How To Make Money As A Kid

How to make money as a kid is a question that pretty much every kid asks their parents at some point.

My 3 kids used to ask me that all the time, but these days they don’t have to because they already have a number of side hustles they use to earn cold hard cash!

So if you’re a kid wondering how you can make money (or a parent who has a kid that wants to earn money) you’ve found the right place.

Here’s the ultimate guide to how to make money as a kid.

A piggy bank for those looking to learn how to make money as a kid.

The Best Way To Make Money As A Kid

The easiest and fastest way for kids to earn money is: SWAGBUCKS!

Swagbucks is an awesome website and smartphone app that pays you for doing simple things like watching videos, playing games, searching the web, and taking surveys.

That’s right, you can actually get paid real cash just to watch funny videos or take a 5 minute survey!

Just imagine, you’re sitting on the bus on your way home from school watching the latest movie trailers on your phone and earning real cash with each video. How cool is that??

You won’t earn millions of dollars with Swagbucks, but you can easily earn $100 to $300 a month with no effort at all.

Anyone aged 13 or over can use Swagbucks, which makes it the perfect way for kids to make money.

All you need is an email address to sign up for your free account and you can start earning in less than two minutes. Then you can choose to get paid in cash through Paypal or in gift cards to stores like Amazon or Starbucks.

Even better, when you sign up with this link today, you’ll get a $5 bonus just for getting started!

How to Make Money As A Kid In Your Neighborhood

Money-making opportunities are all around you if you know where to look. In fact, there are plenty of ways for you to make money right in your own neighborhood. Such as….

Walking Dogs/Pet Sitting

I’m guessing there are plenty of people in your neighborhood who have pets that need to be taken out or looked in on. If you like animals, why not spend your afternoons taking local dogs for a walk and getting paid for it? Prices vary depending on where you live, but most dog walkers earn around $15-$25 for a 30 minute walk.

If you’re at least 18 years old you can use Rover to find people in your neighborhood who need someone to walk or check in on their pets.

Babysitting

Babysitting is one of the best ways for teens to make money. You spend a few hours playing board games or watching a movie with someone’s kid and make sure he doesn’t get into trouble. At the end of the night you get paid in cash.

And once you start getting referrals and multiple clients you’ll have a steady income from babysitting. You can create a free profile at sites like SitterCity so you can connect with people in your area who are looking for a sitter.

Odd Jobs and Errands

Download the free TaskRabbit app to your smartphone and you can connect with people in your area who need help running errands or completing odd jobs for a fee. You can make money by doing things like putting together furniture, hanging shelves or dropping off clothes at the dry cleaner.

Yard Work

If you’re young and healthy, put your muscles to work and get paid for helping your neighbors do some yard work. Depending on how hard you’re willing to work, there are plenty of ways to earn money by doing yard work:

Raking leaves
Mowing lawns
Weeding gardens
Mulching and landscaping
Shoveling snow
Clean gutters
Picking up dog poop (someone’s gotta do it!)

Be A Referee

My daughter is 15 and has been playing travel soccer for years. And now she’s spending her Saturday’s refereeing the recreational league soccer games and travel games for the younger kids. She gets paid $30 per game and some days she works 4 games in a row. $120 in one day is awesome for a 15 year old!

Tutor

Tutoring is a great way for teens to make money. A high school math student can easily earn $15 to $25 per hour tutoring a classmate or middle school student who needs extra help. And if you can line up multiple clients your earnings will add up quickly!

Organize a Garage Sale

Garage sales are a great way to clean a bunch of unwanted stuff out of your house and earn some quick cash while doing it. If you don’t want to spend your whole day running an in-person garage sale, you can sell books, electronics, and media on DeCluttr and use eBay to sell the rest.

Hang Up Holiday Decorations

Holiday decorations can take hours to put up each year, and many busy parents and elderly homeowners just don’t have the time or energy to do the work. If you’ve got the time to spend a few hours untangling and hanging lights and other decorations this is a great way to make some money for the holidays.

