Who Will Take Care of Your Pets When the Sun Explodes?

Who will take care of your pets when the sun explodes?

You may have heard that scientists fully expect the sun to explode sometime later this evening or tomorrow. This is true. Howtomakeadollar is not lying. Read about here.

Ok, so now that you have read about it and have come to grips with this Tragic New Reality, you are no doubt trying to get your priorities straightened out for the next few hours. Do you have a lot of errands to run? Are you in the middle of some important stuff that can't wait? Maybe you were hoping to make some last minute fantasy baseball trades? If so, then you don't really have time to worry about the fate of your pets during the Supernova of 2010 do you?

A supernova is coming. Are your pets prepared?

Fortunately Howtomakeadollar offers Supernova Pet Insurance. If you are vaporized into a puff of carbon by a supernova, or are otherwise left incapacitated by a supernova, Howtomakeadollar will see to it that your pets are well fed and watered as they live out their final days on the wisps of smoke emitted by the annihilation of the solar system as it darkens, cools and slowly collects itself into an interstellar gas cloud.

You probably think that such a policy would cost billions of dollars, but Supernova Pet Insurance doesn't have to be expensive. For a limited time Howtomakeadollar is issuing Supernova Pet Insurance for $1.00 per pet. This is an absolute steal. Will you do that for your pet? Think about how Muffy will feel when she is blinded by a searing solar flare an instant before the entire world catches on fire and is condensed into a ball of metallic gasses. Without Supernova Pet Insurance she will feel frightened, hopeless, and alone.

For $1 you can get an official Howtomakeadollar Supernova Pet Insurance Policy. Your policy will guarantee your pet's safety and survival in the event of a supernova.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: SUN FAILS TO EXPLODE! PETS SAVED! PRICES SLASHED

Make Money by Cleaning out your car

Today's blog is just a re-posting of a blog we wrote several months ago. I recently endeavored to clean out my car and was pleased to make over $5 in the process, so this is definitely a proven business strategy. 

This business is actually a pretty easy one to run. All you need is a car.

Business Description: If you've owned a car for very long, chances are it has gotten kind of messy. There are probably broken pieces of doritos all around the drivers seat. Usually you can find a french fry or two, and sometimes you can even find a bag of groceries. In addition to food related trash, you will probably find a few receipts, napkins, and used condoms. Its a good idea to clean and vacuum your car a few times a year, and most people do this anyway. But what if I told you that you could make money while you did this? You'd be interested right?

Well you can.

You see, in addition to all the trash that you find in your car, you will probably also find a few pennies, nickels and dimes. If you are lucky you may even find some quarters. This can add up to a dollar or more.

Go ahead, scoff.

But why stop with a there? If you clean your car once a day every day of the year, you would make $365.00. If you clean it twice a day you would make $730.00

Now who is scoffing?

Related Business Ideas: Try on an old coat that you haven't worn since last winter, and check the pockets. Do this every year.

Ultra-Related Business Ideas: Clean out other people's cars for a small fee, keep the change as a tip.

Start a Business Selling Toads

One of the founding principles of Howtomakeadollar is that any time you can get something for free, you should get as much of it as possible, no matter what it is. This is different from hoarding because hoarders take stuff and keep it, while we take stuff and sell it.

I was thinking of this the other day while I was out hiking and saw like 50 toads. I don't know what the market is like for toads nowadays. I suspect it is fairly flat, but a flat market is still a market, and toads are free. So you may as well wrangle a bunch of them together and try to sell them off. A good rule of thumb is that if someone offers you 50 of something for free, then there has to be a way to make money off it. It doesn't really matter what it is. 50 of anything is a good deal.

