Make Extra Money This Winter

Tips for Earning a Little Extra Cash During the Cold Months

Winter seems to be as good a time as any to make a little cash on the side. No doubt the Holidays will have some of us needing cash to compensate for gifts we purchased or gas we used driving to see friends and family. Not to mention our heating bills will go up, and that little extra could help pay some of those bills. I have compiled a short list of ways to make extra money during the winter months, without spending as much as you make getting started.

Many people own chainsaws. They can even be bought fairly cheap at pawn shops. What many people don't realize is when contractors build new homes on property that that has a lot of trees, they will usually set fire to the down trees they had to remove to make room for the house. If you ask, most of those contractors will let you cut as much wood as you want to avoid having their crew taking valuable time away from building to dispose of it. This wood can allow you to sell firewood for a reasonable price, and still make a good amount of cash at the same time. Many local newspapers will allow you to advertise in the classifieds for free, as long as you stay within their number of words allowed requirement. If you will have to haul wood to customers, you can tack on a few extra dollars (depending on how far you have to travel) to compensate for gas. Reducing the cost by a few dollars for customers that want to pick up a load of wood will help ensure those customers will return when they need more. Make sure you reasearch what types of wood are suitable for use as firewood before cutting and loading up. Pine, for example is useless as firewood, so know what you're cutting, and only sell hardwoods. You want to keep your customers, and word of mouth could make or break this part-time business.

Purchase a snow shovel, and advertise in the local newspaper that you will shovel driveways when the snow and ice starts to build up. Many people will gladly pay you to shovel their ice and snow, rather than brave the cold to do so themselves. The longer the driveway, the more money you can charge. If you live in a rural area and own a tractor with a snow blade, you can make quite a bit of money plowing country roads and long driveways.