5 Ways to Make Money on the Weekends

What do you do on the weekends? Weekends are meant for fun, but there are also ways you can use your weekend free time to accomplish big financial goals with some side gigs.

What if I told you there were lots of ways for you to spend your weekends making money? The possibilities are nearly limitless.

Here are some side hustle ideas to help you start bringing in some extra cash if you have spare time on the weekends.

In This Article

1. Make Money by Cleaning Your House

It might not seem like you can make money by cleaning your house. After all, paying yourself for cleaning services would be pointless.

However, there are companies that will pay you for cleaning your house, either directly or indirectly.

Initially, there was eBay, now there are handfuls of sites to get rid of your junk. Check out the ideas below.

Decluttr

Making extra income is easier and faster than ever with Decluttr.

Decluttr is a company that helps you get more organized and pays you to do it. When you send them your unwanted stuff, they’ll pay you cash the day after they receive it.

No fees to pay, no shipping charges; only cash in your bank account.

Types of items you can sell:

• CDs and DVDs
• Video games
• Textbooks
• Smartphones
• Tablets
• Gaming consoles
• Legos

If you want to sell your stuff to Decluttr for quick cash, simply go to their website, enter in what you have to sell and you’ll get an offer price on each item.

After you accept their offer you can ship your stuff in a box with the totally free shipping label they send to you.

When your box arrives at Decluttr, they’ll analyze it to make sure the contents are as described, and you’ll get cash in your PayPal account the very next day.

Related Post: Decluttr Review: Simplify Your Life and Make Money

Craigslist

You can also use Craigslist to sell the stuff you find you don’t need anymore after you clean your house.

Sometimes it helps to put your stuff in three piles: a give away pile, a throw away pile, and a sell pile.

The give way pile can be used for stuff that you can either give away to family or friends (such as clothing your kids have outgrown that can be used by someone you know with younger kids) or donate to a thrift store or other charity.

The throw away pile will (obviously) go right in the trash or to the junkyard.

The sell pile can be priced and listed on Craigslist, where you will likely have a bigger audience to advertise to.

Since Craigslist doesn’t charge to list or sell things, you won’t pay any fees to them for making a little extra money.

This post about how to sell stuff on Craigslist extremely fast will help you with prices and other sales techniques to make money quickly.

OfferUp

OfferUp is an app that works a lot like Craigslist. There are no listing or selling fees, and you advertise to people who live near you.

In some ways OfferUp is more attractive than Craigslist as the pictures are shown right away on the home page. This could attract more viewers.

There are also dozens of other sites that run similarly to Offerup and Craigslist. Some have fees and some don’t, but it might be worth it to list on a few different sites to potentially attract more viewers.

Check out this article on the top Craigslist alternatives for more info on sites you could sell your stuff on.

Garage Sale

You might find it easier to make your weekend cash from decluttering your house by holding a garage sale.

If the weather is right and you live in a well-populated area, a garage sale could be a way to help you sell your stuff without having to worry about meeting up with people other places.

Here are some tips for garage sale success:

• Price your stuff well – people love to get a deal
• Have your sale items laid out in an organized fashion
• Make sure you have enough stuff to hold a garage sale – if you don’t, ask family and friends to join in and make some money themselves
• Advertise your sale by placing signs around the neighborhood and posting it online
• Be friendly and willing to negotiate

If you’ve got a lot of stuff to sell, a garage sale may be the best route for you. Although pricing and setting everything up can be a lot of work, you can also make a lot of money in a short amount of time.

Facebook

Facebook buy and sell groups are also popular places to sell the stuff you find while cleaning and organizing your house.

As with Craigslist there are no listing or selling fees, and you’re usually selling to people right in your own neighborhood or nearby so that you don’t have to travel far to meet up.

Descriptions and good pictures will help you sell fast on Facebook, as will pricing your items attractively.

You might be surprised that cleaning your house on the weekend could result in you earning some serious cash, but it’s true.

Go through your closets, storage areas and drawers this weekend and see what you might be able to sell to earn some extra money.

2. Do a One-Time Gig or Event

You may be able to make some money on the weekends by signing up to work a one-time gig or event. The possibilities here could range from helping someone move to working as a brand ambassador or security person at a concert or other venue.

One of the best ways to find gigs or events that you can do sporadically is to check the Craigslist “jobs” section. They have a special section under their “jobs” banner specifically for gigs and events.

Opportunities I found under our local Craigslist gigs section included:

• Working a booth at a local anime fair
• Bartending and catering for various events
• Helping people with packing and moving
• helping someone deep clean their house

There were many other opportunities for making cash available too, but beware, some you find might be sketchy – or worse.

Use appropriate safety measures when meeting with people and researching these one-time gigs and events.

3. Start Your Own Business

Another way you can make some extra cash on the weekends is to start your own business. There are SO many options here.

What I recommend you do first is make a list of your skills, talents and interests. From there, use that list to decide what types of services or products you could offer to people in order to make cash.

