How Can I Make Money?
Homemade Marmalade, Chutney and Jams
Since moving to Spain I have found myself in a position where I have seriously lacked money. During the first five years in this lovely country I rented and slaved in a restaurant. In the short term I had paid the first three years rent in advance so things seemed fairly okay and we were getting along just fine. However after three years, as a consequence of the recession, I found that I was barely making enough money to pay the rent, let alone covering the numerous bills.
So I asked myself how can I make money?
Given that I was living in an area where oranges grew in abundance and a grove near to my restaurant had been abandoned, I set about picking oranges and making marmalade. Secondly, I had a small patch of land at the back of the restaurant where I grew vegetables which I decided to use to make chutney.
Always optimistic I got up very early every Saturday morning and took my wares to a local market/boot fair in the hope of making money. Sitting under the hot sun was not fun and I was concerned that my marmalade and chutneys were going to boil. Plus I found it quite frustrating that customers really wanted something for nothing and frequently asked for offers of buy one get one free!
After a month I took time to review what was happening and whether in fact I was making any money. When assessing my income I decided not to include the time I had spent making the items or indeed sitting in the blazing sun. I concluded that whilst I was selling my goods I was not really making a profit particularly after paying for my stall and petrol and therefore I asked myself was it really worth the effort. After two months I decided that the disadvantages outweighed the advantages so gave up on this venture. I however displayed my marmalades and chutneys in my restaurant and at least made some income without the hassle of the market. I also made English Christmas cakes, Christmas Puddings and Mince Pies for customers, which sold well.
Fortunately chutneys mature with age so even now I occasionally attend fetes and fairs to try and move on my stock.
My Clever Partner
Whilst I was working and perspiring at the market my partner designed his own website which provides UK television in Spain and an English IP address. I actually thought that it should be called UK TV anywhere in the world because this is what it is. All that is needed is an internet connection and computer. To my surprise his venture to date is successful although I sill feel that he would have more customers if he advertised world wide.
Ebay
On the advice of my belly dancing daughter I decided to make exotic belly dancing costumes and sell them on Ebay. I spent hours sewing sequins onto the costumes I had made, took photographs and placed them on Ebay. The problem I found was that Ebay Spain is really not that good and therefore chose to use Ebayuk. Whilst I sold a few items the cost of postage from Spain to the UK was against me. Plus I was competing with cheaper mass produced costumes from countries such as China.
Whilst looking on Ebay I came across dolls that looked like babies and some of the clothes for sale for these dolls were selling at high prices. I can make those I thought so I bought wool and lace and set about knitting. Again I sold items but I had to lower my prices as a consequence of the high postage costs. I also advertised my items on craft sites such as Dwanda and Etsy which have brought some success.
I also noted on Ebay that jewellery from Tibet was being sold for 0.99 pence, postage and package free. I ordered a number of items and displayed them in the restaurant. I was very surprised to see that they were actually selling so I set about ordering more. Thinking that I had at long last come across a way of making money I ordered items in bulk from Peru and Tibet. Unfortunately as the recession set in and the number of customers eating at our restaurant declined so did the sale of my jewellery.
MABS
In the area that I lived there was a charity called MABS that supported people who were suffering from cancer. They paid carers 12 euro an hour to go into the client’s home to maybe cook, do shopping, clean or sleep over. As I had worked in the caring profession in the UK I decided this was for me. Now I'm really not very good with vomit and other bodily functions but I was being paid, so on the occasions clients had accidents I took deep breathes and just got on with it. Whilst the work was rewarding both financially and emotionally it was also depressing because all my clients eventually died.
Country Cousins
The situation at the restaurant was getting pretty bad and I needed to seriously make money. A customer told me about an organization called Country Cousins who are based in the UK. I completed my application and was invited for an interview in the UK. I paid for my airfares and also a police check. Shortly after my interview I received confirmation that I had been accepted and I was placed with a rather bad tempered lady in a remote part of England. As a Country Cousin my job was to live with and care for this lady. I was given two hours break a day, which to be honest, I needed given her rather nasty and demanding attitude. In general it was not a particularly good experience given the nature of the lady but at least I earnt two thousand pounds minus air fares. Since that time I have been placed with an elderly couple and a single lady. These clients have been very pleasant which made a huge difference. I continue to be registered with Country Cousins and use them when things get tough money wise.
Agony Aunt
Having now left the restaurant and having more time on my hands I was surfing the internet and came across a website that offered work as an agony aunt paying fifty pounds an hour. There were two ways to apply to become an agony aunt the first was to pay for tuition the second to prove over a period of three weeks that you were able to offer advice by answering fictitious problems and demonstrating that you had time. Given my history in social worker coupled with the fact that I wanted to make money and not spent it I decided on the second option. In all honestly I was rather sceptical about the whole thing but it was costing me nothing other than my time. I dutifully signed into the website every day for three weeks and added my comments, wrote my required article and so on. I asked various questions in respect to how agony aunts were paid, what was The Association of Agony Aunts and so on. Most of my questions were not answered and the more I looked into the website the more I became suspicious about the claims made and also whether there actually were any jobs available. After three weeks I eagerly awaited an email from this website offering me a job but unsurprisingly nothing appeared.
Given my suspicions and that I had nothing else to do I wrote a critical review about this website and after surfing the net found Wikinut. I did not really read what the Wikinut website was about but was pleased that I could post my review. To my surprise my review created a lot of traffic which in the main tended to be in the form of abuse from the owner of the website.
Wikinut
Since posting my review I read all the details about Wikinut and have posted a number of articles and poems. In all honesty I have not really made any money but the Wikinut community seems to be supportive and friendly. By reading various articles on Wikinut I have now discovered Factoidz and Pay to Click, (Neobux is my favorite), which I hope will bring in some income although I’m not holding my breathe.
Surveys
In the past I have registered with a number of websites that pay to complete surveys. Whilst I have found that the majority of sites do not offer that many surveys to complete Valued Opinions have proved to be quite lucrative and I have received a number of 10 pound Amazon vouchers during the past six months.
Interneteyesuk
Again whilst surfing the net I came across a website called interneteyes. For £14.99 I was provided with a year’s subscription and live feed from camera’s placed in shops. In essence I was to be a security guard surveying cameras. If I noted shoplifting I was to press the alert button and register my concern. The website paid £1.50 for 60 viewing hours a month plus a financial reward for the viewer who made the highest number of alerts. I figured that even if I did not register an alert I would be repaid my registration fee over a year. During the first three months I avidly watched my screens and made a couple of alerts. After four months I became quite bored by the whole thing so now I just make sure that I am logged in for 60 hours or more to ensure my monthly payment. After a year I decided not to renew my membership mainly because sitting in front of a computer al.l day watching people shopping was really not my cup of tea
Wikaniko
More recently Colin and I have become distributors for Wikaniko which is a UK based on line company that sells eco friendly products. The company is run by our friends who we trust. We are only in the early stages but feel positive that this company will indeed make and income for us.
http://www.wikaniko.com/index.php?distributor=greenerearth&redirect=http://www.wikaniko.com/shop/aloe-vera/aloe-vera-muscle-relaxing-cream.html
Overall View
As you can see I have tried a number of ways to make money and as a result have a room full of jams, chutneys, jewellery belly dance costumes and knitted items. My partner on the other hand continues to make income from his website and we are positive about our new venture with Wikaniko
