Friday, April 30, 2010

How to make $1 by racing in the Smith Mountain Lake Sprint Triathalon

Howtomakeadollar supports physical fitness.  One way to get a good workout is to take up racing in triathlons.  Triathlons consist of swimming, biking and running.  They are easy.  People usually do not need to do any training for triathlons.

To make an extra dollar or two we suggest participating in triathlons with your friends and betting them you will beat them.

Step by Step plan:
1) Pay $180 for a year member ship to a swimming pool)
2) Buy a new pair of $125 running shoes (howtomakeadollar is sponsored by Nike+ shoes, so use them!)


3) Buy a new $2,900 bike, the more expensive the faster it is!
4) Train (not completely necessary)
5) Sign up for the Smith Mountain Lake sprint triathlon
6) Bet your friend $1 that you finish before they do
7) Finish before your friend does (this one is the most important step in the plan)

Easy way to make $1!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

How to save $107 by not buying hosting

For all of our internet life, we at howtomakeadollar have been under the impression that in order to have a dotcom you need to buy a domain name and then pay for hosting.  This is in fact completely and utterly false.  This is just another one of those lines "they" want you to believe.  Unfortunately our official fact check guy did not pick up on the lie we posted on the blog asking people to support us so we could get $107 to buy hosting.   We do not need to buy hosting to get a dotcom!

We are pleased to announce the wildly successful new website

WWW.HOWTOMAKEADOLLAR.COM

Thats right, you no longer have to type in blogspot.com!  Not having to type these twelve characters will probably save you 3.4 hours over your life span.  For everyone else out there that is looking to get a dotcom... DO NOT BUY HOSTING.  If you are using a program like blogger they have instructions here on how to link your blogspot website to your dotcom.  No hosting necessary!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

How to Make Six Dollars By Fixing My Bathroom Window -- Updated

This blog is a re-posting of a blog I wrote back in January, with updated information. For some reason no one has done this yet, so I am offering it again. You can read the original here.

Business Plan: You fix my bathroom window, I pay you.

Business Description: The bathroom on the third floor of my house has a window. The frame of this window is rotted, and does not allow the window to close properly. This allows me to hear conversations from my neighbors who are outside my house arguing loudly even though it is raining, cold, and late at night.

If you can fix it, I'll give you ten dollars. I estimate that you will need to buy about four dollars worth of lumber for this job. That will give you a $6 profit in addition to the rotted wood, which I will let you keep as a reader appreciation gift. You will also need a 40 foot ladder because the rotted frame is inaccessible from the inside of the house, and an umbrella because it is raining. You may also need to hire an assistant to hold the umbrella for you. I estimate that it will take you about an hour, (longer if you fall off the ladder, which I will not help you keep steady) which comes to $6 an hour.  Not bad. Many people in China in 1000 BC never even heard of six dollars. 

Six dollars can buy you a child bride in Iran, (creepy, not recommended) a house in Zimbabwe, (made of giraffe poo, not recommended) or six "Show your love" poems to any people you name. (Recommended)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

How to Make Money by Giving Cocaine to Monkeys

This is another one of those ideas that you probably will not believe is actually real. But it is.


No doubt you remember hearing about the trillion dollar government stimulus plan that went through the White House last year. Well, a trillion dollars goes a really long way, and at some point you run out of things to give it to, and you start passing it out to pretty much everyone who asks, even if the people asking are crazy nut jobs who will use it to buy cocaine for their lab monkeys. Thats what seems to have happened at Wake Forest. A bunch of mad scientists were given about $71,000 to see what happens when you give cocaine to monkeys.


You may laugh, but I can see where they are coming from on this one. In fact, just the other day I was on my way to work and I started thinking "What if I gave all this coke to a bunch of monkeys?"


Fortunately we have the Internet, and I was able to find out exactly what happens to cokehead monkeys, in very precise detail. Here is an actual, for real, not made up quote from the Wake Forest mad scientists. 


"We have demonstrated significant alterations within the dopamine system of nonhuman primates following chronic cocaine self-administration..."


So, there you have it! Coke fiend monkeys have significantly altered dopamine systems. I don't know what a dopamine system is, but I'm not surprised in the least that cocaine messes it up. In fact, if you gave me the following quiz, I'm sure I would have aced it even before reading about this.


The dopamine system of a monkey that snorts lots of coke will be (choose one)
A. Pretty much the same as other dopamine systems
B. Messed up beyond all recognition
C. Unsure


Answer: B


Ok fine, so the government gave less that one one millionth of one percent of its stimulus to support cocaine habits for monkeys. How do I make a dollar off this?


There are several ways
1. Make money by selling cocaine. They have to be getting it somewhere.* No reason they shouldn't get it from you. 
2. Make money by selling monkeys. Monkey dealerships do not usually do well in the U.S.,** but you know these monkeys are going to start dying off soon, and they will need to be replaced.
3. Run the Wake Forest researchers out of business by low-balling the bid price. Think about it. They got $71,000 because they asked for it. No way was anyone else competing for this grant. All you have to do is bid the same project for less money, and you'll get the grant. Then write a bunch of gack about dopamine systems, addiction,  and Kurt Cobain, and you will be successful.




