Making money as a kid doesn’t just have to be running errands for grandma, washing the car, or doing chores. There are so many ideas out there on how to make money as a kid- and you’ll find them right here in this post.
Kids can make money over the internet with ease- whether that’s through social media channels like TikTok, YouTube and Twitch, or simply through advertising their side gigs to their community on local Facebook and WhatsApp groups. There is so much scope for kids to make money online in 2021.
And if you’re reading this? Make sure you go ahead and get permission from your parents or guardians before going ahead with these money making ideas. You never know, they may even want to help you get started!
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How to make money as a kid in 2021
So where can you get started? First of all, remember that your school work and your friends should come first. Anything that you do to make money on the side of your studies should be fun! If it starts to take over, you can always come back to it after you have finished your education.
And if you’re reading this as a parent? Encouraging your kid to make some extra money can be a really powerful lesson in the value of money. It can teach the key concepts of saving, investing, giving and spending. Managing your own money from a young age can help nurture great financial habits in the future.
So let’s get started on these ideas!
Make money as a kid in person
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Babysitting
Babysitting for family friends or relatives is a great way to pocket some extra cash. This money making idea is best left to those over the age of 16, in case of any emergency happening while the parents are away from home.
You can expect to be paid around £5-10 an hour to babysit, but that may depend on how generous your family and friends are being!
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Dog walking
Dog walking for friends, neighbours and relatives is another great way to make money as a kid. Adults can often be too busy with work to walk their dogs themselves- and that’s where you can come in! Even if you get just one regular dog walking gig a week, you’ll have a great little income stream.
You can probably expect to earn up to £5-10 an hour walking a dog for friends and family, so if you can walk several dogs at once? That’s a real bonus.
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Pet sitting
Similarly to dog walking, you can also pet sit when your family friends, relatives, or neighbours are out of town or on holiday. Pet sitting usually would include feeding, playing with, and tending to their pets. You may also need to clean out litter trays for cats and give them lots of attention!
The amount you can expect to earn from pet sitting varies, and you may be paid based on how many days that you have looked after their pets, and how much care their pets need when they are away.
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Car Boot Sale
A car boot sale is a great place to get rid of old games, toys, clothes, and just about everything else that you have grown out of. Usually you’ll have to pay a fee for your pitch- usually between £10-20 however, this could be more in some areas of London.
Make sure that you come prepared and price up all of your items before you put them out on the table to sell. Have a cash ‘float’ prepared and make sure that you are able to give people change.
The amount you can make at a car boot sale will depend on what you are selling, and how many people are at the sale. Pitch up on a sunny day and you’re more likely to have more customers!
You might also enjoy reading: Best Car Boot Sales In London
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Honesty Box
An honesty box outside your home is a great way to earn some extra pennies. Whether you are selling home grown vegetables, plants, books or old toys, place a box outside of your home with a money box and see whether this attracts people to buy from you. You would be surprised. The novelty of an honesty box is often part of the fun!
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Gardening
Gardening services for your family friends, neighbours, and relatives is a great way to pocket some extra money- especially in the summer months. You can offer everything from weeding, to mowing the lawn, to cutting hedges and turning soil.
Whatever your customer wants, you can more than likely give them! The benefit of gardening for those that you already know, is that they will probably allow you to use their tools, which is a cost you won’t have to account for.
Pay for gardening jobs can vary depending on the size of the garden and the work that has been carried out. You could expect to be paid anything from £20 for spending an afternoon mowing the lawn and carrying out other odd jobs throughout a garden.
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Car washing
Similar to gardening, car washing for your parents, friends, and relatives is a great way to earn some extra cash. When I was a kid, my parents would pay me £1 to wash their car, and £1 to clean the inside! Hopefully in 2021 you may be able to request slightly more pocket money from your parents for this job.
You may be able to receive from £5-10 for cleaning cars- and again, you probably won’t have to fork out for the cleaning materials!
You might also enjoy reading: GoHenry Review- Kids Debit Cards
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Mystery shopping
Anyone aged 17 years or above is eligible to become a mystery shopper. Mystery shopping is an excellent way to earn an income as a teen because you get paid to go shopping! You can often keep what you buy, and if you are a mystery shopper at a restaurant, your meal is usually paid for AS WELL as your mystery shopping fee.
Head to Mystery Shoppers to get started with mystery shopping in your area.
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Paper round
A trusty paper round is the original way to make money as a kid. It has stood the test of time! You can start a paper round from the age of 13 in the UK. If you own a bicycle, this could be an excellent way to make some extra pocket money as a young teen.
You can look for paper round jobs in your area using the local paper and community Facebook groups.
Making money as a kid online
Making money online is getting more and more popular. If you can start making money online as a kid, you are setting yourself up with some great new skills for the future, and your experience and initiative could help you to become more employable as an adult.
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Flip items online
‘Flipping’ items online is the term used for buying something, and then selling it on at a profit. You can source items to flip from anywhere such as charity shops, car boot sales, and even online! It’s a good idea to carve out a niche you are interested in. This makes it easier to become more knowledgeable in a certain product area. For example, if you love vintage clothing, a certain collectable, trainers or games. The choice is yours!
