I used to make thousands side-hustling on the weekend, and I think 5 simple gigs can earn you the most cash

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• When I moved to NYC at 23, my full-time job barely covered my expenses. So I took on weekend work.
• I made money working events, giving tours, and babysitting, and I still think they’re great side gigs.
• You can make money selling other people’s stuff — just do the legwork and take a cut of the profit.

When I moved to New York City at the age of 23, I took an entry-level job that barely covered my expenses. To avoid putting too much burden on my credit card, I started taking on different side hustles to bring in cash to pay my bills — and put some money in a savings account for the future.

I realized that I could not only capitalize on my skills (such as writing, public speaking, and marketing) to take on side work as a freelancer, consultant, and workshop teacher but that I could use my free time on the weekends to make money, too.

I decided to start a business in the wedding industry as a bridesmaid for hire so that it wouldn’t interfere with my full-time job during the week and brought in additional income through that stream. I also created profiles on babysitting websites and helped friends sell their clothes and furniture when they moved, and took a fee from sales that were made.

After shifting how I spent my weekends, from using the time to relax and socialize to finding ways to make money, I was able to earn a few thousand dollars extra every month through various side hustles.

This came in handy when I was laid off from my full-time job in 2015. When I lost that steady paycheck, I decided to build up my wedding business and leverage some of the other side hustles to bring in more money than I was making from just the full-time job.

If you’re looking to make extra cash on the weekend, here are five side hustles you can try that may help you make more money every month.

1. Work events

If you’re looking for steady work, grab a job in the event industry, since the weekends are when many people throw parties, celebrations, and weddings.

First, identify what skills you have that could be of value in the event industry. Use websites like GigSalad or Thumbtack to browse common vendors that people hire for parties and see what passions you have that could be listed for hire on those types of websites.

For example, if you’re someone with a passion or hobby, turn that into an offered service (floral design, DJ, photographer, etc.) or join an existing company that offers those services as their weekend assistant.

If you have experience in the food services industry (as a server or a hostess), you can also secure a job working for a caterer as a cater-waiter. These jobs typically pay hourly and are a great way to get out of the house on a weekend and work as a food server at a big celebration. You can find a list of local opportunities on job boards.

2. Give local tours

In college, I took a weekend job as a campus tour guide. Each tour took around three hours and I’d start the week off with a few hundred dollars in my pocket from that gig.

If you’re extroverted, enjoy working with groups of people, and can retain information easily, you can find a weekend job as a local tour guide. Cities that are popular tourist destinations offer a variety of tours that focus on landmarks, food, famous TV shows, and more. You can browse local event websites to see what tours are offered and contact those companies to see if they are hiring tour assistants so you can get started.

You can also consider creating profiles on websites that offer tourists tours by locals, like Tours By Locals or With Locals.

If you notice a specific kind of tour that you believe would attract customers on a weekend, consider starting it yourself. You can advertise your tour on websites that tourists visit to find local activities, like Airbnb Experiences or Yelp.

As a tour guide, your weekend pay can be determined by a variety of factors, including how many people take your tour, whether you’re receiving an hourly salary, and how much cash you make in tips. If you run your own tour company and charge $50 a tour, you’d need to book 20 spots on Saturday and 20 on Sunday to make $2,000 in potential profit.

3. Help with random tasks

In my early 20s, when I wanted to make extra cash on the weekends but didn’t want to commit to a regular job, I put myself on task-based websites where people could hire me for one-off projects.

If you use websites like TaskRabbit or Thumbtack, you can offer your time, resources, or skills to people who need them. In one weekend, you can help someone move, build their furniture, paint their apartment, or even take on tasks as their virtual assistant.

The amount of money you can make through this side hustle does vary based on how much you charge and how many hours on the weekend you work. However, you can set your rate for different tasks that you’re willing to do or just set a general hourly rate.

4. Become a sitter

When I first moved to New York City and needed to supplement my income, I took on weekend babysitting jobs. I created a profile on a local babysitting website, posted flyers in my apartment building, and shared the word with my friends. It helped me bring in an extra $1,000 a month.

But in addition to babysitting, you can also get paid to house sit or pet sit for people when they go out of town. You can set up a profile on Rover or House Sitter and set your rate. If you’re willing to let this side hustle carry over to during the week (especially if you work from home and can pet sit or house sit while working full-time), you can really increase the amount of money you take in from these jobs.

Just like with other service-based side hustles, you can set your rate and the locations you’re willing to travel to for potential opportunities.

5. Sell people’s things

Most people can look around their living spaces and find a collection of items that they are ready to part with. Rather than tossing old electronics in the trash or leaving unused furniture in the garage to collect dust, you can create a side hustle out of selling your own, or other people’s, unwanted things.

A couple of times a year, I gather a pile of items around my house and list them for sale on places like Facebook Marketplace or Offerup. I also take clothing, accessories, and shoes to local thrift stores. In the past, I have been able to make a few thousand dollars off things around my house by doing very little work.

The first thing I always do is take inventory of what I want to sell by listing the proper name of the item, writing out a detailed description, and assigning it a price based on its retail value and condition. Then, I use my phone to take photos of the item from different angles. 

I then list each item on multiple platforms to get the products in front of more people. Some items sell within a day or two, and others take months; it just depends on the supply and demand of what you’re selling. 

To really profit from this side hustle, offer to do this for other people so you have access to more items to list. Determine how much profit you’ll take from each sale, and consider picking a specialty (like only selling electronics or furniture) so you can create a niche in the resale industry.

This article was originally published in May 2022.