Kelly Robertson
The modern gig economy has brought along new opportunities to make extra money. Some of the new jobs require special skills, while some others are suitable for just about anyone.
In this piece we are focusing on the latter group of jobs, highlighting 5 ways how you can make money by doing household chores for other people. Some of the gigs may not be that interesting, but we are sure you’ll find some that work for you. Here’s what we’ve got…
1. Cleaning houses
As an independent contractor, you can earn up to $22 an hour by cleaning other people’s homes. No need to have a company of your own — all you have to do is sign-up at Handy.com.
You’ll get to choose when you want to work and how much, like whether you want to clean every day or just once a week. Handy on its end will make direct deposits to your account as soon as the job is complete. The company claims that top professionals on its network make more than $1,000 a week.
Another service to try is Care.com, which goes beyond house cleaning to also include child, senior and pet care, as well as housekeeping services. Just like Handy, Care.com will do all the administrative work and let you get the job done.
You start by creating a profile and then searching for jobs. Once you get hired and do the job required, the money will be deposited to your account.
2. Doing laundry
Between work and school, some people struggle to keep up with their laundry, which then leads to scrambling to find clothes for the next day. That’s an opportunity for you to make money — you can charge families or businesses a fee to wash or iron their clothes. And you can do it on your own schedule.
One of the companies that can connect you with clients is Laundry Care, offering its contractors “true independence, yet complete support under the Laundry Care brand name and access to resources to grow and maintain their own business.”
Clients on their end pay $35 per bag of laundry, which is about three loads. As a contractor you get a part of that fee.
3. Shopping for groceries
I may not be the kind of person to enjoy shopping for groceries, but some of my friends seemingly can’t get enough of it. And they could turn this time into a profitable experience, with services like Shipt and Instacart offering up to $25 per hour for shoppers.
These two on-demand grocery delivery services enable buyers to place orders through web and mobile apps, with contracted shoppers fulfilling orders in the back-end. To make this happen, Shipt and Instacart are hiring reliable, independent people to shop for groceries and deliver to their members. As a contractor, you get to set your own schedule and “feel free to sing in your car on the way to a delivery.”
In other words, you can decide to just complete one or two large orders a week. Or more, if you want to make more money.
4. Running errands
This involves such tasks as dropping off the dry cleaning, furniture assembly, making medical appointments, handling basic administrative work, picking up prescriptions, and more.
Again, you can check out Care.com, which offers these kinds of gigs to anyone interested to do them on behalf of busy professionals.
Also, there’s TaskRabbit that allows users to book a handyman who could help them with anything from furniture assembly to TV mounting. The site’s top categories for taskers — that’s how they call their contractors — include handyman, cleaning, delivery, moving, furniture assembly, and personal assistant. Based on the job’s requirements, you can make over $20 an hour.
Finally, we have Postmates — an on-demand delivery service for meals, office supplies, and more. Joining the “Postmates fleet” you could earn up to $25 per hour on your own schedule. And based on where you live, you can choose your ride — “Postmates walk, drive, scoot and bike.”
5. For everything else check out Thumbtack
Your potential customers come to Thumbtack looking to hire professionals to help them accomplish their personal projects. They answer specific questions about their needs, Thumbtack reviews these requests to ensure they are legitimate, and send you leads via email or text message.
If you are interested and qualified, you can respond by sending a quote, along with a personal message. Thumbtack on its end will send your profile to the potential customer along with your past work, qualifications, contact information, and reviews. You pay only when you send a quote with Thumbtack Credits.
When you are hired, the details are arranged directly with the customer and after you’re done with the job, let Thumbtack know about it to improve your chances of winning your next customer.
The service supports a number of service categories and you should be able to find something that fits your skill set…
