What did do as a kid to earn money ?

-
jimmer

jimmer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2012
Messages
2,616
Reaction score
2,910
Location
stanwood
So the candy thread took me back to my childhood.
That rabbit trail made me think of how I tried to earn money.
With that I thought of the funny endeavors.

1. So here are a few of the ways I remember trying to earn money as a kid.
Going door to door with a bucket rags and soap trying to wash cars.
2. Getting up at o dark 30 to ride a bus 17 miles so I could pick strawberries in the summer.
3. Chop wood.
4 . Mow lawns.
5.Paper Route.
6. Sell candy and gifts door to door.
So these are a few of the ways I earned money as a kid.
I was inspired by the favorite can't thread.
When I saw the turtles I remembered a childhood memory involving them and did not want to hijack the thread.
So I will share that story and a few more here.
I mean after all I realized really young my stomach enjoyed food .
So that meant I had to earn money to fill it !
 
mowed lawns
put sealer on driveways. Went door to door and did estimates with the customer getting supplies on site. took bus/skateboard.
paper route
factory work
stuffed newspapers
dishwasher/bus boy/waited tables/host restaurant stuff
never got an allowance
a few things other than that....but ya never know whos reading this....slightly darker times at that age....
 
I cut grass, fixed friends bicycles, go carts, mini bikes and whatnot.
 
So one of my endeavors.
I was 13 years old and answered an add in the little nickel want adds.
Basically a dude in a creeper van picked up a bunch of kids .
We had candy, cards, candles , I think some games and maybe magazine subscriptions.
My buddy Todd and I decided to try it.
So dude picks us up along with like 6 other kids we hop in his Ford extended van and head off to neighborhoods.
We had the goods in these bags made out of fabric.
We broke off in groups of 2.
1 kid per street side.
After awhile Todd and I had no luck.
It started to rain and we were sick of it already.
We saw this big evergreen tree with a wide Base.
We decided to seek shelter under the tree.
So we're under the tree saying how bad this sucks !
Well one of us pulls out a stash of weed and we proceed to complain as we smoke some weed.
A few minutes passes.
We get the munchies.
Hmm we start looking through our bags.
Yum look some boxes of turtles.
So we eat a bunch of them.
As we sit there.
Then we decide to go to 7-11 because we have cotton mouth.
I remember laughing as we ate the candy.
I don't remember what the outcome of it all was ?
I know we never tried that again.
Funny how much times have changed !
I can't imagine that going on today with the dude, the van , and kids door to door.
 
I lived right beside a golf-course, me and my buddy would go empty their garbage cans that was on every t-off of the beer and soda cans, and sell them for the aluminum.

And we would empty the water traps of any golf balls, wash them in the ball washer on the first tee-off and sell them to the club house. They would then re-sell them as used balls.

Endless supply of cash during the summer, this was all after the golf course closed down for the day.
 
I did similar things to what mentioned here, yard work, any kind of construction/demolition/cleanup work, ended up working fast food for a short while then grocery store through high school...
 
Did lots of the regular stuff.

Used to go around the neighborhoods on trash night and grab broken lawn mowers, take two broke ones, make one run and sell it.. was usually good for 15 bucks for a short amount of work.

Got enterprising once, Dad was in the service so I decided to help out by polishing all of his left shoes and told him I'd do the rights for a buck each. I polished all the right shoes and got a good *** whooping!
 
couple of things allready mentioned

my parents did a lot of scuba diving and some of their local dives were right next to the golf course, so i would swim and snorkle in there and pick up the balls, sell them back to golfers


also had a few paper routes (think i mentioned that before) and by 14 i had a steady gig at a local shop, spend 4-6 hours each saturday sweeping and cleaning
 
Usual stuff as others mentioned.
At 16 I was arrested along with a buddy who introduced me to some nice college girls, and old guys with film equipment.
Pay sucked but the benefits were good. Till the cops beat down the door.
:(
 
So for the record.
I was a wild rebellious kid without an off button!
Full throttle, if a little is good the a lot I'd better !
I still like full throttle, however I can exercise self control now.
I do not do drugs either.
As a kid and teen unfortunately I did.
So I had my own business!
Lol
Yep selling drugs.
Oh my !
Profitable it was !
I never did get caught but came close.
Got searched at the beach in the summer.
Had pockets full of money, 5's , 10's 20's .
It was obvious to the cop.
He caught my buddy with weed I just sold him and made him stomp it into the ground , then threw his pipe into lake washington.
Then he laughed and said I bet you just bought it from your buddy.
I can laugh now and certainly do !
I'm not who I used to be !
 
Start colts.
Then in '64 I turned 16 and parents gave me a 49 Chevy. I ran good enough, usually to get to school and my job at the A & P Grocery every afternoon 'cept Mon and 12-13 hrs every Sat!
Ma worked at the County tag and tax office and when I would break down and the county cops found it sitting side the road after I caught a ride to school, they would complain to her and she would fully ***** them out!!!!!!
 
