# Top 10 smart side hustles to help you make extra money this summer



## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

According to CNBC's Acorn website here are 10 great side gigs to pull in some cash...

1) Deliver groceries ($13-22 /hr)
2) Babysit ($13-20 /hr)
3) Pet sit ($13 /hr)
4) Garden ($12.70 /hr)
5) Landscape ($13 /hr)
6) Clean Pools ($14 /hr)
7) Rent out you stuff ($7-400 /hr)
8) Rent out your land ($35 /day)
9) Tutor online ($15-40 /hr)
10) Give tours of your home town ($15 /hr)

Tron's Take:
Teaching people to garden seems ok, but the big bucks are clearly in teaching them to landscape. Home town tours sounds like a blast, unless you live in Detroit. With modern tech and robotics there should be a way to batch all your pet and baby sitting gigs, while you deliver for Uber Eats. And while enroute you could be dropping off and picking up pool skimmers. That all could net over $100/hr. There's some real opportunities here.

And if you drop Eats you should be able to stay on the unemployment rolls all summer. What's not to love?


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

I think babysitting will pull for more like $5-10/hr and forget it if you are a dude. Automatic CHOMO presumption.
I think pet sitting will pull like $2.50-$5/hr. I've done my share of that.
I'm not sure about grocery delivery.
But the rest of that list will require some special qualifications and/or equipment.


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## IthurstwhenIP (Jan 12, 2018)

Things you do when you are fifteen for 500


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

_Tron_ said:


> According to CNBC's Acorn website here are 10 great side gigs to pull in some cash...
> 
> 1) Deliver groceries ($13-22 /hr)
> 2) Babysit ($13-20 /hr)
> ...


THE BEST ONES ARENT LEGAL.


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## Uberisfuninlv (Mar 22, 2017)

Only Fans


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## Mash Ghasem (Jan 12, 2020)

11) Loot upscale shops & sell on eBay


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## Jihad Me At Hello (Jun 18, 2018)

Mash Ghasem said:


> 11) Loot upscale shops & sell on eBay


At this point why not lol.

I've been working under the table for my cousin's landscaping business for 2 months now, had been doing eats but tapered off that. I also do tech support for friends and family under the table too, gotta get my ducks in a row for when 31 July rolls around


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## kdyrpr (Apr 23, 2016)

Funny how the option of learning a marketable skill and getting a real job never seems to be mentioned in these boards.


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

Tourism might make $15/hour for some but that's not a gig many people can land. It involves a lot of knowledge, experience, and marketability that most people would struggle to come up with even if their life depended on it.

That's a specialized skill that not many people could possibly make money from, like programming, videography, or editing. It's not that easy to get someone to pay you a living wage to give tours of your hometown. That's a life calling that only a handful of people are cut out for, even if it doesn't pay much. This list might as well add "become a successful writer" if we're talking about underpaid, self-motivated knowledge work.

If that's on the list, we could probably add a hundred other specialized bits of skilled labor that are undervalued but can be done by someone who dedicates _years_ to it, or has some latent talent for.

I also feel like selling stuff from home, pet sitting, or driving commercially has a way lower barrier to entry for most people than something like "be one of the only people in your area who can possibly make money doing a specialized and underpaid task at a difficult time economically". Most local tourism guides are stuck at home making $0 right now because of coronavirus if I'm not mistaken.

Why not suggest going to the woodshed for year and learning to be a plumber? There's no shortage of plumbing jobs, even in this time.


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## 1.5xorbust (Nov 22, 2017)

Please tell me what I can rent for $400 per hour.


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

1.5xorbust said:


> Please tell me what I can rent for $400 per hour.


That Lamborghini doing nothing in your garage. Rent it out on Turo. Easy.

&#128517;

Has anyone looked at how little pet sitting pays on sites like Rover? It makes Uber Eats look amazing by comparison.

I looked at what people were charging for basic pet care, and while it seems expensive to a pet owner, those folks were paying themselves less than $5/hour in many cases. I get that it's barely work for some rare people, and some people stack many dog clients into the same time window to make it work, but you can't easily pay rent with that money even if you hustle. Even as a side gig, that is one of those gigs that is only worth doing if you love it and have literally nothing better to do. It doesn't pay enough.

I also feel like all of these care services involve a race to the bottom on cost and quality. Daycare for children has the same problem: underpaid and undervalued, and yet still fraught with problems of quality, trust, and expense that makes it difficult for parents to deal with. And talk about pandemic-sensitive lines of work. &#128551;


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## mbd (Aug 27, 2018)

Anybody saw the looter who got looted and then another looter came and looted him.