Sell Crafts and Artwork

If you have a creative or artistic side, put it to use and earn some money by selling your creations. You can make your own jewelry, home decorations, or drawings and sell them. You can also use Etsy to sell your creations online. The hottest items to sell on Etsy are stickers, homemade candy and treats, jewelry, and party decorations.

Birthday Party Entertainment

If you’re funny and outgoing, being an entertainer at kid’s birthday parties is a great side hustle. You can sing, play an instrument, dress up like a clown, paint kid’s faces, or sculpt balloon animals.

Paint House Numbers on Curb

There are a couple of teenagers in my town who have a neat side gig going. They use a stencil and spray paint to add house numbers to the curb outside of neighborhood homes. They do a great job and it helps emergency workers and delivery guys find the right house. They charge $20 a house and almost everyone in town has gotten it done. What an excellent way to make money as a teen!

Paint Front Doors

This requires a little more work than painting numbers on a curb, but you can also charge a lot more for it. The homeowner would need to supply the paint so all you’d really need is some brushes, a drop cloth, and some painter’s tape.

Open a Lemonade Stand

You’ve seen this done on TV shows and probably by kids in your own neighborhood. Choose a really hot day when a passerby can’t resist a cold drink to quench their thirst. You might need to check with your town to see if you need a permit to sell lemonade.

Manicures or Nail Painting

Some of the moms in your area might appreciate being pampered. You can go right to their home and give them a manicure or at give their nails a good painting.

Change Air Filters in Furnace or Air Conditioner

Changing the air filter in a furnace or central air conditioner is an important step that keeps it running smoothly. It’s an easy job but the filters are usually located in a tough to reach spot. Elderly homeowners and expecting moms might have a hard time doing it and would be willing to pay you a few bucks to change it for them.

How to Make Money as a Kid Online

The internet has made it easier than ever for kids and teens to earn money. Here are some of the best options:

Surveys!

There are lots of sites that will pay you to answer short surveys. Most or the time you just have to watch a short video or look at an ad and then tell them what you think of it. Easy money!

Here are a few of the survey sites we use ourselves and recommend you try out:

Start a YouTube Channel

Did you know the highest paid YouTube celebrity is a 7 year old kid??

Ryan of Ryan Toys Review earned $22 million in 2018. His unboxing videos have built a huge following of over 17.3 million and his short, simple videos have been viewed 26 billion times.

Not everyone can be as popular as Ryan, and being a YouTube influencer is easier said than done, but it sure seems like fun way to make money as a kid or an adult.

Sell Items on eBay

Every day, millions of items are bought and sold on eBay. Wouldn’t it be great if you can a cut of that cash?

You can start by selling old toys and video games you don’t want anymore. If you get really good, you can start flipping items…buying them for a bargain price and then selling them for more. You keep the difference!

Start a Website

Building a website on WordPress is easy and you can start earning money with a blog in just a couple of months. I’m not saying its easy to earn a living as a blogger, but if you work hard this could be the option with the highest potential to make serious money.

Starting a blog isn’t quite free, but it costs practically nothing. You can get started for as little as $2.95 per month with a domain and hosting package from Bluehost.

Once you set up your site and write some articles you can make money by displaying ads or by promoting affiliate products. For example, let’s say you decide to build a blog about video games. You can join Amazon’s affiliate program and link to different games available on Amazon. When someone buys through your link, you get paid!

I’m making it sound overly simple, but there is a lot more to making money through affiliate marketing. You really should check out Michelle Schroeder-Gardner’s site Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing to learn how she earns over $1 million per year through affiliate marketing.

Design T-shirts

If you’ve got an eye for style and like creating cool graphics, you can use those designer skills to create unique T-shirts and then sell them on Merch by Amazon.

When you sell T-shirts through Amazon Merch, you don’t have to worry about carrying inventory, dealing with customer service issues, or any problems really. Once you create the design and upload it to Amazon, they do all the work while you sit back and collect royalties.

Social Media Manager

Lots of bloggers and small business owners need help managing their social media presence. Young people like you are naturals at social media so why not get paid to help these sites with their Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest profiles?

Summary

So there you have it! You know have dozens of ideas on how to make money as a kid or teen. The only thing left for you to do is to pick your favorite and start earning!!