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By the author of the FREE online course Growing Self-Sufficiency: The Whole Picture
In these unprecedented economic times, many of us are working multiple jobs to get by. Many people are working full-time and living in their vehicles or campers, due to increasing rents. With the world the way it is, I thought I would take a look around my neighborhood and check out what people, including myself, are doing to make some extra cash these days.
Increase in local farm stands
Being in a rural area, myself and all of my neighbors are zoned for rural businesses. That means that we can operate businesses on our land without an extra permit. This includes traditional farm activities like growing vegetables or raising livestock (as long as we have the minimum acreage for that!) or a wide range of handicrafts.
Just being out and driving around, I have definitely seen an increase in farm stands in our area. Even outside my local area, the buy-and-sell groups online have seen an explosion of people selling seedlings this spring. It seems like everyone is saying, “What the heck! Let me see if I can make a few bucks doing this or that.”
Personally, I am using the high traffic on my road to try out my own farm stand. I’m selling eggs for my friend, with a little “premium” markup for the tourists. I have a ton of farm curios for sale, and also some of my handmade beeswax candles. So far, I’m doing enough business to keep it open on Saturday mornings. Once the summer really begins, I think it will be even better.
Jobs people don’t want to do
Every spring, I help my friend who keeps chickens (a LOT of chickens!) by cleaning out his largest chicken house in the spring. Depending on the year, I may use this job as leverage against eggs I will be needing in the future, or I may get some cash. There are a lot of jobs that people don’t want to do where you could make some money. Cleaning the chicken house is so fowl (sorry! Pun intended!) that I wear my N99 fitted mask with a charcoal filter. Eeks!
Another job that I recently saw advertised locally was a dog poop picker-upper in the spring. Anyone wanting to make some extra cash could post on a local buy-and-sell group for free that they are available for this. All you need is a shovel and some garbage bags to get started.
Cleaning jobs
Yes, for many of us, cleaning probably falls into the category of jobs people don’t want to do. The other day I was walking into our local grocery store. One ad posted on their bulletin board got my attention. Why? Because all of the tickets had been ripped off of it. The ad was asking if people would like some extra help with their cleaning. This is a side gig that I have done myself in the past. I made good money and worked for a couple of people who preferred I use their favorite cleaning materials, so I didn’t have any real expenses, either.
Baking for local cafes
A cafe opened up not too long ago in one of the villages near me. I happened to be chatting with the owner, and she told me that one local woman does most of her baking for her. I have tried her carrot cake and it is absolutely delicious, with luscious cream cheese icing that is so sweet and rich. It wasn’t very long ago that our township removed the requirement that cafes and restaurants only sell baked goods produced in an industrial kitchen. This has opened up opportunities for talented bakers in the area.
My only caution for this, if you are interested in pursuing it, is that the drastic increases we have seen over the past two years in food prices make it harder to make money doing this. Here is one example: I bake some cookies for my own farm stand as giveaways and to attract people. To make one batch of cookies, even buying in bulk, I am still paying at least $2.25 for the chocolate chips. My recipe takes a cup of butter, which rings in at $1.86 if you get butter crazy on sale and $3 if you’re unlucky and you don’t. What about a teaspoon of real vanilla? That can cost 75 cents a teaspoon. Yup.
So, even without the sugar, flour, and eggs, we’re looking at more than 5 dollars to make a batch of cookies, and my recipe makes 4 dozen. Around these parts, you can get a dozen cookies at the grocery store for $4. So, if you make four dozen cookies for more than 5 dollars and can sell them for a premium price of $5 a dozen, you would still make less than $15 for around an hour and a half of work, not including clean-up. So, cookies may not be the golden path to wealth.
However, if you pick carefully, I do think that there is some money to be made. One idea for this came from a local woman who does quite well at a farm market on the weekends. She told me that a woman drives from a distant city to sell at our local Saturday market. She sells everything sourdough: baguettes, rounds, etc. She always sells out.