Toads: Somewhere in the world there is a person who wants one

I'm sure there is some sort of National Toad Enthusiasts Coalition or toad collectors group out there that would love to buy toads off you. Let me check. Yep. After a quick scan of the Internet I have found this to be true. There is a group called "Save the Toads" here:  http://www.savethetoads.com/, and there is also a group called "Stop the toads" http://www.stopthetoad.org.au/. Both of these groups appear to be legitimate, and either one would be a good place to start hawking your toads. The first group would pay you not to kill them, and the second group seems willing to pay you to kill them. This is a perfect storm for a bidding war. All you need is a bunch of toads. Let me explain how to get them.

I did not stop to collect the toads I encountered because I was going hiking and had not brought a proper toad receptacle with me. However, if you want to pursue this opportunity, I will tell you how to do it. First, I was hiking a trail in New Hampshire known as the Pemigewassett Loop, so you will need to go there if you want toads. Secondly, you should know that the Pemi Loop is considered to be the 2nd most difficult day hike in North America. It is about 32 miles, and climbs 11 mountains, so its not going to be easy. But it is worth it because of all the toads you can get.

All you need to do is hike the loop and bring a large bag or box or something. Everytime you find a toad just grab it and drop it in the bag. I promise you will see at least 50 of them if you do this whole trail. After that its just a matter of finding a buyer. Even if you sell all 50 of them for two cents each, you still make a dollar, and I think a two cent toad is a great deal.

I've even thought of a few selling points for to make.
1. Toads are immortal. On my hike, I accidentally stepped on one, but it didn't die. It just hopped away. A few years ago I ran one over with a mower, and it hopped out the other side totally fine. (seriously). No blood, no guts, no sign of any trauma. This is because toads, like Elvis, never actually die. If this fact doesn't get you a toad sale, I don't know what will. Toads are immortal and indestructible.
2. Toads eat lots of insects. If you get toads, you will never get an ant or termite problem. Just get a bunch of toads and let them roam freely around your house. I recommend at least five toads per room. You will probably need to keep your rooms dark and damp at all times, and maybe get some rotten logs, because that is what toads like.

Make Money by Selling Pieces of Junk

A few days ago the Red Cross came to my work and I donated blood because I am a moderately good person. When you are donating blood, they usually give you a little heart-shaped squeezy toy to hold in your hand. They tell you to squeeze the thing every 10 seconds. This helps keep your blood flowing while you donate. I can usually squeeze out a pint of blood in about 30 seconds. MY HEART IS STRONG AND FILLED WITH COURAGE. But for other slow-blooded people I suppose the little heart toy helps. They don't let you keep the heart-shaped squeezy toy either. After you are done giving blood they take it away and send you on yours.

Well, the other day when I gave blood, they gave me a little five inch piece of PVC pipe to squeeze. I asked the nurse what happened to all the little squeezy hearts and she told me they "ran out." A guy donating near me was given a Bic pen to squeeze. Times are tough at the Red Cross. I can only presume that they were forced to sell off their heart shaped squeeze toys. I would rate the PVC squeezing experience as about a 5. Squeezing a PVC pipe is simply not as satisfying as squeezing a squeezy toy. I would have thought that squeezing a pen would be more fun because of all the clicking you could do, but it turned out that is was just a regular pen, not one of those clickable pens. So it seems that the Red Cross has been reduced to handing out old pens and pieces of discarded plumbing. They have fallen on bad times, and are in need of various household items that can be held in the palm of your hand.

All this talk about pens and pipes makes Howtomakeadollar want to donate blood

Now, I'm not saying that you will get paid very much money for your childhood rock collection or your old broken cell phone, but I am saying that these items are exactly what the Red Cross needs right now, and you probably aren't going to find anyone else who needs them. You need to strike while the iron is hot!

If you do not have any such items, Howtomakeadollar will gladly sell a bunch of them to you.

Annoying Customer Insists He is Always Right

BOSTON, MA -- Annoying customer Brad Layton held up a line at the Tremont St. Target for nearly twenty minutes Sunday afternoon after finding what he believed to be an error on his receipt.

