If you’re anything like me, you wait all semester to catch a break. But after a few days at home, you somehow find yourself bored out of your mind. You have no projects to think about, no tests to study for, and more time on your hands than you thought you could handle. So what better time to fill your days with a job and make some extra cash? Here are 15 ways to get going on filling up your bank account before spring semester rolls around:
1. Shovel some snow- If there’s lots of snow where you live, you might as well make the most of it and offer your shoveling services to your neighbors and family members. Tom Vecchione, executive director of career services at Elon University, calls this money-maker an “oldie but goodie.” He also says he would definitely pay someone to do it for him!
2. Be a distributor- Vecchione says, “Many employers in larger to mid-size areas employ high school and college students to hand out flyers or other marketing items to the public.” Look around at local coffee shops or ice cream shops to see what flyers are already posted, and then give them a call to see if they’d like any more help.
3. Babysit- Parents are super busy with holiday parties and office parties over break. Offer to watch your cousins, neighbors, siblings or nieces and nephews. You’ll have fun and make good money in the process. If your neighborhood or high school has an email list-serv, send something out letting everyone know you’re available to help.
4. Watch someone’s pets- Lots of people take short vacations and trips over the holidays. And most people would rather leave their pets at home than kennel them, so offer to feed and walk your neighbor’s dog or feed their fish. You’ll be a great help! This is another item you can shoot over a neighborhood email list-serv.
5. Clean out your closet- Go through all of your clothes and sell what you don’t want at a local consignment store. Just try not to buy anything there while you’re selling your stuff if the goal is to be cash flow positive!
6. Sell some stuff on the Internet- Use eBay to sell items that you no longer have any use for. It’s an easy way to make money.
7. Hold onto that summer job- Keep in touch with your boss from this summer. Chances are, he might want to hire you back for a few weeks because he won’t have to train you! Reach out to your boss as soon as you get home and ask him right away if the company will need any help over the holidays.
8. Get into retail- Vecchione says, “Retail, or anything related to helping a company adequately is a great way to spend your break [because] the holidays increase their demand for services.” You can help! When you’re out doing Christmas shopping, spend some time going in and out of stores asking if they’re hiring for the holidays.
9. Host a garage sale- Ross Wade, Assistant Director of Career Services at Elon University, suggests having a holiday garage sale. Sell all of your old CD’s, DVD’s, handbags, clothes, whatever! Get your siblings or neighbors to organize it with you so you have more to sell and you can all benefit from it! Put up a flyer at your local Community Center or put flyers in mailboxes around your neighborhood to publicize. Post something about it on your Facebook too—you can even make a Facebook photo album that is a sort of gallery of the items you’ll be selling.
10. Play the ‘nice’ card- Wade suggests playing the nice card. “Be extra nice to your family so they give you some extra money in your holiday card.” Worth a try, right?
11. Clean the house… in search of money- Do a quick sweep all over your house, taking extra time to look under the couch and behind the cushions. Then take the loose change you’ve gathered up and put it in the Coinstar at your local grocery store. You can convert the change into gift cards, too. Hey—you said you had a lot of free time, right?
12. Sell your old textbooks- Lots of people sell their books back to the bookstore, but you can get a lot more money by selling them to friends or other students who are taking the same classes. Visit websites like bookbyte.com
13. Use your artistic ability- Wade says, “If you’re artsy, design and create some holiday cards or art to sell on etsy.com and upload a design for a greeting card. You can sell your personal designs online!
14. Recycle- Did you know that you can get money for recycling? Some grocery stores give customers change in exchange for used plastic bottles. Getting paid to go green? Doesn’t get any better than that!
15. Wrap it up- Put flyers out in the mailboxes in your neighborhood offering your wrapping services. Say that you’ll take some stress off of their plate by offering to do their present wrapping!
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