*Seriously, where are they getting it?


** A while back Howtomakeadollar attempted running a monkey dealership. No go.


Monday, April 26, 2010

Make Money by Being Good at Rock Paper Scissors

Most people believe that Rock Paper Scissors* is a game of luck. Those people are wrong. At least, according to the World Rock Paper Scissors Society. (I swear this is a real group. Check their website if you don't believe me). The World RPS Society offers strategies and even offers a tab that says "How to beat anyone at Rock Paper Scissors." So, if you take their word for it, this is a game of actual skill.

Regardless of your skill or lack thereof, you can enter various national championship events and win real money. In fact, last year the winner made $10,000. So, all you have to do is practice playing RPS all the time, and you should get pretty good at it. I recommend constantly asking people to play you at RPS. Use your co-workers, your boss, your spouse, your neighbors, and all of your friends, and play as often as possible. Most people enjoy playing RPS, so you will probably become more popular this way. Once you get really good you can enter the competition and win.

Another option would be to wait around outside the tournament. When the winner comes out you can challenge him/her to a round of RPS for all the prize money. If they refuse to play, or if they beat you, just steal the money.

Another lesser-known strategy is to use a gun. Gun always beats paper and scissors, and it usually beats rock. There are a few people you may encounter now and then who insist that rock beats gun, but most of these people are dead, and the rest probably won't last much longer.

*Growing up, I always thought this game was called "Paper Rock Scissors." In college I got in a big fight with a kid about whether it was "Rock, Paper..." or "Paper, Rock..." We agreed that scissors is always last, and he defeated me in the argument by invoking Rule 5**. So now I always say "Rock, Paper..." instead of "Paper Rock..."  I think this is relevant enough to include in this blog.




**I don't have time to explain Rule 5 right now. If you don't know what it is, then you've probably broken it by now anyway.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Make Money by Making Videos for Youtube

Did you know that YouTube allows you to get paid for videos that you post? You just have to get people to view them and agree to have ads attached to them. Most of the videos on YouTube are stupid of course, and only get like three page views. However, other videos are stupid and receive millions of page views. The key is to make lots of stupid videos and hope that one of them takes off. The amount that you are paid is based on how many people see your video, how many people click on the ads, and how relevant your video is to the ads that are posted on it

In general, you can probably count on making about 10 cents per thousand viewers. This, of course, it not much money. But if you get several million people to watch your video you can start making decent money, and YouTube, for better or worse, is known for its ability to spread a popular video incredibly rapidly.

For example, here is a video of a little kid and a baby named Charlie who bites the little kid.

For humor I would give this about a 4 out of ten. Its not that funny. But over 180 million people have seen it. Well, guess what that comes out to? Its 18 thousand. Thats not enough to quit your job, but its enough to start a decent college fund for the kids. Who would have guessed this video would take off so well?

Here is another one, again involving a baby. I think it is way funnier than the first one. 115 million people have seen it.


This is probably my favorite video I've seen on YouTube. Its a bunch of lions that catch a young water buffalo, then a crocodile comes and tries to take their prey, then a huge herd of water buffalo come and fight the lions. About 52 million have seen it. That comes to $5,200.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Make money by naming other people's babies

Every now and then Howtomakeadollar likes to highlight real businesses that are successfully making money by doing idiotic things that you wouldn't expect people to pay for. You can read a few of these blogs here and here.

In light of this, we present to you another dumb business that actually makes money: Baby Name Consulting. You would think that naming your own child would be one of the most personalized and careful decisions that most people make. Well, its not. Lots of people have no desire whatsoever to name their own child. They would rather pay money to a stranger on the Internet to name their kid for them than come up with a name by themselves. This is for real. Now, people are free to pay money for any "service" they want to, but I think adding the word "consulting" to your business name is a little bit overreaching. 


There is absolutely no reason you can't get into this racket too. All you need is a website, an online form for people to fill out, and a paypal button. They pay you a fee, provide the gender of their baby, and you email them a name. Personally, I would name all the boys "Jason" and all the girls "Amy." These names are common and easy to remember, so you don't have to sit around and think up a new name each time. Thats the kind of free advice you can count on from Howtomakeadollar.

Here are a few of these websites
http://www.babynames.com/consulting/ costs $49.95
http://ihelpnameyourbaby.blogspot.com/ offers special deals for twins, triplets etc. all the way up to sextuplets!
http://www.babynameconsulting.com/ offers an i-phone ap that allows you to get your baby name on the go!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Save Money by not Inventing Twitter and Save Time by not Using it

Warning: This blog is extremely critical of Twitter, as well as the kinds of things that are said on Twitter. If you are a Twitterer (Tweeter?? what is the word for a Twitter user?) who uses it in nosy, obnoxious, and self-centered kinds of ways, then you will probably feel kind of insulted. Of course, its the Internet, so we are free to make fun of anything we want, and if you don't like it you can express your anger with tweets like "I H8 How2makea$".  Go for it.