This is a great idea. Let the original looter do the hard work, then the 2nd looter loots him, and he is too tired to carry the looting due to low energy. 3rd looter has the easiest looting.

If that is too confusing let me give a easier example. You go pick up a Uber pax and the pax gets charged 100$ , and you get 40 and Uber takes 60. you are looter number 1 and Uber is looter number 3. Looter number 2 does not exist in this scenario:smiles:


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## 68350 (May 24, 2017)

kdyrpr said:


> Funny how the option of learning a marketable skill and getting a real job never seems to be mentioned in these boards.


Well that's not a "side gig"... you know, the topic of this thread? :coolio:


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## ColdRider (Oct 19, 2015)

kdyrpr said:


> Funny how the option of learning a marketable skill and getting a real job never seems to be mentioned in these boards.


I've suggested it before but I get called snarky and some have even went so far as to tell me that most Uber drivers don't want a _regular_ job.



Jihad Me At Hello said:


> At this point why not lol.
> 
> I've been working under the table for my cousin's landscaping business for 2 months now, had been doing eats but tapered off that. I also do tech support for friends and family under the table too, gotta get my ducks in a row for when 31 July rolls around


Are you collecting unemployment and working under the table so you don't have to report it?


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## Jihad Me At Hello (Jun 18, 2018)

ColdRider said:


> Are you collecting unemployment and working under the table so you don't have to report it?


Yes


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## Cdub2k (Nov 22, 2017)

mbd said:


> Anybody saw the looter who got looted and then another looter came and looted him.
> 
> This is a great idea. Let the original looter do the hard work, then the 2nd looter loots him, and he is too tired to carry the looting due to low energy. 3rd looter has the easiest looting.
> 
> If that is too confusing let me give a easier example. You go pick up a Uber pax and the pax gets charged 100$ , and you get 40 and Uber takes 60. you are looter number 1 and Uber is looter number 3. Looter number 2 does not exist in this scenario:smiles:


Not to mention the 3rd and final looter will never be caught it's a brilliant move.


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## ColdRider (Oct 19, 2015)

Jihad Me At Hello said:


> Yes


Welp, I don't condone fraud but good luck.


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## M62 (Sep 6, 2019)

kdyrpr said:


> Funny how the option of learning a marketable skill and getting a real job never seems to be mentioned in these boards.


To be fair, the thread is specifically about side hustles to make extra money.

If you search this site for 'marketable skills', I think you'll find many posts about it.



waldowainthrop said:


> I looked at what people were charging for basic pet care, and while it seems expensive to a pet owner, those folks were paying themselves less than $5/hour in many cases. I get that it's barely work for some rare people, and some people stack many dog clients into the same time window to make it work, but you can't easily pay rent with that money even if you hustle. Even as a side gig, that is one of those gigs that is only worth doing if you love it and have literally nothing better to do. It doesn't pay enough.


Can pet sitters cancel if the dog wants to bring a service human?


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

kdyrpr said:


> Funny how the option of learning a marketable skill and getting a real job never seems to be mentioned in these boards.


A marketable skill is no good if you can't market it.



ColdRider said:


> I've suggested it before but I get called snarky and some have even went so far as to tell me that most Uber drivers don't want a _regular_ job.


Regular jobs are awful. They make you a slave to the clock for an extra $50 a day.


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## ColdRider (Oct 19, 2015)

Trafficat said:


> Regular jobs are awful. They make you a slave to the clock for an extra $50 a day.


Maybe you had awful regular jobs but an extra $12k per year does sound terrible. &#128128;


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## sellkatsell44 (Oct 25, 2015)

Trafficat said:


> A marketable skill is no good if you can't market it.
> 
> Regular jobs are awful. They make you a slave to the clock for an extra $50 a day.


Depends on the regular job.

most of my colleagues are in same boat as me, there's no official clock in clock out. There's structure for sure, but if someone has to leave early 2x a week for their kids soccer practice because they're co-coach, they can certainly do so.

ive learned if there's no much flexibility, it's most likely due to the company you're working with. And if you get to a point where you're "needed" enough you can ask for a bit of flexibility.

Eg I worked retail, albeit higher end, still in a mall that opened Monday-Sunday. Retail rules: no weekends off.

I was able to get a Monday-Friday only schedule without it affecting my hours. If I wasn't the top seller and had a book that generated six figures in sales without needing foot traffic, I highly doubt that I would have gotten away with that. The new manager didn't know and almost let me walk until the assistant manager filled her in.

then there are the horrible places like, at the same time I was working at a bank (4 jobs at once) and I remember when my grandmother died, I had to fly back to Hong Kong at short notice, to attend the funeral and say my goodbyes.

