.

I need a job environment I can tolerate in order to function at the job, and even then I am a little slow. Sorry if that seems picky and all but I don't know how else to word that I couldn't function in an environment that aggravates my symptoms.

I mean this whole thread is about I cannot seem to function at most jobs, so I wanted other suggestions not a bunch of criticism about how I should just suck it up, get over my symptoms and work 40 hours a week...I wouldn't have the choice if i don't get hired or if I get fired early on.

Also why should it being called a job mean you should hate it, that seems like a kind of detrimental way to look at things but I can't say I have the best understanding of the machine I guess.

Last edited by Sweetleaf on 25 Jun 2012, 3:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I know how mainstream society perceives things...I don't quite agree but it's not your fault, but you're right as a rule people seem not to really care much about anyone else or if others have difficulties.

Hey can you stay on topic, this isn't about your personal dislike of people you don't perceive as actually needing SSI. And wow because a mentally ill person can enjoy them-self that means they can function at a job? that sounds ridiculous......Also what makes you think I am choosing not to work? Half the time my issue is I can't even get hired because people don't want me to work for them.

And people made it clear to me at an early age that I don't fit in and should therefore be ostracized.......why should my goal be to become a productive member of such a society? If you wanna go on about how horrible it is to 'leech' of of society by applying for welfare.....I may as well bring up that point. I mean what I owe society, but society doesn't even owe me so much as being treated human?

Yeah I suppose...but he for me its not very hard to look up facts real quick on the internet...or judging by the questions people have texted them around me I would have a satisfying enough answer off hand. But yeah that's not a lot of income at all.

I think I'll give painting with my dad a try....and maybe try and put ads up or whatever on those boards at stores like give my number to do house cleaning, pet sitting or house sitting or all those.

Anyway, I got one for you. You can't drive so you might be a bit screwed, but if you got a friend who can drive/has a pickup truck, might work out. I'd say you pretty much need to drive before you can work in this country. But that's another discussion.

Scrap metal. Lots of people do this now, that are out of work. You drive around, and look for old washing machines, ovens, bikes, whatever, that people are throwing out, and especially things containing copper wire. Then you bring it to the scrapyard and sell it. Take a washing machine, probably about $15-20 in scrap value. You set your own hours, do what you want, you can make quite a bit of money doing it, and it requires about no socialization. Me personally, I enjoy dumpster diving a lot, it's super fun, it's like shopping for free. I've found so much awesome stuff. My stereo for a while was a dumpster stereo, Panasonic stereo with dual woofers, like 150 watts, not bad at all. You'll be surprised what you can find for free. Eventually if your dumpster diving/scrapping business takes off, you could open a thrift store and sell what you find. Remember because you found it for free, any money you make is basically profit.

Repairing stuff, everyone needs stuff repaired, and repair businesses are doing better since basically people are throwing out less stuff. I make money occasionally with car repairs. People at my old church for example, used to pay me to fix stuff. I one time got paid $70 for a basically one hour job (one hour of driving to and from the junkyard to pick up the part, too) of putting a starter in a Hyundai Excel. Two bolts, loosen a cable, and basically you're done. He was willing to pay me $70 as a shop would have charged him 200 for the job. Cars is a bit dirty, and it's sort of a b***h really. Looking back, I don't know if I'd have gotten as into cars as I did, but yeah. For you, though, let's take computers, if you're decent with computers or can train yourself to be, lots of opportunities, as most people with computers don't know anything about them. As far as what you charge, fortunately or unfortunately, it can be entirely variable. Some people will give you exorbitant amounts of money for doing little work, and some people will give you little for doing a lot of work. For me, my NVLD is weird, as I'm "ditzy" with mechanical things sometimes, but I love seeing how things work and was taking apart stuff at age 3. Then again, I'm sort of insane in what I'll try and others won't.

But basically, that in my experience is the most comfortable "work" for me, just doing repairing things or collecting things and reselling them. So I'd say just learn as many skills as possible, and then your skills will open doors. However, (and this is where my ASD comes in handy) learn them on your own. People are like "herp derp, go to tech school!" And this is a ret*d idea 99% of the time. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/this-brig ... loans.html This article illustrates my point. I have so many dumb but well meaning counselors tell me that. It's BS. Complete utter BS. For automotive, for example, the ASE tests can be taken by themselves for $50 a piece. Same with Microsoft certification, etc. My friend got smashed by tech school for Microsoft Certification, 20K for the school, test is like 90 bucks and is taken outside of school. So if you have any amount of self motivation in you at all, school is not for you. But, even if you're not working now, strive towards self sufficiency and learning as many things as possible so that you will not have to pay other people money for services, and so that potentially other people will pay you money for your services that you learned how to do so you wouldn't have to pay money for them.

For me personally, though, I've considered SSI, but I'd only want it temporarily. Just as a "get myself back on my feet" kinda thing. Lots of the way you feel, is really just determined by biomechanical factors, like your diet, drug/alcohol intake, etc. This is what I'm learning. This is what psych meds try to control, but you can control a lot of it quite easily just by changes in your diet and activity levels. I too might be working with my dad, too. Maybe do part time at a Wendy's or something, but only part time at a "real" job, partially due to scheduling issues, and partially due to the over social stimulation.