So anyway, just to get started, lets look at Twitter's business model to see if its any good. Twitter is estimated to have 75 million users. The maintenance and storage space for this many users is nearly incomprehensible, and the company claims that operating costs are about $20 to $25 million. The fact that the comapny's cost estimate could be off by $5 million should tell you something about how well it is run. In any case, there are no ads on Twitter, and no one pays a subscription. The business plan, so far as I can tell, is 


1. Provide an expensive and idiotic service that no one would ever pay for. 
2. Lose $20-$25 million per year


Now, before you you go tweeting  bad things about me, I am aware that Twitter made deals with Google and Microsoft that paid Twitter a total of $25 million in 2009. That is a lot of money, but it was a one-time deal, and to be honest, the guys in charge of Microsoft and Google have so much cash laying around their houses that they probably handed out the $25 million in order to clear up space in their living rooms. And of course, Twitter operating costs are "roughly" $25 million, so they appear to have broken even, which they could have done by simply not inventing Twitter in the first place. This would have been my recommendation if they had asked me about it.

Of course, being the Internet, it is entirely likely that someday Twitter will find a way to make gazillions of dollars. I don't really know how this will work, but its the Internet, so nearly anything is possible. For now though, I feel good about myself for making fun of them, even if they are billionaires tomorrow.

Now, lets discuss actual uses of Twitter. You know, in case there are any.
1. allows people to say things that no one cares the least bit about, such as "goin 2 wrk" or "bad day :(" or "I H8 teh Census"
2. allows people to spread gossip quickly such as "Brad Pitt and Matt Damon r ded!"*
3. promotes extremely poor spelling
4. allows and encourages nosiness and self-centeredness

To my knowledge these are the only four purposes for which Twitter exists. My recommendation for all you Twitter users who want to make a dollar is to quit using Twitter. With the time saved , you should go clean out your car. You can make good money that way.

*You heard it hear first. Brad Pitt and Matt Damon are dead.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Make Money with Solar Panels

The government has all kinds of programs for people to "go green" by installing various energy saving and energy-producing devices on their houses.  These programs are called "going green" because you have to paint everything green. Don't ask me why this is. The reason some people are opposed to the green movement is because green does not match their outfit, and they feel that they should be free to have solar panels in Lavender-Lilac or Cucumber-Melon*.

*Cucumber Melon is indistinguishable from green for most people


In any case, aside from the color, the problem with solar panels is two-fold:
1. They do not produce much power
2. They do not produce any power at night or when covered in snow

However, a company in Spain recently found a way to avoid both of these problems, and its pretty easy.

Step 1: Get a solar panel
Step 2: Get a gas generator
Step 3: Connect a bunch of wires to the generator in such a way as to cause electricity to come out

Step 4: Put the generator right beside the solar panel so it looks like it is part of the solar panel.
Step 5: Turn generator on
Now you can have power at night time too, and the generator will produce more power than sunlight, so you can run all the other "green" energy companies out of business. Since you have solar panels, you are officially "green," and you can collect government stimulus money as well. Win-win.

Like I said, a company in Spain is already doing this, so its just a matter of time until it catches on in the U.S. The first company to start doing it will come out the best, so you need to start immediately. (Not joking, a real energy company is actually doing this, and collecting government incentive checks for "going green.")

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Make money by becoming an HGTV and DIY star!

We have recently blogged about lakefront properties and moving houses.  If you have been inspired by our step by step plans on how to buy lakefront property and move a house... this blog will help you out even more.  While developing your dream house you can make money by being featured on HGTV.

HGTV has a show that is called Design Star.  But for this show you actually have to be good at interior designs.


A much easier way to become your own HGTV star is to move a house to your lake front property, fix it up and be featured on all of the networks shows.

Haulin house: This will definitely be the first one you want to be featured on.  If you are on this show I'm pretty sure they pay for the move as well as pay you big bucks to be featured on their show.

Rock Solid : build a cool rock patio overlooking the lake

Dream house: spend your entire life savings, ruin your marriage and family relations making your dream house a reality.

Once your house has been hauled, rock patio built, and dream house underway you can coordinate with some of the other HGTV hosts to have a competition fixing up your rooms.  Once again, I'm pretty sure they will pay you to be on the show as well as pay for everything!  They might even like you so much they will ask you to be a guest host on their show with them.

Color Splash

Divine Design

After you get everything fixed up to your liking... call Genevieve and she will help you compete against your neighbors fixing up your house even more.
Battle on the Block

Once you have finished everything you would like to... there will probably be a couple of projects you just didn't seem to finish, this is were Over Your Head comes in handy.  They will come in and fix up the mess you made for you.
Over your head

There are a lot of other HGTV and DIY shows I'm sure you would be eligible to participate in.  Like I said before they will most likely pay for everything to be done and pay you tons of money to be on TV.  Congratulations, you have now turned your worst investment (i.e. lakefront property) into the best investment of your life and in the meantime become an HGTV star and can live in your very own Dream house!

