Get a work visa
Ever wanted to spend afternoons surfing in Australia? Or eat at dozens of different world class French restaurants? How about taking the day to ski on the Olympic-calibre slopes of Norway? These are just some of the over two dozen countries for which Canadians can be granted working holiday visas from various foreign governments.

These visas usually last between 1 to 2 years, are generally for Canadians 18 to 35 and require little more than a fair amount of paper work and a bit of good timing (there are often quotas on the number of visas allotted annually). There are also additional visas for young professionals and international co-ops.

More information about all these visas can be found here.

Volunteer
While volunteering doesn't pay the bills, it at least has the opportunity to reduce a few, while gaining some incredible life experience. While visiting Bolivia, I ended up volunteering at Inti Wara Yassi, an animal refuge near the city of Cochabamba. The refuge is a large park created for rehabilitating mistreated animals and educating people about environmentalism. My job duties there included tending to the spider monkeys, feeding them, playing with them and, sadly, letting them steal my camera.

While Inti Wara Yassi now costs a nominal fee (about $10/day) to volunteer, there are no shortage of organizations hoping to use your hard work in exchange for room and occasionally board. While you won't be taking money home afterwards, this is a great way to extend your trip, as you can be self-sustaining while enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime experience that helps others.

Here are a couple of good places to start:

• http://www.volunteerabroad.ca
• http://www.cuso-vso.org/volunteer

Work under the table
Sneaky, sneaky. While this option might not make you a fortune, again it's the perfect way to put off that dreaded return home, and have a lot of fun while doing so. For many travelers, it's a rite of passage to work late nights at a pub (only to be paid small wages which you likely end up spending back at the pub anyway). For many of these same travellers, this is also one of the best experiences of their trip.

Hostels are the ideal place to look for under the table jobs, as local businesses often post ads at the hostels, seeking transient workers. Responding to an ad posted at my hostel in Perth, I spent a month as an apple picker in Donnybrook, Australia, proud home of the Donnybrook Apple Festival, the largest apple festival in all southwestern Western Australia! The work was tough, but I met great people and it afforded me an extra month of bumming around Perth and surfing.

Hostels also often look for people to work at the hostel itself under the table, which can give you a little beer money (and usually includes the price of your hostel bed).