London

Pawn your jewels
One of the quickest ways to get instant cash. Simply take your diamond ring, gold chain or fancy watch along to your nearest pawnbroker and get the item valued. You’ll be given a quote and if you agree to the price you’ll sign a contract (usually for six months) before being handed the cash. You pay back monthly interest at an average rate of 7 per cent so the shorter time you pledge your item, the less interest you’ll have to pay. It’s advisable to go to a National Pawnbrokers’ Association (NPA) registered pawnbroker.
www.thenpa.com Feature continues

Go flyering
One possibly more suited to the hard-up students among us who don’t mind braving the wet and cold British elements to earn a few extra bob. Flyering can earn you up to £8-10 per hour, and many promoters offer commission. Be prepared to work odd hours, especially if you’re promoting for a club. www.gumtree.com is a good place to look for flyering work, or alternatively approach bars and clubs, who are always looking for people to hand out flyers for them.

Sell on Amazon
Amazon runs a similar system to eBay only it doesn’t involve taking digital pictures of your product and the process of selling is a whole lot easier. First you need to sign up with an email address and your bank account details. The selling part is an absolute doddle, as long as the product you’re shifting is listed in Amazon’s own database. Say you have an unwanted DVD of ‘Star Wars Episode 3’ (why would you want it anyway?). Locate it on Amazon and click on the ‘sell yours here’ button, then slightly undercut the other sellers by a few pence and before long you’ll have a sale. Amazon takes its percentage and forwards the cash to your bank account.
www.amazon.co.uk

Advertise in Private Eye's 'Eye Need' page
In the back of Private Eye magazine there is a column called ‘Eye Need’ where readers can publish a very short description of why they need money, together with their sort code and account details. Rich readers (the Eye has many) can and do put money into their bank accounts. This strange but inspired set up is a little like a Lonely Hearts ad. In Lonely Hearts ads, you might not expect a great response if you wrote ‘I just quite fancy a shag’ and left it at that. Similarly ‘I just quite fancy some money’ is not, perhaps, the best way to phrase your ad. The more eloquent, convincing and even amusing you can be the more money you stand to receive. A recent entry sensitively entreated: ‘Are you expecting to die soon and don’t want your ungrateful offspring to get at your hard-earned cash? Then forget the cat and dog homes! Send it here! Thanks’ (followed by his/her bank account details). You never know.
www.private-eye.co.uk

Grow fruit and vegetables to sell to friends
Growing your own fruit and vegetables either in your garden or a window box is not only an excellent way to save money, it could also become a way to earn money. You could sell your produce to friends who buy organic fruit and vegetables but worry that it is too expensive, and that they can’t be sure the food is entirely pesticide-free. Tomatoes, herbs and blueberries would be good to grow in a window box, while people with a garden could grow most of the fruits and vegetables found in a supermarket.
Royal Horticultural Society: www.rhs.org.uk/advice
Organic Garden Tips: www.organicgardentips.com