With the spending season in full-swing, it’s nice to earn some extra cash. But the holidays also come with tons of extra responsibilities, from hosting relatives to sending cards and decorating. With all of that, you’re probably wondering if you have enough time to earn extra money. But if you can spare an hour — even just once a week — these one-hour side hustles can help you earn an extra $100 or more each month.
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One-hour side hustles
What can you do to earn money is just an hour? Theoretically, you could do a lot of things, from driving for Uber to delivering for GrubHub. After all, most side hustle apps give you the ability to turn on and off your work availability at will. But, side hustles like these are only good for the time-constrained if the hours you have free happen to correspond with the high-demand hours for that service.
After all, driving and delivery apps don’t normally pay you to wait. So, unless you’re okay with working during your lunch or dinner hour — the best times for food delivery apps — food-delivery is not a practical choice. And if you drive for Uber and Lyft, you need to factor in the return trip. In other words, you might spend an hour driving a fare to the airport, but it could take another hour to get back.
If you want one-hour side hustles that you can truly complete in an hour, we’d recommend these six.
Tutor
Those who have patience and expertise in anything from grammar to music can sign up to be online tutors. Tutoring platforms typically help you find clients for half-hour to one-hour sessions that you do from home, so it’s ideal for those looking for one-hour side hustles.
Pay ranges from $15 to more than $50 per hour, depending on the subject and the tutoring platform that you use. In many cases, tutors set their own rates and simply pay a commission to the tutoring site for marketing and collecting payment on their behalf. You also normally set your availability.
Some of the better tutoring sites: For general academic subjects, consider Wyzant, Varsity Tutors, and TutorOcean. For those who can teach math and coding, Juni Learning. And, for those interested in teaching and tutoring in the arts and music, we recommend LessonFace.
(Click here to sign up for Varsity Tutors)
Virtually assist
Virtual assistants do everything from scheduling meetings and travel to handling incoming email and social media updates. Although some virtual assisting platforms want their assistants to work a minimum number of hours each week, independent VAs set their own agendas.
Sites where you can find virtual assisting work include Robert Half, Boldly, Belay and Time Etc.
Edit
You aren’t going to edit a book in an hour, but you could easily edit a resume, personal statement or cover letter.
Although the best sites for editing jobs focus on those longer-term projects, if you’re looking for short and sweet editing projects, the best place to list your service is on Fiverr. Fiverr allows you to set your own prices and customize your offer. Freelancers offer very specific services here, such as editing college essays; resumes; blog posts and scholarly papers.
(However, if you do want to edit books, which will take considerably longer than an hour, take a look at PenguinFreelancers and Reedsy.)
(Click here to sign up for Fiverr)
Sell
As you go through your wardrobe looking for the perfect outfit to wear to that holiday party, pay a little more attention to the many clothing items you’re rejecting. Do they fit? Do you ever wear these clothes anymore?
If not, why not earn a few bucks by selling them? There are dozens of sites that can can help you sell your used clothing, shoes, handbags, belts and household items. Some of the best include eBay, Poshmark and CraigsList. If you happen to have designer handbags, watches, shoes and belts that you no longer use, also consider Fashionphile.
Walk dogs/pet sit
The opportunities for dog walkers and pet-sitters soar around the holidays, as many people take these weeks to visit relatives or enjoy a winter vacation. Dog walkers typically earn between $15 and $20 per half-hour walk — for one dog. You can charge more for longer walks or walking two or more dogs at once.
Meanwhile, you can also make money doing home visits — feeding someone’s cat, for instance — or providing overnight pet-sitting services. Pet sitters tend to set their own terms. You can offer to sit in the dog’s home or in your own and set your own rates.
The best sites to sign up for dog walking and sitting opportunities are Rover and Wag.
(Click here to sign up for Rover)
Snap photos
Product Tube, IvueIt, and WeGoLook all provide payments ranging from $5 to $35 for photos and/or videos. With ProductTube, they’re looking for a short — 3-5 minute video — about a specific product.
IvueIt matches freelancers with owners of commercial real estate, who want a photo or video to assess the property’s condition, cleanliness, or remodel status. Meanwhile, WeGoLook assigns freelancers to take photos of accident scenes or car damage for insurance companies. Since none of these options pays a fortune, we’d suggest you pick and choose projects carefully to screen out those that require more time than they’re worth.
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