15 Creative (or Weird) ways to pay down your debt

Have the credit card pay part of your bill – This is not as crazy as it sounds. Call your credit card company up and ask for them to forgive late payments and/or interest rates. My sister asked and had almost over $200 in late fees and interest erased in seconds. Ask for the world and you might just get it.

Sale everything – Okay maybe not the clothes off your back. I am sure a lot of us would rather not see that. Look around you, there are things you have not used in years that you can sell. Have a yard sale, sale on ebay, craigslist, amazon or overstock.

Sell/Trade Ad Space – Sell ad space on you car. City buses and even police cars are selling ads on their cars. Why not get in on the action!!! Autowraps.com and freecarmedia.com pay as much as $400 per month for an ad on your car. If you qualify at freecarmedia.com, you can be given a new car already wrapped in an ad to use for 2 years. You can also negotiate with your company to have its logo put on your car in exchange for gas money. That way you can save your money to pay down your bills.

If you live on a busy street, consider selling some yard space as long as the neighbors do not mind. You can call up window installing companies, security companies, and others and ask if they would like to put their sign in your yard for a fee. I actually use this method to negotiate down prices when I get work done on the house.

Bake Cookies – Before you laugh this suggestion away,just note that there are many laughing all the way to the bank implementing this idea. Ask Billy Baldwin founder of New York City-based mail order cookie company Cookie Island. If you are in college what better way to make money than to make and sell cookies to the thousands of hungry mouths wandering campus.

Type/Proofread papers – If you can type and you are good in the languages, use that skill. Graduate students, law students, business students and others need their documents (dissertations, thesis) typed up and proofread. A lot may not have the time to do this or just may not know how to type especially fast enough to meet deadlines. Offer them your skill at an affordable rate.

Do your neighbor's chores – While your neighbor is out enjoying the day, offer to do the chores that have been on his/her to do list for years. Don’t be shy; he/she may feel you are doing them the favor. I have felt that way many a times when my neighbor asked, and I was glad to pay him a fee. Time is money, so while I helped him make a couple of bucks, he in turn gave me the time I needed to do other more pressing things on my list.

You tube – Can you can work a camera? Do you have a creative side? Why not use it to your advantage? There are many new website owners who would gladly pay you to create a captivating advertisement to drive traffic to their site.

Play the middle man - How many times have your been searching for a job and you see one say "referral fee". There are websites out there such as H3.com that will pay anywhere from $500 to $10,000 to refer a qualified individual for a position.

Join Pay per Post – If you have a blog or website, companies (payperpost.com) will pay you to write or blog about their product.

Stop bad habits – Quitting smoking, drinking can go a long way to save you a lot of money not to mention your life. I had a really bad habit – I ate candy like my life depended on it. I saved the receipts and wrappers; when I saw how much I was spending that habit was cut. Okay, I still indulge sometimes but believe me, not as much as before.

Do odd jobs-Check craigslist, your local newspaper or website. There are many people who are willing to pay you to do a number of jobs. I remember seeing a number of advertisements in which investors were paying $200 or more to clean out a house.

Donations – Ask for help/donations from friends and family.

Take care of yourself – I had a cavity, yes from my candy days. I felt I did not have the $50 to fix it then. Well fast forward to a couple of years later, it cost me over $2000 to get that same tooth fixed. You want to save money where you can afford to save money but not where it may cost you down the line, putting you in more debt.

Start a blog – Blog about something. We are all experts at something even the "how not tos". Sign up for google adsense, affiliate marketing or others and make some extra income.

Like talking, talk up some money – Ether.com has taken blogging to the phone. All you have to do is state your expertise, get an ether number, state what you feel you time is worth, and wait for someone to call. Okay you have to do some marketing but if you can provide a good service such as helping someone with an assignment, you can make some extra money with the program.