Howtomakeadollar is planning on moving a house onto our lakefront property.  If you would like to help out, please let us know, we sure could use some extra people to help us push the house 14 miles.  We will keep you updated with our attempt to be on all of the above mentioned tv shows.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Make money by moving a house to your lake front property

If by chance you did not heed the warning from our last blog about ways to save money by not buying lakefront property... this blog is for you.  This is a step by step plan on how to turn your lakefront property into the best investment of your lifetime!

Step 1: Buy lakefront property... specifically this one.  


This plan is geared for a lot on Leesville Lake in Altavista VA... but can be done anywhere.  Actually you don't really need to buy land... just find a random piece of property on a random lake and continue with the step by step plan.

Step 2:  Find a house.
Since you have a piece of land and no house... you can't really use your lakefront property very often.  So it is important to put a house on it.  Building a house is a big hassle and it usually costs more than you expect.  That is why you should find a house and move it onto your lot.  Moving an old run down house and fixing it up is much easier, more economical, environmentally friendly, and will definitely cost less than you expect.

To make this plan easier for you... we have found a house that is within 15 miles of the above mentioned lot on leesville lake.  The house we found (pictured above) is located on Hughes Ave only 14 miles away.  The price of the house is only $49,300.  That includes the land the house is sitting on.  I'm pretty sure the land would probably be worth more with the house off of it than with the house on it.  So buy the house and land, move the house, and sell the land for $49,300 and there you go... a free house!

Step 3: Move the house.
This is probably the easiest part of the process.  How hard could it be to move a house?  I'm pretty sure you can do this with some logs and donkeys.  Put the logs next to the house, strap the donkeys to the house, pull the house onto the logs and roll it all the way to the lake.  We have even mapped out the route to help you.


Step 4: Fix up the house. (optional)
Now that you have moved the house and dropped it onto your lakefront property you are good to go.  Enjoy!  Most Home Owner Associations really like old run down houses in their developments.  But, if you don't like living in a run down house, go to home depot buy some nails and putty.  That should be about all you need.  Congratulations, you have just turned the worst investment of your life into the best!

Monday, April 19, 2010

How to save money by not buying lakefront property

Howtomakeadollar is all about ways to make money.  We also like to occasionally feature ways to save money.  One of our recent posts was how to save money by not buying a swimming pool.   This post is all about how to save money buy not buying lakefront property.

Step 1: Do not buy lakefront property.

Lakefront property is not a good investment.  It will not make you any money ever.  You may have heard that historically lakefront property increases in value every year by 10%.  This is utterly and completely false!  Historically it decreases in value by 10% a year (sometimes twice a year).

Step 2: Repeat step one.

If by chance you have already bought lakefront property... we are sorry.  Howtomakeadollar feels your pain.  But if you have bought lakefront property... the best thing to do right now is double down.  Thats right... forget steps 1 and 2 of this business plan and buy another piece of property.  Specifically this one...  It is a beautiful lot on Leesville Lake in Altavista, VA.

BUY ME or see more pictures HERE

Sunday, April 18, 2010

How to make a dollar hiding Easter Eggs

If you did not make a dollar hiding Easter Eggs this year... you didn't do it correctly.  Every year you should make at least $1 hiding Easter Eggs.

Step by Step plan:

Step 1: Prepare for Easter Egg hunt
-This step usually involves waiting for someone else to buy candy, eggs, put them in the eggs, prepare a wonderful Easter feast, invite friends over, and have a great day.
-For this step it is important to get invited to above mentioned get together
-It also helps to have children present at the Easter celebration (this is not required, but it looks a little weird for a lot of adults to walk around with Easter baskets looking for brightly colored eggs "hidden" in the yard)

Step 2: Find a really hard place to hide an easter egg
-Places can include birds nests, tall trees, chimneys, or gutters.

Step 3: Bet your friend that you can put the egg in the really hard place to hide the easter egg for at least $1


Step 4: Spend 1 hour throwing an Easter egg high up into a tree that has a birds nest


Step 5: Get Easter egg stuck in the birds nest high up in the tree

Step 6: Collect $1

Below is a picture of our actualized job of hiding an easter egg in a birds nest high up in a tree along with the $1!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Happy Birthday Tracy Rogers!

Happy Birthday Tracy!

We hope you have a wonderful birthday!
Your friend Cassie loves you so much she has given you the most unique birthday card you will ever receive... your very own blog for the day!


We hope you enjoy our amusing happy birthday wishes for you!  Cassie thinks you will enjoy this blog so much... she paid double the normal price.  So... we are giving you double the amount of wonderfulness.  We have two poems for you to enjoy.

