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Want to start making money? When you're a kid, you might be too young to get a job, but you're usually not too young to do some basic household chores. If you want to get paid to do them, you can learn what kinds of chores might be good for making money, as well as how to ask and keep track of your work.
Steps
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Clean the house. If you want to look for an easy way to make a difference at your house, look no further than cleaning. You can clean year-round, and if you do a good enough job you can ask to be paid. Talk to your parents about taking on cleaning responsibilities in different rooms and getting paid for it.- Start with your room. That's usually your responsibility, and not something that you'll be able to get paid to do. But if your room is clean, you'll be able to do other stuff and actually get paid for it.
- Cleaning the bathroom, living room, and the kitchen are always good choices that get dirty quickly.
- Think of other spaces, like the attic, garage, and sheds that might need to be cleaned. You might not need to clean these regularly, but once or twice a year you might do it for money.
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Do other basic chores. There are lots of basic household things that you can learn to do, if you don't know how to do them already, and possibly get paid. All of the following are common household chores you might be able to volunteer to get paid for:Advertisement -
Do some outdoor work in the spring and summer. When it is nice and sunny out, you might as well get outside and get paid for it, right? Summertime means there's lots of things to do in the yard, in the driveway, and around your neighborhood:- Try doing a car wash , or washing your parents cars.
- Try doing a lemonade stand when it's hot out.
- Walking your neighbors' dogs.
- Offer to babysit your neighbors' kids while you're on summer vacation.
- Mow the lawn , or your neighbors' lawns.
- Care for the garden, pruning and planting vegetables.
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Do yard work in the fall. As summer turns to fall, there will be different kinds of outdoor activities that you can do to keep your chore business going. If you have a yard, talk to your parents about caring for it to prepare for winter. Any of the following can be good autumn chores:- Cleaning gutters
- Trimming bushes
- Raking leaves
- Picking up sticks, acorns, or other debris
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Do some wintertime jobs. When winter and other holidays roll around, offer to hang or design decorations for the house, or for your neighbors houses. Bring in firewood, if you've got a fireplace that needs tending, and offer to be the one who cleans up snow.- Shoveling the driveway can be a great chore if you live in a very snowy area. It can be tough, so you can usually get a good price. Clean ice off the cars as well, or offer to scrape them each morning for a more regular chore.
- Offer to do your neighbors driveways, too, if you can, or scrape their cars for them in the mornings.
- Find out about delivering groceries to elderly neighbors, or checking in on them during long winter months.
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Do computer chores. If you're a techno-wizard, you might be able to get paid to do things you would do in your free time. Instead of getting paid to do boring old cleaning chores, see if you can get paid to help your parents and neighbors do computer stuff for money.- Help elderly people learn to navigate a computer. Teach them to do the basics, like turning it on, using the keyboard and touchpad, and getting online.
- Help people set up email accounts and email their friends and relatives.
- Help people set up social networking accounts, like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Show them how to start accounts, make friends, and upload pictures and updates.
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Ask your parents. If you want to get paid to do chores, the best people to talk to are your parents. Sit them down when they're not busy, and explain what chores you plan on doing, and whether or not they'll pay you to do them.- If they say no, ask what you could do that they would pay you for. It might be that you haven't chosen enough chores, or hard enough chores to get paid to do them.
- They might ask you what you want money for, and what you plan to do with it. It's important to have a good answer ready to go, and make sure that it's something you'll be allowed. A good answer is always, "I just want to learn to make money for myself." They'll love that.
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Find other customers, if possible. Your parents are the obvious choice, but neighbors, local elderly persons, people from church or school, and anyone close enough to walk might also be good employers for your chore-doing business.- Whoever you talk to about making money, make sure you trust them first. Always talk to your parents before offering to work for a stranger. Never go over to a strangers house without a parent or trusted adult accompanying you.
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Pick a price. There are two ways to pick a price. You can either get paid for a whole job, or get paid by the amount of time it takes you to do that job. Bigger jobs are usually better to do by the hour, because they'll take longer, while smaller or easier jobs are usually better to do for the whole job, if they won't take long.- If you mow a lawn, it might take two hours. If you say you want to get paid a reasonable price, like 5 dollars an hour, you'll get paid 10 bucks.
- The laundry might take several hours, but it's mostly just waiting. That's probably a better by-the-job choice. Say you'll do all the laundry for 10 bucks.
- If you want your parents to pay you to do chores, it's likely that they'll pick the price point. That's ok. Just be glad you're getting paid.
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Keep a written record of your work. Get a notebook for your chore job. Make a list of the chores that you'll do, how much you'll get paid, and when you completed the chore. When you do a job, write it down in your notebook and how much money you're owed for that job.- When you get to certain amount or selected day of payment, add the total cost of all your extra chores and you have a bit of extra cash.
- You might consider taking pictures of the work you've done with a phone, for proof. If you say, "Here's what the room looked like messy, and here it is after I cleaned," you'll be in a lot better shape.
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Do a good job. If you're going to make chores your job, you have to take it seriously and do good work. You're not going to get paid if your lawn mowing is sloppy, or only gets done half the time. You have to be serious if you're going to get paid.
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Tips
- Try to get who ever is paying you out of the house. Most people are more "giving" when they're not expecting such a gift.Thanks
- If you already have set chores to do to get your pocket money, you could ask them to raise it if you do certain extra chores.Thanks
Tips from our Readers
The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.
- Consider using a chore/debit card app made for kids, like GoHenry or Greenlight. These let you track chores, earn money, and spend wisely while learning financial responsibility.
- When first starting out, practice your skills if taking on jobs like lawn mowing or sales roles. Rehearse your customer service persona to boost professionalism.
- For grandparents or seniors, offer assistance with cleaning, yardwork or even small artwork. Their generosity and gratitude often leads to surprise payment.
- Mix up your chore requests instead of having a static list. Asking now and then to take on bonus tasks shows helpfulness and earns bigger tips.
- Before naming your price, research reasonable rates. Asking too much or too little can lose you the job. Find an appropriate middle ground.
- Try your best to independently remember and complete tasks once hired. Needing reminders often annoys employers and risks losing payment.
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Warnings
- Ask the person who is paying you (mom, dad, etc.) to look through the prices of the chores, and check to see if they agree.Thanks
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About This Article
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