Go to the extreme. Selling your unused household goods in a yard sale has got to be the most frequently given advice for how to come up with a few bucks quickly. It’s on everybody’s top ten list. The average, run of the mill yard sale will probably net you a few hundred dollars. In the grand scheme of things, a few hundred dollars is not going to make much of a difference to anything.

However, if you were to sell everything in your house that was not an absolute need then you could effect quite a dramatic change in your circumstances. First of all, you could raise quite a bit of money, particularly if you take the time to sell items on Ebay, Craigslist, and through the classifieds. You would also find that you have a lot more time and energy to devote to your money making ideas once you’ve sold your TV. With fewer household goods you will also be able to be more flexible in your living arrangements. You won’t need as much square footage; you’ll feel more free to move because you won’t have that much to move. In other words, you’ll find a lot more freedom in your life.

Be the best. You may have thought that your babysitting days were over after you graduated from college, but you can actually earn a lot of extra money with this job at any time in your life. Most child sitters earn approximately $10/hr and get new jobs through word of mouth recommendations. You can do much better than that though.

If you pursue this idea with all of your energy and ingenuity then you can get more sitting jobs than the average competitor and earn a higher rate per hour. First, be the best sitter that your employer has ever used. If you’re sitting for children, then bring toys for the children to play with, teach the kids new games, clean the house when the kids are in bed. Do everything that you can think to do to give the kids a good time and make your employers return home as pleasant as possible. Then, give your employer several of your business cards so that she can refer you to others. Also give your cards to friends and family members. Post your availability on Facebook and Twitter. Post colorful ads on community bulletin boards. Get your name in front of people as much as possible, and then when they call be ready to give them references from people that will tell them what a wonderful sitter you are. If you follow these suggestions and any others that you can think of, you will have lots of sitting jobs and and can charge a higher rate per hour because you are providing so much value.

Be smart. You may have heard blogging touted as a great way to make money. There are definitely some bloggers that are able to make a living through their blogging. But you can also follow their advice and spend two years creating a great blog that only makes $50 a month. It’s very discouraging to spend so much time and energy on a project and never get any fruit from it.

I’ve done this exact thing. I spent tons of time and money building up the readership for my gluten free recipes blog, creating a community, and building my “name authority”. Once I’d done this I attempted to monetize the site by selling a product, and ended up spending a thousand dollars of saved earnings on a business that ultimately failed.

After this we finally took a class that taught us how to bring traffic to a blog and actually make money from it. Knowledge was the key. We were then able to take my existing blog and increase the earnings by 600% in just a few months. This same concept could apply to any money making idea. If you go into it without knowledge and understanding then you are likely to lose your shirt. You also need to be careful who’s advice you follow. You don’t want to ask a life-long employee for advice on how to start a business. They’ll likely tell you it’s impossible. Instead, look for people who have already done what you’re trying to do, and follow their advice.

Open your mind. If you’re suffering from a lack of financial abundance then you may have trouble believing that you can actually make lots of money. However, believing that you can do it is the first step. If you don’t believe that you can do something, then you definitely can’t. Remember the Little Train that could? In order to get yourself in the right mindset, check your local library for books on how to become a millionaire. You may not end up following many of the authors’ suggestions, but it is always interesting reading and can be very encouraging and mind-stretching. One particular book that I would recommend is Jack Canfield’s Success Principles. You can also get a list of recommended personal development books from Steve Pavlina’s site.

Build your Skills. If you’re in the midst of a long job search, there are many more productive things that you can do besides sending in hundreds of resumes and working part-time jobs that have no relevance to your desired career. For example, the twins featured in this New York Times article should focus on finding ways to be journalists even though they aren’t employed as journalists yet. A year’s portfolio of articles, blog posts, and newsletters that they had written would set them ahead of their competition who have all probably been working as waitresses for the past year.

If you work in a field that isn’t a good fit for freelance type work, look for opportunities to work for free. You may have to do other paid work at the same time to make ends meet, but be proactive and find ways to keep current and in practice with what you do. Working for free will show future employers how dedicated you are to your profession or craft. Think creatively and find ways to do your work even when the job opportunities seem few and far between.

In the end, you can make money. And you can make more money than you have in the past if you pursue your goal with all the smarts, guts, and energy that you have. Make your money making goal your primary focus until it is time to move on to something else. If you suffer setbacks, do not be discouraged. Learn from it, and then try something else. It will be worth it. I promise.