This post is a must read for college students who don’t want to be broke this semester! Don’t make the mistake I made when I was a college student and decided to work as a waitress. It’s great money and lots of cash in your pocket, but it is so not worth it!
Even if they tell you that you can work “part-time” most restaurants are so short staffed that to them that means they can ask you to work 30+ hours a week! No way Jose!
Working that much robs you of your college experience. You’ll have to beg and plead your coworkers to cover a shift for you so you can be a normal college kid for once and go to the football game. And since the weekends are when you have the most free time you’ll be stuck working 90% of them.
Spend all that extra time focusing on grades and making new friends! These 7 side jobs will help you still earn enough money so you can enjoy yourself, go shopping once in a while, and have money to eat out (or be super responsible and start paying your tuition)!
The best part is that you make your own schedule and work as little or as much as you want! I have done all these things in the past for some easy extra money. Every college student should try these kind of jobs instead of waitressing!
1. Rover
Seriously Rover has saved my broke a** more times than I can count! Sadly I didn’t know about this when I was a college student, but when I moved to San Diego after college I was sooooo broke. While I was interviewing for full time jobs, I spent my LAST $10 to pay for the background check to make a Rover account. The NEXT week I had an extra $100 in my pocket after getting a gig watching someone’s dog over the weekend (at their house)!
That is another glorious thing about Rover, instead always being stuck in your tiny shared dorm room, you can have a whole house to yourself while you watch someone’s pet! This is seriously the most easy, flexible, and fun way to make extra money. You have the option to do overnight stays while people are out of town, dog walks or house visits, or if you live in a place that allows pets you can watch them at your place!
2. Wag
Wag is the same idea as Rover just a different company. Sign up for both to increase your chances of getting requests! Also, don’t worry if you live in a big city. If you search for other sitters in your area you may think there are so many and there is no way someone will pick you!
You don’t have any reviews or a 5 star account when you first start. But believe me, this is not the case! There were a ton of other sitters in San Diego and I still got my first booking within a week of signing up! Pro tip* email some friends and request for them to write you a review about how good you are with pets! People love reviews!
3. Babysit
Prefer kids over dogs? Care.com is your place to go! I prefer dogs, but kids are actually pretty fun too! Plus you make more because you can charge by the hour. This really depends on where you live, but you can make a ton of money if you live near a bigger city. Just take a sec to do the math… if you spent just FIVE days watching kids for 8 hrs at $25/hr you just earned yourself $1000!
A lot of parents need to spend their Saturday or Sunday getting errands done without having to deal with the kids. Or you could do 10 date nights (4 hrs each) and make the same! I have used Care to find most of my babysitting jobs and have always found so many flexible opportunities! If you like kids you should definitely check it out. You can also look on Craigslist (but watch out for spam/fake ads), Sittercity, Facebook groups, and ol’ fashioned networking. You may have a friend that grew up in the town of your college and knows a lot of people that need a babysitter!
4. Run Errands
Did you know you could use Care.com to also find odd jobs? Some people will pay you $30 a day to water their plants while they are out of town. Or more commonly, they need an assistant to do simple tasks like opening mail, organizing a messy room, grocery shopping, etc.
Easy stuff that you can make $20+ an hour for and choose how much or little you want to do! When I was in the Bay Area for grad school, I found a job a few hours a week where the mom just needed help organizing and doing laundry. Guys, she paid me $25/hour to do this!
5. Tutor
Since you are a college student now you could easily tutor some high school students in subjects that you excel at. In San Diego I tutored people in chemistry for $30 an hour. If you are good at math, english, history, any subject you can tutor! Did you take AP classes and do well on the exams? Perfect!
Refresh your memory and tutor other high school students for their AP classes. You can give them helpful tips on how you studied throughout the semester and how you prepared for the exam. The most common site I use to find tutor jobs is again through Care.com. I have also found a lot on Craigslist and local Facebook ads. I would recommend this route versus working for your college because you’ll have the opportunity to make much more!
6. Sell things you don’t need
This one is the easiest way to make quick cash. Maybe not $1000 by doing this alone, but if you have a few things you could get rid of this can help you get closer to that goal. This is especially easy because their are probably at least a handful of Facebook groups specifically for students from your college.
No need to meet some sketch person from Craigslist! When I was moving out of the apartment I had when I was a college student, I was able to sell my vacuum, tapestry, desk, and other various things within a week. All from other students at my college who lived on campus!
7. Start a Blog
Blogging for money, what?! Check out By Sophia Lee’s income report here. Reading this very article is the reason I started my own blog! If she did this as a college student, then so can you! If you want some quick cash, blogging isn’t the way to go. Definitely try the above six tips for that.
But if you are interested in taking a little more time, being patient, and making way more than $1,000 per semester than this is the avenue for you.
Sign up for my email list below to get regular updates about how I am creating a blog that makes me money! I am in the early stages which is perfect because that is exactly where you will be if you decide to start one too!
Plus I have some awesome free printable stuff for college students coming soon! Sign up so I can help you prepare for the best semester yet!
Related post: My Must Have Study Essentials
