Ways To Earn Extra Money For Prepping

Funding Your Prepper Lifestyle

Taking on the lifestyle of someone who is more prepared is an admiral trait, in my humble opinion. Unfortunately, getting started can and is not only a daunting task, but it can be expensive as well. No matter how you look at it, prepping costs money. Even if you are really thrifty, and creative with your money, supplies still cost money.

You can put a little bit away each month, and buy your supplies as you can, which is a smart way to do it. By spending a little each week or month, you will be amazed at the amount of food and supplies you can amass by purchasing a little bit at a time. You need to prioritize what you need to buy, and work your way through your list, one item at a time.

The first step is creating a list of what it is you want to achieve. It doesn’t matter what you put on your list, it’s your list. Start with categories, and then you can go from there. There are a few categories that you should consider listing, but remember this is your list, and you should lit the things that you need and want to have for your own preparations.

For example, these are categories that are important to me and my family:

1. Water
2. Food
3. Shelter
4. Outside Items
5. Inside Items
6. Tools
7. Land

And that’s pretty much it (for now.) Like I said earlier, this is the way I categorized the things that my family and I will need, so if your list is different, that’s great! Make it your own, but make the goal that you will create a list, and put everything down that you will need, or you would like to have.

It is a good thing for you to come up with what is important for you, because it is your list, and this will help you to be accountable for it. Because if someone tells you to make a list, and put the following items on it, it won’t mean anything to you.

The best part of creating lists such as this is you get to cross things off as you get them. It is pretty powerful to be able to create a list, and 3 months later you have crossed off everything under one category. Keep your list handy, so you can always add to it, and make a point to review it, and continue to improve on it. Make it a part of your life, and make it a habit.

And even though this is fun, what happens next is even better…For some reason, when you create lists of items you want to have, you actually achieve these items. So start small, and work your way up. You will be able to do it.

But if your weekly income is going to pay all of the bills you have, there may not be a lot of money left over every month in order to start your preparing. If this is the case for you, it’s time to start looking at all of the options that are available to you. And yes, you do have options.

1. A Second Job

This may not be the most attractive option, but it is an option. If you are seriously wanting to become more prepared, and live a more self-reliant lifestyle, sometimes in order to achieve that you will need to suck it up, and get a second job.

A way to make this more appealing is to put a time limit on it. Say for example your goal is to have 6 months’ worth of food, and to pay off your credit cards. Figure out what this would cost you, and divide that total by the amount of months you are willing to work that second job. Not only will you have a plan, but there will be a light at the end of the tunnel for how long you will need to work those extra hours.

2. A Home Based Business

Another option would be to start a home based business. This may sound like a daunting task, but it really isn’t that hard. Think about it, everyone has a hobby. Now, if you can take that hobby and make some money with it, you may be able to bypass the second job, and spend that time working for yourself.

As an example, this is what I did with the help of my husband. By a complete accident, we ended up with a nice little side income that has allowed us to be able to increase our food storage, as well as start paying off the debt we have accrued.

It was pretty simple really, we have horses, and I enjoyed jumping. One day I decided I wanted to buy a set of horse jumps to have for myself, and I know my mouth hit the floor when I really understood how much it was going to cost. A set of horse jumps would have cost about $5,000! That was just too much money to spend on something that was a hobby, and I knew they really wouldn’t hold their value, so my dream of having a set of horse jumps seemed to be short lived.

Then I decided maybe I could build my own, and I did. And then one day I got the bright idea, with the help of my husband, maybe I could build some jumps to sell. And I did. And then I thought about starting a website for my horse jumps, and I did. Now because of this little business, we are both creating a product that people want. Because of that, we have been able to add to our skills as well as adding supplies to help us be more self-reliant. I also put together a how to book that explains the process for someone on a budget…like me.

You don’t have to make horse jumps, but think outside the box. What can you do that someone else might want?

3. eBay

Don’t overlook eBay! You can make a nice little profit either selling items around your house on eBay, or even making something and selling it. If this is something you would like to look into, go to eBay and look up things that are selling.

Let’s say you have a large collection of beanie babies you were thinking about selling. Go to eBay’s site, and type in beanie babies, or whatever it is you are selling. You can see how competitive it is, and what items are selling for.

If you want to see what previous items have sold for, under the advanced search tab, check off completed auctions. Not only will you see what items have sold for, but you will even see items that didn’t sell. It is a great tool to see if what you are selling is marketable for eBay, and hopefully, you will see if there is a potential for you to make some money.

4. Craigslist

A friend of mine has actually done really well with this, but she is a little bit more assertive than I am. First, she drives around, and finds things that people are throwing out, and she picks them up. Yes, she goes around on trash day, and gets items out of the trash. This may not be for everyone, but she doesn’t seem to mind at all. And it has worked well for her. She finds her “treasures”, takes them home, cleans them up, and then sells them on Craigslist, or other websites.

The last I knew, she had made about $4,000 in a little over 2 months. So not only did she save things from going to the landfill, but she made money doing it. And, more importantly she has been able to be a stay at home mom with her children because of her resourcefulness.

 5. Offer Your Skills

There are many ways to take advantage of the skills you already have. If you have technical experience there are websites like UpWork and Odesk that you can post a job and basically work from home.

If you are a mechanic, welder or any sort of handyman or handywoman skill you could post this on craigslist or your local newspaper for a little extra income.

These are just a few options of ways you could add income to your monthly bottom line. It isn’t necessary that you have to do this, but if you are looking for ways to make money, these might be helpful. You don’t have to make extra money if you don’t want too. There are many ways to save money, but sometimes having an option to making extra money can help you to achieve the goals you are aspiring to.