"This dish soap was marked for $2.97, but you charged me $3.97 for it," Layton said to cashier Gabriela Sanchez, not noticing that she had already scanned several items for the next customer. "He took his bags and then just stood there staring at the receipt for a minute or two," Sanchez said, "I hate it when they do that. Its always the obnoxious ones."

When Sanchez did not immediately respond, Layton grew irritated and raised his voice. "Excuse me miss, you ripped me off by a dollar," he snapped. "He just started getting angry really fast. I didn't look up at him for like one second and all of sudden he's yelling at me," Sanchez reported. "It was really awkward. Everyone was looking over at me."

After a call for a price check found that the price on the receipt was correct, Layton refused to leave, and demanded to see a manager. "Can't you guys just own up to it and give me my dollar back? Don't you know I'm the customer here? I'm always right!"

At this point, Brian Cabot, the next customer in line, rolled his eyes and began fidgeting impatiently. "It was fine at first. You know, if there is a real mistake, then thats fine, they can fix it, but he started getting mad and shouting. When he said "I'm always right," that was the end of it for me. That just doesn't make any sense." Store manager Joy Donaldson confirmed Cabot's statement. "In my experience, customers are very rarely right. This was a very unreasonable thing for him to claim."

Instead of apologizing and leaving the store after Donaldson confirmed the price check, Layton insisted on returning to the aisle to see the price himself. "Ok, somebody must have switched this!" he shouted, gesturing toward the price marking. "Don't you guys know the customer is always right? I'm the customer! I'm always right!" "Once he had said that for like the fifth time, I just gave up and called security." Donaldson stated. "What kind of person thinks he is always right? People just don't know how to act in this country anymore."

One dollar bill basketball

We posted a blog about how to sell a one dollar bill for $2.

One of the dollar bill origami shapes we made was a basketball.  Here at howtomakeadollar we like to share our vast knowledge.  Here is an instructional video on how to create the one dollar origami basketball.



Its so easy even a 2 year old can do it.  Seriously here is a video of a 2 year old making a one dollar origami basketball.



We promote getting kids involved at an early age making money.  So please help the 2 year old who make 3,452 of these basketballs and purchase one here!

Make money promoting your blog in class

Now that you have started your own blog and have a paypal account, you are ready to promote your blog. If you do not have a blog or a paypal account, you should definitely start one.  There are gazillions* of ways to promote your blog, but one good way to do it, that is legal, is to promote your blog in class.

Step by step business plan for promoting your blog legally in class:
1) take a class
     -if you are not in a class you can always show up for a random class
     -if you are no longer the normal age of a student: have a midlife crisis, decide to go back to school, take a business communications class in which you are assigned to give a presentation on anything you want
2) promote your blog
3) people will donate money to you. They may donate money because they think your blog is amazing, or because they make money off all of your brilliant ideas, or because they feel sorry for you that you waste all of your time blogging and are having a mid-life crisis.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 for every class you take.  The donations will start pouring in.

*by "gazillions" I mean at least five

1. Go around the beltway with a can of spraypaint and paint your blog name on everything you can find, such as the HoV lane, overpasses, and people's bumpers (you may need to tailgate really close to do this, and the spraypaint may blow back in your face while you lean out the window, but I don't think you should let this stop you)

2. Find a way to change the Google homepage to your blog. This should increase traffic significantly. I think the Chinese government did something like this recently, so it can't be very hard.

3. Make a youtube video that is called "nude celebrities" and then just play a five minute video of your blog. You can scroll up and down the blog page if you feel that you need a more action-oriented video.

4. Get a cropduster airplane and fly really low over a big city such as Washington D.C. or NYC. This should draw lots of attention. Shout out the window "please visit www.whateveryourblogsnameis.com" at all the people you see. Make sure you say "please" or else they might think you are a crazy wacknut with bad manners.

5. Go to a crowded movie theater with lots of flyers and business cards for your blog. Position yourself at the main entrance, and yell "fire*" really loud. At this point the theater should empty rather quickly. Make sure you give everyone a flyer as they file past you. 

