Make Money by Predicting the Weather and Occasionally Being Right

Howtomakeadollar wants to celebrate Memorial Day today with all of our readers. So in honor of this holiday, we are publishing a blog about weather forecasting.


One of the bragging points at the college I attended was that one quarter of all weather forecasters in the U.S. had graduated from my school. This stat, if true, is pretty impressive on its face. However, if you think about it, you will come to realize that weather forecasting is not exactly a difficult job, and takes only about an hour a day to do, so you probably don't need to go around town rodomontading about it too much, and it doesn't work too well as a pick-up line either. The interesting thing about weather forecasters is that I'm pretty sure they make like $5 million per year. I'm not going to bother verifying any of this info, but you can take my word for it.


OK, I'll take your word for it because this seems like an informative and reliable website. How can I learn  to predict the weather and make millions?


Easy. Investigative journalists at Howtomakeadollar have spent years infiltrating the best meteorology programs in the world, and have provided a collection of phrases that you can use in order to sound like an expert weather forecaster and bring in millions. 


"Partly cloudy:" This is a phrase you can use if you don't really have any idea what is going on with the weather. It means that there will be some clouds in the sky sometimes, and sometimes not. You can safely predict this every day of the year, and you should only use the other phrases below if you feel like you are getting in a rut.


"Chance of rain:" This is a phrase you can use if you think it might rain, or might not. You can say it every few days just to keep things interesting.


"Scattered showers:" You can use the phrase in place of "Chance of rain" whenever you want. It means that you think it might rain, but you don't know when or where.


"Hot:" Use this in the summer time, or whenever global warming starts*


"Cold:" Use in winter


"Really Hot:" Use in Mexico




*I thought for sure global warming had started last Wednesday, but then it got cool again, so no go. Check this site often for up-to-the-minute updates on when global warming starts. 


Current forecast: [one minute ago] Chance of Global Warming

Happy Birthday Louise!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOUISE!!!!!!  How To Make A Dollar loves you so much that we have dedicated this blog to you for the entire day in celebration of the best day of the year.... YOUR BIRTHDAY!

Louise today is your special day
so we have something to say
you are our greatest fan
except maybe for that random guy named stan

Your support of our blog means a bunch
someday we will have to take you out for lunch
We hope you have a wonderful day
on your birthday, the second from last day of May

Your family loves you a lot,
more than Han Solo loves his robot

Your children turned out sweet
because your love just can't be beat

Special people call you Mom and Nonni
expect for that random guy who still calls you Bonnie
Everyone knows you are a great friend
And at last this poem has come to an end

Happy Birthday Loiuse!!!!!  We hope you have the greatest birthday ever.  Your faithful facebook comments have filled our lives with fun!

Also featured on Todayisjustforyou!

If you would like to show your love for someone... found out how by checking out our SHOW YOUR LOVE feature.

Make loads of cash by dipping stuff in batter and frying it

A few years ago I was at one of those big multi-day outdoor concert festivals that you occasionally hear about and some guy there was selling fried Three Musketeers candy bars for like $5 each. He had a bunch of long sticks and he would prong a candy bar like a hotdog and then dip it in the batter. Then he would put it into a big pot of super hot oil and fry it. The chocolate would get all oozy and delicious and the batter would soak it up into one big long delicious fried chocolate stick. I got like four or five of them that day for breakfast and I don't think I've ever had anything else that was nearly as good. It was like angel droppings from heaven.

The next day the same guy was frying oreo cookies in batter. I don't want to say for certain whether the fried oreos were better than the fried three musketeers, or vice versa, because they were both outrageously good. On one hand the three musketeers bar was big enough that a few of them could fill you up, but on the other hand, the oreos were small enough that you could stuff like five or six in your mouth at a time, so its a really tough call here.

I forget how he was making the oreos because I know you can't put an oreo on a stick, and I know he wasn't reaching in the hot oil with his hands to get them out. I guess this is just one of the mysteries that may never be solved.

Bottom line is that this guy was onto something extremely profitable and extremely easy. All you need to do is get a bunch of sugary, chocolate-based fat, dip it in batter, and then dip it in more fat.

Make Money by Blowing up Large Buildings

There comes a time in every man's life when he must decide in his heart what he would do if he had a load of dynamite and some matches. Most people never find themselves facing an opportunity like this, but in case you ever do, Howtomakeadollar has some advice. First, we must assume that if you have a bunch of dynamite that you are planning to use it to blow something up. Thats what its for. Many things have more than one potential purpose. Dynamite has only one purpose, to blow stuff way up. So, assuming you are going to blow something up, Howtomakeadollar suggests you consider large buildings in the middle of large cities.

Large buildings?? Isn't that frowned upon?

Ordinarily you would think that blowing up buildings would be illegal. However, it is not always illegal. Sometimes it is sanctioned and paid for by the government. In fact, in 2000 the city of Seattle paid $9 million for a company to blow up the Kingdome, which was a large multi-sport stadium. The Kingdome cost $67 million to build, and the city had not even finished paying off its debt, but apparently they were so sick of seeing it every stinking morning when they woke up that they paid another $9 million to blow it up. You can watch a video of it here.

And its not just Seattle that has a gacked-out penchant for flaming self-jihadist obliteration. Lots of major cities have done similar projects including Philadelphia, Detroit, and Las Vegas. Thats right. City governments pay out large contracts for people to come blow stuff up. Times have changed. In 1941 Japan provided this service for free to a bunch of buildings and ships in Hawaii. A few short years later the U.S. returned the favor by blowing up every building in a three mile radius in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki-- all free of charge! But now things are different. If you want your buildings reduced to a fiery heap of dust and rubble, you best be prepared to pay out the nose for it.

