Unique ways to make money

Finding ways to make money in 2021 can be tough. Traditional jobs don't pay enough, require terrible hours, and basically zero benefits.

As we transition from Summer into Fall we start to think about the holidays and boy the holidays cost money! There are gifts, parties, travel, and on and on. You need to start finding ways to make money this fall.

What's more, because Fall is a season of change, now is a great time to change the way you make money.

If you are looking for quick ways to make money I always suggest Swagbucks and Fiverr. Swagbucks is quick and easy, while Fiverr takes certain skills and more time.

If you are looking for something more unique and directly related to fall, check out these ideas.

• Fall cleaning - it's the opposite of Spring cleaning

• Sell baked goods

• Yard work

• Online proofreading

• Crafting

• HealthyWage

• Apple picking

• Mover

• Haunted house worker

• Winterization

Fall cleaning - it's the opposite of Spring cleaning

If you have summer clothes that you don't want/like/need anymore, fall is the perfect time to sell them on Facebook, Craigslist, or a consignment shop. It is also a great time of year to clean the house and sell unwanted or unneeded items that are cluttering up your home.

If you have items on your want/upgrade list for Christmas and you feel confident you will get them, then go ahead and sell the old version for some cash now while you wait for a better version in a few months Easy money!

Sell baked goods

Fall is the time of year people go gaga over pies. If you have the time, patience, and outlet for selling pies fall is a great time to get started. You can even start a website and sell pies locally.

Yardwork

The other day I was walking through my neighborhood and a guy was driving up and down the block taping little pieces of paper to the sides of mailboxes. When I got home, my mailbox had one. He was advertising for a house number painting service. He probably spent $20 on the little pieces of paper, tape, and gas to drive around our neighborhood.

While I passed on the opportunity I have noticed that at least a few of my neighbors took him up on the offer. You can deploy a similar tactic. Put together a very basic flyer, add checkboxes for the services you offer and the cost of those services, ask flyers to be completed by a certain date. Once that date comes, walk around your neighborhood, collect your flyers, and start your work.

Online proofreading

For most of us, during the fall and winter, we will be spending more time indoors. This is the perfect time to read more. If you are going to be reading more, you might as well get paid for it.

Online proofreading for money is easy with sites like Upwork, and Fiverr.

Crafting

The fall is a great time for crafting and decorating. You have an abundance of holidays all within a 65-75 day window and people need to decorate inside and out for each.

If you like to make crafts, then why not do it, and make money from it. You can start your own website with Wix and sell them there, or use a service like Etsy or Shopify. Price your items right, build a reputation, and season after season you will have folks coming back to you for their holiday decor.

HealthyWage

During the research phase for this article, I came across HealthyWage and couldn't believe something like this existed. In short, you bet on yourself to hit a weight loss goal and get paid if you hit it and lose money if you don't.

That's a pretty amazing motivation to lose weight. The more aggressive your goal, the more you make or lose. This is particularly powerful during the holiday season if you have a tendency to gain weight or want some extra motivation to keep pounds off.

Apple picking

Where I live there are approximately 20 apple orchards and pumpkin patches within 30 minutes of my house. That's probably more than many others, but if there are a few near you, then take a minute to give them a call and see if they need temp help picking apples or lugging around pumpkins.

while this effort is a bit manual, it's nice to get out, do a little work, and maybe take home something good to eat. If you want to take on the baking side job then you can use this job to get apples and pumpkins for the pies you bake and sell!

Mover

This time of year you have a ton of college students going to school. Lots of them will need help moving. If you are all about helping people move and lugging heavy stuff, then this could be a great temporary job for you.

Haunted house worker

Fall is the best time of year for haunted houses, or similarly seasonal experiences. No haunted house is complete without a scary clown or someone in a Jason mask.

If you have some acting experience from high school or college, you are a shoo-in for one of these roles. If you just like to dress up and really get into scaring people, then you also have a great shot of being hired. This is definitely a short-term job, but can easily earn you a few hundred bucks with little commitment for the long term.

Winterization

Many people are preparing their lawns and the motorized tools used to maintain them for winter. Many of those same people have no idea how to do it. If you read the anecdote above about the guy driving around dropping flyers in my neighborhood, then you can take that same concept and apply it here.

You can offer to winterize lawns, winterize mowers, trimmers, aerators, sprinkler systems, and anything else folks use to maintain their lawn during the summer months. This does require some skills and tools, but if you are doing this for your own home, why not offer to help others out and make a little money at the same time. If they like your work you can offer to come back in the spring and get everything running again.

Summary

Making money during the fall can be easy if you have a few skills, or are willing to try something new. You can make anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand bucks in a very short period of time. You may even like the side hustle you pick up and turn it into something more.