Although you must be 18 to open your own eBay account, you can use an adult’s account with the permission of the account holder. Make sure that you ask your parent or guardian first before using their account.
eBay is one of the best places to flip items online because you have access to so many potential buyers. There are people all over the world searching for items on eBay every second of the day. It’s a great place to sell items you’ve sourced for a profit.
You might also be interested in: Top tips for selling on eBay
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Sell handmade items
If you have a creative flair and enjoy making things, why not try selling handmade items online? Unfortunately, to open a store on Etsy you must be over the age of 18. However other sites such as eBay do allow you to use an adult’s eBay account with their permission which could be an alternative option.
You can also sell your handmade items yourself through social media sites such as Instagram and TikTok. Since these platforms are so visual, they are really great places to show off your products with photos and videos. You can start an Instagram or TikTok page from the age of 13, so this is a great alternative to traditional online marketplace sites such as eBay and Etsy.
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Research and surveys
Join The Opinion Panel, the research community for teens and young people. You can join from the age of 16, and answer surveys, focus groups, product tests and take part in discussions. For your time, you get rewarded in vouchers. When you join, you will automatically be given £10 credit for joining. Surveys will pay out up to £4, and you could earn up to £70 for participating in longer discussions.
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Start a blog
You can start your own website from the age of 13. You will need a small amount of money to get started- this is for your domain name and web hosting.
However, blogging can be a great way to earn money in the long term. You’ll just need to be consistent and patient. Once your website is established, you can earn money from ads placed on your website, affiliate marketing, and brand sponsorships.
Check out How To Start A Blog And Make Money to find out more about how to get started.
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Print on demand
Print on demand is a really fun way to sell products without having to commit to lots of stock. You can create your design, upload it to a printing website such as Teespring and you can start adding your designs to products such as tshirts, bags, mugs and more.
You have to be over the age of 13 to use Teespring, which means it’s open to all teen users. This making money idea is a great way to start a side hustle as a teenager, and could help build your creative experience before going out into the world of work.
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Create music
You can create music at any age using free tools available online to your disposal. With parental permission, you can set up an account on the likes of SoundCloud from the age of 16 in the EU, and from the ages of 13 in the US. On SoundCloud you can post your tracks and grow your audience and fanbase.
To monetise through SoundCloud, you can add links in your profile to your own external website where you can set up an online store. This allows fans to buy your original tracks, without another third party taking a cut of the profit.
You might also enjoy reading: RoosterMoney Review- The Pocket Money App
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Open a Junior ISA (JISA)
If you’re reading this blog post as a parent, you might want to consider opening a Junior ISA for your child to start investing for their future. When they are 18 years of age, they can then transfer this investment account into a stocks and shares ISA account, should they wish to.
A Junior ISA is a great way to take advantage of compound interest, and over the course of your kids childhood, this investment account could make gains that end up being a huge help to them in the future. The money that you deposit into this account, according to historical data, will likely grow in value over time. The money will essentially make more money.
You can consider signing up to the Wealthify Junior ISA and start your child’s investment journey early. We will both get a £25 bonus when you use this referral link and have invested £500 (which doesn’t have to be all at once!)
Make money on social media
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Make YouTube videos
Making YouTube videos is a really fun way to make money online as a kid. You can make money from your videos by using affiliate links in your descriptions, and displaying ads on your videos. The higher the number of viewers and subscribers, the more money you are likely to make.
There are lots of different niches that you can get into on YouTube. There is a video for everything! Tutorial videos can be particularly helpful, streaming videos and vlogging channels are also helpful.
The best strategy when starting out on YouTube is to decide on a topic, and stick to it. Make sure that the topic of your videos is something which you are passionate about, and can have fun with. You have to enjoy making the videos in order to have the motivation to consistently post to YouTube and grow your audience.
There is the opportunity to learn lots of new skills when you start a YouTube channel. Despite the obvious ones like filming and editing, you will also learn about search engine optimisation, marketing, and researching. It’s a great way to gain lots of new skills before you head to university and into the world of work. Who knows, maybe your YouTube channel could end up being your full time job one day?
You must be aged 13 or over to start a YouTube channel.
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Stream on Twitch
You can open a Twitch account from the age of 13 and start streaming. You can stream anything on Twitch, but the most popular streams tend to be gaming related.
There are lots of different ways that you can make money on Twitch. Ad revenue is a common way to make money on the channel, but you can also make money from brand partnerships, donations, subscriptions and merchandise.
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Become a TikTok or Instagram influencer
Social media shows no signs of slowing down, any many young people are now making money using platforms such as Instagram or TikTok. Growing your audience may take time. But once you have accumulated an authentic, engaged following, you may be able to monetise your channel with brand partnerships (Ads) and affiliate links.
This is another really fun idea to make money online, and your social media earnings can supplement any future earnings that you make as an adult in full time work.
As you can see, there are a crazy number of ways that you can make money as a kid, you don’t have to be over the age of 18 to have a go at any of the ideas on this list! Just make sure to ask your parent’s or guardian’s permission before going ahead.
Final thoughts
- Always get parental permission before starting any money making ventures.
- Don’t let your side hustles interfere with your studies. Education comes first.
- Use the opportunity to learn skills you can use in the future.
- Make it fun! Make making money enjoyable.
Good luck!