I Collected coke bottles to sell them for cash (bottle deposit). Helped a stranger pour concrete on his driveway, it was very hard work spreading the wet concrete (I was 13 years old). After I was done helping the guy he said that he would give me 6 bits for helping him with the concrete. It was 6 hours of hard work in 95 degree hot sun. Me being young and stupid said, "6 bits sounds good". Turns out 3 bits is 75 cents!!!!!!!!
I fixed lawn mowers with my Dad, he would pay me a few bucks for hours of hard work. I would drive around on my bike looking for pennies that people had lost or thrown away. I would take the penny and sand it down on the concrete sidewalk to make it the same size as a dime. With 2 pennies sanded down I would stick them in a soda machine, sodas were 15 cents back them. I would get a soda with a nickel change. I would take my soda to the malt shop, buy a bag of Fritos for a nickel then use the free hot sauce on the counter to spice up the Fritos. I must have sanded down hundreds of pennies and always kept one "real" dime in my pocket to use as a template. When I wasn't hungry for Fritos I would take the extra nickel and get change from the corner store (5 pennies), then I would sand them down to get 2 sodas from the soda machine and two nickels to buy candy. For all those here who don't know........I became a machinist, I just started at a very young age!!!!!!!!!
 
Last edited:
Worked for the local farmers baling hay. .10c a bale, they would bale it during the day, we would drive around and pick it up with hay wagons and put it up in the barn. We could also pick asparagus, strawberries and vegetables. We also worked for a schoolteacher who would drive his stake truck to work everyday and stop at service stations on the way home and pick up tires. He only wanted the semi truck tires to take to the recapping plant, it was our job to empty the truck, put the tires into sets and clean them up, and put them into the stalls of my buddies barn, all for $1 an hour. We knew the inventory by heart, so all of our buddies got tires from us in exchange for money, or bags of weed. Then we would roll joints and sell em at school for $1 apiece. We made probably $300 a week selling joints, and could buy a 1/4 pound for $75. Yes, we were the most popular kids in school, and in town. When we would go to parties, we would just flop out an ounce and start rolling joints and passing them around, made lots of money, always had a hot car and money to spare.
 
Collect coke bottle to cash in (showin my age)
News paper route
Mow lawns
Swipe comic books from the library and sell them to my friends
Throw hay bales into a pick up
Lemonade stand
Iwatch the neighbors dog when they were gone
 
Gas station summers when I was 15/16 near my house. Senior year I worked at two stations, one after school Mon/Fri. 3:30 until 10 pm. The other I worked on weekends 4 hours on Saturday, and opened the place at 7 am, and closed 5 pm Sunday. 46 hours at $1.25 an hour, off the books, I was loaded.
 
jimmer said:
So for the record.
I was a wild rebellious kid without an off button!
Full throttle, if a little is good the a lot I'd better !
I still like full throttle, however I can exercise self control now.
I do not do drugs either.
As a kid and teen unfortunately I did.
So I had my own business!
Lol
Yep selling drugs.
Oh my !
Profitable it was !
I never did get caught but came close.
Got searched at the beach in the summer.
Had pockets full of money, 5's , 10's 20's .
It was obvious to the cop.
He caught my buddy with weed I just sold him and made him stomp it into the ground , then threw his pipe into lake washington.
Then he laughed and said I bet you just bought it from your buddy.
I can laugh now and certainly do !
I'm not who I used to be !
Click to expand...
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to fess up to that one
 
My first payin' gig was scuffing and masking cars ahead of paint at my uncle's body shop. I always liked cars so I was having fun. But a couple years ago I got to thinking about it and figured what a bad deal I had; They paid me $10 a car but they had me do stuff like a 1972 lincoln continental, 1971 fury, and one of those 1976 cheerokee chiefs with all the stickers on it. I just laugh about it now and I learned a lot anyhow....
 
Basically a farm kid so all the usual hay bales etc. plus I was tall with broad shoulders so I lied about my age and got a job washing dishes at local dive. Played basketball into the wee hours of the morning with all the ex con dishwashers lighting up the court via car headlights. At one point one of the “old” waitresses pulled me aside and grabbed my hand looked me in the eyes and said “ Honey when you grow into these you call me” Hah, I was so young and naive I had no idea what she was even talking about! My fellow dish washers were howling! By end of summer she drug me into a walk in cooler. I figured it out!
 
I just remembered this one.
So I turned 16 the weekend the fair was in town.
My one friend lived right next to the fair .
So we got jobs at the fair and slept out in a tent. Lol
The carnies were something else !
It was party time at the tent !
My how fast life goes !
 
I raced home from school during a snow storm, grabbed my float and scraper and off I went. Used to make 2 bucks a driveway, and would shovel until bed-time, skipping supper. Then I scored at 14.......I picked up a part time job at a parts/hardware store. Used to build bikes, sweep floors, and stock shelves. I would hustle by butt because once I was finished my work, the boss would let me work the parts counter, and boy did I love that. Did that job until I left High school. Started at $2.15 per hour.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top