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[klingon13524]

Run for mayor, bribe the accountants into making a slush fund for you, retire from office early.

[GlyphGryph]

Selling you body - either to science, to medicine, or to... other things, is probably the quickest way to make easy money.

At least in the US you can earn that much in a go by selling bone marrow - unfortunately, they only take it if you need it and there's a fairly low chance of that happening in the time span you have available (or ever). Still, worth a try! If you get lucky, you'll have enough to cover your trip in a couple days.

Don't know what the situation looks like in the UK for selling, though.

[Knight of Fools]

I wasn't too sure about bone marrow transplants, but it doesn't seem to cause any permanent loss of marrow, so throw that in, too. As a bonus, it probably pays better than blood donations, but is a little more invasive.

[Wayward Device]

Not to, you know, suggest anything illegal, but one thing the UK is still blessed with in these dark economic times is a thriving black market. Do you know anyone in the military? The lack of customs checks on soldiers returning from Afghanistan has set up more than one young entrepreneur. On the less...shady side, a good way to get a bit of cash quickly is to sell scarp metal. Copper pipes and the like from skips are the most valuable and easily acquired. An old fashioned copper boiler is worth uo to £100 at a scrap metal merchants (which is why you will almost never find one, most plumbers offer a "service" where they charge you to take away the old boiler and sell it).  In the summer before I went to Uni, where my income was effectively 0, I once made £40 cash in hand for a backpack of copper pipes. The guy who's house I took them from outside of (after I'd knocked on the door and asked) also gave me £5 to take them away! Anyway, good luck with your noble mission.

Note: The current crazy metal prices are a result of China's massive building projects over the last 10 years, fueled by investors now terrified of "complex derivatives" and the like, seeking a financial harbor during the storm in the form of traditional, reliable investments like gold and other real, solid products.   

[DuncanIdaho]

If you have (or could borrow) some starting capital (about 100 GPB) then you could make some money via matched betting.  I made about 400 GBP a few years ago doing this in about your timeframe.  Not your full amount I know but it's a start.

This site offers a good introduction http://www.freebets4all.com/matched-betting-guide.aspx if you aren't familiar with the concept.  Just make sure you really understand how it works before you get started, if you do it wrong it's easy to lose money.

[King DZA]

Write a children's book.

[Starver]

On the blood thing, having recently given my 50th donation[1], I can confirm that (full-blood, and even component) blood donation nets you nothing, in the UK.  Except biscuits a drink and the occasional "Thank you" present like table mats, certificates, mugs, badges.  None of which are really a solution


I'm probably not the best person to OP on getting extra cash.  Something like an eBay blitz might work for some of that (depending on what you can (legitimately!) get together to sell, and with a bit of luck on each item).


Jobs aren't that available around my area for all kinds of people (professionals might get semi-skilled jobs, semi-skilled workers might get low-skill jobs, low-skill workers might get no-skill jobs and the dregs have no hope, along with quite a few that aren't dregs who miss out on (or can't afford to participate in) the 'trickle-down' job-market.  I don't know what it's like in your area, but I wish you good luck in getting something yourself that's worthwhile if you are persevering in that.

Make sure that they don't have a problem with you having a holiday in three months (some jobs accumulate a right for so many days of holiday able to be taken in stages as your employment continues, even if you are otherwise already committed for the whole first calendar year which in subsequent years would give you more than enough allocation) and .


I could absolutely not condone anything downright illegal, and would discourage game-of-chance accumulation of wealth.  But that's both because I could not foresee myself doing them nor do I know if you have any of the necessary aptitudes to be successful in either dilemma.  (Plus, if successful in avoiding the respective pitfalls, do you have either the strength of mind to count yourself on top and keep away from that after your trip, or the courage of your (hopefully not literal) convictions to be at least as cautious in all future ventures of this kind.)


All I have is negative advice, it seems.  "This won't work; this'll not be your salvation; you'll be lucky; be good... and, if you can't be good, be careful..."


