Because just making ends meet is a bucket o' suck.

This controversial Pay Per Post thing I'm doing is already about to net me $200, and there's still a week and a half to go this month. Can I just say? Whee!

We've discussed how we're going to use all this extra wealth, and have decided to apply it all to debt, except for the months when we have annual or semi-annual fees due on things like AAA and car insurance. This will free up portions of my regular pay for trifles and frivolities such as car repairs and wisdom teeth removal and getting to leave our home to watch movies sometimes and saving an actual emergency fund and what have you. Yes indeedy, we've got it made.

But I'm greedy, and I want more. I want a computer that works, with high speed access. I want to go on some kind of summer vacation with my husband this year (maybe take that foodie road trip up to Chicago that we keep threatening to do). I want to be able to furnish my new house after I move into it. I want to be able to hire people who aren't me to do all of the heavy lifting when we move. And, gosh darn it all, I want to do all of this without incurring more debt.

So I've been going over my options. I've already got a whole queue of things to hawk on ebay, including a couple of first edition Phantom of the Opera ornaments that have been fetching a penny pretty enough to round out the rest of our "first month's rent and deposits" fund. After that I figure we can rid ourselves of enough clutter through that giant virtual garage sale to cover the necessary moving costs.

But what to do for extra spendy stuff once the clutter's all gone? Inspired by this article at Get Rich Slowly (which, by the by, is a pretty good personal finances blog), I've decided it's high time I started marketing my marketable skills. I don't quite think I have any that would make for a good consultant (maybe after I take that web design course next semester), although I am considering putting an ad in the paper to offer private knitting lessons, emphasizing my locality and the fact that those in my home town wanting to learn wouldn't have to drive all the way to Tulsa to take classes, so long as they're willing to meet me someplace public and well lit.

Mostly I've been pondering putting my relatively newfound crafty knowhow to work, and what I can make quickly cheaply and sell for profit. So far I've come up with:

~ Handmade knitting needles. These are ridiculously simple and inexpensive to make, in addition to being cute and nifty, and I could make a dozen in a weekend.

~ Handmade stitch markers. See above re: knitting needles.

~ Needle cases. Another simple-to-make item that tends to sell for a lot more than it costs to make. I'm not sure about the hand-sewn variety, but I bet I could whip up a felted knit version that would be teh cute.

~ Purse accessories. Speaking of felted cute things, I can knit a business card holder in the space it takes to watch a movie with my husband. Ditto a cell phone cozy, a glasses case, a check book cover, a key fob....

~ Bridal veils. These are not so much with the knitting, but I made the veil I wore in my own wedding for under $20 and in less than an hour -- and I didn't even know what I was doing.

~ Ceramic beads. Not really my area of expertise, but my mom used to be into ceramics, and my aunt owns her own kiln. With their help it might be doable.

I'm already not writing on the weekends (bad Jean!) so I could work on this stuff then and not have to feel guilty about taking away from my writing time. I started out thinking I'd sell them on eBay, but the market is pretty saturated for some of this stuff (especially the bridal veils), so I'm considering opening up shop on Etsy. They both have their pros and cons. ebay is the average user's go to online shopping bazaar, but as such the competition is stiff. Etsy is more obscure, but there's less competition, as well as fewer fees. Also their seller pages just look prettier. That might sell me on them right there. What can I say? I'm a girly girl.

As for eBay, even without getting crafty there are ways to keep using it to make money. Coupons, for instance. Did you know that people actually buy and sell coupons on eBay? I had no idea that this was happening. Not for a lot of money, but considering how easy it is to come by coupons for free (I always get them from my mom, who gives me her inserts from the Sunday paper), it's pure profit. Awesome!

So that's the plan. If any of this actually works, most of the extra income will be thrown straight at our debts, because the sooner we're rid of those, the better. After that... well, that would be putting the cart before the horse, wouldn't it? I'd better just focus on putting the strategy into action for now, and see how that goes. But I'm optimistic. Every little extra bit helps, you know?