First Earnings
By Jabo
@jaboUK (64354)
United Kingdom
March 21, 2018 10:50am CST
The very first money I earned was when I was 13. I knew a man who ran the pony rides in the local park and he was looking for some help.
He had half a dozen ponies, and children were able to have a ride on them for a shilling. For kids who had perhaps never even been close to a pony before, this was great fun.
However, they obviously couldn't be let loose on them on their own, so I got the job of leading them up and down, perhaps 50 yards each way. The deal was that for every 10 trips that I did I got a shilling for myself.
On a hot summer's day I really earned that money, believe me.
How did you earn your first money?
Photo is of me with a pony a long time ago.
60 people like this
68 responses
@LadyDuck (471459)
• Switzerland
21 Mar 18
I only started earning money when I was 18. I was still in college, the secretary of our school broke an arm, the Director asked me if I could come on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning to fill the school documents, because she was unable to write and to type. I did, they paid me for what I did.
13 people like this
@snowy22315 (180865)
• United States
21 Mar 18
Well really the very first money I earned was my dad paid me a penny a worm to dig wormswhen he was going fishing. 
Also, I sometimes earned money for chores around the house..but in terms of paid employment, when I was 16 I worked in a store taking inventory. It was a short term job..but I had more regular employment in a restaurant the next year. Alot of kids at our school worked tying grapes in some the surrounding grape growing areas, but the vineyards weren't located that close to where I lived.
Also, I sometimes earned money for chores around the house..but in terms of paid employment, when I was 16 I worked in a store taking inventory. It was a short term job..but I had more regular employment in a restaurant the next year. Alot of kids at our school worked tying grapes in some the surrounding grape growing areas, but the vineyards weren't located that close to where I lived.5 people like this
@snowy22315 (180865)
• United States
21 Mar 18
@jaboUK Yes, but who knows how that would have gone. My mother used to pick cherries as a kid for cash and said there were always spiders in the trees. She wasn't crazy about it!
4 people like this
@jaboUK (64354)
• United Kingdom
21 Mar 18
@snowy22315 Oooh, spiders would have put me off too.
3 people like this
@allknowing (136560)
• India
22 Mar 18
I do not see those hair bands these days. I too wore them (lol)
I got my first rupee when I had to type something from a book for a friend. There were many mistakes he later told me and so my brother called it the dishonest rupee.
4 people like this
@allknowing (136560)
• India
22 Mar 18
@jaboUK This brother loved me and that mattered a lot (lol)
1 person likes this
. Those hairbands were practical weren't they? Kept your hair out of your eyes
@Mavic123456 (21893)
• Thailand
21 Mar 18
You have such a beautiful photo. Vintage.
I sell in bell pepper (sweet pepper) in the market
4 people like this
@marlina (154131)
• Canada
22 Mar 18
@DeborahDiane 8 children= $0.50 an hour
Most of my clients had only 2 children=$0.25 an hour
Not that bad then!
2 people like this
@DeborahDiane (40294)
• Laguna Woods, California
22 Mar 18
@marlina - Wow! They didn't pay you very much at all. I earned .50 cents an hour back in the 1960s ... but my major client had 8 children, so perhaps they paid me more than the average at the time.
2 people like this
@TheHorse (218930)
• Walnut Creek, California
23 Mar 18
@DeborahDiane I was still in college at that time. I think I worked that Summer as a dishwasher. But it was in Glacier Nation Park, so it was fun.
2 people like this
@DeborahDiane (40294)
• Laguna Woods, California
22 Mar 18
@TheHorse - If you were tutoring statistics, you were doing pretty well for a first job!
3 people like this
@DeborahDiane (40294)
• Laguna Woods, California
22 Mar 18
@JudyEv - I would think pony rides could get very boring at times ... for the pony. Horses, though, do like to get out of the stall and be ridden. We had a horse once who would whinny loudly whenever he saw other horses getting ridden. He wanted to get out and go for a run, too!
2 people like this
@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
21 Mar 18
That's great Janet! Earning money at such a young age :)
3 people like this
@jaboUK (64354)
• United Kingdom
22 Mar 18
@sunrisefan That was good that you were able to help your aunt.
1 person likes this
@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
22 Mar 18
@jaboUK Little is much better than nothing Janet :) When my siblings and I were younger then, we also helped watch over the little stall of our aunt in the market on Sundays and we got our coins in the evening :)
1 person likes this
@thelme55 (77081)
• Germany
22 Mar 18
I earned my first money when I think I was 10 years old. I sold wilted banana leaves in the market stall with our neighbor. I did it because I envied the girls in the neighborhood who were selling wilted banana leaves in the market. It was my first and my last time selling wilted banana leaves. My parents laughed at me because they didn´t want me to do it but I said I would try. Selling anything is my nemesis.
3 people like this
@thelme55 (77081)
• Germany
22 Mar 18
@jaboUK they were used to pack vegetables, meat and fish when I was still small and before plastic bags for packing were used. Wilted banana leaves are also use for baking some Filipino cakes like bibingka. They are use like the way we use the parchment paper in baking.
1 person likes this
@vandana7 (100303)
• India
22 Mar 18
I loved really really loved my first job. It did not pay much at all. I had to mix some manure and fill up plastic bags, cut an inverted "v" at the bottom, soak it, and plant some saplings. The guy who was running that nursery was oh so nice...
3 people like this
@much2say (55664)
• Los Angeles, California
21 Mar 18
I can't remember the exact age, but when I was perhaps around 10-12, the neighbors across the street from us "hired" me to collect the newspaper and mail for them when they went on vacation. They would be often be gone for over a week . . . and when I returned their box of mail, I'd be paid well over what I expected . . . sometimes $1 a day (which is pretty hefty sum for a little kid back then). 
3 people like this
@much2say (55664)
• Los Angeles, California
23 Mar 18
@jaboUK I remember long ago they cautioned folks about those mail slot doors (I guess there were many burglaries) . . . so we don't see many of them these days. But in my area, some people still have the original doors like we do . . . we do have those mail slots, but we have the mail go in a mail box closer to the front of the porch. If I remember correctly, my parents neighborhood (including those neighbors who hired me) never had that mail slot door.
1 person likes this
@sprite1950 (30452)
• Corsham, England
22 Mar 18
I don't know if it could be called earning but when I was very young we could get money back on glass bottles if we took them back to the local cafe. The owner used to encourage us to walk round to see if we could find any lying around and we often did and would make a little money to buy sweets.
My first real earning job was much later when I was 18 working in a maternity hospital at weekends clearing up afterbirth messes
. I was at college at the time and did it at weekends to make a little money.
. I was at college at the time and did it at weekends to make a little money.2 people like this
@sprite1950 (30452)
• Corsham, England
22 Mar 18
@jaboUK it was unpleasant but l needed the money and got used to it after a while
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64354)
• United Kingdom
22 Mar 18
@sprite1950 Amazing what you can get used to, isn't it?
1 person likes this
@LeaPea2417 (37355)
• Toccoa, Georgia
21 Mar 18
My first job was a gift wrapper at the local department store. That store was located in a Mall.
3 people like this