*you do not need to actually start a fire, but it helps.

Are you interested in being a guest blogger for Howtomakeadollar? We are gearing up for our annual Best Guest Bloggers Blogfest Blog-off. Entries are due in the next few days. Winner gets a cash prize, bragging rights, and a free subscription to Howtomakeadollar. Read all the rules here.

How to sell $1 for $2

Howtomakeadollar has posted several times about how to make your own money, how to turn play money into real money, and how to sell a signed copy of the original dollar bill.  This post will describe how to sell $1 bill for $2!

If you would like to sell a one dollar bill for two dollars... there has to be something special about your one dollar bill.  It could either be signed by a famous person, be really old, or be really really new (some people are willing to pay money to trade their old crinkled dollars in for new crisp clean ones... if you are one of these people please email us... we have lots of new dollar bills and shiny pennies and nickels).  Don't worry, if you do not have a special one dollar bill you can make it special!

Everyone loves money origami!  It's true... if you google "how to make a dollar" a bunch of youtube videos and websites dedicated to making origami out of money come up.

Step by step business plan on how to sell a one dollar bill for $2:
1) obtain a real $1 bill*
2) learn origami
3) fold $1 bill into cool origami shape
4) sell cool $1 origami for $2

*Important: make sure it is a one dollar bill.  It would be very sad to accidentally make origami out of a $100 bill and sell it for $2

If you would like to buy your very own $1 bill for $2... today is your lucky day.  We are offering an UNLIMITED number of $1 bill origami.  The shapes you can choose from are bow tie, square, ring, triangle or airplane or basketball.  All of these are pictured below and can be purchased through paypal!

Bow Tie $1 bill origami

Square $1 bill origami

Ring $1 bill origami

Triangle $1 bill origami

 

Airplane $1 bill origami







 

Basketball $1 bill origami

Buy Pablo Picasso Signed original

In our research on how to make our own REAL money... we learned something that most people do not know.  Pablo Picasso was the original designer of the one dollar bill.  Luckily for all of our readers we found the last original one dollar bill signed by Pablo Picasso himself.

You can buy the last original one dollar bill signed by Pablo Picasso here for only $1 (plus $0.44 for shipping and handling).

Want to get famous and make money? Enter the 2010 Best Guest Bloggers Blogfest Blog-Off championship for a chance at fame and money. Official rules are here.

Become a Guest Blogger

Howtomakeadollar has been overwhelmed with requests from our readers asking us to become a member of our blog team.  Since the process and application of becoming a full time Howtomakeadollar blogger takes at least 6 years to complete we have decided to allow people to become Guest Bloggers.  If you have an idea how to make money and would like to blog about it... we would love to give you the opportunity to post it on our blog.  Email us the idea and we will post it.

We have decided to help incentivize and promote competition by offering the best Guest Blogger $1.  We will allow our readers to vote for the best Guest Bloggers blog.  Whoever receives the most votes from our readers will win the highly coveted "Best Guest Bloggers Blogfest Blog-off 2010 Award," bragging rights, and $1. Losers must update their facebook status with a link to Howtomakeadollar, and must say something nice* about the winner. All participants are encouraged to get all their friends to vote. All forms of cheating, subversion, and ballot rigging are encouraged.

*Howtomakeadollar has a list of compliments that you are free to use
1. [Guest Blogger] is very good at origami
2. [Guest Blogger] offers helpful driving advice
3. [Guest Blogger] is the most competitive member of his bowling league
4. [Guest Blogger] has good posture
5. [Guest Blogger] never exceeds the speed limit
6. [Guest Blogger] is a frequent contributor to Wikipedia
7. [Guest Blogger] never hits the snooze button
8. [Guest Blogger] knows a lot about anime
9. [Guest Blogger] knows lots of clever pick-up lines
10. [Guest Blogger] has many interesting stories to tell

Readers who are interested in entering this contest must email us their entire blog entry 3/15/2010. Guest blogs will appear each day, beginning on 3/15/2010, and will run until we run out of them, or until we think up something else we would rather do. We reserve the right to not publish your blog if we think it
1. Violates our high ethical standards
2. Is based on debatable or unsubstantiated claims that violate our strict truth policy*
3. Is incapable of making at least one dollar

* Howtomakeadollar does not have a truth policy

Additionally, Howtomakeadollar reserves the right to edit and add our own commentary to any guest blog post.

