child labour
i made loads of money as a kid. in summer, i used to stand outside sainsbury's with my brother and offer to take people's trolleys back for them. this was when trolleys had to have 20p put in them, of course. we'd often get extra money for helping to put shopping into people's cars for them, too. it was easy to make over £200 in a week, which was blown on sweets, smokes and crap.

then there was penny for the guy. that was good for extra cash, too. if you chose the right spot, you could get around £70 a day. mum still tells her friends of the time she had her purse stolen and, without telling her, i took my homemade guy out in her shopping trolley. within 2 hours, i'd made enough money to fill the trolley with food and carry the guy home. mum was so touched by this that she cried, which was sweet. the only problem was the idiots who thought it was funny to give you one penny and try to take your guy. it wasn't funny at all.

then there was that good old yuletide favourite, carol singing. what could be better than warbling out some festive crap for strangers who will give you money just to get rid of you? well, those that didn't try to palm you off with a tangerine, anyway. the best i ever managed was £57 with my cousin in just under 3 hours. i don't know many jobs that pay that well!

if i'd been smarter, i'd have saved all the money i made as a kid. i'm sure it would easily have been in the thousands. instead, i blew it all on childish things and had a great time with it.

i don't care about being rich. as long as the bills are paid and i can put food on the table, money isn't important. it's how you spend time that counts.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Tue 5 Aug 2008, 0:42, 3 replies)

I like this.
You get a tick because of your last sentence. So true.
(ice9, Tue 5 Aug 2008, 9:08, closed)

Too true on the last sentence.
When I was a kid I used to go Trick or Treating the day before Halloween. People hadnt made cakes or buns to palm off on you so would get cold hard cash. If someone said "Its not halloween come back tomorrow" Id just tell them that we were going on holiday tomorrow so couldnt come out and do it then. :)
(Miggyman, Tue 5 Aug 2008, 9:29, closed)

pity my family don't seem to understand this principle.
i've got one sister who needs to be 3 feet taller just to be up to her neck in debt, another sister who is permanently on the scrounge from the family, a brother who sticks his cash and everyone else's up his nose and a mother who thinks money is the be-all and end-all. only my dad thinks the same as me.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Tue 5 Aug 2008, 18:46, closed)