Pad Your Savings Account With These Side Gigs

BY DEBBIE DRAGON

If money is tight or you’re looking to accelerate your debt repayment efforts, a temporary job or quick side gig might be the answer to your financial struggles. Not all of these side jobs and temporary opportunities are equal in terms of how much effort you have to put in for the money, so you’ll want to do some research before making a decision.

Take your skills and experience into consideration when thinking of ways to increase your income with temporary jobs and quick side gigs:

Freelancing

If you have skills that can be turned into freelance gigs — such as writing, graphic design, web design, film editing, etc. — you could set yourself up with a little sole proprietorship and take on freelance assignments.

Unless you already have access to clients from your employment or another opportunity, you will spend most of your time initially marketing and searching for work. You might check Craigslist.org, Freelancer.com or Guru.com for potential sources of freelance or contract work.

Home and/or Pet-sitting

When pet owners want to go away for the weekend or a longer vacation, they are faced with figuring out what to do with Fido. If you like animals and have the flexibility to stay at your client’s home or visit it daily (sometimes several times per day, depending on the type of pets), a pet-sitting/home-sitting gig is a simple way to earn some extra cash.

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