My other jobs said not a problem, go, how are you, etc.

this bank, the manager first thought was, how long will you be gone? Mind you I only asked for less than a week, as direct flight is still roughly 14-15 hours and the funeral is not just a day, I mean it is but there's plenty before and a bit after.

no, how are you feeling, don't worry about it, we got you, etc.

No surprise, I didn't stay there long after either. I would never work for a company that doesn't respect my need to balance personal and work life, or a company that would hire insensitive managers. &#129335;&#127995;‍♀


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## jeanocelot (Sep 2, 2016)

_Tron_ said:


> Tron's Take:
> With modern tech and robotics there should be a way to batch all your pet and baby sitting gigs, while you deliver for Uber Eats.


Just be careful when delivering lula kebab and cleaning up after the dogs. 



kdyrpr said:


> Funny how the option of learning a marketable skill and getting a real job never seems to be mentioned in these boards.


That's because it doesn't pay. The economy doesn't need workers with "marketable skills"; it needs ants to do crap work.



1.5xorbust said:


> Please tell me what I can rent for $400 per hour.


I could, but it wouldn't be safe for work ... :coolio:



mbd said:


> Anybody saw the looter who got looted and then another looter came and looted him.
> 
> This is a great idea. Let the original looter do the hard work, then the 2nd looter loots him, and he is too tired to carry the looting due to low energy. 3rd looter has the easiest looting.
> 
> If that is too confusing let me give a easier example. You go pick up a Uber pax and the pax gets charged 100$ , and you get 40 and Uber takes 60. you are looter number 1 and Uber is looter number 3. Looter number 2 does not exist in this scenario:smiles:


The current crop of looters are pikers. This is the real deal in looting - grabbing his Heineken in the Hurricane Katrina flood waters:


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## 68350 (May 24, 2017)

Trafficat said:


> Regular jobs are awful.


They can be. I held the same job, same employer, for 25 years (responsibilities morphed over time). Started slow, had its ups and downs, but overall was a great place to work with great owners and coworkers, and in the end was paying very well. I'd go back in a heartbeat, if that was possible. Company buyouts suck sometimes.


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## ColdRider (Oct 19, 2015)

What can you do with an extra $12k each year?


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

sellkatsell44 said:


> Depends on the regular job.
> 
> most of my colleagues are in same boat as me, there's no official clock in clock out. There's structure for sure, but if someone has to leave early 2x a week for their kids soccer practice because they're co-coach, they can certainly do so.
> 
> ive learned if there's no much flexibility, it's most likely due to the company you're working with. And if you get to a point where you're "needed" enough you can ask for a bit of flexibility.


That's really nice that some jobs are flexible. I've only worked for a handful of companies but there was no flexibility. No early time outs or early/late time-ins. At my last company I worked 6 days a week ~10 hours a day and getting time off was virtually impossible, except when there were essentially temporary layoffs and only then could we use our PTO hours. Plus add in long-commutes, unpaid off the clock reports to write. The job before that I didn't work that many hours but again flexible start time was not a thing, paid time off could be used but only during the slow-season, 2 weeks in advance, and given out based on seniority. And during the busy times there was random mandatory overtime all over the place making it basically impossible to schedule to do anything outside of work without a 50/50 chance that you'd be called in.



> No surprise, I didn't stay there long after either. I would never work for a company that doesn't respect my need to balance personal and work life, or a company that would hire insensitive managers. &#129335;&#127995;‍♀


I feel like companies usually don't tend to see employees as individuals but rather just as labor machines that are always making a bunch of annoying requests.

Coworkers are also terrible, generally. At my first job which was phone sales and data entry, the coworkers were all lazy and disdainful of anyone who tried to do more work lest it reflect poorly on them. I thought I'd enjoy more working with more "intellectual" types, but I was wrong. At my last job, my coworkers were more ambitious types, and it was awful. They were more than happy to backstab each other and try to get the supervisor fired so they could try to get the position and the accompanying $3/hr raise. I would have personally taken a $3/hr paycut to have been able to work on a team that was cooperative rather than competitive. I mean I don't mind the idea of people trying to do their best and outshine each other but that's not what it was. It was rumor mills, sabotage, and the formation of cliques. I like the idea of being able to show up to work and just do a job, but instead I was constantly being involved with politics that I wanted nothing to do with and being asked to pick sides or face retribution for not picking sides or picking the wrong side. And here I'm just talking about the people on my team in the company I worked for, not to mention the shenanigans involved with the people I mainly worked with which worked for other companies.

