OK, here are two surefire ways and one likely way for you and Gabe to both make money:
(1) Participate in online market research. I used to do a lot of this. You should NEVER pay in any way to participate in such things or learn about the opportunities. I found this list that ranks online survey businesses that pay. I can't vouch for it, but it does include at the top a few places that I used without any problems, like pinecone research: http://www.surveypolice.com/rankings. If you put the time into getting into the various programs, you can definitely make money, though it won't be a lot. I used to get $50-$100 a month doing these without putting in much effort.
(2) Go to the student union buildings at nearby universities. Scour the bulletin boards for people looking for research subjects that will pay you to be a subject. Many of these will be innocuous studies that pay $10-$20. You can also try to track down medical clinical trials for which you qualify. You can make a GOOD chunk of change doing these. I did several in grad school, none of which I felt were scary. If they take a few days and you have to stay overnight, you can make upwards of $1000.