Fakeedit: Children's book? A good idea, maybe.  In fact any book.  But even a children's book may take a lot longer than three months to come to fruition (even with an advance).  Darn, being negative again.  All right, let's reverse that.  Still give it a go, if you have the time to dedicate to it.  Children's books are shorter, so can be both created and honed quicker (if you have the skill) than adult ones.  The concept of an advance means you can at least get something (more than £800..? I assume so) if you can market it to a publishing house, even though it'll take a bit longer to get an artist to illustrate it appropriately, etc, etc... and finally get published... what... six to nine months down the line?  I've no idea, figures plucked out of mid-air.  But I'd love to know that you managed to do this.  Or something similar.

Move onto books for Young Adults, and you're potentially in the area of Harry Potter.  Well, we can dream for you... Someone has to be the next JKR.  (Although I'd prefer you to be the next Pratchett, from a personal author-preference POV.  Minus the health problems, I must stress.)



[1] Could have been a few more, by now, but I've not always kept to their "Come every 16 weeks" invitation schedule, missing some donation periods altogether and delaying others.  (And you can even donate slightly more regularly, I think every 12 weeks, but I've only a couple of times thought to wander in prior to an invitation letter to be told that it would be Ok to do so, prior to the holiday or business trip that I was fearing would delay my next donation.)

[Knight of Fools]

I wouldn't recommend betting at all. Bad things lie thither.

Unless there's an "undo" button. Then go for it.

[MarcAFK]

That's why casual work is good for quick cash, usually high turnover so you can quit after a few months, take your holiday and get similar job else where, just keep in mind you wouldn't be able to get references from a place you quit from, and it may hurt your resume having a 3 month gap in it, but for no or low skilled labour with high turnover there's usually a fairly high demand for basically anyone who at least shows up and does their job, at the least you should be able to get a trial period where you can proove yourself then you'll be set.

[dragginmaster]

sell anything and everything.

why settle for letting an agency find you a job? get off your bum and go places, pizza parlours, burger joints. knock on doors in your neighborhood, tell the nice old ladies your romantic spiel about love and dancing and mebbe you can earn some money doing chores for people.

be humble. beg. don't be picky.

panhandle, it's easier than you think, at least in america you can make some good change.

[Azkanan]

sell anything and everything.

why settle for letting an agency find you a job? get off your bum and go places, pizza parlours, burger joints. knock on doors in your neighborhood, tell the nice old ladies your romantic spiel about love and dancing and mebbe you can earn some money doing chores for people.

be humble. beg. don't be picky.

panhandle, it's easier than you think, at least in america you can make some good change.

>Implying I haven't asked around all the shops in town at least twice.

People won't pay people to do chores for them. If people are unable to do chores, the state employs Carers for them. In which case, i'm back to square one with being unemployed.

Panhandling is only effective when everybody else isn't doing it. There's so many people begging for change in my town it's ridiculous.

[dragginmaster]

Wow. Figgered it wouldn't be too different than the states, got any particular skillz that u could use to earn money? Artwork for cash sold to ppl here? Or something.

Crime out of the question? ;-)

[Azkanan]

Wow. Figgered it wouldn't be too different than the states, got any particular skillz that u could use to earn money? Artwork for cash sold to ppl here? Or something.

Crime out of the question? ;-)

No skills of note, other than being a pretty cool guy. It's a really sad realisation.

Crime is only out of the question if it's going to stick to me for the rest of my life. It's hard enough getting a job as it is

[Azkanan]

HYUK HYUK HYUK.

Just got a call from my Agency, they said they've got work for me working with DHL tomorrow! \o/.

[Muz]

Beg for money. Seriously, it earns a hell lot. I heard beggars make quite a lot every hour. Wear your worst shirt, go to restaurants and ask for money. If you're lucky, you'll come across someone who refuses to give money but give food instead. It works very well because people hate being accosted, and they hate having to brush off someone. And most societies are conditioned to think that giving to beggars is a Good thing, so they'll throw you a money or two just to fend off the guilt.

Better yet, sell religious pamphlets or prayers. The more guilt the better. Though if you live in an atheist region, you might get hurt.

I don't think busking works as well, there's no real guilt, unless you busk half-naked.

Another alternative is finding stuff for cheap online at an unpopular auction site and selling it off on a popular auction site.

Otherwise, it's hard to make quick money. Everything usually needs long term planning or contacts, you can't really make money easily without investing or whatever.