The Best Side Hustles for Caregivers and Seniors

Recent years have seen an increased focus on alternative ways to earn money, including ways to earn from home and how to do so without a traditional. It’s no surprise that there have been more conversations about side hustles, the gig economy, and freelancing, as ways to save money for a specific goal or simply to make ends meet. This is why side hustles for caregivers and seniors is such a hot topic.

Freelance work and the gig economy are even becoming a familiar part of the American workforce, as Americans are seeking improved work-life balance and flexibility.

Side hustles may be particularly attractive for family caregivers, who often have to resort to reducing their work hours or leaving the workforce altogether as the demands of caregiving increase.

They can also be perfect for seniors who can’t or don’t want to maintain professional activity in their golden years for any reason, but still need supplemental income. Retired older adults have an extra advantage: less chance of their hustle conflicting with a day job.

What is a Side Hustle?

To put it simply, a side hustle can be viewed as any activity launched to supplement your income. They are, by definition, jobs you do on the side, rather than ways to earn on their own. Some side hustles may eventually turn into part-time or full-time ways of earning money, but at that point, they’d no longer be considered a side hustle.

Side hustles can be that dream you set aside decades back. Many people find that a side hustle is a passion project, one that allows them to earn without the risks of launching a new business with unknown financial outcomes.

A side hustle provides you with greater control over your schedule and your hourly rate. Some offer the space for entrepreneurship (or solopreneurship, as many side hustlers define what they do), while others mean that you may be working for clients or companies as a freelancer.

At the same time, a side hustle can bring personal satisfaction. Are you sold yet?

Finding The Time

To make a side hustle profitable, you do give up some free time; but the benefits may be totally worth it. In fact, a side hustle can pay off for caregivers financially and personally. It offers flexibility, which is something caregivers may not have with traditional part-time jobs.

Side hustles can be squeezed in during the evenings, weekends, or in small increments of time when you have a break in your day. This means that you can still earn from a side hustle even if you are being a full-time caregiver.

What’s more, some side hustles require little or no formal education or specialized skills, and should not require an upfront financial investment. There are no minimum requirements on hours or a maximum of assignments you can undertake.

Being tech savvy can help you to promote your services, but with old fashioned low-tech self-promotion strategies can be equally as effective.

Types of Side Hustles

• Selling General Services
• Skilled Services
• Selling Stuff
• Selling Clothing
• Making and Selling Handicrafts

Selling General Services

Some side hustles can be started almost immediately after you finish reading this post. They are mostly based on services you can provide immediately.

They don’t demand more than you making a flyer listing your services, hours available, rates, a phone number or email address, and leaving it at neighborhood businesses, at church, and telling your network.

You can use technology to increase your visibility and flexibility, including websites and apps.

Start small, and take inventory of your personal circumstances when thinking about the services to offer. Consider your skills too, along with what is needed in your area.

Childcare and Babysitting   

From picking up children from school or after school care until parents come from work, dropping them to school, or watching kids for the occasional date night, childcare is one way to earn a little extra cash. There will always be parents around in need of this service.

Older adults have an advantage when offering childcare services compared with youngsters. You will be perceived as more dependable and your previous experience with raising your own family is important too. You’ll be able to teach manners and be perceived as more nurturing.  

Small babies are ideal for older persons with achy knees. Understandably, some older adults may shy away from caring for multiple kids, especially in the rambunctious, energetic age from 4 to 8. 

Be sure to have references to your character, be prepared to go through background checks should the parent request this, and be flexible on your payment options. Having a car and your own child booster seat is a plus.

Apps have turned this side-hustle into something into more professional and reliable transactions between parents and sitters. Your dedication to this side hustle can be as professional or informal as you like.

Apps and Websites to Consider: Bambino, Sitter City, Care.com, RentaGrandma

You can certainly find non-tech ways to promote your services. Ask neighbors for references and get your children to put the word out to parents at your grandkids’ schools.

Animal Care

Animal care services include dog walking, pet sitting, or even delivering pets. Some dog walkers and pet sitters have created a very profitable business that started as a side hustle.

This side hustle depends on your location and neighborhood; but if you are willing to go beyond your usual boundaries, you love animals and can walk long distances, you should be able to create a loyal clientele.

It is one of the most popular side hustles. The median wage for animal caretakers is $10.82 an hour. If you live in an urban area or apartment building, you can take advantage of the community board to advertise yourself.