The company that does this insists that these explosions require careful planning and expert logistical analysis. This is a blatant lie. All you need is a huge load of dynamite. In my experience there is no problem of logistical analysis that can't be solved with dynamite. Aside from a really big load of dynamite, you will also need something to carry it around in. Building demolition is a big industry in the Middle East, and demolition experts there usually prefer to carry their dynamite close to their bodies, such as in a hip belt, or in a vest. This strategy seems to work pretty well for them. However, for large buildings I think you will need something bigger such as a wheelbarrow. I think a wheelbarrow is probably a safe enough conveyance for a load of dynamite.

Aside from being paid to commit an act of domestic terrorism, I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that you can get 77 wives in heaven for every building you blow up on earth. So, assuming this is a situation you find desirable,* then you will be in pretty good shape. Why you would want this many wives is a separate question that you will have to ask all the crazy nutdrivers** who blow up buildings.

*I mean no offense to my lovely wife whose loveliness I love lovingly, but honestly, I think one wife is about all I could handle. If 77 is your goal, then I guess I won't stop you, but I have to advise against it. The logistics of this kind of domestic arrangement in the afterlife are beyond my ability to accommodate. You would probably need a few wheelbarrows just for going shoe shopping, and you can forget about using the bathroom for a few hours before you go out to dinner with them.


**A nutdriver is a tool that looks similar to a screwdriver, only it is used for tightening nuts instead of screws. However, in this instance I am using the word figuratively to describe a person who is nuts. Get it? Nutdriver -- nuts!? Ha!

Make money by charging 85% interest rate

We all know professional athletes are not that smart.  When it comes to money they are definitely not smart.  According to this article 78% of all NFL players are bankrupt after 2 years of retirement.

Step by Step plan to make money off of not so financially smart atheletes

1) Find above mentioned athlete.
We have done the work for you and found one... Eddy Curry

2) Loan them $575,000 with an 85% interest rate

3) Collect interest

Check out our other ways to make money off of basketball.

Make money by going to casinos and gambling

One way that lots of people frequently try to make money is to gamble at casinos. This moneymaking strategy is a very old one, and people have been gambling for centuries on various things. I think the first casino opened in ancient Assyria in like 600 BC. Soldiers would surround a large walled city, cut off the food supply for a few years, and then make bets with each other about how much a pound of wheat was selling for inside the city. Winners got to kill all their fellow soldiers and lead a military assault against everyone, losers got leprosy. In all seriousness, something remotely, vaguely, not entirely dissimilar to this actually did happen.

Anyway, modern gambling is much more civilized, so you don't have to worry about mass starvation, leprosy, or invading Assyrians. Of course, the odds at the casino are stacked against you. Roughly 80% of your bets will lose, but all that means is that if 5 of our loyal readers go to the nearest casino and start dropping money into the slot machines, that one of you will make money instantly. At that point you just have to go home with your winnings. If you stick around any longer you will lose it all.

So the way to make money at the casino is to
1. invite four friends to a casino*
2. put money in the slot machine
3. win free money!!!!
4. leave immediately.

*I am assuming that if you invite four friends to go with you, you will automatically by the lucky winner out of the five of you. There is no reason to assume this is true, but I'm saying it is true anyway.

FREE Chickfila Spicy Chicken Sandwich

How To Make A Dollar is happy to bring you an exclusive offer just for our readers... click on the link below to reserve your very own Chickfila Spicy Chicken Sandwich between May 31 to June 5, 2010!

http://www.getspicychicken.com/












This is potentially the greatest thing to ever happen in the entire world.  When you pick up your sandwich, don't forget to tell them you found out about this exclusive offer from howtomakeadollar!

Make Loads of Cash by Creating an Economic Bubble

Everyone knows about the housing bubble that burst sometime in 2008 and caused the major worldwide financial crisis that is more or less still ongoing. Most people still remember the dotcom bubble that built up during the late 1990s and then burst in 2000. Bubbles occur frequently in most economic systems, and cause significant economic growth for a few years before causing significant economic havoc for a few years. Kind of like teenagers. Because of the crash that always occurs after a bubble bursts, most people have come to regard bubbles as bad.

And bubbles are bad. But they don't have to be bad for everyone. The trick is to get in at the beginning of the bubble and then get out before it breaks. Most people understand this, but very few are very good at predicting where and when a bubble will occur. This is because most people try to ride the markets rather than trying to influence the markets.

But this kind of thing is actually easy to do. If you are good with computers you can swamp a stock exchange with automated bogus trades until the artificial trade volume is noticed by real day traders. These investors will then buy into the market, believing that the stock running up. You can control the price with your bogus trades until it reaches a point where you want to sell your real holdings. Then you drop the fictitious trades and move to a different stock, or sector. 

Its extremely illegal, but would be very difficult to track. Brokers who work at large financial institutions could very easily do it, and probably do.

But what if I'm not good with computers and automated trading?


You're in luck. Howtomakeadollar has a good solution for people like you.

1. Buy a major stock exchange such as NASDAQ or NYSE outright
     A. This may require a lot of up front cash, possibly as much as $100.00
     B. You may be able to get a used stock exchange off Craigslist for less, but you will have to shop


2. If you don't have enough up front cash to buy a stock exchange, you can start your own.
     A. The best way to create a stock exchange is to get a string of letters together that end in "EX" which is short for "exchange." Lets say you choose "FARTEX"
     B. Once you have chosen the name of your exchange you will need to do a bunch of other stuff that involves trading stocks and options and mutual funds. I don't know how to do any of this, but I think there are a bunch of unemployed finance people in New York who may be able to help you out.


3. Good. Now you have your own stock exchange. (This is not a real step per se, its just a good stopping point to look back on what you've accomplished so far. You are doing great)


4. Now you need to cause lots of people to buy certain kinds of stocks. Lets say you want to create a bubble in the mulch and wood chips industry.


5. Everytime someone buys or sells a mulch stock on FARTEX, you need to rig it so that the order goes through as a "buy," even if the client ordered a sell. The best way to do this is to create an automated trading system and then add a glitch. From my own personal experience in designing software I can tell you that I am one of the best people in the world at making glitches. If you need a good software glitch, my services are available. This will cause demand to go really high really fast, creating a mulch bubble.


