I've just finished comparing various documents; and it turns out that Mechanical Turk falls under one of the categories of my monthly deposit's rules, in that for every dollar I would be paid from performing Turk tasks, fifty cents would be deducted from my next monthly deposit. Thus, even if I put $4 of effort per hour into Turk tasks, I would increase my actual income by $2 per hour of effort; which, while more than $0, is still pretty low... the local bus costs $2.50, so I could increase my effective income by more than that per hour by simply spending my time walking everywhere rather than taking the bus.
Now that I know of MT, I'm going to keep it in the toolbox of potential options in case of emergency, but with my current understanding, I'm unlikely to make it a regular thing. (Unless I can come up with some way to do Turk tasks while doing something else at the same time, or find some other 'cheat' to increase its value - as usual, and suggestions would be appreciated.)
the local bus costs $2.50, so I could increase my effective income by more than that per hour by simply spending my time walking everywhere rather than taking the bus.
You'd probably also be healthier too - who gets enough exercise? (And audiobooks apparently work well for boredom.)
Having just re-read "Money: The Unit of Caring", I noticed that the general methods proposed therein make some assumptions which don't seem to apply to me, and I'm trying to figure out how the conclusions therein change therefrom.
Avoiding certain personal details, I'm on a fixed income; I get a monthly deposit in my bank account every month. I don't expect this to change in the foreseeable future; and at least in the general sense of 'job', it's unlikely I'll be able to acquire one. In sum - I don't have any easy way to convert my time into additional money.
However, I still want to get the occasional warm fuzzy from causing the most possible good from what I can do - even if that involves my volunteering to spend some hours of my life doing things that would be inefficient for someone else. For example, donating blood, or taking an overnight shift keeping an eye on things at the local 'out of the cold' program; and using givewell.org as a guide for what money I am able to funnel into direct donating.
So - does anyone have any advice? (Or questions that would help better advice be given?)