As students, we’d all like to have a bit more money. Some of us work in the summer months and/or during the school year and this is still not always enough.
What do you do if you need a little more cash to get you through the month?
If you’ve already cut all your unnecessary expenses, it might be time to try moonlighting: taking a second (or third) job that is often paid “under the table” – meaning the employer pays you in cash and, more often than not, the income is not submitted at tax time.
Catering staff
Catering companies work primarily on evenings and weekends, which is optimal for most students. If you are involved in food prep, it’s a good way for you to get more familiar with cooking. If you’re serving, you’ll get some customer service experience. The pay is usually pretty good too.
Teaching or tutoring
High school students, as well as students in your school, may not be as proficient as you are in your studies. If you have an aptitude for certain subjects, why not tutor other students for a fee? This is a great way for you to gain some teaching experience if you are considering teacher’s college for the future. You can also edit people’s essays and papers for a fee, either a flat rate per piece or on a per word/per page basis.
Cleaning
Nobody likes to clean up after themselves and, in many cases, people will pay good money to have their homes cleaned for them. This often include cleaning houses or doing maintenance outdoors. All you need are some cleaning supplies and transportation, and you’re set.
Trials and experiments
I’m not necessarily advocating participating in drug trials, but there are several different ways you can participate in trials and earn some extra money. Many campuses pay students for participating in kinesiology and psychology studies. Marketing focus groups often pay good money for helping them get customer feedback on their products as well – sometimes $50 or $100 for a few minutes of eating chocolate bars or drinking beer. Watch out for advertisements on poster boards around campus to see what you can find.
Food Deliveries
Many restaurants will deliver to customers for a fee. As a driver, you will usually get paid an hourly wage as well as make money from tips. As long as you have a car, this is a way to make some easy cash.
Pets
Just like people don’t like cleaning up after themselves, they also don’t particularly enjoy cleaning up after their animals. Busy pet owners will pay for a “professional” pooper-scooper to come clean up after their dogs. You may want to offer your dog-walking services for people who can’t let their animals out during the middle of the day. You can also give pet sitting a try for people who go away on business for the weekend or on a vacation.
Paper delivery
This may have been a job you had when you were a kid, but there are always ads for these positions in the paper. This is a good way for you to get some exercise as you can complete your route through riding a bike or rollerblading. However, you need to be able to wake up pretty early in the morning if you are delivering a large daily paper!
Of course there are tons of other possibilities out there for you if you are looking to make a little bit of extra money on the side. Regardless of what skills you are advertising for hire, remember to use the resources around you to put yourself out there and to get hired. Even if you’re not making a huge amount of money, take what you learn from these jobs with you the next time you are looking for work. You never know what skills and connections this experience can give you!
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