Learn me: a second job

I'm trying to earn some more money, not that we're struggling, but I'm starting Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover.

Currently I'm a manager at a major auto parts store. I finally got promoted to full time. I usually work evenings, and most weekends. Not to say I couldn't deliver pizza, but that isn't a big demand in the morning. My wife also works full time, mostly night shift at a convenience store, so no late nighters for me.

So what does GRM recommend for supplemental income?

Try a grocery store or morning shift at a gas station. Delivering papers?

I got a part time job at a small retailer who needed some organizational assistance and the occasional construction project.

Maybe Lowes or Home Depot...I wonder if they give employee discounts?

What is evening worktime? 3-11? 2-10? If it's UnAdvance, they WILL berkeley with your schedule to make you quit any and all 2nd jobs, if not just out and out fired for silly E36 M3 like working for a competitor, even when it is a place across town in nothing related.

What is wrong with night shift if your wife already works it?

good seeds + grow lights in the garage or attic

In reply to Ranger50:

Someone has to watch the kid. I suppose I could drop her off with my folks or in-laws occasionally, but that's not really reliable. I think most papers deliver late, LowesDepot hires temp only, seasonal only (well, atleast the former does)

I work mostly late morning to close, which is 9pm. Some days I work four hours, others I work twelve.

Start your own business. You get to pick which 16 hours of the day you work. I honestly can't believe that we were 24 (your age, right?) when we bought ours, but I suppose we were. If you've got that bug, go for it. There is no better time, IMO. Leave slingin' papers for the mouth-breathers.

NAPA parts counter? Employee discount + a tiny paycheck.

I work nights, and some of the guys work 2nd jobs at dealerships part time. They wash cars or take the payments.

I parted out two rusty Datsuns. I would take off ten parts on Saturday and list them on eBay. Then ship them the next Saturday and list 10 more parts. I would net $100-$150 a week.

It felt like a part-time job where I picked the hours.

It's kind of hard offering ideas without some idea of your capabilities or interests. What skills do you have? What would you like to learn?

What can you do that is transferable to other times of the day?

I would suggest trying to do something that is more lucrative (per hour) than pushing shopping carts. A second job will sap your energy for your personal life, might as well make it worth it.

The internet connects everyone at every time. As Pete said, there are simple ways to do it that don't involve building your own website. Pete's example looks like about 2 hours worth of work removing parts, and 4-6 more managing the EBay account. That would make it between $12-18 per hour. That's a significantly better investment of your time than minimum wage at the gas station.

pete240z wrote: I parted out two rusty Datsuns. I would take off ten parts on Saturday and list them on eBay. Then ship them the next Saturday and list 10 more parts. I would net $100-$150 a week. It felt like a part-time job where I picked the hours.

I've dabbled at this, I can't say my results are great, but it wasn't a waste of time either.

I know a guy from another forum that taken this idea and turned it up to 11, he visits all the junk yards in the area at least once a week to pick the most valuable parts from the fresh cars in the yard. Over time he developed his business into specializing in electronic parts for european cars. It seems to be going well for him.

I have a day job that pays pretty good now, but everybody needs some extra dough sometimes so I work on peoples cars in the weekends. Just for family friends and neighbors that I know aren't crazy, and I take jobs that I know I can finish over a weekend. So far I'm averaging about $100 a week. Its very helpful.

Don't count out the morning / early afternoon pizza delivery. I worked the morning shift in that line of work during my last semester of college. If you are delivering to an individual you're screwed as they rarely tipped (person sitting at home in the day was generally unemployed or didn't understand the concept of tipping for having something delivered to their door in a timely manner).

But if you have industry or offices in the area you made out well. The money is not as good as evenings / nights, but I would typically walk with $40 to $50 for a 5-6 hour shift plus my hourly wage.

get a full time manufacturing job during the day- i've found that cnc machining is pretty easy and actually quite fun- and keep your current job as a part time 3 evenings a week job.

From 2000 to 2004 I owned a '88 MR2 and therefore was into MR2's. Shortly after buying the car I bought a interior trim part on ebay for about $45. A little while later I needed something for it and visited my then local U-Pull-It type place known as King of the Road Auto Parts (with a name like KRAP it has to be good!)
I discovered that they had 7 rusted out mk1 MR2's. This yard seemed to care mostly about metal. I discovered that I could bring about 10 small items to the counter and they would typically base the pricing off the largest item and throw in the smaller items.
I did not want to be concerned with mechanical things since I could not prove if it worked or not so I passed on things like headlight motors. My specialty was plastic. I found that though the bodies were wrecked and rusted which were undesirable; the exterior plastic pieces and interior pieces were unfaded and uncracked. These parts would sell to buyers in the south where the cars were still plentiful on the roads but faded and cracked.
I had no room to keep parts cars but I could make a trip to KRAP and drop $60 on parts that could be ebay'ed for $300. I was buying factory front strut bars from t-top cars for $10 and selling them for $50. They were held on by 2 bolts (top mount and easy to reach) on each side. Quick and easy.
I found a totaled RX7 convertible. It was mostly stripped but amazingly still had 2 of the BBS rims w/ caps. I passed on the rims but bought the BBS center caps. I knew on Miatas that these were often lost and retailed for $80 each. On ebay they brought $45 each. I used ebay because I did not know how to price some of the items. If I had $5 into the item I would start at $5 and see where the bidding went. I had a radio surround for a MR2 reach $110. I was amazed. Other similar surrounds had brought only $45.

I never worked autoparts but I always figured it was a perfect place to be at the right place at the right time for buying some non-running cars from frustrated owners for cheap. It also strikes me as the kind of place that it would always be wise to have a car up for sale. There would seem to be an opportunity to sell a running, uninspiring car to someone who does not want to fix their own non-running car so they car get to work tomorrow.
Take in a non running Cavalier for $400. Put something into it and sell it off to the next stranded motorist for $1,500 while taking in their non running Plymouth Breeze. A constant flow of uninspiring cars.

In reply to jrw1621:

^^^^ Great advice right here.....

One of the teachers at school worked for Mazda dealers in the DC area for many years. Over the course of his employment, he owned over 50 rx7s. He'd buy the cars super cheap when people came in with engine problems (which happened alot, unsurprisingly), fix the problems (generally just throw a new engine in and clean the car up a little) after his work day was over, in his bay, and sell it for ALOT more than he had in it.
I've been wanting to get something similar started but I need to start getting more work first to have the startup money.
I think running parts from a JY on ebay would be an awesome setup, and at the very least a startup to running full parts cars and DD'able cars