Poem #1...
Tracy is my friend and she's on my mind
'Cause she's cool as a steering wheel and winter combined
She is so darn awesome that I can't decide
If there's a better friend with whom to confide

She is extra fun and very refined
She's the kind of friend I'd never leave behind
I know I can trust her til the day I die
Even though she happens to be a Buckeye

She's always serene and she's never mean
And she still looks young every April seventeen.
We get along well even far away,
but its nice to catch up and not go astray
Which is why I wish her a happy birthday

Poem #2...

                           

Happy Birthday Tracy
I know I can sometimes be kind of spacey
But today I am on top of my game
I have given you some birthday fame

You are featured on this blog
Which is much better than driving in the fog
I wanted to thank you for being my friend
So that is why this birthday blog I send

I wish you lived closer than far away
I wish I could be with you on your birthday… oh dismay
I’m sure you will have fun with your daughter and two sons
They and your husband love you tons

You are such a good friend I don’t know where to start
I love your creativity; you are truly an artist at heart
Keep up the good work with the lunch bunch
I know you’ll have a great birthday... just a hunch

Conclusion...
Thank you for being such a great friend.  You are always there when I need you.  I appreciate your honesty and friendship.  I hope you have a fabulous birthday!

Unrelated comments...
Howtomakeadollar is not immune to the downturn in the economy.  We are currently going through a round of layoffs... so the writer of the subpar poem will have to be let go (don't worry, we're part of a union so the fired employee will continue to receive a salary, benefits and a pension plan for the rest of their lives).  So let us know which poem you liked the best!

Self promotion...

Friday, April 16, 2010

Swag Bucks!

Would you like to earn free rewards just by searching the internet?  In less than 2 months, I've earned $60!  How?  By using Swagbucks.com!  




Swagbucks.com is a search engine site, much like google. When you sign up, you use their site to search the internet. They will randomly award you "swagbucks" as you do your internet searches. Then, you can trade in those swagbucks for prizes. The best deal is to trade them in for $5 Amazon gift cards. You can get points in a few other ways too. Here are a few more tips to help increase how many you win:

1. Download the toolbar for your browser. Then you can type in your searches there.

2. Instead of typing your regularly visited websites into your browser, type them into the swagbucks search box. So, instead of typing the web address for this blog, you'd type something like "How to Make a Dollar" into the swagbucks search, then click on the link from there. Sometimes it's a little harder to find your page by doing this, but try a different combination of words till you find one that works best. Then you will start to remember where it is on the search results page (for instance, it's the third link down on the results page).  I use this to get to any website, including my email page. 

3. Search for random things occasionally. I don't know if it's my imagination or not, but I feel like I end up winning more often with a new search than with one that I do regularly. It can be anything, really. Seriously. Sign up, then type in something like "pickles", and you just may win some swagbucks!

4. Swagbucks releases swag codes every once in a while. They "hide" codes somewhere on their website, then give you hints or clues as to where to find them. If you catch it in time and have the time to look for it, then you can enter it in for more swagbucks. It's a fun kind of thing to do, if you feel like it. It really only takes a few minutes, and I enjoy a good scavenger hunt/puzzle to figure out!

5. Follow Swagbucks on Twitter or Facebook. They tell you when a new swag code has been released, and other helpful information.

6. Have friends sign up by your referral. You get rewarded when they win swagbucks through searching also. You don't get rewarded when friends sign up under them (it's not a pyramid thing!), but you can get satisfaction from knowing they are winning from their friends too! (It's fun knowing every time I win swagbucks, the person who referred me is getting some too!)

I figure many of us these days could use a little extra help, and this seems like a cool way to get a little reward from something most of us do every day anyway: getting online. It's not enough to make a living off of, but hey, who wouldn't be able to use an extra $5 here and there? So I say, give it a try! I am actually sorry that I didn't check into it and sign up months ago, the first time I was referred. I would have already earned a few gift cards by now! Oh well, better late than never!



This post was brought to you by our PromoteME! feature.  Let us know if you would like us to promote you.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

How to make $800 in 4 minutes!

Today is April 15th... some may view this as tax day.  It is actually the last day you can conceive a child and make sure they are born in the same calendar year.  Why is this important?  Because children give you lots of tax breaks and credits.  So, if you have not recently conceived today is your last chance!

Back to how to make $800 in 4 minutes.  This year there is a special Schedule that you can fill out for your taxes.  Schedule M is what it is called.  If you are making under $150,000 you are eligible to fill out schedule M, attach it to your taxes and you will magically be $800 richer!

If you read this blog and did not know about Schedule M and you are now looking it up on IRS to confirm our wonderful correctness and now you are filling it out and stapling it to your taxes you are about to drop in the mail.... you owe us!  Actually by reading this blog and filling out Schedule M you are legally bound to pay us a 10% tax advisor fee.  So click the donate button below and give us $80!



Happy Tax Day aka LDTCACTGYGATRF2010 Day! (last day to conceive a child to guarantee you get a tax refund for 2010)

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Make Money by Selling Tree Faces

This is one of those ideas that you would never believe people spent money on unless you saw it firsthand:

The first time I saw this thing I thought it was something that some guy made by himself in his garage just for fun. But once I started seeing more of them I came to the ridiculous conclusion that someone was mass producing them, followed by the even more ridiculous and horrifying corollary that lots of people were buying them.

