The Best Summer Side Hustles for Making Extra Cash

Most twentysomethings know that living within your means is easier said than done these days. Even with a full-time job, your wage often isn’t going to cover all your bills and other expenses. For some, it’s acceptable to slog on, going into credit card debt in order to make ends meet. There is, however, another way. If you can find yourself a good part-time side job, you can make more cash and keep yourself afloat.

Taking on a side-hustle job isn’t a quick and easy way of making lots of cash. They can often be hard work, pay minimally and take up more of your precious time. However, if you’re diligent, you can stay out of debt, gain valuable experience and possibly even turn your job into a full-time career. Below are some ideas to get you started with your summer side hustle.

A Traditional Part-Time Job

flipping burgers part time
One of the most obvious ideas is to get a minimum wage job. You probably don’t want to make lattes or flip burgers in your spare time, but it’s arguably the most reliable side hustle there is. You can take advantage of the fact that no one wants to work evenings and weekends, and snap up all those extra hours and cash yourself. You can expect to make at least $7.25 an hour, which can quickly add up alongside your regular pay.

Online Surveys

swagbucks
There are a plethora of companies online that are looking for your opinion. If you check out survey websites such as Swagbucks or MySurvey, they’ll reward you with points for answering questions about your grocery shopping experience or advertisements for beer that you’ve encountered. Those points can then be redeemed for store coupons at places such as Amazon, or cash paid directly into your Paypal account. This won’t earn you the big bucks, but it’s a great way to utilize your spare time and make a little bit of cash. You can expect to earn roughly $35 a month this way.

Uber Driver

Uber
Uber is fast becoming a viable alternative to taxis in most major cities, and they need drivers. If you have a driver’s licence, you can apply to drive in your spare time. If you’re over 21, your car is a 2000 model or newer and you pass a background check, you could be well on your way. As Uber is a fast-growing business, you could gain a lot of work from them. At the moment, earnings are around $19 an hour.

Pet Sitting

pet sitting and walking
Are you an animal lover who’s usually free during business hours? You could be the perfect pet sitter. Many professionals are willing to pay for you to keep Fluffy company at home while they’re out at work. If they have a dog, you can make even more cash by walking them. Daily walks and sitting jobs can add up quickly; wages vary by what you’re willing to charge, but an average wage is around $15 per visit.

Virtual Assistant

virtual assistant
An up-and-coming side hustle is that of the virtual assistant. Busy working people who need help keeping their schedules in order will value the help of an organized, detail-oriented person. With the Internet, you don’t have to be anywhere near your client in order to do this job. You can make up to $40 an hour doing this.

Tutor

tutoring
If you’re a people-person and have a skill to share, tutoring could be a good fit. You can tutor high school kids for their exams, but there are also plenty of adults out there who need tutoring for events such as their grad school exams or GRE. If you’re fluent in another language, you can even tutor people in preparation for a trip to another country. You can make up to $75 an hour by tutoring, depending on your experience,the subject and the grade level you tutor. You don’t have to be teaching sophisticated subjects; you can expect to make between $15-$20 by tutoring young children in reading.

Personal Chef

in-home chef
Are you good in the kitchen? Busy working parents can often use a good chef at home. All you need to do is come in, prepare a good, healthy meal, and leave the prepped meal for the parents to heat up when they get home. Personal chefs can earn from $35 to $50 an hour.

Airbnb

airbnb
This choice isn’t for everybody, but it can be an easy way to earn cash. Airbnb allows people to offer their homes as accommodation for travelers, earning them extra cash. It started when the company’s founders used their living room as a bed-and-breakfast, installing air mattresses and serving their guests breakfast. If you’re going away, or have a spare room, it’s a great way to use your home to make yourself some cash. Rentals start out at roughly $100 per night, which can go up if you get good reviews or live in a downtown area.

Redbubble

redbubble

Are you an aspiring artist? One original way of making that skill pay is by designing T-shirts for sites such as RedBubble. The site sells shirts, stickers, bags, wall decor and, yes, even art prints. The great thing is that you simply provide the artwork, and RedBubble provides the items your art is printed on. Payment depends on what you sell, but you need to make $20 before RedBubble will release payment to you.

Start Earning Your Cash

The first rule of the side hustle is that there’s always a job that someone’s willing to pay somebody else to do. Figure out where your skills lie, and apply them to the most appropriate job. Take a job off of somebody else’s hands and make some extra cash today. And speaking of cash, be sure to check out our ebooks so you can make good use of what you earn.

Anum Yoon is a personal finance writer and blogger who started and maintains Current On Currency. As a supporter of the sustainability movement, she also frequently writes about how we can help the environment. You can follow her on Twitter to catch her updates.

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