You don’t need to go as far as setting up your own website. Check out the following sites for placing your profile and setting your prices. Wag, Rover, Fetch!, PetSitter, or Care.com.

Be honest with yourself and others if you have reservations about caring for certain pets. As an owner of many species of animals over the years, I can tell you that it was easier to find care for my cute little puppy as opposed to my sister’s snake who required being fed live rats.

Our Red-Headed Mexican Amazon parrot also required delicate handling. She loved to bite the hands that feed her. Our cat sitter’s business took off, and she pivoted to exclusively caring for cats after a few unfortunate run-ins with aggressive large dogs.

Selling Baked Goods or Home-Cooked Family Meals

This is another way of earning money that never gets old. If you got love and talent for cooking or baking, it can become a great side hustle.

You can combine marketing strategies, by reaching out to your family, friends, and acquaintances to posting an advertisement on platforms, such as NextDoor, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace.

Preparing a few samples and distributing it around cafes or restaurants in your neighborhood is a highly effective way of acquiring fans.

But, you will need to check the laws in your local area. Homemade food is often subject to more restrictions to most other products and services. You’ll need to be sure that you’re following all legal requirements.

Food Delivery

Forget about food delivery services with a teenager delivering pizza in his father’s car. Apps and technology have transformed the food delivery industry for all parties involved: businesses, clients, and delivery persons.

Clients now order food at any time of the day, any day of the week. It’s a very flexible side hustle. You can deliver on your way home from running errands, whenever have a few extra hours. From fast-food chains to foodie restaurants, most of them are coordinated through apps that need constant people available to deliver in any rout.

This is a service that also depends on location; but don’t think that because you don’t live in a busy city, it won’t have demand. You can always search locally to see which services your local restaurants use and apply for them.

Some of the most well-known and best-ranked apps for fast food delivery are these: Ubereats, GrubHub, Doordash. Some other apps allow you to deliver other types of food as well, such as Postmates, where you can deliver from stores like 7/11 as well as restaurants, and Instacart, which focuses on grocery delivery.

Requirements vary from one service to another. But, most companies aren’t too worried about your vehicle, as you’re simply bringing food from one place to another, rather than transporting people.

Delivering Packages and Precious Items

When we think about delivery services we always think of big heavy packages, but it can be anything. You may need to have a precious object delivered to another state to a family member, or somebody’s pet a couple of weeks after they moved.

Many times, big companies or USPS are not the best options. Sometimes, what somebody needs is that a person with a car can pick something up and deliver to their house.

You can combine marketing this service to your family, friends, and acquaintances or posting an advertisement on a platform. Citizen Shipper is a platform that is dedicated to connecting clients that need a delivery to those that want to give this service.

House Cleaning and General Labor

This may sound much like a hard full-time work, but it doesn’t need to be like that. Are you a tidy person? Do you like to clean up and organize? You have no idea how many people need these services that are not just the typical cleaning companies.

Somebody may need help organizing and cleaning their fridge or pantry. Somebody may need somebody just tidying up, buying some flowers, and setting a table for a dinner party.

The options are endless.

Once you decide what you want and can do, you can combine marketing this service to your family, friends, and acquaintances or posting an advertisement on a platform.

Apps and Websites to Consider: JiffyonDemand, TaskRabbit, NextDoor

Gardening and Landscaping

If you have a “green thumb” and are an avid gardener, gardening is a skill set that is in demand. Tending to a garden can be a pretty tough job, but you can be involved physically as much as you want. You can help others when choosing their plants, assessing on a landscape plan, tips for taking care of gardens and bushes.

It is seasonal work, depending on where you live; but off season, you can also help clients maintain their gardens or planning their garden for the next season. You can work for private clients or community garden programs. If you’re in shape, you can also charge a few bucks for helping neighbors shovel snow during winter or rake leaves in the fall.

You can search for gigs, such as “part-time gardener,” on sites that include NextDoor, and again Craigslist or TaskRabbit. GreenPal is a free platform that connects clients locally for different services related to gardening and landscape.

Driving

I know that driving for Uber or Lyft is nothing new and can be controversial on the number of hours you have to put in to earn the right salary.

Remember though, you are not looking for a full-time job here.

I once got an Uber with an older man that told me he was retired when he started to drive for Uber just to get out of the house a little. He wore a suit; his car was impeccable and he was very friendly and polite.

Through a client he used to drive around town, he got a part-time job again. He told me that now he just drove Uber on his way to work and back home.

