Late on rent? Loan shark breathing down your neck? Can't fill your car with gas to get to work on Monday? Assuming all available funds and traditional sources of credit are tapped out, here are 25 (legal) ways to raise cash in a few days. We list them in order from least to most desperate.

In my area of the country, I often see the Amish set up along busy highways selling freshly-baked goods. They do a healthy business. Fellow blogger Amey Stone shared with me an excellent blog experiment on the potential for selling bottled water at a freeway exit, in which a blogger sold a case's worth of water in less than 30 minutes. In the days when I ran a very large bicycle tour, we had people who followed our tour for the week, selling iced-down soda and other treats along the route, and pulled in some very generous profits. A friend who is in the wholesale flower business makes a point of disposing of too-old bouquets in a way that avoids further damage, knowing that people will pick up those discards and sell them at roadside.

Roadside sales can pull in some quick cash. Pick high-profit items that aren't highly perishable and/or have a high cost/sale price ratio; cold soda, corn, baked goods, flowers. Pick a location that is safe, where passersby can park without hazard, a location that has a good traffic flow, and one for which you have permission, or at least is not illegal. (Freeway exits are not usually legal sales areas.) You may be required to have a vendor's license, also.

Don't expect to get rich, or minimize the work involved. But if you really need some quick cash, roadside sales can help you over the hump. And it will leave you with more pride than those simply begging.

All 25 ways to raise quick cash.