Well and good. If people want to stick a cheap plastic face on their trees, they are free to do so.

Yes, they are free to do so, but how much do you think these cost to produce? Maybe $2 max? And at that cost, you would expect to see them for sale for about $5, maybe $5.99, or, if it is a high demand area in a woods, maybe as much as $9.99 right? I mean, seriously, who would pay more than $9.99 for a cheap tree face? Frankly I wouldn't hang one of these in my yard if you paid me $9.99, but I would probably agree to accept it and keep in in a box somewhere for that price.

In any case, you would be wrong. They cost $27.95, and they come in at least a dozen different "styles." The one above is "named" "Whistlin' Pete."

Ok, fine, so they are way overpriced, but surely they are being sold at some kind of little specialty shop on the internet right? And only a few people worldwide are interested in them? Right?
No. They are available at Home Depot, at about 2,500 locations all over North America, selling for $27.95 each, which, by my estimates, is a profit margin of 1297%.

The fact that this company has succeeded should give all small entrepreneurs hope. In fact, all you have to do is make a bunch of these tree faces and sell them for one dollar less. There is no way these things cost more than $2 to make, so you can keep cutting the price a long way down and still be profitable.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Make Money by Not Shaving

Many years ago when I was in college, a friend of mine made a bet with me that he would never shave again. The bet was, if I remember it right, about $1.66 or $1.76. I don't quite remember, but that is what he owed me for spotting him when we were out to eat, and he only had a $10, and I covered the rest. The details are sketchy, but the bottom line was I told him that he could pay be back, or he could never shave again. He said "In that case I choose to never shave again." At the time I regarded this as a joke, and I think it was at first, but then, after a few weeks, it became obvious that he was planning to take me up on it.


And to the best of my knowledge he did. I lost track of him, but would occasionally bump into him, and his beard was always longer, fuller, and more outrageous. 


So thats how you can make money by not shaving. Or, in his case, how you can save yourself some change when you go out to eat.


There is no reason this can't be taken to another level. For example, you could bet two people that you would never shave again. Get one dollar from them, and promise to send it back if you ever shave. Most people, if they are friends with you, will not really mind giving up a dollar on a bet like this. All you have to do is not shave, which is actually easier than shaving, so its win-win for you. Now, to take it to a much deeper level, there is no reason you couldn't broaden this into a world-wide internet phenomenon. Just post a series of youtube videos in which you explain what you are doing, set up a paypal account, and let people donate money to you for not shaving. I imagine that this could accumulate one million people relatively quickly, since its the internet. Once you have the money in hand, just shut down your youtube account and shave whenever you want to.


You could probably do a variety of things. Shaving is just one idea.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Help us launch howtomakeadollar.com

Howtomakeadollar has recently gained wild success from selling custom laptop protectors, free stuff on ebay, and from Show Your Love posts.  With this wild success has come money.  Since this blog is all about ways to make $1, our recent windfall of $18 has us doing cartwheels.  And since we have unionized we actually have made $32.

This $32 plus our other "actualized ideas" money puts us pretty close to having enough money to launch howtomakeadollar.com.   According to godaddy we need $107 to pay for our hosting.   With your help, we can see howtomakeadollar.com come to life!  Please help us fulfill our dream of having a website all about ways to make $1.  Our lives will be complete with your generous donation.


Sunday, April 11, 2010

Make Money by Going Fishing

Yeah, I know, I've already posted something about making money by going fishing. That blog post was about a four out of ten. It had a few moments, but no one strained a muscle from laughing too hard. This one, if I am lucky, may turn out as high as a three, but I am not counting on it. If you want to read some funnier blogs, try here.

If you skip through the channels on TV, you will eventually come across a fishing show. Fishing shows usually involve two or three people who stand around in a boat and catch fish every few minutes. The rest of the time is spent talking about whatever comes to mind. Usually this includes fish, fishing rods, and fishing boats. They may, if it is an exciting show, even talk about the weather and how the weather relates to fish. I love these shows. You don't have to watch the whole episode to figure what it is about. You can turn it on halfway through and you won't have to ask anyone what you missed.

In any case, the fishing show hosts make tons of money for allowing film crews to tape them going fishing with their friends. In my opinion this is definitely one of the best jobs in the world. Fishing does not require any training, university degrees, or natural talent.

Here is how you can get in on this


1. Get a friend to video tape you going fishing
2. Go fishing
3. Make sure your friend is taping you
4. Keep on fishing
5. Discuss what it is like to go fishing
6. Make sure your friend is still taping you
7. Send the film to a bunch of tv stations
8. Collect money

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Happy Birthday Devon!

Happy Birthday Devon!!!!!