6. Once the price gets to a certain ridiculously inflated amount, you should sell all of your mulch stocks. "What mulch stocks?" you ask. Well, to be honest, I forgot to add a step in which I told you to buy a bunch of mulch stocks for cheap. You will lose big if you forget this step. Maybe I should have mentioned this in step 3 instead of wasting it, or maybe there needs to be a new number between 3 and 4. Someone at the Federal Dept. of Numbers should be working on this.

7. Make sure your sell order goes through as an actual sell, not a buy. You will have to fix the glitch to do this.


8. Now you are rich, so you should be able to afford to buy a bunch of online poems for your family, friends, and spouses. I know a good place that sells these.

Blog about it!

Howtomakeadollar is all about making money.  But we are also all about saving money.  One great way to save money is to blog about a business idea instead of actually doing it.  Howtomakeadollar has lots and lots of ideas.  Some of our ideas are great, and some of them are really great!  But we will admit that some of them are just not always very practical.  Some of our more impractical ideas are making your own island out of trash or starting your own fat kid camp.

One great way to save money is to blog about an idea instead of actually doing it.  Don't even try it... just write about it.  Plain and simple.

Money saved by howtomakeadollar by blogging about an idea instead of actually doing it: $57,943,100.09 (number audited by our official accountant).

Happy Birthday Jennifer!!

Congratulations Jennifer!

Your husband Tyler loves you so much he dedicated this personalized website to you to celebrate your birthday.
Your birthday celebration is also being featured on www.todayisjustforyou.com

You're a really good mommy and a top-notch cook
There's no one else at whom I'd rather look
When I count my earthly blessings I think of you first
When I think of life without you, it would be the worst

I appreciate your humor and your sense of style
I've never gotten over your pretty smile
When I think about you my heart goes aflutter
because I love you more than Reeses peanut butter

When hard times come, you never act dumb
You're my voice of reason
You're more exciting than baseball season

You make everything prettier and you have a nice touch
Which is just one more reason why I love you so much
You're good at everything -- even origami
And not only that, but you're the world's best mommy

I love you Jennifer
Happy Birthday!

Make money by collecting debt

The debt collection industry is booming.  People borrow money, don't pay it back and someone needs to collect it.  This is a great opportunity for you to make money.

Has anyone ever borrowed money from you?  Did they pay you back?

I'm sure there is at least one time in your life that someone has borrowed money from you and forgot to pay you back.  Did you let your friend borrow $1 to buy a soda in the 5th grade?  This would be a perfect opportunity for you to collect the debt.

Step by step plan to make money by collecting debt

Step 1: Set up a paypal account.  This is an easy way to collect money online.

Step 2: Email your friend from 5th grade.  Attach an invoice for $1,375.89 and tell them this is the amount they owe you.  This includes the $1 they owe you plus interest for the past 18 years.

Step 3: When they say you are crazy and they don't owe you anything, keep calling them and emailing them until they can't stand it anymore.

Step 4: After months of annoying calls and emails send your friend a new invoice for $1.  By this time they will be so happy to pay you anything to stop your annoying calls and emails and will settle for $1.

Step 5: Collect your $1 and move on to your next friend.

Note: this may cause you to loose friends... but it will definitely be worth the $1!

Happy Birthday Seun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEUN!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Seun... you are loved!  Your husband Olugbenga loves you so much he has dedicated this website to you for the entire day in honor of your birth.  We have written a love poem for you to enjoy!

Seun, today is your birthday
and we have some things to say
You are great at everything you do
the things you cannot do are few

You are a fabulous cook
and at you it is very nice to look
You are so sweet and kind
Olugbenga is so glad he can say "you are mine"

You are great at dealing drugs
but only the good kind... not to thugs
On your birthday Olugbenga will give you lots of hugs
and hopefully not some cheesy mug

You are a great wife and friend
Olugbenga will stay with you till the very end
He appreciates you driving him around
and he is glad you are the one he has found

Enjoy your birthday on this fabulous day
we have nothing more to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEUN!!!!!!!!

This blog has been brought to you by our SHOW YOUR LOVE feature.  
It is also available on www.todayisjustforyou.com

Get Paid for Walking Around Doing Nothing

Last week the company where I work started a health program partnership with a health insurance provider that gives monetary incentives for employees who exercise. This program is based on the premise that total health costs will be lower if employees are incentivized to exercise more.

The program is basically a computer program and a pedometer. The pedometer keeps track of every step you take during the day, and then it uploads onto the computer, where all your health activities are added up. You get paid small amounts of money for each milestone you hit. Its pretty simple. A pedometer, for those who don't know, is a little electronic gadget that straps to your hip and counts every step you take. I'm not sure how it works* but it seems to be pretty reliable.

*probably by magic


The most you can earn in a year is $500, which, if you ask me, is a worthwhile amount of money, but not enough to go crazy about.** Also, in order to get the full $500, you pretty much have to go 11+ miles per day, every day of the week, which is a lot. However, I have an idea for making more than that.

If you are involved in a similar program, I will wear your pedometer for you, and I will go for a long jog every day. At the end of the year you can pay me half of your winnings and keep the other half. We both win, and you don't have to do any exercise. In fact, you can just eat Crisco all day if thats what you want to do. I think Crisco mixed with confectionery sugar is one of the best things in the world, so I won't judge you.

**Where is the point at which you should go crazy? $500 per year is probably not enough right? But what about $501? $502? At some point you have to go crazy right? I bet there is a certain dollar amount at which any given  person will go crazy. This would explain a lot of things about my friends. Howtomakeadollar pledges to keep you posted on the exact dollar amount at which we go crazy. Personally, I estimate my threshold to be north of $100,000, but less than $500,000. Somewhere in that range seems about right. Check this site often for updates.

Get samples for FREE

Often companies will give away free samples to get you hooked.  How To Make A Dollar has come across a great way to get free samples from companies that do not give free samples.  Step by step plan on getting free samples from companies that do not give free samples!

