Helping Your Neighbors and Parents
Ask your neighbors if they need help with household chores. There are a million things you could help your neighbors do, especially if they're older. Once your parents say it’s okay, go around the neighborhood and ask them if they need help with chores for a small fee, like $20. Be sure to explain that you’re trying to make $100 in a week, and you’re happy to help with anything they need! For example, if one of your chores is running the vacuum at home, you could offer to help do cleaning around the house by running the vacuum throughout their house. For older neighbors, you can offer to come by 2-3 times per week to take out trash, do dishes, help them with laundry, and do other household tasks that might be too difficult for them to do on their own.
Do chores around your home if your parents will pay you for them. Ask your parents if they’d be willing to pay you for doing more difficult chores around the house, like mowing the lawn, cleaning the bathroom, and doing laundry. Create a list of chores you could do for the week and put a price next to each one. Make sure you do enough to reach $100! Chores that take more time and energy should have a higher fee. At the bottom of the paper write a short paragraph stating the date that all of the chores need to be done and how much money you would make if they were all completed on time. Then have your parents sign the paper in agreement. If they don't agree with your prices, negotiate. When you both sign, remember that you have to do all of the chores on the paper! You could even do more!
Do seasonal yard work around your neighborhood if you like working outside. There’s always plenty of yard and garden work to do, and the chores you can do will change with the seasons. In the fall, offer to rake a yard of leaves for $20-25, or in the winter, ask neighbors if they will pay you $20-25 to clear their driveway of snow. In the spring and summer, you can offer to mow lawns, pull weeds, and help with general gardening.
Become the neighborhood dog walker if you’re comfortable with dogs. If you have neighbors who own dogs, ask if they need the dogs to be walked during the day or in the evenings when you’re available. Check with busy neighbors first, as they’ll probably be more likely to take you up on your offer to save some time in their day. You can charge around $5 per walk per dog, which adds up quickly! Before you walk the dog for the first time, go over to the neighbor’s house and play with the dog so it knows who you are. Then, when you come over to walk it, the dog probably won’t be afraid of you.
Offer to pet sit for your neighbors when they go to work or on vacation. If you have pets at home that you take care of, or if you’ve taken care of pets before, ask your neighbors to call you when they need someone to watch their pets. Let them know when you’re available, and tell them that you can easily stop by to take care of the pets every day if they want. Plan to charge around $25 for each day that you watch the pets. Even if they don’t need a pet sitter right now, you can leave your phone number with them so they can contact you when they’re ready.
Organize a car wash in your neighborhood to make money with friends. Get a few friends to assist you, and gather a few buckets, sponges, car washing soap, and a hose that’s hooked up to a water source. Make signs advertising your car wash, and hold them up so drivers can see them. Charge $10 per car, and remember to split the money evenly between your friends at the end of the day. If you don’t know how to wash a car, ask a parent to teach you on their car first. Tips for a Successful Car Wash Pick a large space, like a driveway. You want to have enough room for at least 2 to park their car for a few minutes while you wash them. Grab some friends. It's hard to do a car wash on your own, since you'll need to have someone holding the sign and at least 1 person washing the cars. Try to gather at least 3 friends to make your car wash a success. Take your time to get the car clean. Make sure you wash and rinse every part of the car, including the windows, wheels, running boards, and the top of the car. Don't be afraid to use a stool or ladder if you can't reach some places.
Collect cans to recycle them if your state offers money for recyclable items. Put on a pair of rubber gloves, get a trash bag, and walk around your neighborhood to pick up empty cans and bottles to exchange for cash. In states that offer money for cans and bottles, you can normally make around 5 cents per each item that you turn in. Every nickel counts toward your $100! You can also go around to the neighbors you know and ask if you can have some of their cans and bottles in their recycling.