For instance, if you like to clean and organize things you could start a business cleaning homes or businesses. If you’re good at home décor you could start a home staging business and offer to work for individuals or local realtors.

If you’re good at graphic design you could start a business designing websites for small businesses such as bloggers. Social media has a huge presence and the possibilities really are endless.

The great thing about making money online by starting your own business is that you choose your own schedule and the jobs you take.

There are also other small business services you can open and work right from the comfort of your own home, such as being a virtual assistant, becoming a freelance writer, blogging, making and selling online tutorials in various areas, and more.

When you start your own business you can also choose your rate of pay, which is nice.

Here are a few tips on what it takes to start and run a successful small business.

1. Do something you enjoy. Don’t choose something you dislike just because it makes money.
2. Under-promise and overdeliver – people love getting a better deal than they expected.
3. Commit to providing superior service always – it’ll keep customers coming back and it’ll make it easy for people to refer you as well.
4. Expect to have to give people extra good deals on your services when you first start up and are working to build a reputation. You can raise your prices later.
5. Be willing to market and to ask for business whenever you can. This is vital to growing your small business and helping people learn about what you do and what you can offer them.

There are so many options for starting a business, and if you’re willing to assess your skills and interests and find a few business ideas that you would enjoy and make money at, you can have a way to make some extra cash most every single weekend if you want to.

4. Fill a Need

One of the tenets of a successful money-making adventure is that if you can fill a need, you can find the customers who will be willing to pay you.

If you listen to the people around you, you’ll find one of the most common complaints people have is that there is not enough time in the day to do all that they feel they need or have to do.

If you can find a way to take some of their “to-do’s” off of their plate, you can likely find a way to make some extra cash on the weekends or even during the week if you wanted to.

Here are some “needs” you might be able to help them with that can earn you some extra cash.

Become a Delivery Partner

If you like driving and interacting with people, becoming a delivery partner with Postmates could be a great way to fulfill a need and makeup to $25 an hour. Postmates is similar to Uber Eats.

The great thing about working as a deliverer is that you get to choose when you work.

As a delivery partner you’ll generally find the gig to work like this:

• Go to Postmates, create an account, add a photo, driver’s license, and proof of insurance.
• Get verified and receive a “Welcome Kit” consisting of a free delivery bag and a pre-paid card.
• Using their Fleet mobile app, you will link your pre-paid card and start accepting delivery offers.

Postmates can automatically pay you out weekly or you can cash out instantly anytime you want to.

Babysitting

Busy parents often want to find time away to be able to relax from the stressors of raising a family.

If you like kids, you’re good with kids and you’re willing to spend some time hanging out with them, you could make some serious extra cash.

It’s not uncommon for babysitters in our major metropolitan area to make $10 per hour, per kid for babysitting services. This means that if you were sitting for three kids, you could make upwards of $30 an hour.

And as a babysitter you can choose the clients you take. If you don’t care for watching infants you could specify an age range, such as 5 and older. If you’d rather watching babies you can specify you prefer to watch infants.

As far as finding the business, you can advertise with family and friends, on Facebook, around your neighborhood with flyers, or you can sign up on one of many babysitting sites such as Care.com.

If you’re responsible and like being with kids, this could be a great way to fulfill a need and make some cash in the process.

Pet Care

Another need that is common in today’s world is pet care. Pet care jobs can range from pet sitting, dog bathing, dog walking, pooper scooping and other options as well.

Many pet owners would love to pay for some assistance in caring for their beloved pets or the messes those pets make.

You can use Care.com to find pet care jobs as well.

Car Washing

A mobile car washing and vacuuming service could also be a great way to fulfill a need and make some cash at the same time.

Generally, mobile car washing service providers will bring their own cleaning supplies (including a small hand-held vacuum or a small shop vac) and use the car owner’s water and power supply (bring your own extension cord too).

It’s nice driving around in a vehicle that is clean inside and out, but it’s often difficult to find the time to run through the car wash and then clean out the inside of your vehicle as well.

As a mobile car washing provider, you could take this often mundane task off the hands of clients and do an even better job than they do themselves by washing inside windows, vacuuming, polishing wheels and more.

Hand out flyers in your neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods as to the dates and times you’re available, what exactly people will get for their money and how much you charge.

You could even plan and advertise to be in certain neighborhoods on specific weekends to make your work easier.

Lawn Mowing and Landscaping

Mowing and maintaining lawns and landscaping is another one of those jobs that people often don’t care to have on their to-do list.

If you have (or are willing to buy) the supplies, you could spend your weekends making serious cash by mowing lawns and providing other landscaping services such as raking leaves, trimming bushes, pulling weeds, etc.

Advertising via flyers in the neighborhood or advertising on Craigslist or Facebook will help you get business, and being great at what you do will keep clients coming back.

Tutoring

Lots of parents have children who need tutoring help on the weekends. If you are good at a specific school subject, such as math, Science or writing, and you’re good at helping others, you may be able to find work as a tutor for families near you.

