Make Money

How to Make Money In Your Neighborhood

Howard D. Bray

September 13, 2022

Want to know how to make money in your neighbourhood, then this article will definitely prove helpful.

It looks at some of the easy ways anyone can use to make money without going too far from where they live.

It also looks at some of the advantages and/or disadvantages of the ways and what to do about them.

Table of Contents

Why Look to Earn Extra Money In Your Neighborhood

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You are probably aware of “get paid to read emails”, “get paid to click on ads”, “get paid to watch videos”, and all that good stuff.

But if you’re like most people, you are maybe looking for something that you can do in the brick and mortar world.

You’d like to roll up your sleeves and do something that will help you earn money right here, right now.

Don’t worry, I got you covered. Believe it or not, you can do certain things now that people will pay you cold, hard cash for.

The best part is your earning cash, not waiting for an online program to cash you out according to their pre-set schedules.

You’re not waiting around, twiddling your thumbs hoping and wishing that you reach the minimum cash out threshold.

When you work in the real world on a face-to-face basis with people who live around the corner from you or across the street, you’re dealing with neighbors.

You’re dealing with real people and you have more control as to when you earn and how much you earn.

Here are some ideas on income generation opportunities that you may have overlooked.

5 Ways to Make Money In Your Neighborhood

1. Watering Your Neighbor’s Garden

Do you know how to turn on a faucet?

Do you know how to roll and unroll a garden hose?

Most importantly, do you have spare time?

If you answered yes to all these three questions, you have all the skills you need to water a neighbor’s garden.

Many people are just simply too busy to water their garden.

Some people would even pay you to make sure that their automated watering system is operating properly, and if there are any dry spots, to water those areas manually.

There is a lot of demand for something as simple as watering someone’s lawn or home garden.

Advantages

This type of neighborhood job doesn’t take much skill. Again, as long as you know how to turn on and off a faucet, you are halfway there.

You only have to roll the hose, connect it correctly, make sure you follow the home owner’s instructions as to how to square away their equipment.

Other than that, you’re not doing anything extraordinary. This is simpler than using a lawnmower or cutting grass or blowing leaves.

Disadvantages

The big disadvantage of a neighborhood job that pretty much anybody could do is that they don’t pay all that well.

Usually, these jobs are given to high school students, teenagers who need extra money for the weekend.

Don’t expect to get rich watering your neighbor’s garden.

The Good News

The good news about watering gardens is that they don’t take that much time.

It’s easy to see if you have done a good job by using a checklist to make sure that you’ve covered all the areas you need to water.

With that established, it becomes clear that even though you’re getting paid less per job, you can stack up these jobs.

You can have several neighbors sign up for your service on a weekly plan. Either you rotate from lawn to lawn or you just do them in sequence.

Whatever the case may be, this can add up because you’re not going to be spending much time per lawn.

If you are efficient and willing to work hard, this can add up to significant earnings.

It may not be as big as what professional landscapers earn, but it’s not going to be chump change either.

Also See: Ways to Earn Money on Upwork and Earn Money as an Illustrator.

2. Walking Other People’s Pets

The interesting thing about pet ownership in many parts of the United States is that many people don’t have the time to do it.

Depending on the breed of the dog you have, you might need to walk your pooch at least around the block no less than twice a day.

If you’re a busy professional or a student who has to be somewhere for a certain number of hours, this is hard for you to do.

This is why many people who live in congested metropolitan areas like New York, Chicago, or certain parts of San Francisco and Los Angeles, routinely hire pet walkers.

You don’t necessarily have to be Dr. Doolittle and have a special bond with animals to do this job right.

As long as you don’t give off any smell that dogs instantly attack or are repelled by, you can do this job.

Advantages of Being A Pet Walker

The great thing about being a pet walker is that you can stack up your jobs. What I mean by that is you can walk several dogs at once.

Of course, you should not go overboard and try to walk a dozen German shepherds or rottweilers at once.

But with proper planning, you can walk several pets at once and get paid for that one round of walk.

The Demand Is Not Going to Go Away

Since more and more Americans are foregoing having children, pet ownership is only going to increase over time.

The demand for pet walkers is not going to go away any time soon.

As household incomes continue to rise, there is more money to be spent on what would otherwise have been luxuries like professional dog walkers like yourself.

You Can Easily Subcontract

If you’re thinking ahead and looking to turn your pet walking sideline into a formal business, you can easily do so.

Again it doesn’t require much skill. You only need to rent somebody’s time. Many people would love to be part of your pet walking business idea.

The great thing about farming these jobs is you can scale up quickly because pet owners who are happy with their pet walkers are more likely to refer their contractors.