I worked on projects with a combination of other American, Japanese, and Korean companies that had various levels of cooperation. The companies were all lying to each other constantly about every little thing to save face. They would have employees not doing anything but clocking and claiming they did work to get paid. The customer would set extremely (impossibly) high standards and the companies doing the projects would cut corners everywhere and file false reports claiming to have met the standards. When an employee was fired, particularly when another company helped in the training of this employee, they would lie to each other and say the employee was temporarily gone due to a family emergency (and apparently no one was supposed to notice when the employee NEVER came back and they trusted others who were "in the know" to keep the secret). Then, later on, an untrained employee would be quietly hired on in his place, which works for a little while until fully half of your team is new hires and all of the sudden a manager from another company checks by and wonders who these people are and what happened to the people his company helped train. When one company found an error in another company's work, both being subsidiaries to the same company, instead of fixing it they would leave it alone and say nothing so that it might cause bigger problems down the line, and presumably result in better contracts for their subsidiary when the other one is found at fault for something that causes an expensive (and possibly dangerous) issue. Such was the intense company loyalty and complete lack of loyalty to the customer and parent companies. Personally I put the customer first, and I felt that was enough to reflect well on my company, but I guess it really wasn't because no one had a good understanding of the work that I did. There was one task where it was just me and 3 guys from a Japanese company that were assigned by our mutual client to complete some work. The Japanese guys lied to the company that wanted the labor and said our project was done when it wasn't so they could go home to Japan early. And they did a shoddy job on the stuff they did complete and blamed it on me.

So at the end of the day I was a pawn to be played by my boss, my coworkers in my own company, and even the managers and employees of a bunch of other little companies that in theory we were working together cooperatively with to complete a project. Some giant game where every man is in it for himself while each is pretending that they are on a team, making temporary fake friendships of convenience along the way.

I would hope this is not typical for other companies. But in the jobs I've worked, out of hundreds of coworkers, supervisors, and managers, I can only think of a handful of people I'd ever want to work with again.



ColdRider said:


> What can you do with an extra $12k each year?


35 years is a long time. Seems like a big gamble to me to even live that long. And having that extra spending money comes at the cost of having time now to do what you want to do. You could work 35 years only to die on your commute home from your office retirement party.


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## ColdRider (Oct 19, 2015)

Trafficat said:


> 35 years is a long time. Seems like a big gamble to me to even live that long. And having that extra spending money comes at the cost of having time now to do what you want to do. You could work 35 years only to die on your commute home from your office retirement party.


That's just an example of what you could do with $50 per day. The calculation I wanted to show was simple and quite conservative at 7% growth, no employer match and no increase in yearly contributions. Either way, if you're thirty or younger and can live without spending that $50, you could at least retire with a respectable amount in your 401k.

On the other hand, if you spend the $50 instead of invest it, you could still live that long and have nothing in retirement. You would then have to depend on social security to survive.

I believe you're mistaking having to work more time for that extra $50. While many are in positions that _have_ to work longer to make more money, some have jobs that pay more overall. You were comparing _regular_ jobs to rideshare I'm assuming and you hinted that we would only make an extra $50 per day while being a slave to the clock. I'm not sure how much you made at rideshare but I'm not sure if I only make $12k more yearly.

I get the allure of having a flexible schedule but each job has it's pros and cons. I admit, I have to be at work (working from home right now so I just have to be available) at 7am, but we have decent work-life balance. There will be times I stay an extra 30 minutes to an hour if there's a deadline or I want to get something done for a client. This doesn't happen often though.

I overslept yesterday and wasn't feeling it so I emailed my direct manager and let him know I was taking the day off. He said no problem and told me to get some rest. I never have to plead my case or argue to get time off or leave early if I have stuff to do.

Other perks include

3 weeks paid time off
2 weeks sick and personal time
1 preventative health care day
1 week off paid between Christmas and New Years
All major holidays off
Health insurance
A health savings account where _they_ kick in $1000 yearly
Roth 401k with 5% employer match
Don't get me wrong, working for yourself is the dream but having a W2 is not that bad.


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## jeanocelot (Sep 2, 2016)

ColdRider said:


> What can you do with an extra $12k each year?
> 
> View attachment 469975
> 
> ...


Einstein himself was in awe over the magic of compound interest!


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

To be fair though, ColdRider's example is not even true compound interest, which strictly speaking is interest paid on accumulated interest.

What you reminded me of however, and this is an admitted digression but young people may not be aware of this, there was a time when a simple passbook savings account -just putting you money in a risk-free, FDIC insured savings account, with compound interest of 7%- would net about the same amount. _And without the risk of stock market ups and downs_.

Those days are long gone since the Feds have manipulated interest rates downward to where passbook savings accounts can't even keep up with inflation. The removal of that safe haven for so many millions of savers is yet one more artifact of the manipulated economy we have been living with for a long time now.


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