I’d recommend advertising with local schools that teach kids in the age range you’d like to work with, signing on to work at local tutoring businesses or advertising or working for online tutoring businesses such as VIPKID.

Tailoring

Do you have the ability to do tailoring work such as hemming pants, taking in (or letting out) suits, or making sewing repairs? If so, you might find money making success offering tailoring services in your city or town.

People often need clothing repairs and modifications. It’s nice having a local, home-based person to take care of those needs.

You can advertise your services on sites like Craigslist and Facebook, and with local social groups and businesses.

Starting a Handyperson Business

Handyman (or woman) businesses are another option where fulfilling a need can bring you some serious extra cash on the weekends.

In today’s world where so many people are working white collar jobs, many people haven’t learned basic handyman skills such as fixing a leaking sink, putting together a bookcase, doing minor painting jobs or installing a laminate floor.

If you’re good at home maintenance and repair stuff, this could be a great need for you to fill while making some cash at the same time.

Advertise your services directly with family and friends, on TaskRabbit, Facebook or Craigslist, or at local restaurants if they have a bulletin board.

Photography

Photographers can be very expensive, but if you can offer your photography skills at a lower price than a traditional business.

You could make money by taking the following types of pictures:

• High school senior pictures
• Family portraits
• Pet portraits
• Real estate pictures
• Engagement photos

Start by sharing your photography skills on your Facebook account. You can also advertise with family and friends and work to build your business from there.

You can also sell your photos online with a site like DepositPhotos.

Give your Opinon

Online survey sites are one way to make quick cash while sitting at home watching Netflix. Legit survey sites Swagbucks or Survey Junkie pay you for taking surveys.

This side hustle is super flexible. And you make money just for answering questions.

5. Get a Part-Time Job

You can also make some extra cash on the weekends by getting a part-time job.

Luckily, the opportunities here are abundant as well. In some cases, you can get a part-time job without even having to leave your home.

Work From Home Jobs

Some opportunities for work-from-home part time jobs can include:

• Working as a call center or customer service rep
• Working as a virtual assistant.
• Doing data entry from home.
• Working as a proofreader from home.
• Tutoring online for a company.
• Working odd jobs for a site such as Fiverr or Upwork.

The list of possibilities really is endless. For more on jobs you can work from home, check out our article on 37 Work at Home Jobs that Pay Weekly.

Work Away From Home Jobs

As you probably know, there are also many job opportunities on the weekends that allow you to get out of the house and interact with others in person.

Sometimes these types of weekend-earning positions can be easier because they don’t involve running your own business or disciplining yourself to stay on task when there are other things you could or should be doing around the house.

Some ideas for weekend jobs could include:

Waitperson

Why not work at your favorite local restaurant as a waitperson or host?

It’s a busy job so the hours you work will usually fly by pretty fast, and it’s always nice to have cash in hand at the end of each shift in the form of tips.

Waitressing was one of the jobs I liked most in my early working years because of the interaction with people and the decent pay.

Retail Cashier

Retail stores are always looking for people to work as cashiers or customer service reps. Check out your favorite stores for available job openings.

You’ll probably find the most available jobs at larger retail stores such as Kohl’s, Target or Walmart.

Not a big people person? Ask about available jobs in a store’s stock area. You might be able to get regular work stocking shelves, unloading trucks in the warehouse area or managing the stock area.

The nice think about stocking types of jobs is that there are usually a variety of shifts available, including overnights for you night owls.

Work at a Gym or Other Fitness Arena

If you like physical fitness activities you could find a part-time job at a local gym, trampoline park, indoor rock-climbing park or other similar facility.

A local gym will likely have the biggest variety of job opportunities available. You could work as a customer service person at the counter, or work in laundry washing and folding towels.

They may also need help with keeping the facility clean. Or, if you’re good at sales, you could work as a salesperson getting new clients.

One of the best things about working at these types of venues is that you as an employee will often get discounted or even free access to use the facilities yourself.

Work as a Restaurant Delivery Person

Restaurant delivery jobs aren’t just for pizza places anymore. Many sit-down restaurants have delivery services as well.

If you like driving and like the idea of delivering meals to pizza, you can earn an hourly wage and likely some tips as well.

Check out local restaurants, pizza places and sub shops in your area for more information on potential available jobs. Or you could sign up with DoorDash.

If you’re willing to do some research, you’ll find there are many ways for you to make some extra money on the weekends. And the cool part about that is that how much money you make is totally up to you.

You can work a few hours here and there on weekends or spend all day Saturday and Sunday earning some serious extra cash.

Summary

The money you make can be used in any number of ways.

You can use it to pay down your mortgage balance or other debts early, save for a new car, save for a vacation or invest the money so it will work for you.

Making money on the weekends can be a great way to make good use of your time. You can also reach all of your financial goals in the process.

Remember to check each company with the Better Business Bureau and watch for scams. And who knows, maybe you will get good at one of the side hustles and turn it into a full-time job.

Have you ever used any of these avenues to make money on the weekends? Share your experience in the comments below.

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