Need a weekend side job? Here are some to consider
If you need to earn extra money but don’t have the energy to add more hours to your workday, check out weekend side hustles.
Weekend side hustles are mostly available anytime, but as the term suggests, demand for these jobs tends to peak on the weekends. And that provides plenty of opportunity for people who prefer to side hustle on Saturdays and Sundays.
Here are some of the best that you might want to consider.
Animal boarding
Pet owners who want to get away for the weekend turn to sites like Rover to find someone willing to take in their pets while they go on vacation. If you like animals, boarding pets in your own home can be the ideal weekend side hustle, enabling you to earn hundreds of dollars a month without a lot of work.
Rover allows freelance pet sitters to sign up, create a profile and set their own rates and terms. Those terms might stipulate that you watch only small dogs or cats or animals that get along with other pets and children. Want to offer additional services, such as grooming, dog walking, drop-in visits or pickup? You set your rates for those too.
You can make a lot of money selling on Etsy. Just ask Helen Spallas, whose shop is among the top 1% on the huge marketplace. Here are some of her tips.
Realistic expectations of what you can earn vary by location. Boarding services tend to cost more in urban areas. Typical rates range from $35 to $75 per night. And, if you have the space, you can book multiple pets at the same time. You decide how many animals you can accommodate.
Rover markets your services and collects payment, deducting a 20% to 25% commission.
Coaching
Young athletes often enlist sports coaches on weekends, when school is out, to help improve their game. Although outside coaching can be expensive, some parents consider it an investment likely to pay off with college scholarships and preferred admission standing.
Several sites allow coaches to market their services. The sites provide marketing and collection help in exchange for a portion of the coach’s fees. Some good sites to consider: Wyzant, which books both academic tutors and athletic coaches, and CoachUp.
With Wyzant, you set your own rates and availability and pay the platform a flat 25% when it books customers for you. CoachUp, meanwhile, has a staggered commission formula that costs coaches more when they’re working with new clients but drops sharply for repeat bookings.
The pay is better than you might think when you sell plasma or platelets to companies. And you help save lives.
Baby-sitting
Parents may want a date night anytime, of course. But commonly, they wait until the weekend when they can stay out late without interfering with the next morning’s work. Baby-sitting kids has become a well-paid side hustle. In today’s market, baby-sitters earn between $15 and $30 per hour. Sometimes, your charges sleep through most of your work period, leaving you to watch TV or read.
Why does baby-sitting pay so much? There’s a baby-sitter shortage that’s partly caused by a dearth of teens willing to do the job.
Teens or adults who want to baby-sit can sign up with Bambino, which uses social media to connect you with amenable families. Adult sitters also can sign up with Care.com and set their own rates and availability.
Bambino charges about $2 for each booking. Meanwhile, Care works on a subscription model. You don’t pay a fee or commission on your earnings, but you will pay either a monthly or annual fee to communicate with parents on the platform.
I was driving when I got a call from a mysterious number. A sobbing child begged for my help. But it wasn’t my kid — it was a scam.
Event staff
Holiday parties and family get-togethers raise demand for chefs, bartenders and servers of all types. Not surprisingly, most events are hosted on weekends, which is also when restaurants are most in need of servers year-round.
Sites such as Qwick, Jitjatjo and CafeTemps can connect freelancers willing to provide food and beverage services with restaurants and event managers needing help. Expected pay ranges from minimum wage to $30 an hour. And you can sometimes earn more through tips.
Odd jobs
If you have handyman skills, you can make extra cash on the weekends by helping others with random tasks such as hanging lights and wall-mounted television sets, assembling furniture, painting, swapping out electrical fixtures and the like. While there are dozens of sites that promise to connect customers with handy people, the best site for freelancers wanting to offer these services is TaskRabbit.
TaskRabbit allows freelancers to sign up, create a profile that highlights what they do and set their own rates. You can set different rates for different tasks. So, you might charge $50 an hour to handle electrical issues but only $40 an hour to assemble IKEA furniture. The site charges nothing to freelancers. The site’s fees are paid exclusively by customers, so freelancers receive 100% of the rate they set.
Kristof is the editor of SideHusl.com, an independent website that reviews moneymaking opportunities in the gig economy.
Inside the business of entertainment
The Wide Shot brings you news, analysis and insights on everything from streaming wars to production — and what it all means for the future.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