With the money earned, he paid for all of his car expenses, insurance, parking, lunch, or coffee; he got his full salary, with no expenses. So, like any other side hustle, driving for Uber, Lyft, or any other company can bring supplemental money, make you socialize, and get out of routine.  

Skilled Services

So far, we’ve talked about side hustles that don’t require advanced degrees or formal training. If you’re a pro behind the computer screen, you might consider side hustles that require more technical training and professional skills. 

There are various things to think about when choosing this type of side hustle.

• It may bring more value if you do it for a longer time
• It needs some type of set up: resume, creating profiles on websites, verifying credentials, etc.
• It may be more competitive depending on the activity
• It needs some preparation for putting yourself out there
• It will involve deadlines
• It will involve a “temporary boss” to whom you will have to respond while completing the assignment or task
• It demands technology skills
• Hours’ rate or pay for assignment tend to be higher than the options mentioned above

Writing remains the most common freelance writing service. You can also specialize to provide services like copywriting, medical writing, and technical writing.

There are countless other services too, including graphic design, research, being a transcriptionist, and video creation. In fact, if a particular skill is used in workplaces, then there’s likely to be demand for freelancers offering that skill.

The platforms for setting up profiles are numerous and some require an enrollment fee and/or take a commission.

• General Freelancing: Upwork and Freelancer.com are some of the most powerful platforms.
  • You can also turn to Fiverr, although this site takes a different approach and involves selling services in an online marketplace.
• Writing, editing, and transcribing: FreelanceWritingGigs, Super Copy Editors, TranscribeMe, and GoTranscript.
• Tutoring: Wyzant, Varsity Tutors, LessonFace
• Teaching English to students abroad: VIPKid, Englishunt, and Lingoda.

Watch out for the balance of time versus money with freelancing. It often takes time and networking to find well-paying work. Freelancers often find themselves grossly underpaid when they begin.  

Selling Stuff

You most probably have decades-worth of objects, furniture, and clothes accumulated. Selling them is a great option to try a side hustle with no investment upfront other than your time, a few photos, and visiting thrift stores and some webpages.

You could hold a garage sale. A garage sale specialized in tools is a great way to make money. You can organize a market together with people from your church. You can ask for family and friends if they are still interested in buying some of your treasures.

Using the technology available, though, will increase your chances of earning more money, and will help you determine if this can become a real side hustle.

Used books can go to a local used books bookstore or you can sell them on Amazon or eBay. Online general marketplaces, apps, and websites sell any type of item you can imagine of. Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, Amazon, OfferUp, Declutr, Mercari, Bonanza are some of them.

Selling Clothing

Selling clothes online is a great opportunity to make money. Quality vintage second-hand clothes are much demanded today. Several online platforms complete the sales process through a completely virtual process. Some sites are looking for high-end designer clothing, others vintage, and others are Zara-friendly.

Some of the most relevant platforms are Asos, LePrix, The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, Thredup, and Poshmark.

Once you are done selling your own clothes, to make this a side hustle, you will have to find places where to buy products that you can sell for a profit. Here are some things to consider:

• Start small and with your own house and closet
• After that try to sell family and friends clothes for a commission
• Buy in small quantities. This is a side hustle after all.
• Visit thrift stores and outlets to increase your awareness of brands that in demand
• Visit curated second-hand shops and consignment shops
• Visit discount retail stores like Nordstrom Rack, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Last Call, Ross
• Check out estate sales, garage sales, yard sales, church sales
• With time you may be able to set up your own consignment service and split the profit

Making and Selling Handicrafts

Etsy is the online market for high-quality handicrafts. This platform represents what people are looking for when starting a side hustle: a passion or interest that is not a career, be a solopreneur, do something creative, and bring a side income.

However, the relevance of this site has helped many vendors start a full-time business of their side hustle. There are many things you can create and sell online and offline.

• Designs and illustrations
• Take and sell photos
• Jewelry
• Knitting and crocheting
• Anything you like creating

Etsy isn’t your only choice. Other sites allow you to sell handicrafts too, plus plenty of options in your local area.

Wrapping Up

We could keep going on and on generating ideas of side hustles for caregivers. But, that’s not our aim here. Instead, the post was designed to inspire you to start a side activity that could increase your financial freedom and provide personal satisfaction.

No matter your skills, there are always ways to offer services that are based on your personal abilities and talents. Older workers are valued for the deeper understanding and perspectives they bring to everything they do. Such value is built on your unique life experience.