Your sister-in-law Cassie loves you so much she has dedicated this blog to you for today on your birthday!  This blog is dedicated to your birth for all of April 10, 2010!  We are excited you were born!  Way to go.

Devon Campfield is my sister in law
Its sad that she has one fatal flaw
She's too far away up in Boston, Mass.
But our time together is never surpassed

She's a good good friend
On whom I can depend
And she's funny and groovy
Like a George Clooney movie

I wish I could see you because its long overdue
We could talk and relax with some cheese fondue
But I suppose I can resort
To a poem, a blog, and things of that sort

Now its not like me to type 'til I blister
So without delay, I'd like to say
"Happy Birthday" to my favorite sister

We know you are a sophisticated world traveler with distinguished tastes so here is a Special Birthday Haiku just for you.


my sister-in-law
it's a crime that we can't be
there to celebrate


You are a wonderful friend, mother, and wife.  We hope you have a wonderful birthday with your family and friends.








Check out our other "Show your love" dedications here.
Do you want to show your love to someone for a birthday, anniversary, or special occasion? email us.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Happy Birthday Dax

Today, April 9, 2010, is dedicated to Dax Hoffman by his wife Cassandra. Below is a special song for Dax from Cassie.



I love Dax Hoffman and I cannot lie
He's the only man on whom I rely
He is smart and strong and has excellent taste
He's the man on whom my life is based

(chorus)
Life with my Dax
is as smooth as floor wax
Life without Dax
is worse than the capital gains tax
Dax! Dax!
Dax Dax Dax
I love Dax and that's a fact

He's the best neuroscientist on the face of the globe
He's the only man on my occipital lobe
When I'm with Dax Hoffman my life is bliss
Making fond memories on my hippocampis*



(chorus)
Life with my Dax
is as smooth as floor wax
Life without Dax
is worse than the capital gains tax
Dax! Dax!
Dax Dax Dax
I love Dax and that's a fact

Break it down boys
(bridge sung by the kids)
Daddy Daddy we love daddy
Playing games and chasing cats
We love daddy just like that!
Happy birthday Dax!

Thanks for being such a wonderful husband and father.  The kids and I love you so much.  Thank you for being my best friend!  Happy Birthday!



*Spelling intentionally distorted for rhyming purposes. You try making a rhyme out of "hippocampus."

Check out our other "Show your love" dedications here.
Do you want to show your love to someone for a birthday, anniversary, or special occasion? email us.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Order your own custom laptop sleeve protector

Howtomakeadollar recently blogged about how to make your own really cool laptop sleeve protector.  We are very excited to announce that these custom made laptop sleeve protectors are a HUGE hit!  We will make a custom one just for you.  We have several custom orders and a couple other pre-requests for ipad custom sleeve protectors.

We can make you any or all of the following suggested custom laptop sleeve protectors.   Or we will make you any design you would like.  Just email us and let us know what design you want and what size laptop you have.  The price for these priceless items is only $9.99 (plus shipping and handling, a special finders fee may apply to very hard to find designs).  You can also send us your own favorite old tshirt and we will make it into a laptop sleeve protector for you!

Superman laptop sleeve protector
Pacman laptop sleeve protector
GIJOE laptop sleeve protector
Captain America laptop sleeve protector
Hello Kitty laptop sleeve protector
Led Zepplin laptop sleeve protector
Incredible Hulk laptop sleeve protector

Below is a picture of our recent Superman custom laptop sleeve protector we made for one of our customers.  It is designed for a 13 inch laptop computer.  (sorry 13 inch macbook pro is not included in the purchase)






Wednesday, April 7, 2010

How to make money by being a celebrity commentator

The internet is a very good place to go if you want to know if celebrities have done anything lately, and what they were wearing when they did it, and whether they are in trouble with the fashion police. In fact, whenever I get curious about what Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are up to,* I always go to the internet and ask it. I am usually able to find out what they are up to pretty quickly this way, and my need for personal fulfillment through the lives of others is temporarily satiated. Without the Internet I would presumably have to find them in the phone book and call them, which has failed in the past, and shows no sign of working any time soon.

The thing is, most people do not know that you can make money simply by following celebrities around, taking pictures of them, posting them on the Internet and saying things like "OMG!!!1!"

In any case, there are lots of people who do this for a living, and there is always room for another. You could dedicate yourself to following an individual celebrity, or just following a bunch of them around. Either way you will soon get rich, and may become a celebrity of your own. At that point you can just post pictures of yourself and not even bother doing any real work

*apparently Angelina and Brad are in Sarajevo right now (true) and Brad is getting prepared for a role in which he plays an extremely ugly old dude.(made up, but with photographic evidence)

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Tips for selling things on Ebay

We have blogged recently about selling things you get for free on ebay.  Well, we have started taking our own advice and getting free stuff and selling it on ebay.  So far we have made $32 in the last 3 days.  So far this appears to be our most profitable idea.

