I need money... advice?

[Inyssius Tor]

Okay, so: about two weeks ago, I got a citation for jaywalking. Seriously. Turns out the fine is 97 dollars. Court date is 6 August. Now, this would not be a big deal normally, but I am sixteen years old; my current savings add up to twenty-seven dollars and change, and I have no job.

I'd like to get a job, but I'm having trouble finding one for three reasons: A, I'll be taking 18 credit hours next semester and that'll take up most of my week; B, I'll be taking a week-long vacation in mid-August; and C, I live in freaking Leander, a three-mile walk from literally anything (including the bus stop, which has no service on weekends) and an eighty-minute bus ride downtown.

I could get my parents to bail me out, but... A, they'd never let me forget it; B, they'd yell at me for waiting two weeks; and C, I'd get some punishment even more enduringly uncomfortable than the ones I've already accumulated (for unrelated reasons).

So... yeah. I need seventy dollars, and I have about a week and a half to get it (right?). Any suggestions?

[Tom_Violence]

Got anything to sell? eBay can be a useful place when one needs cash.

[de-trick]

im guessing you live on a farm or outside a town, id suggest talking with a farmer and ask if they have any odd jobs or anything.

In my town of dauphin we have a program i think its "hire a student" and I can make anywhere from $8.60 to $15.00 hour.

[Kaelaroth]

Old enough to give blood yet? Some places give money for that.

[Don Julio Anejo]

18 hours of credits (6 classes)... been there, done that. Cuts into your partying big time.

Wait.. are you a teenius that you're 16 and already in college?

If you want a job (although it won't help you in the short term), your college most likely has on-campus jobs like computer lab supervising which don't pay very much but are really slacky and you can do homework there.

Short term - blood bank, sperm bank, pawn shops, ebay... no other ideas short of selling your soul.

[Collin152]

Waitwaitwait-
You can sell sperm as a teenager?!

[thubby]

tell your parents
yes, you will get yelled at for waiting, but think of what you'll get for waiting even longer and all the blacklash from your crazy schemes. heck, they may even be able to get you out of it.
for that matter, can you even do this by yourself? I'd think one of your guardians would have to be be notified.
to the best of my knowledge you have to be 18 for blood/sperm donating

if you refuse to heed my advice, hock your game system if you got one, you can get 100 easy for a 360. most video game places have a trade in policy.

[RTGoodman]

Waitwaitwait-
You can sell sperm as a teenager?!

I think you have to 18, but I'm not sure. I looked into it out of curiosity a while back and there are all SORTS of hoops you have to go through to donate sperm. Seriously. You have to go through screening processes, do specific dietary things, and stuff like that. (Or, at least, that's what the various websites I looked at told me.)

My suggestion? Tell your parents and ask to borrow the money. Tell 'em you were trying to figure out a way to be responsible and do it yourself but just couldn't figure it out. At least they can't be mad at you for trying to do the right thing, even if it didn't work out.

[Emperor Tippy]

Well you have 2 real options: raise money, or delay the trial. To delay the trial you need to fill out some paperwork but you can get it pushed back repeatedly. The more you push it back the less likely the cop is to show up.

[Jack Squat]

$97 seems kinda steep for jaywalking. Especially with you being a minor. Sounds like you've got some super troopers around there, pretty common in small-ish towns.

Anyways, I would fess up and ask your parents to bail you out. You can get a job somewhere and pay them back when you can, but it's really not worth the additional court fees to try and fight/lower the ticket.

[Serpentine]

I'd go with the parent option, but if they are the sort to hold it against you, pay them back/work it off. Once you've repaid what they leant you, if they keep holding it against you they're the petty ones. *shrug*

[Lissou]

On such a short notice, I'd go with the "tell your parents, saying you'll pay them back" option. Otherwise babysitting would probably be a good option but if there were offers you'd probably be doing it already, so...

Also, is it 18 hours a week? Sounds like really not much, in high school I had 40 hours of classes (well, 38), then 25-30 in university... And you can have a job at the same time as long as it's part-time (some people do it full time but I think they're crazy).
Of course, with such short notice you probably wouldn't find a job on time, and even if you did you wouldn't get your first paycheck on time, so...

[Ivius]

1. Steal underpants
2. ????????????
3. Profit!

[Don Julio Anejo]

Also, is it 18 hours a week? Sounds like really not much, in high school I had 40 hours of classes (well, 38), then 25-30 in university... And you can have a job at the same time as long as it's part-time (some people do it full time but I think they're crazy).

It's actually six classes if it's a standart North American university (each class is worth 3 credits and for some reason they're called hours). There's usually 2 classes a week, 1.5 or 2 hours each + any labs are usually separate (for many upper level science/engineering courses you might be stuck in the lab another 5-10-20 hours a week per class). It is, however, slackier than high school because you don't have to do most homework because it doesn't count for marks.

PS: actually asking for money from parents IS a pretty good idea, just give them a good enough legend so they won't yell at you and won't catch you. So is pushing back the court date. Do at least one of them.

[Glyphic]

Look for a temp-agency in your area. You can sacrifice a weekend or a day and probably make enough money. Added bonus, they're usually pretty flexible time wise.