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Why?

People would rather do business with those referred by people they know and trust.

Don’t be surprised if you start with walking a tiny pomeranian, and before you know it, you are in charge of half a dozen dogs of various sizes and need an assistant.

how to make money in your neighborhood

The Drawbacks of Walking Pets

Increasing Professionalization and Related Costs

Keep in mind that the biggest demand for pet walkers is in large metropolitan areas and there are many issues with operating in such an environment.

Local governments are more likely to ask you for a license or permit. They are more likely to tax you too.

There are so many bureaucratic burdens that might discourage people from getting into this line of work, or at least, keep them from scaling up their operations so they become professionals.

You Have to Have the Proper Equipment

In most jurisdictions in the US, if you are walking around a dog, you are responsible for its poop and pee. This is crucial because it is part of being a responsible pet walker.

You have to have a plan and part of that plan is having the right equipment so you don’t leave a mess.

Are you willing to deal with the stink and the mess of cleaning up after not just one but several dogs?

This is a personal preference issue and could be a deal-killer if you are very squeamish and don’t want to get your hands dirty.

Also See: How to Make Money Selling Candles.

3. Be A House Sitter

I was going to originally put “be a babysitter” but the problem is babysitting jobs especially for teenagers are restricted, generally, to females.

There is a preference not only for women but younger women.

House sitting, on the other hand, can be done by anybody of any sex and any age.

People, particularly those who live in urban areas, travel quite a bit.

In certain parts of the US with high concentrations of upwardly mobile young professionals, these individuals (whether single or married) don’t stay for long periods in their homes.

If they don’t know anybody in their area and there are crime issues or they just want their place to look lived in, they may hire a house sitter.

There are also cases where houses located in faraway suburbs or in the countryside need house sitters.

This is a great way to earn money with few to no skills required.

Understand that the person hiring you just wants you to be physically located inside their residence.

That’s pretty much the long and short of their expectations.

They’re not asking you to change light bulbs, paint the wall, or replace the plumbing. House sitting is a low-skill job.

Most people can manage to live in a place so I’m sure you could manage it too. Why not get paid to do it?

The Big Advantage of House Sitting

The biggest advantage of house sitting is that you get to live rent-free. Don’t underestimate this cost.

Housing is probably the biggest cost in the budgets of households in the US and you get it for the grand sum of zero.

Sounds awesome, right?

As exciting as this may all seem, there are downsides.

Also See: Get Paid to Go to Trade School and Get Paid to Play Solitaire for Money.

The Disadvantages of House Sitting

The main downside of house sitting is one of expectation. Not all places that need house sitting are located in sunny California or balmy Florida.

In many cases, a lot of houses that are ripe for house sitting jobs are located far away from civilization.

These houses may be surrounded by pine forests.

This scenario might look like an amazing Christmas scene, but if you have to live there by yourself or with your family, it can feel isolating, if not downright scary.

Just think of that classic scene from the horror epic, The Shining.

Another drawback is you may be located so far away that you cannot earn a secondary income.

You’re going to be stuck with house sitting unless you have portable digital skills such as writing blog posts or transcribing files because these jobs can be done online.

Otherwise, you might feel unproductive because you are not making much of your time sitting in the house.

4. Power Washing Driveways

There is a rising trend in many parts of the US where teenagers would connect a power washer rig to their clients’ outdoor water line and clean out the garage or the driveway.

There is a lot of demand for this service because, depending on where you live, there might be a lot of cars with grease streaks.

Many people are too busy to mess with those streaks and would pay you extra bucks just to power wash those streaks away.

This is one kind of job that is in high demand because people who do have grease stains on their driveways tend to get those grease stains back because they have to park their car somewhere.

There is a high chance that you will get repeat business.

The downside to the power washing job is that you’re not going to make much money with each job.

But just like with mowing lawns or any other kind of neighborhood personal service, you stack the jobs up.

You can set it up in such a way where you are handling blocks of your neighborhood’s driveways and it would not take you much time.

And 25 to 50 dollars here and there do add up.

The Final Verdict on Making Money In Your Neighborhood

Make no mistake, just because you are in your neighborhood and you need extra cash here and now, it doesn’t mean that your only option is to be an Uber driver or to check for online freelancing opportunities.

There are physical jobs you can do in your area that people will pay you for.

Pay close attention to the job descriptions above and see which ones fit your current skill set and experience level and have at it.

Don’t expect to be a millionaire overnight, but with a little bit of patience, focus, and perseverance, you can scale up and all those little streams of sideline income can add up to a fairly substantial amount of cash which you can invest later.

Again, this company has paid $25+ million to members: