The entire world is likely to be popping champagne to celebrate the end of 2020. But the specter of Covid isn’t the only hangover that many people carry into the new year. Roughly one-third of Americans borrowed to buy things this holiday season, leaving them with an average of $1,381 in debt, according to a survey by MagnifyMoney. Want to get rid of 2020’s economic pain? Here are 5 side hustles to relieve a debt hangover.
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5 side hustles to relieve a debt hangover
Although there are literally hundreds of side hustles that could relieve a debt hangover, we’ve chosen a few that are in high demand and present relatively little risk. Most pay upwards of $15 per hour, giving you the ability to relieve the average debt hangover in about two work weeks.
1. Tutor
It doesn’t matter whether you’re skilled in music, art or academics, you can earn good money tutoring others.
Online tutoring platforms have been going gangbusters throughout the pandemic and are likely to remain popular through 2021. That’s partly because distance learning has been a challenge for many students. Tutors are desperately needed to help those kids catch up.
Where can you sign up to be a tutor? There are plenty of choices.
Wyzant encourages tutors in any topic — from academics to art — to sign up and set their own rates. The site takes a 25% commission on each booking. Varsity Tutors, another all-purpose tutoring site, pays between $15 and $40 per hour. Chelsea International Education is a premium tutoring site, where tutors can earn far more. But Chelsea’s tutors need to be credentialed teachers with experience. (Sign up with Wyzant here.)
Music tutors are best-served by listing on LessonFace. The site allows tutors to set their own rates and charges a modest 4% to 15% fee for helping them advertise and collect payment from clients. (Sign up with LessonFace here.)
If you’re a whiz at Math, English or coding, we recommend Juni Learning. What makes Juni Learning a little different is that it actually hires its part-time tutors as employees. That saves you some tax money. Juni’s tutors also earn at least $20 per hour.
For other options, check out the full tutoring category or our blog post on the 12 Best Tutoring Platforms.
2. Walk dogs or pet-sit
If you’re an animal lover, signing up with Rover is more of a hobby than a profession. You get to walk dogs or watch people’s pets overnight while they’re away. If you pet sit, you decide whether to watch animals in your own home or whether you’re willing to stay with the pet at the owner’s location. (Sign up with Rover here.)
Rover allows you to set your own rates and simply pay the platform a 20% commission for listing your services and collecting payment from customers. Freelancers say that they can easily earn $500 to $1,000 per month by watching or walking dogs just a few hours a day.
3. Stock shelves
With everybody eating and working at home, supermarkets and warehouse stores have been scrambling to keep their shelves stocked. Companies like Wonolo and BlueCrew help the markets by connecting them with freelancers willing to do warehouse work.
Pay isn’t anything to brag about — usually minimum wage or slightly more. However, jobs are plentiful. Also helpful for those juggling 9-5 jobs, many shelf-stocking positions are after normal working hours.
4. Opine
Got opinions? You can get paid to voice them.
Product Tube enlists freelancers to video-tape product reviews. The reviews are generally two-to-four-minutes long and filmed on your smart phone. Assignments might involve going to a grocery store and filming what you see when you walk down the cracker aisle, for instance. Or the site might ask you to taste-test a couple of different cereals. Each review pays between $5 and $35.
IvueIt asks freelancers to evaluate maintenance and status of commercial construction projects, taking photos and filling out a short questionnaire. Each project takes between 10 and 15 minutes and pays between $5 and $30.
Both sites pay freelancers within days of completing an assignment.
5. Drive
There have been plenty of delivery jobs throughout the pandemic and the demand for delivery drivers shows no sign of slowing. However, another way to make driving pay is to sign up with car advertising firms, such as Carvertise and Wrapify. These companies pay you to emblazon your vehicle with ads and then just drive as usual.
What can you earn? Wrapify estimates that each campaign pays between $175 and $450 per month; Carvertise, which specifically courts Uber, Lyft and GrubHub drivers, pays between $100 and $300 per month.
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