1. Pick berries in the spring, along with other fruit as it becomes seasonally available. For example, the park across from my house has a pear tree with fruit that makes an incredible pear compote. Berries are often available around lakes and undeveloped rural areas. Be sure to ask before picking on private property.

2. Hunt and fish. If you have to buy lots of supplies to do these activities, this activity can end up costing you money. But if you already have a rifle or rod and reel, get over the “yuk” factor and put them to good use. Don’t feel badly about killing cute animals. The animals raised on factory farms are cute too.

3. Gather nuts in the fall. As with berries, seek out parks and rural areas. A bonus is that an hour spent gathering nuts is a fun and free family activity that kids will enjoy.

4. Volunteer to serve at church and community potlucks. You’ll get something to eat and you’ll be making a contribution.

5. Pull up some dandelions. This prolific plant is easy to find and happens to have the healthiest greens you can eat. One cup added to a salad provides over 100 percent of the daily value for vitamins D and K, along with a healthy amount of fiber and vitamin C.

6. If things are dire, go to your community’s food bank. Funded by generous members of the community, food banks offer a temporary solution for when you just can’t make your food budget stretch far enough.

7. Barter a skill for a few meals. For example, you might help a neighbor’s child with his math homework in exchange for dinner. One benefit of a recession — or depression — is that it can help community members come together in mutually beneficial ways.

8. Dumpster-dive. Yes, it sounds gross, and may well be in some circumstances. However, grocery stores are required to throw out items after they’ve expired. Many items will be in perfectly good condition after their expiration date. Use caution and common sense, however, should you decide to adopt this strategy. And if you’re worried about the stigma, simply tell people you’re a dedicated freegan.

9. Create a free garden. Gardens can often be expensive after soil conditioning, seeds, fertilizer and so-on are factored in. However, some plants, such as beans and squash, are not very picky about growing conditions. Put a few seeds in the ground and add water. You never know. Need seeds? Get them free!

You know how you never really notice the hum of the air-conditioner or heater in the background? However, without climate control, most of us living in hot or cold climates would be absolutely miserable. The mere fact that the thermostat exists makes a huge difference in our lives. In a hot Texas summer, it can literally be the difference between life or death. At least the heat can make you wish you were dead, preferably by freezer burn.

Our thoughts work the same way. Most of them hum along in the background, never making much noise, but having the potential to make our lives comfortable or miserable. Since so much is riding on these “invisible thoughts”, we have to train ourselves to catch them and make them work for us. Here are some examples of what might be running in the background of your mind:

I’ll get around to it when I have time.

It’s too hard.

What will people think if I can’t do it?

I’ve never done anything like this before.

If you’ve been entertaining the idea of quitting your day job and working as a consultant, for example, do you think you’ll ever “get around to it” if you have these thoughts running? Absolutely not. The only way you can be successful in whatever endeavor you choose is if you really believe that you can do it.

Another way to tell if you’re setting yourself up for failure is by listening to what you say. Do you find yourself saying the following?

I’m so tired, I could hardly get up this morning.

I can’t remember anything. I must be getting old!

I’m so busy I don’t know how I’ll find time to work on my business.

I’ll probably be able to get to it tomorrow.

What you tell other people is also what you are telling yourself. In the above example, you are telling yourself that you are tired, old, forgetful, bad at time management and that you do not have concrete goals. If you hear statements like these coming out of your mouth, change them! I’ve never heard successful, confident people speak like this. On the other hand, I’ve heard others say these things so many times a day that the words have become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Replace the words. Replace them with words that indicate success. For example, you can say, “I’m so glad to be here this morning”, or “I’ll be able to get to that by noon tomorrow.”

You must replace words of failure with words of success, or you have predetermined what is going to happen. While failure happens to people who are positive thinkers, it is not a guarantee. It is a guarantee, however, that negative thinkers are not going to get what they want in life.

All it takes is finding out what those thoughts and words are that are influencing you like a well-functioning or broken air-conditioner. If you’re comfortable, you’ll get a lot more accomplished.

Photo by lurker4hire

If you have ever tried to monetize a blog, you know how difficult it can be to make money. If you break down how much you are “getting paid” per post, chances are it is in the neighborhood of twenty-five cents. This scenario doesn’t have to be quite so depressing, because you don’t have to depend on your blog to earn money for your writing. Make your writing work for you outside of your blog!

The way to do this is to register at Constant Content. You have the option of selling content that you write three different ways.

Usage: This is the way that it works if you want to sell something that you have already published on a blog. This means that the buyer can use the content once on his or her website. The content stays on Constant Content to be sold again, and again and…again.

Unique: In this scenario, the buyer can add the content to multiple websites, and the content is removed from Constant Content. So, it’s a one-time deal.

Full Rights: Authors charge the most for full rights. This is because not only can the content not be resold again, but the byline can be removed, and the author has given up all rights to the work. It is not an option to sell previously published blog posts in this manner.

Of course, in order to make sales, you have to have the right kind of content. The type of content that sells on Constant Content are third person informative articles targeted towards niche markets, big and small. Articles with bulleted points, such as 7 Ways to Landscape on the Cheap sell quickly, in my experience.

Some people may be concerned about duplicate content penalties. At this point, I’m not. Page rank seems to be given and taken on a whim, and my blogs do not depend on having a high page rank, although for some activities having a PR of 3 is helpful. I’m learning that you can make quite a bit of money from a blog with a page rank of zero. At any rate, think about the last time you queried Google about a weight loss technique or something else that is fairly popular. Have you seen all of the duplicate content that comes up on the very first page? It certainly isn’t hurting those sites, so don’t lose money by worrying about something that theoretically could happen and probably won’t affect you even if it does.

There are other content sellers out there, such as Associated Content, that I would imagine you could do the same thing with. I haven’t tried Associated Content, so I’m not sure if it is as good of a market. It might be a better one! I’ve certainly heard about a lot of people using it. However, one of the things I seem to hear is that the sell prices are low.

Regardless of where you sell your work, make sure you aren’t being a tiny thinker and price your work accordingly!

Photo by -sel