Step 1: Start website or blog

Howtomakeadollar has so much free time we have decided to start another website.  Our Show Your Love feature has been so wildly successful we have spun it off with http://www.todayisjustforyou.com/


Step 2: Promote something you want a free sample of

Howtomakeadollar loves sugar and fat and chocolate.  So we decided to promote BROWNIES.
We have promoted brownies on our new website here.

Step 4: Email the person you are promoting and let them know you are promoting them.

Howtomakeadollar has emailed brownies.com to let them know we want their brownies:

"Just wanted to let you know you have been featured on our website... http://www.todayisjustforyou.com/ If you would like to send us some free samples we would love to give a positive personal review of them! Thanks!"

Step 5: Wait for FREE SAMPLES!

How to make a dollar by starting your own fat kid camp

It's official... people in America are FAT.  Especially kids.  And the only people we should blame are the evil, horrible, capitalistic, giant corporations who are bringing us down.  Since the writers of How To Make A Dollar are sponsored by McDonalds, we are not able to specifically talk bad about the wonderful goodness that McDonalds embodies.  But since we are not sponsored by Burger King... we can talk bad about them.  Burger King is the reason American kids are FAT.  (we also do not like the scary Burger King guy)

Since the largeness of our youth is continuing to increase we need to do something about it.  Good thing Barack Obama's wife is doing something about it...

Step by Step Business plan for starting your own Fat Kid Camp (FKC)

Step 1: find really big building for little to no money.
How To Make A Dollar likes to work out the details of our business plans to help our readers out.  So, we have located such a building for you.

This building is located in Bramwell, WV.  It is an old high school that is for sale.  The building is 80,000 sq. ft.  That sure can fit a lot of Fat Kids.  It is for sale for only $495,000.  That is a ridiculous ~$6 per sq. ft.  Amazing.  You can see the full listing here.

Step 2: Get money from the government.  This seems to be the cool thing to do these days.  Since Michelle Obama is fighting fat kids I'm sure it is easy to secure a government grant.

Step 3: Ship a lot of over weight kids to your 80,000 sq. ft. compound for a month during the summer.  Have their parents pay you a ton of money!

Step 4: Give the kids a proper amount of food and exercise.  They will lose weight.  But make sure it is not too much weight... you want them to come back every summer.

Step 5: Franchise an ice cream store across the street and be open from 2:00am to 5:00am every night.  Make sure you conveniently unlock the doors to the 80,000 sq. ft. compound at this time.

Step 6: Only work a couple of months out of the year.  The rest of the year you can hang out in your compound and do whatever you want.

Large Rapidly Expanding Pool of Crude Oil Available on First Come First Serve Basis

Howtomakeadollar has already written about how to make money by selling stuff that you can get for free. Today we are doing it again.

You've probably heard about the oil rig accident in the Gulf of Mexico* that is gushing gazillions of gallons of oil every gazillionth of a second. This is a golden opportunity for anyone with an idea, but most people seem to be taking it as bad news.

Well, lots of people are wrong. Lots of people thought it was bad news when the first car ran over the first horse-drawn carriage, but nobody stopped making cars did they? In any case, that particular horse had it coming. Everybody thought it was bad news when the German blitzkrieg defeated the Polish cavalry. And it was bad news. It was a disaster. But my point is that nobody tried to use a cavalry against tanks after that. I have waited a long time to use the old Polish cavalry analogy. I don't think it is particularly relevant to the subject at hand, but its my blog, not yours.

The way I see it, there is a colossal amount of oil sitting around waiting for someone to get it. In fact, the government and the environment people are begging someone to get rid of it, to the point that I'm sure you could get paid to do it.

Now think about this. The rig was about 41 miles out at sea. The drill was under a mile of water, and it cut a hole about 3.5 miles deep into the ground. A 4.5 mile pipe with numerous safety valves connected the bottom of the well with the rig above the water. The fact that such a rig ever existed is an engineering marvel. The technology required to go down a mile under saltwater, to drill a 3.5 mile hole into bedrock, to pump out that much oil, and keep it all contained for even a minute, is simply beyond my ability to grasp. Sure, this one failed, but there are countless others that have not failed, and the fact that any of them ever existed in the first place is simply astonishing.

My point is that this oil used to be impossible for the average person to get. Now it isn't. This is a golden opportunity for anyone with an idea. This is where you come in.

1. Get a boat
2. Get a bunch of old paint buckets, ice cream buckets, or beer bottles. If your beer bottles are full, it will help to drink them quick.
3. Paddle out into the open sea
4. Keep your eyes peeled for a big black pool of oil. You will probably know it when you see it. Its the one that is 10,000 square miles and advancing.**
5. Dip your containers in it until they are all full
6. Paddle back and put them in your garage
7. Repeat steps 1-6 until your garage is full, or the oil slick is gone
8. Sell oil to someone who knows how to refine it.

In all seriousness, somebody is going to make at least 10 billion dollars cleaning this thing up and disposing of all the waste. If you have any ideas about how to do it, it would be worth your while to get down there and try. I think my bucket idea could actually work if done on a large scale, with big buckets and large boats, but I'm sure there are other ideas.

*How did Mexico get the naming rights to this body of water? The Mexican economy is in pretty bad shape right now. They should sell all naming rights to the highest bidder. I think "Gulf of Wal-Mart" has a nice ring to it, and I would also support "Gulf of Google" because of the alliteration factor. A good corporate bidding war could be just what Mexico needs right now. 


** no kidding. 10,000 square miles of oil sitting around for free (and growing). Thats the current estimate.

Exclusive offer for cheap vehicles!

Several times a year, we like to offer How To Make A Dollar readers very important and exclusive information about great money making opportunities.  Several months ago we shared with you how to make money by helping the Nigerian Royal Family transfer funds to the U.S.  We recently came across a new opportunity.  This opportunity is how to get a great deal on a cheap vehicle through Craigslist.

On craigslist there is a section where people can buy and sell cars.  Occasionally there are GREAT DEALS!

This truck was on Craigslist for $4,600

Even if you are not an expert on cars, trucks, anything with wheels on it... $4,600 for this truck is obviously a GREAT DEAL!

Here is a step by step plan on how to secure this GREAT DEAL!

Step 1: email the person about the truck and make sure it is for real


To: sharonfennell@msn.com
Subject: F250 truck
Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 23:22:55 -0400

Sharon,

I saw your listing for an F250 pickup truck on craigslist.  http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/ctd/1693646109.html

Is $4,532 the correct price?  How many miles does the truck have on it?  Is the truck still available?  This looks like a great truck.

Thanks,

A

Step 2: Receive email confirmation about the vehicle.  

From: sharonfennell@msn.com
Subject: RE: F250 truck
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 10:24:39 +0000

2005 Ford F250 - 141,000 Miles

First of all I want to thank you for your interest for my car. I sell it at this price ($ 4600 ) because i just finished the divorce with my husband.The divorce has finished 6 months ago and the car is mine now.After the divorce I was forced to buy a new house. Following the financial crisis I can not afford to pay the bank and I decided to sell the car.This car is in excellent working conditions, no scratches, flaws or any kind of damage, slightly used in 100% working and looking conditions and comes with a clear title.
From the beginning you have to know that for the payment I request only secure pay, I prefer the payment to be done using eBay services.
We will use a safe payment method because I am affiliated at eBay and I have a purchase protection account.The final price that I want for this car is $4600.I will pay for shipping and handling.
If you are interested in buying it please provide me your full name and address so I can initiate the deal through eBay.
I will wait your answer(if you are interested to buy) very soon.

Sharon Fennell

P.S. - HERE ARE SOME PICS OF THE CAR - http://s843.photobucket.com/albums/zz354/SharonFennell/
If the link is not working please copy and paste the link into a new window. 




Step 3: Become suspicious when you see the exact same listing (same pictures, same description) listed in another part of the country.  Email the person back and ask them if it is a scam.  They will tell you if it is.  If they don't tell you it is a scam, you can assume it is not a scam.

Sent:	Mon 4/19/10 12:02 AM
To:	sharonfennell@msn.com

I found this listing on craigslist.  http://omaha.craigslist.org/cto/1681719984.html

It has the exact same pictures and description as your listing.  Do you have this truck?  Are you just using someone else's pictures as an example?  Is this a scam?

Step 4: Don't be alarmed or worried when the same person emails you the exact same email except about a different car and use a different name.  Most likely they had to change there name because of the divorce they are going through.

From:

Sharon Fennell (sharonfennell@msn.com)

2004 Ford Ranger V6 4WD Extended Cab - 59,000 Miles


First of all I want to thank you for your interest for my car. I sell it at this price ($ 2900 ) because i just finished the divorce with my husband.The divorce has finished 6 months ago and the car is mine now.After the divorce I was forced to buy a new house. Following the financial crisis I can not afford to pay the bank and I decided to sell the car.This car is in excellent working conditions, no scratches, flaws or any kind of damage, slightly used in 100% working and looking conditions and comes with a clear title.
From the beginning you have to know that for the payment I request only secure pay, I prefer the payment to be done using eBay services.
We will use a safe payment method because I am affiliated at eBay and I have a purchase protection account.The final price that I want for this car is $2900.I will pay for shipping and handling.
If you are interested in buying it please provide me your full name and address so I can initiate the deal through eBay.
I will wait your answer(if you are interested to buy) very soon.


Patricia Donegan


P.S. - HERE ARE SOME PICS OF THE CAR - http://s1012.photobucket.com/albums/af250/patricia34r4donegan/
If the link is not working please copy and paste the link into a new window.

Step 5: Tell the person selling the car you can pay cash for the vehicle but you would like to test drive it first.  If they don't want cash and don't want you to drive the car most likely there is a very reasonable explanation.

From:

Sharon Fennell (sharonfennell@msn.com)

The car is already at the shipping company in Bismarck,North Dakota ready for shipping. I have a contract with eBay so this deal must go through them. I'm very busy with my job and I'm out of town so I can't meet in person with you so this is the reason why I chose to sell my car over the Internet. According with  the eBay you have 5 days from the time you receive the car to inspect it and decide if you want to keep it or not.
Here is how it will work:
1.First of all I will need  the following details from you:
- Full Name
- Full Shipping Address
2. After I will receive the details from you, I will forward them to eBay.
3. After they will process your info, they will send us both invoices. The invoice will send you the details on how to make a refundable payment.
4. eBay will contact me and I will ship the car to you. After you receive the car you will have 5 days to test, verify and do whatever you need to the car. If you will buy, then I will receive the payment details from eBay so that I can pick up the money.
5. If you will decide that you will not buy the car,  eBay will refund the money and I will have the shipping company come pick up my car. If you wish to make the transaction, please send me the necessary info so that we can proceed. I look forward to hear from you.

Thank you 

Step 6: Don't be alarmed when you see the exact same email under the "examples of scams" section on craigslists Frequently Asked Questions on http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

First of all I want to thank you for your interest for my car. I sell it at this price($2,980.00 ) because I have been divorced recently. Now the car is in my property and as a woman i don't need it. This car is in excellent working conditions, no scratches, flaws or any kind of damage, slightly used in 100% working and looking conditions and comes with a clear title.

From the beginning you have to know that for the payment I request only secure pay, I prefer the payment to be done using eBay services. We will use a safe payment method because I am affiliated at eBay and I have a purchase protection account for $20,000.00 The final price that I want for this car is $2,980.00 including shipping and handling.

If you are interested in buying it please provide me your full name and address so I can initiate the deal through eBay.

I will wait your answer very soon.

Step 7: Help the person getting a divorce out by buying their car through craigslist but pay them through ebay without test driving the car.  GREAT DEAL!

Make Money by Being Mildly Good at Golf

For the past few days Howtomakeadollar has highlighted ways that ordinary people can become professional athletes on team sports. We mentioned that with team sports you can simply perfect a single niche skill that your team requires. In one of these blogs we mentioned that golf, being an individual sport, does not allow ordinary people to go pro.

This is true. However, professional golf is not a completely individual sport. You see, all professional golfers use a person called a caddy. Caddies do not have to be any good at golf. This is where you come in.

You may not know it, but professional golfers are expected to tip their caddies with 10% of their winnings whenever they make money in a tournament. Now, 10% may not sound like much, but the prize money at major tournaments is extremely high. The "Augusta" tournament winner gets $1.35 million. There are several other tournaments with prizes over $1 million, so I think the key is to be a caddy for a good golfer, not a lousy one.

Caddies, to my knowledge, have one main job and one secondary job. The first job is to keep track of the golf clubs and drive the golf cart around without flipping it. The secondary job is to provide advice to the golfer about which club to use. Now, most professional golfers know a good bit about golf, so, if they ask you what club to use, the best answer is "go with your instincts." Because, really, they know more than you, and odds are any advice you give will be stupid. Remember, you are an ordinary person.

However, it would be helpful to know the names of the different clubs. Howtomakeadollar knows all the names of all the clubs, and has provided you with a short description of several of them below. We are giving this valuable info for free, but we always accept donations.

Club no. 1: "Woods"- These golf clubs are called "woods" because, according to Wikipedia, they "used to be made out of wood*."  Woods are used for long distance shots.

Club no. 2: "Irons" - These clubs are called "irons" because (surprise) they used to be made from iron. I don't know what they are for.

Club no 3:  "Putters"- Putters are called putters because they are made out of putty and butter. They are used for short-range shots.

*"They are called "woods" because they used to be made out of wood." Does this logic work for anything else? Lets just call everything by what it was made out of fifty years ago. What a dumb idea.
Golf is dumb.

Make Money by Being Mildly Good at Hockey

We've been running a series of blogs about making money by playing a niche position in professional team sports. So far we've covered Baseball, Basketball, and Football. Each of these sports has jobs that an average person can perform simply by practicing ordinary skills that they already have. All you have to do is polish your natural skills. All healthy people are able to run, throw and kick. You just need to practice the skills you already have.

Hockey is significantly harder. No one is born knowing how to skate on ice. This is a skill that you not only have to practice, but you also have to learn it from scratch. If you do know how to skate, then you will also need to weigh about 300 pounds, you will need to be very fast, and extremely angry. Basically, if you know how to skate you still have absolutely no chance of going pro at hockey unless you are also a bear. With that being said, you would think that hockey would be impossible for an average person to master.

Wrong. There is one position in hockey that does not require you to know how to skate, and in fact, seems to be based primarily on your ability to fall down and writhe in pain. I'm talking, of course, about being a goalie. Did you know that goalie "skates" are specifically designed to make skating difficult? The entire job of a goalie is to stay in the same spot, and skating is actually a bad thing for goalies.

This means that you can become a goalie even if you don't know how to skate.

There are only a few things you do need to know how to do.
1. You need to know how to put on all those pads. I can't help you with this, so don't ask.
2. You need to stay in front of the goal at all times and take up as much space as possible there
3. Thats it.

Make Money by Being Mildly Good at Football

We've been running a few blogs lately about making money by becoming a professional athlete in a team sport. Team sports allow mediocre players to develop niche skills that are necessary at specific situations during a game. You don't have to have a lot of talent at the sport if you simply practice and perfect a single niche skill.  NFL teams have 53 men on their rosters, so there are plenty of role players who are only there for specific plays. Most football players are colossal freakshows who weigh 300 pounds and can run faster than your car. Most ordinary people would not be able to compete in the NFL. However, the role players who sit the bench for most of the game are relatively normal people who have simply developed one skill, and are willing to occasionally get trampled by large angry men.

1. Kicker. Kickers in the NFL are notoriously skinny and unathletic. Their only job is to kick the football really hard. If you practice this enough starting in your teens, you should be able to get good at it. Most teams use the same kicker for kicking field goals as they use for kickoffs, so if you can kick accurately, you will be worth a lot more. Again, the only thing between you and the NFL is a lot of practice as a kicker. Accuracy is not hard if you practice enough. This job occasionally requires you to get flattened and trampled by several large angry men who only know how to chase footballs and will use the shortest path to the football, even if  especially if it involves trampling on you.

2. Punter. The punter has to punt. Thats it. This job occasionally requires you to get flattened by several large angry men who don't know where the ball is, but do know that you had it last.

3. Longsnapper. This job is for someone who is able to "hike" the ball accurately to a distance of 15 yards. This job ALWAYS requires you to be trampled and beaten by enormous angry men for being in the way.

4. Holder. This job requires you to catch a hiked ball, put it on your toe, and hold it there with your finger. It occasionally requires you to get kicked in the hand really hard by the kicker, and frequently requires you to get flattened by a bunch of large angry men.

Make Money by Being Mildly Good at Basketball

Yesterday we ran a post about how to make money by being mildly good at baseball in which we pointed out a few niche skills that can get you into the pros. Basketball works the same way. The starting salary in the NBA is $457,000 in 2010, so you can make more in basketball than baseball (min. salary is $400,000 in baseball). However, baseball has a high average salary.

In any case, basketball is a team sport with a 15 man roster, so there are a few spots on a team of 15 that are filled by role-players who have a single skill set. The most common niche-skill player in the NBA is the Three Point Guy. The 3 point guy is brought into the game for specifically designed plays that are meant to get the ball into his hands behind the three point line. His entire job is to make the shot. After the play is over he goes back to the bench. The 3 Point Guy is actually a very important player on good teams, and a good coach will have dozens of plays specifically designed around this player. It is an important role, but it is a role that nearly anyone can succeed in given enough practice. Most successful NBA players are extremely tall and muscular, and the average person would never make it in the NBA. However, the 3 Point Guy is different. He doesn't play most of the game, and only has one job. If you are a teenager of average size and you practice shooting baskets from 3 point range for several hours per day, you should get good enough to go to college for free, and to get a pro contract when you graduate. It is extremely difficult to make these shots with a 250 pound 7 ft tall athlete in your face, but if you practice constantly and have a good coach, you can do it.