The lifestyle I'd like to live would be closest to a "freegan" lifestyle. That's you could maybe consider. I think freeganism is sweet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeganism I've eaten food out of the trash, and most of my furniture is stuff other people threw out. I have enough stuff collected just from what other people threw out to basically furnish a whole apartment for myself when I move out of my parent's house. I view freeganism as ideal, though, living off the waste produced by our society. I'm also big into survivalism, too, ideally I'd like a little house in the woods, maybe even make it offgrid. But, what keeps me going is, I see that as an endpoint, so I know I can work now, and work toward that as a goal, and not just be slaving away for the rest of my life.

If I could figure out how to get licsenced to work in the medical marijuana field just doing general labor like trimming the leaves off buds or whatever I'd do that. But I think one has to apply and there's a fee so to do that I kind of have to work to save up to have enough for the fee. Or maybe the beer industry, but I am not sure how one gets into that but I do like good beer and so why not contribute to making it?...I mean I feel like I need to save up money either way so that I could maybe do something I'd more or less enjoy.

Or what I really want to do is get a little bit of property, obviously somewhere to live self sustaniable renewable energy that is off the grid and create a garden...but it would be a garden of various herbs anything from chamomile to more potent things. Well and some poisonious plants because it would just be cool to grow them some are pretty cool looking.

Then I could make tea with herbs like chamomile or mint even sell it if I want to, I could just grow all the plants I find cool to look at and useful ones, it would be fun...maybe eventually I'd develop it into a commune of some sort. But doing something like that would require some money at least to get started until it becomes self sustainable.

Gotta make friends with a medical pot grower. Keep in mind, still federally illegal.

As far as being not sure, google fu. Google is your best friend, it's like Big Brother, if Big Brother was your best friend and looked like this:


For beer, though, you could try starting microbrewing. I mean, cheapie kits are like $20 or something. One thing you could try brewing really easily is kvass. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass Made of rye bread. Brewing wine and beer for personal use is legal without permits, though brewing liquor isn't. Even for "personal use" if your friends decide to give you a "gift" of $20 for your beer or wines you sold to them, you know, tree falls in a forest... Kvass would be an easy thing to start with, though, just to get a feel for things. You could even make mead, too.

Main thing is like, like the Michael Jackson song goes, you gotta be starting something. Basically anything you do, even if it's just sorta seemingly pointless stuff like brewing beer or something, is more productive than doing nothing/going on here, and will give you more social contacts and more knowledge to use later.

I know it's still federally illegal...but I don't agree with that so I suppose I don't see it as a reason not to look into it. I mean my state already has Medical Marijuana, and is going to have a vote on if it should be decriminalized or legalized in the state so I don't know the feds have a whole state and more to deal with.

Also microbrewing would be a good place to start I just have to afford the equipment...but yeah the main thing would be getting it started. But yeah to start it would be for just personal use if I wanted to expand I may try and get the right permits or whatever...and not so sure I'd want to try and make hard liquor either until I got good at beer and actually had the proper knowledge because I hear it can be dangerous if you mix things wrong with hard liquor like you might get something toxic as far as I know.

I would also love to do this, but unfortunately have no money for land

Most of the titchy garden I have atm is given over to veggies at the moment and the few bits of grass left as walkways will be planted out with chamomile next year.

You seem to be very good at writing, have you looked around to see if you can make money writing stuff?

You could try your hand at Squidoo for a few months and see if you can earn a bit of cash that way, I highly doubt it would be sufficient to make a living from though.

If you are visually creative and a decent photographer or digital artist, you could also try shutterstock and istockphoto, again almost certainly not enough to live off but if you have lots of time on your hands and no money, you won't be worse off by putting a couple of hundred hours work in to try and get a bit of cash.

Land is cheap, it's putting stuff on it that makes it expensive. http://maine.craigslist.org/reb/3100385172.html That's as much as a Toyota Corolla. But, you gotta be creative with power and other utilities. I can find all kinds of land deals like that. What I'd like to do is either get land or a house, for around that price range, maybe up to 30-40K, and then once I'm employed, save for a down payment, and pay it off at $200 a month or so, then once it's paid off....retire... before age 30. Yeah...

So you are in the same exact place as many 18 year olds? Yes?

When I was 18, I had no work experience. I had no car. I had no education expect for high school. So what! Big deal. I got a job in a factory. I saved money for a car. I learned how to drive. And for the social anxiety, you can go to your local county mental health clinic and see a MD and get on medication for the anxiety. Your local county mental health clinic may also provide counselling for you as well. I see 18 year olds getting jobs like crazy out here. Why? Employers know they are moldable. THey think I'm too old at 37. But I keep on looking for work. So if you have no work experience, some employers think that is good. They can train you to work the way THEY want you to work. Since you have no experience behind your back - you have a clear mind. You have nothing to compare your first job to. I know some employers would LOVE to have you as an employee.