How to make $1 in 35 seconds

We have blogged previously about how to make $80 with a copy machine... the ONLY problem with that blog is that you need at least $1 to carry out the simple business plan.  For this idea, you don't need a REAL $1... just a PLAY $1.

Step by Step business plan:
1) Obtain PLAY $1 bill.  This should cost you significantly less than $1.  If it costs you more than $1 hopefully its signed by Pablo Picasso.

2) Locate on the PLAY $1 where it says PLAY

3) Cross out the word PLAY and replace it with the word REAL

4) Optional step: Color the money green (sometimes the PLAY money comes already green... in that case you have saved yourself at least 10 seconds off of the time it takes to execute this business plan)

5) Repeat steps 1 through 4

Simple and easy way to make one dollar!

Market Research

Based on our extremely rigorous polling, Howtomakeadollar is pleased to report that its basic business model  (millions of one dollar ideas) is the best.

This poll was conducted for several days in January, 2010, and found that 60% of all people everywhere in the world, including Nauru, believe that a million one dollar ideas is the best way to make a million dollars. The poll also found that taking Christmas trees out is 20% likely to make you a millionaire. The margin of error on this poll is estimated at 20%.

A special thank you to all of our readers who participated!

How to make money by being an Elvis Impersonator

Business Name: Elvis Impersonator Corp.


How it works:
1. Wait around until you are in your upper 40s.
2. While you are waiting you should:
    A. Habitually eat junk food and drink beer for about 30 years until you get fat and your eyes become perpetually bleary.
    B. IMPORTANT: Before you get old and fat: Buy a tight-fitting white and gold cowboy-themed tuxedo.
3. When you have accomplished steps one and two, and all the corollaries of step two
4. Run a Google search for the words "Best Elvis Song." 

5. Learn the words to whichever song comes up first.*

6. Dye your hair black
7. Grow big sideburns
8. Put on the outfit that you bought in step 2B. It probably won't fit too well, but that is the point.
9. Go to a bar
10. Drink just enough alcohol that you will have slurred speech and will stumble when walking, but not so much that you actually fall down. (This is a delicate balance that you should have perfected sometime during step 2A)
11. Good. Now you are ready to be an Elvis Impersonator
12. Sing whatever song you learned in steps 4 and 5.
13. **Keep singing it over and over again until someone pays you**

*Howtomakeadollar has already completed this step for you. The song is "Hound Dog."

**Howtomakeadollar is not quite clear about who pays Elvis Impersonators. Is it tips? The bar owner?? Old ladies??? No one knows. Likewise, we do not know the going rate for Elvis Impersonators either. Personally, I would speculate that under certain circumstances, somebody, somewhere might be willing to pay up to a dollar for this service.

On a related note: Forbes estimates that Elvis Impersonators made $42 million during the 2008 recession. I don't know what that says about the state of western civilization.

Related Business Idea: I think Michael Jackson is a pretty close peer with Elvis. Both were world famous, extremely weird, and died young. In a few years you may be able to dress up really weird and make money at parties by acting like MJ. Howtomakeadollar does not recommend this idea for children's parties.

Borrow a dollar

Looking for a quick way to make a dollar.  I think this is H2MAD's (howtomakeadollar) easiest and quickest idea yet.  Here's the step by step instructions:

1.  Locate person
2.  Ask to borrow a dollar
3.  When they give you a dollar, say thank you and put it in your pocket.

It's that simple.  It takes all of about 30 seconds.  If you end up doing this full time you will be making $120 an hour.  That works out to almost $250,000 a year.  All for "borrowing" a dollar.