Entertainment for seniors’ homes
I was recently waiting at my mechanic’s to get my winter tires off. He has a nice TV in his waiting room. I saw an announcement for a Community Fair being organized in a local Seniors’ home that was looking for vendors. AHA! I took down the name and number. When I found out there was no table fee, that sealed the deal. I took my handmade candles and a bunch of antiques that I thought the seniors would like. I did very well!
The Community Fair had a wonderful entertainer, a country singer. When I talked to him during the break, he told me he sings at 29 different seniors’ homes all over. If you’re an entertainer of ANY kind, why not approach homes in your area to see what they might be interested in?
A side gig for everyone
Most of us would love to have a few extra bucks in our wallets. Could you see yourself trying any of the creative side gig tips offered here? Which one would you prefer to do? Do you have any job ideas you can share with us? Please tell us in the comments below.
About Colette
Colette is passionate about sharing her knowledge of thrifty living and self-sufficiency. She has developed her skills in self-reliance living in the suburbs, the city, and more recently, on her own Half-Acre Homestead. Colette lived five years completely off-grid and without running water in an eight by 24 foot tiny home while designing and building her own 18 by 24-foot eco-cabin. Her website, Half Acre Homestead is attracting followers from around the world who want to become more self-sufficient. Colette invites you to stop by the Homestead and check out all of the great resources including the practical How To Guides, A Tiny Home Resource Center and her organic gardening stories on her blog. She shares her wholistic model (body/mind/spirit) for achieving self-sufficiency in her Free Course, “Growing Self-Sufficiency: The Whole Picture.” Stop by the Homestead today to register free of charge!
8 thoughts on “Interesting Side Gigs for a Tight Economy”
Selling eggs. Not new. Not glamorous. But it can offset feed cost.
Hi Bea, You’re quite right! In my area, we get a lot of tourists and cottagers who are more than happy to pay a premium price for free range eggs. With feed costing what it does today, every little bit helps! Thanks so much for contributing!
I’ve been fortunate to not have to have any side-income gigs. But I do know house/pet/farm animal sitting is in short supply – particularly farm sitting. While I house/pet sitter for a neighbor at no charge (good neighbors are hard to find and good people are in some what short supply these days), I did get a postcard in the mail the other day. The person does all the above and it was fairly easy to “vet” him. While I don’t think I’ll need his services (if family can’t house/pet sit, my neighbor is likely to be able), I’m keeping his postcard just in case. I have *no* idea what farm sitting pays however.
Kudos for you for wearing proper safety equipment. Chickens are nasty, pure and simple. The only other worse “clean up” is bats.
Hi Selena, Thanks so much! Your comment is a valuable addition to these ideas regarding side gigs. What I like about your suggestion is that, depending on what you ‘sit,’ this is a side gig for both rural and urban folks. By starting out with a friend or neighbour to get a reference, it could be quite simple to get a thriving business going that requires little, if any, initial investments. Much appreciated!
If you are a really good gardener, you could pick up some coin and possibly some fresh produce garden sitting for people on vacation. It’s quite a skill to water properly depending on the climate and might need some trust building.
Speaking of senior entertainers, I just returned from a train trip where I met a fellow who rides up and down the rails playing guitar at senior centers. He gets room, board, train tickets and pocket change. It’s a good deal for him.
Speaking of, want an article about the Frugalite’s Guide to Riding the Train, or some such? I just spent a total of about 96 hours on Amtrak. In Coach. And survived.
Hi Redbranch, ooooooooooooooh! Some light bulbs were going off in my head about the garden sitting. I actually did used to sit flower gardens for neighbours when they went away when I was young. I will keep this in mind, and maybe even put some posters up. That is so cool that you actually met a guy who is a seniors’ entertainer….So cool! Nice to hear that he’s doing well. Thanks so much for sharing that.
I will let Daisy reply about the article. 96 hours….wow! And lived to tell the tale!!!! Good for you!
I love train travel and would be very interested in an article about it!
I’d LOVE such an article! Thank you!