5 Practical Ways To Earn Extra Income Doing Things You’re Already Doing
TC
Last updated 03/21/2024 by
Theresa CummingsThink about what you do in the course of a day. If you’re fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home mom, then your scenario would include doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, and caring for children. We all know that it never hurts to make a little extra cash, but most work would interfere with your already busy schedule. Yet the work you’re already doing for your family often includes things others will pay you to do for them.
Out of the following ideas, it comes down to what you can fit in, how much it will cost you to add in the work (electricity use, water, etc.) and if it’s worth your effort. An important consideration is if you’re able to provide services for friends and relatives, or are going to turn it into an actual business. For instance, if you babysit a friends children along with your own, it’s no big deal. Yet should it develop further, you’ll end up having to legally set up a registered child care facility. Get the picture?
Check out the following options to see if any make sense in your world.
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Doing Laundry For Others
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“Do your research, and charge according to your costs. Think of it like any other business venture, and make sure you are netting a minimum 30% profit (from my personal experience it will be significantly more). Where I am at, I can charge $1 per pound (or a little more). You can also offer drop off/pick up service for dry cleaning. This is great if you have weekly errands you would do anyway that are near the dry cleaner. If you go grocery shopping every Monday, and take your kids to soccer practice every Friday, you can turn those two days into your drop off and pick up days. It’ll more than pay for the gas to run your family errands.”
“You should expect to make killer tips. Most of the loads I take in are between 15-25 pounds, I end up getting $40 for the work, and at times more than a 100% tip. The best stain remover I have found is one I make myself: equal parts hydrogen peroxide, water, and a healthy squeeze of Dawn dish soap.” Also remember you can do this one day, a few days, or even just try it out with a friend to see how it suits you.
Babysitting
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Ironing
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“Make sure you have the time and energy do the job. Meet with your local government to find out what licenses you need to run your home business. Speak to a business adviser, lawyer or accountant to learn how to set up the business and accounting of it. Get the best iron you can, as well as a backup in case it breaks. Get a clean, wide, sturdy ironing board. Decide how much you want to make per hour. Then think about how much time it will take to iron each piece. You can offer quantity discounts, and add charges for heavily wrinkled or special clothing.” Make sure you have a space set aside for this activity that is free of clutter so you can focus.
Recycle
![Recycling](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn-blog.supermoney.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F06%2FRecyclingBlogpic1-478x308.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Make Money While You Wait
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“If you’re looking for sites that you can perform quick tasks to earn a bit of money, here are a few of the legit ones: Google Opinion Rewards, CashCrate, 20|20 panel, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Harvard Business School Research Study Participation. While individual tasks can be quick, it’s also up to you to not let it take up your time if you want to keep to the minimal effort.”
“Gigwalk can be used on a similar principle, checking for nearby “gigs” that you can complete for cash. Retailers sign up and enter tasks like auditing a display or checking to make sure things are in order. You can think of it like bite-sized secret shopping. The great thing is that many gigs are available at large retailers like Walmart, so if there’s one available at the store you’re already going to, you can make an extra few bucks just by stopping by the electronics department.” Sounds worth checking out if there’s a task available at a store you frequent!
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