Recently we sold an item on ebay and we were able to ship it for $3.50.  Since I was unable to get in touch with our accountant, I had to use my own financial skills.  I assumed I would be able to sell 5 of the same item I was able to ship for $3.50 and ship 5 of them for $4.95.  Well as you can imagine I was a little surprised to find out it actually cost $13.95.  So instead of making $18 off of our recent sale we only made $9.  Its $9 more than we had before,  which is good, but not as good as $18.  So when you are listing an item make sure you know how much it will cost you to ship it before you end up having to pay more to ship it then you get for selling the item.

We have actually blogged about this concept before... but since that was three months ago and we have a short memory we forgot.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Make Money by Recycling Bottles

I'm sure you've noticed that most soda bottles have a label on them that says you can sell them for like .5 cents, or .10 cents in Michigan. Well, that is real money, and it can add up quickly if you know what you are doing. Here is how it works

How to get rich by selling soda bottles:
1. Buy the Coca-Cola company. Buy the whole company. This should set you back at least a thousand dollars because it is a big company, but in business you have to take a risk if you want to succeed
2. If you have any money left you can buy Pepsi, Anheuser-Busch, or Red Bull too.
3. Load all the bottles into a truck
4. Drive to Michigan
5. When you see the "welcome to Michigan" sign on the highway, dump all the bottles out.
6. Someone in Michigan will send you a load of cash.
7. Use the cash to buy another large bottling company
8. Repeat

I can't believe no one has thought of this yet.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Make Money off the Health Care Reform Bill

How to make money off the healthcare bill by setting up a roadside healthcare stand.
You've probably heard about the universal healthcare law that the government just created. Supposedly it is like 3,000 pages long, and very few people have actually read it, and even fewer people actually understand it. All that most people know is that they now have to do something about health care, or the government has to do something, or somebody has to do something, or something. This confusion creates a golden opportunity for you.


1. Get a table
2. Get a big sign that says "Healthcare Reform Sold Here"
3. Offer to provide health coverage to people for $1
4. Pass out little cards that say "My healthcare has been reformed(!)"
5. You can even add a Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid signature on the cards to make them look more authentic.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Sell discontinued items

We recently blogged about how to make money by selling freebies.  If you are able to get a free item, it helps if it is an item that has been discontinued (i.e. nobody makes it anymore).  If the item is no longer being made, that means it could potentially be worth a lot of money.

For example, Polaroid no longer makes film.  But, there are still people out there who want and use Polaroid film.  The fact that the film has expired 10 years ago is not a problem because every remaining piece of film has expired... Polaroid does not make new ones anymore.

Step by Step business plan:
1) Locate stash of unopened Polaroid Film
2) Sell on Ebay


Click on the following links to see our Ebay listing for Polaroid 665 Film or Polaroid 667 Film.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Make your own laptop sleeve protector

At Howtomakeadollar we not only promote making money but also not wasting money buying things you can make yourself.  So today we are going to feature our first Tutorial.  This tutorial will help you save money by making your own laptop sleeve protector instead of spending money buying one.  The laptop sleeve you see featured in this tutorial is for sale... so help support howtomakeadollar by buying one or paying us to make your very own custom design laptop sleeve protector.

Step 1: Obtain laptop.  Preferable a 13 inch macbook pro... because everyone needs one and everyone who has one needs a cool custom laptop sleeve protector for it.



Step 2: Get cool retro t-shirt.  I bought mine at Salvation Army.  Wednesday is half off night so I got each tshirt for $0.50.


Step 3: Obtain sewing machine, needles, thread, fabric, and foam.  Ask your wife, sister, mother, mother-in-law, or uncle Bruce for the aforementioned items.  (Yes, Howtomakeadollar does assume women and uncles named Bruce are the only people that sew)



Step 4: Ask whoever gave you the items from step 3 to show you how to use a sewing machine.  Better yet, ask them to make it for you.  In that case, skip the rest of the steps except Step 4a.

Step 4a: If you have no intention of making your own custom laptop sleeve protector email this page to someone who will or skip to the end and buy one from us.

Step 5: Choose cool tshirt.  I choose Pokemon!  Cut Pokemon tshirt to the appropriate size (a couple of inches larger than the computer).  You will end up with two pieces, one from the front of the shirt and one from the back.




Step 6: Sew the front and back pieces together on one side.



Step 7: Cut extra fabric to the same size as cut tshirt



Step 8: Sew fabric to tshirt.  It helps to pin the two pieces together before you start to sew.  Make sure you turn the shirt so it is facing the fabric.  In the next step you will turn the entire thing inside out so leave a couple of inches unsewn.




Step 9: Turn inside out



Step 10:  Cut foam to appropriate size, stuff it into the shirt.



Step 11: Make sure the computer fits, sew ends together and turn inside out.







Step 12: Take the cool Pokemon tag and make it into a cover to close your new custom design laptop sleeve protector.



Step 13:  Be the coolest kid in school!

Don't want to make your own... buy our Pokemon one for $9.99...


or email us with a specific tshirt you would like made into your very own laptop sleeve protector and we will make one for you for $9.99!

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