Summer Without a Job

With school being out for the summer and not having a job I've found myself with a lot of time on my hands. For the most part, it's quite nice. I haven't had a relaxed summer in a number of years. First was the summer where I went on a geology class trip to Italy, and then came back for weeks of training for working in the residence halls. The next summer I did a geology research program in western Minnesota and Brazil, and also came back for an even longer training session for res life. And last summer, I did a six-week geologic field camp in Montana, which was a requirement for graduation.

This summer I assumed I would get a job, because I would actually be home for a long enough stretch of time. Wrong. The places I applied at ahead of time never contacted me back. Then, when I got back to the suburbs, I came to the realization that with preparing for a cross-country move, being the maid of honor in my best friend's wedding, and trying to squeeze in each possible moment with my boyfriend before I don't see or talk to him for two and a half months, I might not actually want a job.

Sure, the money would have been nice, but I'm really enjoying the chance to relax a bit and to not actually have a schedule. And while I keep spending money on stuff for the apartment, I've been finding ways to keep up.

Random ways to earn or save money when one doesn't have a job:

1) Sell books you don't want anymore online. Works well if they actually sell.

2) Sell other books you don't want to Half-Priced Books. This would have worked well if I had not found a book to buy while I was waiting. I ended up owing them 32 cents...

3) Cat/fish/apartment-sit for your friend while they go out of town.

4) Do office work for your dad. You get paid, he gets to write it off for taxes.

5) Clean out your room and find random coins and other cash that you stowed away a long time ago so that you could one day find it and feel like you found money.

6) One person's trash is another person's treasure. Totally found a night stand by chance while taking a walk the other day. It was out by someone's trash cans, and there wasn't anything wrong with it other than a wobbly top (which is now fixed--Thanks Dad!).

7) Coupons are amazing.

8) Clean out your room and donate stuff you don't want anymore, and then fill out the tax slip that they give you.