Today my teenage babysitter was telling me that she just got responsibility for paying for her own car-related expenses.

She has a new car that’s under warranty for 50,000 miles.

But she knows she will have to pay for repairs and maintenance in the future in addition to the car payments, insurance, and taxes in the meantime.

Easy Ways to Make Money on the Side NOT in Retail

I told her she could always get a traditional retail job or if she’s making enough from babysitting to cover most of her expenses, there are tons of other ways to make money and fill in the gaps.

As a teen, she has more time on her hands than most and can be really flexible regarding work hours. This opens up lots of possibilities.

5 Cool Money Generating Ideas for Teenagers Who Need Extra Cash 

Below are the first five ideas for making extra cash that I came up with for her.

I think these ideas are appropriate for almost any able-bodied teenager with a strong work ethic!

Idea #1 – Pet Sitting

I know many dog owners who’d rather not take their dogs on vacation with them but also don’t want to use a kennel. These dog owners would gladly pay her to stop by a couple times a day while they’re gone to play with the dogs, take them on walks, and feed them.

If you’re able to stay overnight with the dog(s) (essentially being a house/dog babysitter), you can charge a lot. According to one of my friends who owns a dog, luxury kennels can run $75 per night! Even a veterinarian might charge between $25-45 per night.

Keeping that in mind, I’d recommend charging $25 a day if you’re just stopping by to feed & walk the dogs and $50 per night if you’re staying over. That would make you competitive with the market and make it worthwhile for you.

If you really want to ensure you have a constant stream of clients, you could go a bit lower. Just make sure to account for your desired hourly rate in your quote.

For instance, if you want to make $10 per hour, charge $20 daily for a 2-hr per day commitment. It’s easy money if you like dogs!

If you’re staying in a nice house, just resist the urge to invite a bunch of friends over! LOL

Idea #2 – Run Errands 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wished I had a reasonably-priced personal assistant to call on when my husband travels and the kids are acting crazy.

Sometimes I pay the babysitter $10 an hour (for 2 or more hours) to come over so I can go run some errands. I’d gladly pay her $10 instead to run each errand.

It would probably save me money over the long term to pay someone to run errands. I never feel right just getting her to come over for 1 hour, so even if I could run the errand in that time, I’d get her for longer than one hour and waste some time. 🙂

Idea #3 – Rake Leaves  

I don’t necessarily care if my leaves are raked or not, but I have plenty of neighbors who do! You might be thinking…why would someone pay you for this? There could be lots of reasons.

Some people have demanding jobs and never have time to rake leaves themselves. My elderly neighbors are beginning to be able to do less and less of their own yard work.

Or anyone who is pregnant or has a newborn baby might not have the time or energy to do this themselves. If you live in an area with lots of trees, this is a solid idea for raking in extra cash (pun intended!). 🙂

Recommended rate: $10 per hour or $15 per job. Keep in mind that this would be a recurring gig, likely each week, so it will really add up.

Idea #4 for Making Money – Clean Cars 

Just like running errands, cleaning my car is a necessary evil but not something I always have time to do myself. If you can do a decent job at this, I’d recommend charging $15 per small car and going up from there.

If you can actually detail a car, meaning cleaning dirt out of all the cracks and crevices, you can charge more like $50! (I’ve paid $75 for this before, but that seemed a bit much).

Idea #5 – Tutor

As a mom, I constantly see ads from learning centers and after-school programs that offer tutoring to school-aged kids of all ages. Are you particularly good at math, science, or reading?

Focus on one area and offer your services in that subject to older kids. If you think you can handle younger ones, you can really tutor any subject you are comfortable with because the subjects will be fairly easy for you.

You can really charge a lot for this one, especially if you are working very few hours. Funny thing is, fewer hours = higher rate to make it worth your while. For two hours of tutoring per week, you can charge $30-$40. 

If you don’t think your local market will support that rate, go a bit lower. You will surely be booked up at a lower rate than $15 per hour!

Easy Ways to Make Money Online

Now that I think about it, every teenager I know has a phone practically attached to them at all times. I think my babysitter could benefit from a list of ways to make money online or even iPhone-specific ones.

So this post doesn’t get out of control, I’m actually going to list more ideas for making money in a separate post and will link it up here shortly.

Do you have any teen-appropriate ideas for making extra cash that I didn’t list above?