This idea works best in front of vending machines.  You will probably have a higher success rate using people you know.  People are a lot more willing to let a friend "borrow" a dollar than some random person they have never met before.

How To Make Money In The Restroom

1.  Find a public restroom.  Ideally in a restaurant, night club, or Apple store.
2.  Grab all of the paper towels, toilet paper, and soap dispensers.
3.  Stand near the exit, which is usually the same as the entrance.
4.  If you are dressed like a butler, or wearing a tuxedo, this might work better.
5.  When someone enters the restroom and needs one of the items that you've snagged, offer it to them for a low price, such as 35 cents.  Or give it to them but act like you expect a tip.  I'm sure you've encountered people who have expected tips from you before, so you should know what to do.
6.  To enhance your money making opportunity, have some other items ready to offer your "clients", such as warm towels, hand sanitizer, or gummy worms.
7.  If someone gets angry at you for hoarding the toilet paper, flee.  Find another restroon and start over.

If I had a Dime for Every Time I Heard That...

Business Description: Instead of saying "If I had a dime everytime I heard that, I'd be rich" you should actually start charging people a dime every time they say it. This will get you some money, and will get people to stop saying stupid stuff around you. 

Business Competitors: I don't think many people are actually working in this business, so competition will be low. Don't be afraid to charge more, up to a quarter.

Related Business Idea: If someone says "A penny for your thoughts," always take it. This should be a no-brainer
Other Related Business Idea: If someone says "here's my two cents," demand that they give you two cents.

How To Make Money By Bottling Bog Water

Consumers have already been conditioned to buy something they can get for free (water) by concluding that having it bottled is somehow safer than the retrieving it from the tap.  Clever marketing and common perception have created an extremely profitable industry.  Studies have recently shown, however, that this perception may not be entirely accurate, and according to "government and industry estimates" up to a quarter of all bottled water is actually bottled tap water!  (see the planetgreen.discovery.com story here)  If people are already willing to pay money for a perceived health benefit that may not exist, perhaps some will be willing to pay money for a rumored health benefit that definitely does not exist.  Yes, I'm talking about the rumor (started here) that bog water has antioxidant properties and enhances libido (not true).   This has been demonstrated repeatedly (never) by diligent (dubious) scientific (imaginary) research.  So, spread this rumor as fact, and head to your local bog to be the first to start selling the miracle swamp tonic known as bottled bog water!

How to Make Money By Cleaning Out Your Car

This business is actually a pretty easy one to run. All you need is a car.

Business Description: If you've owned a car for very long, chances are it has gotten kind of messy. There are probably broken pieces of doritos all around the drivers seat. Usually you can find a french fry or two, and sometimes you can even find a bag of groceries. In addition to food related trash, you will probably find a few receipts, napkins, and used condoms. Its a good idea to clean and vacuum your car a few times a year, and most people do this anyway. But what if I told you that you could make money while you did this? You'd be interested right?

Well you can.

You see, in addition to all the trash that you find in your car, you will probably also find a few pennies, nickels and dimes. If you are lucky you may even find some quarters. This can add up to a dollar or more.

Go ahead, scoff.

But why stop with a there? If you clean your car once a day every day of the year, you would make $365.00. If you clean it twice a day you would make $730.00

Now who is scoffing?

Related Business Ideas: Try on an old coat that you haven't worn since last winter, and check the pockets. Do this every year.

Ultra-Related Business Ideas: Clean out other people's cars for a small fee, keep the change as a tip.

Find inspiration

I came across this website the other day while thinking about developing howtomakeadollar. I find the website inspirational.
http://milliondollarhomepage.com/
It is a website some guy developed where he sold one million pixels. Each pixel was sold for $1. Some people would look at this idea as a million dollar idea. But, I think it is a perfect example of one million $1 dollar ideas.