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Blood Money Revisited

September 2nd, 2007 at 05:17 am

So a long while back I was thinking about doing plasma donation to earn a little extra money. I kind of looked at it but never really went into it deep enough to see what it was about.

So I've been researching it some more and specifically the company that has a branch in my county. They pay $25 per donation and you can donate twice a week. It takes about 1.5 hours to donate plasma and it is different from regular blood donation because they put everything but the plasma back into you. It takes the body 48 hours to replace what is lost from donation.

So they are paying $16 an hour basically. Not bad for lying on your back and reading a book or taking a nap. I'm not sure if they take money out for taxes or not, that wasn't listed on their website. But they do require a social so I'm betting they probably do, which knocks it down a bit. Of course, they may just require it because you might have to be a U.S. citizen. You also have to bring a photo I.D. and a current utility bill for proof of permanent residence. They don't want homeless people or drug addicts coming in off the streets for health issues.

I can donate if my high blood pressure is under control with medication, which it is, and with my thyroid medication, as well. I have to not be currently sick and if I've been on antibiotics they have to be out of my system for a set number of days. So I qualify if I wanted to set up an appointment any time soon. My past illness does not disqualify me from donating as it has been 2 years.

I'm still not 100% sure, but I keep thinking about it. If I donated twice a week for a whole year I'd earn $2600. But I know of coures, that I will get sick or have weeks where the kids are too sick for me to go or we go on a trip or whatever. But I reckon I could still make $2000 a year.

The only thing that might be an issue is it is 23 minutes from my house. Which means gas. Gas is currently $2.55 a gallon and it takes about 2.8 gallons to do a round trip from my house. At best that is about $7.50 per trip. So subtract that from the $25 and its $17.50. I figure I can combine it on Friday's with my regular trip to town for grocery shopping and banking, so one day I wouldn't be coming in for just that, which means one donation at $17.50 and one at $25, or a net gain of $42.50 per week. Still worthwhile I think.

I'm not one who is afraid of needles or having things sticking out of my veins. I had that going on for a good portion of 3 years of my life, so it isn't a problem. But I am still a tad hesitant. It just seems kind of creepy. I think I'm probably blowing it all out of proportion. I just keep thinking how nice it would be to have regular $50 donations going into the EF every week. Or finally open a spousal IRA.

Posted in Extra Income Sources | 9 Comments »

9 Responses to “Blood Money Revisited”

  1. Ima saver Says:
    September 2nd, 2007 at 12:48 pm 1188737317
    1188737317

    Why don't you try it once and see how you like it. I am terrified of needles and have only been to the doctor twice in my entire life.

  2. kv968 Says:
    September 2nd, 2007 at 01:32 pm 1188739952
    1188739952

    Try it before you figure all that into your budgetSmile We can do that plasma donation sometimes when they have a blood drive where I work. A couple of people did it and said they won't do it again. One I think just didn't like sitting there for that long and the other didn't like it because he felt sick. I'm not sure if it was really being sick or just feeling weird. I think he said it was something to do with the recirculated blood being cooler or something like that. I'm not discouraging you from doing it, but try it first before thinking it'll be a two time a week thing.

  3. monkeymama Says:
    September 2nd, 2007 at 02:19 pm 1188742753
    1188742753

    Yeah plasma donation is kind of intense. My mom does it all the time (for free) and I have no idea how she does it. I think in general they don't recommend to do it so much. But I don't know. I know at times they have had her come in more often because she matched someone with a need, but she always felt much more drained or worse the few times she did it more often (I don't think ever more than twice a week as you described). I would guess she generally goes in once or twice a month. Of course she is older with her own health problems, so maybe different guidelines.

    I would try it once, and then if you don't mind it, go into it with an open mind. You might not be able to keep up twice a week, but if you could commit to once a week or something that's still a decent income stream.

    Could you read a book? In general they use both your arms so you can't do much (a nap sounds good though!). Not sure if they do it the same way, but at Red cross they let you watch movies since your hands are tied up.

  4. katwoman Says:
    September 2nd, 2007 at 08:17 pm 1188764267
    1188764267

    I know you're not afraid of needles but those needles are way thicker and if you do it enough times it does leave a scar.

  5. LuckyRobin Says:
    September 2nd, 2007 at 08:52 pm 1188766377
    1188766377

    They only allow you to donate twice a week, MonkeyMama. Just because it only takes 48 hours to recover the lost plasma doesn't mean they'll let you donate every 48 hours.

    At this point I'm just investigating. I'm still not really sure what I want to do.

  6. monkeymama Says:
    September 2nd, 2007 at 10:28 pm 1188772134
    1188772134

    I understood what you said, did I say 2 days? I meant twice a week. Just meant that can be kind of intense, but you won't know until you try.

  7. jdedit2001 Says:
    September 3rd, 2007 at 03:29 am 1188790181
    1188790181

    I used to donate platelets at least once a month for the Red Cross blood bank. I wouldn't describe it as intense. You just have to sit still for a long period of time. I always was put on two arm machines, but the Red Cross did have one arm donations as well. I just thought it took longer using 1 arm. During donation, they give a drug via IV that stops you from clotting, and that drug tends to make you feel cold and somewhat shaky. I always felt a little drained after donating, just very tired. To me, the worst part was immediately afterwards, when eating and drinking in the canteen. The first few bites and drinks caused a weird pain in my jaw. I think it was a result of the anti-clotting drug. Just thought I give you an idea of what donating is like.

  8. cptacek Says:
    September 3rd, 2007 at 09:04 pm 1188853484
    1188853484

    I did it in grad school to pay my income taxes...college scholarships are taxed, but they don't take money out of the scholarship for taxes. Twice a week for about 4 months and I had the money to pay the taxes.

    They don't like you to nap...I was trying that once and they thought I had passed out and made a big fuss. But they usually had movies on and you could bring a book.

    My arm felt cold while I was donating, but I felt fine. It didn't affect me like some others have talked about.

    If you can handle the needles and can combine the driving with another trip (instead of a seperate trip just for that) then I would say go for it. It's not like you are signing a contract to be there twice a week every week.

  9. kashi Says:
    September 5th, 2007 at 05:56 pm 1189014991
    1189014991

    A friend of mine donated plasma with some regularity (but not twice a week) and has the scars to prove it.

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