Skinning doesn't make much money nowadays until you can make heavy borean leather. Even then, the only profession that makes use of leather is leatherworking, so Blizz needs to change that.
I have to recommend the following:
1) Make good friends, make buddies in your guild, or have multiple alts. I have an enchanter, an engineer, an alchemist, a scribe, a leatherworker, a miner, an herbalist now, and a skinner. I'm also working on tailoring. The only thing I pay for any more is gems, and I usually try to bum those off guildies.
2) Vendor your grays. Pick up your grays and vendor them.
WOW GOLD.These pay for your day-to-day repairs.
3) When you get a quest reward with a green you don't need or a bad blue, pick up the plate reward. It vendors for more.
4) Do the easy daily quests in your area every day while leveling. For example, if you're questing in Borean, do the Kaluak dailies. Avoid the drake catching daily because it can be time-consuming/difficult for little reward. Do not go all the way to Dragonblight just to "get dailies done for today" unless you're interested in rep gain.
5) When you're 80 and low on wow gold, keep questing. Set little goals for yourself; "I'm going to make 50g today." Don't keep track, just quest. Open up your bags when
you're tired or done for the day and be amazed how far you've gotten. Pay attention to the quest storyline to keep yourself entertained or compelled somewhat.
6) Vendor all trash greens and blues until you get to 78. At that point, tip an enchanter 1g per item to DE your things. Use the mats to make your enchants, or AH them. This is evil, but it works:
7) The guild bank. Try joining a casual-ish raiding guild, and for a month or two just spend time warming up to them. In doing this, you'll get to know who does what profession, and acquire those services for free. (Note: Always offer a relatively large tip- if they accept; good. They'll remember you, and it'll pay off .
WOW GOLD.If they reject; the service is free.) As people get to know you, you can ask for one or two things from the guild bank- a stack of ore, some herbs, whatever. DO NOT AH them (you can get caught), ask only for what you need.
Throw in some junky blues, pots, or what-have-you in order to make like you're contributing.