Make Money by Being Mildly Good at Baseball

Baseball is the only major professional team sport that does not have a salary cap. Sure, you can make millions by playing football or basketball, but you won't make nearly as much as you could in baseball. Individual sports like golf can pay a lot, but you have to be good at them. In baseball however, you don't have to be all that good. It is a team sport with a 25 man roster, so all you have to do is develop a niche talent that gets you onto the team. Sure, if you can hit lots of homeruns, you will get paid more, but the minimum wage for major league players is $400,000, and the average league salary is just under $3 million. This is why labor unions are awesome.

Here are some niche skills that can get you into the pros

1. Learn how to throw a baseball 85 mph with you left hand. Lefties are only 10% of the population, and left handed pitchers are unusually successful against most hitters, so you will be a hot commodity. If you are left handed and 12 or 13 years old, you can practice throwing hard every few days, and if you seriously dedicate yourself to it, you probably will get into the 80-90 MPH zone by the time you are 20 or so. This should be enough to get you into college for free, or possibly drafted straight out of high school into the minor leagues. Baseball even has a name for mediocre pitchers who are left-handed: LOOGY. It stands for "Lefthanded One Out GuY." (seriously) A LOOGY is brought into a close game toward the end of the game and given a specific job of pitching to a single batter who is known to struggle against lefties. LOOGYs usually appear in about 70 games per year, for no longer than 5 mins at a time. They make between $400,000 and 5 million per year.

2. Find a way to get short and stocky, and have extremely reliable knees. Then learn to catch baseballs. Catchers are a very rare breed of baseball player. They are not usually expected to be very good hitters, and they don't really have to play the field much. All they are expected to do is squat behind the plate for 3.5 hours everyday without their knees falling off. I'm not sure how being short and stocky became a requirement, but it is. Most catchers who turn out to be very good eventually get the nickname "pudge."

3. Learn how to throw a knuckleball. There are about 7 billion people living in the world. To my knowledge, only one of them knows how to throw a knuckleball. His name is Tim Wakefield, and he has been a successful major league pitcher for 18 years. A knuckleball is any way of throwing a ball that causes it not to spin at all. If you can find a way to do this you will go pro. One of the best parts about throwing the knuckleball is that you don't have to throw it very hard. Throwing hard eventually causes your shoulder to break in half, and usually ends baseball player's careers. However, knuckleball pitchers can play effectively into their late 40s or low 50s.

4. Play for the Pirates or the Royals. In Pittsburgh and Kansas City, actual baseball skills are not a requirement to make the team, so you can just show up with a uniform and a glove. Very few people are willing to play for these teams, so they will appreciate you showing up.

Happy Mother's Day Gwen!

Happy Mother's Day Gwen! Congratulations! Your son Tyler has dedicated this blog to you for the day, outbidding the entire Ebay community just for you! This poem is also featured on www.Todayisjustforyou.com

This Mother's day, like none before
I finally understand
The depth of love a parent feels
when holding tiny hands

The joy you did experience
Watching as we grew
Is now mine to see and feel
And all because of you

The father now that I can be
(Your mothering be praised)
Is strong and confident and sure.
This is the man you raised.

I see the sacrifices made
The struggles you went through
And lovingly, as you have done
I'll gladly make them too.

Thank you for your godliness,
Your character is true
Your humble helpfulness shows that
I can depend on you

I hope the kind of father
I will someday prove to be
Is as loving, kind, and praiseworthy
As the mom you are to me.


Would you like to dedicate a personalized, unique blog for a birthday, anniversary, or special day to someone you care about? Check out other "Show your love" dedications that we have done, and email us if you are interested.

Make money by "Helping" people not litter

It is a well known fact that people litter.  It is also a well known fact that it is illegal to litter.  Unfortunately in the United States, people tend to get upset if the government actually enforces laws.  So often times, the government just decides its not worth enforcing laws.  One of these laws is littering.  When I refer to littering, I'm not talking about throwing trash-bags-full-of-garbage-out-of-your-sunroof-going-down-the-highway type of litter... just the little things littering.  i.e. cigarette butts out the window, straw wrappers on the floor, toothpicks from free samples at the food court, etc.  This lack of government intervention/ enforcement of an existing law, is a great money making opportunity.

The key to making money off of people littering is to invoke martial law.  When you see someone look around to see if anyone is looking, inconspicuously drop the tooth pick from their free sample on the floor and pretend like nothing happened, and continue on with you life... this is when you take action.

Step by step plan:
1) Yell at the top of your lungs "I am a U.S. citizen invoking martial law against the combatant militants in our midst."  You must say it word for word, and really loud so everyone within 50 feet can hear you.  If you do not do this it will not count and then you will just look silly.

2) Tackle the person who has littered.

3) Shove their face in their litter (note: this can also be applied to people who do not pick up their dog poop)

4) Tell them you are going to incarcerate them for breaking the law

5) After they start crying and are repentant... tell them they have to give you at least $1 and you will let them go.  If they do not have any cash... get their email address so you can send them a paypal invoice.  Note: if the person is an illegal immigrant and are afraid of deportation... you can usually get much more than $1.

6) Take money, make them pick up their trash and eat it.  Video tape them eating their trash.  Make money putting the video on youtube.

7) If you do not hold the litterer accountable... you are guilty for littering as well and run the risk of having someone invoke Martial Law against you.

This must be done... or Mother Earth will cry and all of the global warming and Al Gore "haters" will win.

Happy Birthday Cade!

Happy Birthday Cade!  Today How To Make A Dollar is dedicated just for you.  As one of our premium members... we have taken this opportunity to show you how much you are appreciated.