Selling Food, Drinks, and Other Items
Hold a garage sale at your house if your family has things to sell. Ask your parents if it’s okay to have a garage sale with some of your stuff, and offer to sell their stuff for them as well. Set up a table with your things, and a table with their things, and put up signs around the neighborhood before the big day. Make sure you keep the proceeds from your sales separate, and ask your parents if they’ll give you a cut of their sales for organizing and working the sale. Remember to choose items that are in good condition, like video games that you only played a few times, or books that you don’t want anymore. Don’t try to sell anything that’s broken or damaged.Warning: Never sell something that doesn't belong to you. Once it's sold, you probably won't be able to get it back.
Set up a lemonade or hot cocoa stand outside of your house if you like business. This is one of the most popular ways for kids to make money. Set up a table outside with a big sign advertising your prices. In the spring and summer, offer lemonade for 50 cents per glass, and in the fall and winter, sell hot chocolate for the same price. If you want to make even more, sell fresh baked cookies, brownies, or even popcorn with the drinks for 50 cents each. Try to plan your stand so that you’re outside during the busiest times of the day, like the afternoon when your neighbors are coming home from work or school.
Sell crafts and handmade items online if you're artistic. If you know how to sew, embroider, paint, or make other crafts, ask your parents for help with taking pictures of your items and posting them for sale online. Determine a reasonable price, and use a website like Etsy or the Facebook Marketplace to post items, and offer to ship or deliver them depending on the location. This might require more assistance from your parents, but you can make a lot of money if your products are unique.
Getting a Part-Time Job
Become a babysitter if you like kids. If you're at least 12 years old and like taking care of younger kids, ask family, friends, and neighbors with kids if they need someone to watch their kid for a night out. At first, try babysitting for only a few hours to make sure you like it, and then work your way up to working more. When you start out, plan to charge between $8-10 per hour for each kid that you watch. As you get more experience, you can charge more for your services. This is a great job around holidays and during the summer, since parents are more likely to need someone to watch their kids while they go to an event or party.Tip: Before you decide how much you want to be paid, search online to see what babysitters normally charge in your area. You can visit websites like Care.com and Angie's List to get some ideas.
Get a paper route if you’re available to make deliveries every day. Visit the office or call your local newspaper to see if they’re hiring people to deliver newspapers in the morning. If they are, organize to have the papers dropped off to you in the morning, and then ride your bike along the route and drop off the papers at every house on the provided list. This is a great option for younger kids for a first job, so the jobs are often full in smaller towns. If there isn’t a position available, ask them if they can keep you in mind if a spot opens up.
Tutor younger students if you're good at a specific subject in school. If you're really good at math, science, English, or history, offer to tutor other students who aren’t doing so well in the class. Talk to parents in your neighborhood, and offer your services at a fee of $20 per hour of tutoring. For more advanced subjects, like physics or calculus, you can charge more. Before you begin tutoring, ask your teachers if you can use them as a reference for your skills in their class. You can also ask your guidance counselor or teachers if there are any paid peer tutoring positions open at your school. This is a great way to get started as a tutor. This can also help you study for tests in that class, as you’ll be reviewing the information repeatedly to help teach others.
Look for a part-time job somewhere close to home if you’re under 16. While most jobs tend to pay every other week, you can easily make $100 each week working at a nearby grocery store, library, or restaurant. If you’re in school, look for a job that’s easy for you to get to after school, and make sure you have time to do your schoolwork as well. Most of these places will pay minimum wage, but will usually be flexible when it comes to your schedule. If you’re 15 or younger, check the laws in your state to make sure you’re able to have a job. In some cases, you might have to get a work permit from your school stating that you have good grades and a job won’t interfere with your schoolwork.
Find an after-school job where you can earn tips if you’re over 16. If you have transportation and want to make cash quickly, get a job as a waiter, restaurant host, bellhop, golf caddy, or busboy. These jobs normally get paid in cash tips in addition to a regular paycheck, so you’ll have money in your pocket the first day that you work. Make sure they’re willing to work with your school schedule, especially if you have to drive to and from work. Keep in mind that waiters sometimes make less than minimum wage since they make tips, so your paycheck might be smaller than you expect. However, you make up for that money with the cash tips that you receive.
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