By Linda D.
I’m able to sock away an average of $700 a month by sitting around. I wish I could say that I was bright enough to have come up with the way to sit and earn money, but the reality is that it kind of fell into my lap. This is what happened.
A friend was going away on short notice for a funeral and told me how she really didn’t want to put her two dogs in the kennel, but had no other choice. When she mentioned the cost for the two dogs was going to be $60 a day, I said more as a joke than seriously that I would stay at her house with the dogs for that. Her response was completely serious when she said that she would be thrilled to pay me if I would.
Her reasoning was simple. The dogs were familiar with the house and there would be no stress of being left alone in a strange environment for a long period of time. Their daily routine wouldn’t be interrupted and she knew that they would get their familiar food and daily walk. In addition, she would have someone living in the house while gone to pick up mail and newspapers so that it wasn’t a target for thieves. She would get all this for the same price she would have had to pay anyway.
The gig worked out well and she told a number of her dog owner friends about me. Over time the number of requests has built enough that I now have to turn away business.
I’m in a fortunate situation that allows me to house and pet sit for others. My main job is as a sales rep where I do most of my work home. As long as the house has an Internet connection which I can use, I can do all of my work there just as easily as I could from my own apartment. This allows me to earn an extra $50 – $75 a day doing exactly what I would be doing at my own apartment — sitting down and working.
I understand that not everyone will have the flexibility in their schedule that I do to earn extra money, but I think that if you look for opportunities beyond your current main source of income that can compliment what you are already doing, you have a great opportunity to earn extra income. My retirement fund has gone from $0 to nearly $10,000 in the little more than a year and has been entirely funded by sitting around other people’s houses.
Do you have a story about saving money or earning money that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear about it.
Wow! That’s a nice story. I wish I could do that too. Maybe I need to ask the neighbors…and let them know I am more than willing to dog sit while their away for $50/day. I can do my thing online too.
I would love to be paid for that.
That is an excellent idea. I don’t have the flexibility in my schedule to do that type of work, so I have a home-based business and do a lot of it via the internet.
Great story! Thanks for sharing.
Wow….. is this seriously the first time that you people have heard of this idea before?!?
Old news where I live!!
Don’t forget to offer to water their houseplants for them too…. that’s always very helpful.
😀
Very thoughtful article.
This article shows that it pays to keep an open mind and be ready for life’s little opportunities! Thank you for sharing.
For myself, who is looking for a side business (aka second job), this would work well. All the money I would be earning from this would be socked away for my retirement.
Definitely worth thinking about in the near future….