Happy Birthday Cade
We love you so much this birthday blog we have made
Hopefully you have a good breakfast of toast with marmalade
And a birthday present made of jade

This is a simple poem from us to you
A rhyming line or two, we promise just a few
To show how much we care about someone who is only twenty two
so here it goes, if you do not like it, please don't sue

Cade you are a great father and friend
with you people cherish the time they spend
If there is a problem, you take the time to mend
You are loyal to the end

Your wife loves you so very much
but less than a dollar because she did not pay for this blog and such
If she knew this birthday blog was available, I have a hunch
she would have bought you one because she loves you a bunch!

Happy Birthday Cade!  You owe us $1 for this post.  :)  

Donate here:

All of your family and friends who forgot to get you a card or present can donate here:

This has been brought to you by the SHOW YOUR LOVE feature.
This blog is also exclusively on www.todayisjustforyou.com

Ebay Positive Feedback

How To Make A Dollar has hit a new milestone in our pursuit of $1,000,000!  We received our first feedback on ebay... and thankfully it was positive!

Since we are now a 100% positive feedback ebay seller you should buy one of our listed items.  http://myworld.ebay.com/how2makeadollar/
Especially the mothers day card!  Out bid the current highest bidder... are you really going to let them love their mother more than you love your mother???

Make Money By Selling Something That You Didn't Create

This idea has limitless potential.  I'm going to share a few examples.

1. Repackage someone else's creation

 

Who wrote the song "Old MacDonald Had A Farm"?  I'm fairly certain it wasn't Salina Yoon.  But yet, she can make money selling a book that solely contains the words to a song she didn't write.  Also see, "Wheels on the Bus", "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider", and other various nursery rhymes and fairy tales.

2.  "Enhance" someone else's creation

Most people would agree that Jane Austen novels are ok, but are missing something that they can't quite put a finger on.  Well that something is zombies.  Or sea monsters.  Or mummies.  The point is, apparently you can take a classic work of literature, add a few lines of your own, and have reputable book-mongers stock your "creation".  Or even get a movie deal!  There are plenty of classic works to choose from, but if your brain flushed whatever you may have learned from high school English class to free up space to think about twitter, here's a head start:

Moby Dick - Replace the original protagonist with Moby, the international electronic music sensation
Crime and Punishment - The crime:  adultery.  The punishment:  a scarlet letter.  Sound familiar?  Just change the title of The Scarlet Letter and no one will know the difference
1984 - Instead of totalitarianism, link the popular culture from the '80s to the demise of mankind
A Tale of Two Cities - Make this one about a young girl's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk
Jane Eyre - No need to change anything here.  Nobody really reads this book, but yet many own it anyway.

3.  Claim someone else's creation as your own

This is alternately called plagiarism, forgery, and theft and is mostly frowned upon.  Somehow different from the first two options and can land you in jail.

Unique Mothers Day Card

Mothers day is coming up soon.  Howtomakeadollar offers a very unique service of providing personalized online cards.  Mothers day is a great opportunity to take advantage of this feature.  We have listed our service of providing a unique personalized mothers day card on ebay.  If you would like to have your mother featured on her own website for the day that contains a personalized sonnet, love poem, and/or haiku written by us, for you... place your bid.

To get an idea of how your page will look, you can see several previous personalized cards here, here and here.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200468391272&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_500wt_1071

Check out other great Mothers Day gift ideas... www.todayisjustforyou.com

How To Make Money On A Burning Coal Mine

Centralia is a town in Pennsylvania that sits on top of a coal mine that's been on fire for nearly 50 years.  It's true, look it up.  It was an ordinary coal mining town in Pennsylvania's Anthracite coal region with roughly 1100 residents living there in the 1960s.  Only 9 remain today.  The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is in the process of trying to evict the remaining residents due to the "dangerous gases" that could seep into their homes.  The Centralians claim the real reason they're being evicted is so that someone can gain access to the millions of dollars worth of coal under their town.  (Apparently the government of Centralia owns the rights to the coal, not the Commonwealth, unlike most of the rest of the state).  This raises a few questions:  If dangerous gases were really seeping into their homes since the fire started in the 60s, wouldn't they be dead already?  Conversely, if the remaining coal can still be mined, why hasn't it been mined by now? 

Either way, there is opportunity to make money here.  If the Commonwealth is right, and the eviction stands (the residents are asking a judge today in Harrisburg to stop the eviction), there will suddenly be nine people that need to move.  And chances are, if they are the kind of people that stubbornly hold onto a house that sits on top of a burning coal mine for 50 years, then they are the kind of people that stubbornly hold onto everything (also known as hoarders).  So they will have a lot of stuff to move and will need significant help moving it.  This is where you can come in.  Rent a large truck, swing into town claiming to be an expert in coal mining town evacuations (if that's not true yet, it will be by the time you're finished) and offer your services, for a small fee of your choosing, to help the townsfolk relocate.  You could even give them a "bulk rate".  People go for those sorts of things.

However, the preferred option is that the residents are right, and the Commonwealth is only after the rights of the coal. This would mean that someone thinks that the remaining coal is salvageable, and worth enough to use the force of the commonwealth to evict people from their homes to get it.  Well, not if you can get to it first.  Presumably, there will be a legal battle, and all legal battles take more than a year to resolve, which should give you plenty of time to carry out this plan.  First, move to Centralia (real estate is surprisingly affordable there).  Then win over your new neighbors (all nine of them) and get elected as mayor.  When you become the mayor, you technically become the government of Centralia, which would mean that you own the rights to the coal.  Put out the fire* and mine the estimated one billion dollars worth of coal (share some profits with your constituents, they waited a long time for something good to come from the miserable hell they've been living in).

*even though no one's been able to put out the fire for almost 50 years**, I'm going to assume that you'll find a way.  But if you can't put out the fire, a burning coal mine is basically the same thing as a coal burning power plant.  Use it to start generating electricity and you'll be set for life.

** apparently, one of the remaining 9 residents is Centralia's fire chief.  He's only 49, so at no time during his reign as fire chief has there not been a fire in Centralia.  Not very good for his resume if he gets evicted.


Thanks to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for the inspiration for this story.