How to find side jobs with short shifts or weekend/one day a week shifts?

Side Hustle
1

Work full time, weekdays as a lab tech in an R&D lab. Money is decent, schedule is decent, culture is decent, etc.

I’d really like to pick up a side gig maybe one day on the weekends or a couple hours a week after work. Could definitely use a little extra cash…but tbh I’m mostly just bored lol.

ADHD alone makes me get pretty restless and I don’t love having too much spare time to just wallow around and be lazy. And I finally started meds this year and it’s great…but an unintended consequence is that now I really enjoy the new “productive” side of myself, and just sitting around at home on the weekends is KILLING ME.

Super curious how people find “side gigs” while working full time during the week?

Best bets to start looking into? (Industries, job sites, businesses, etc?)

I have some technical skills and education, but nothing that I could use to really be a freelancer (Not great with computers/coding/finances/accounting/etc)

Only thing I can really think of off the top of my head is Security. I’ve worked a few security jobs in the past, and have been able to pick up shifts here and there when I need to, and with some previous military experience they’re easy to snag… But again those jobs can be more boring than sitting at home lol, and a lot of times the culture at those jobs is ass, and the people/companies/environment just aren’t worth it even for some decent cash.

Looking for anything maybe a little more on the physical/manual labor side. Would do pizza delivery or something but my car wouldn’t handle it especially in the winter. Anything where I could learn or pick up even just some basic new skills would be awesome, but definitely not a requirement.

Pretty much just anything that would get me out of the house for a few hours on the weekends or after work and give me a couple hundred extra bucks a month.

Any tips on where to start looking? (Industries, job sites, business types, etc)

or skills/hobbies I could get into relatively cheaply that I could learn and then leverage for some side $$$$$?

Also very much not interested in taking online surveys or selling plasma or anything like that.

Tl;dr

26 year old, decent job in research lab work (full time weekdays). Bored shitless on the weekends and after work and would love to make some reliable side $$$ one or two days a week or for a few hours after work.

Optimally something that gets me out of the apartment/away from the gf for a bit lol and doesn’t involve partying or getting drunk with friends.

Not sure where to start or look, other than picking up security gigs, which I don’t really want to do anymore.

2

I clean houses. I make my own schedule and set prices. I aim for $50/hr+ usually takes me 3-4 hours to clean a house.
I regularly make $400-500 a day.

Super easy to get started.

3

Jordan said:
I clean houses. I make my own schedule and set prices. I aim for $50/hr+ usually takes me 3-4 hours to clean a house.
I regularly make $400-500 a day.

Super easy to get started.

Damn not bad at all!

Sounds like you probably did some leg work in setting yourself up though? Establishing yourself as a “small business” or creating a website/spreading a bit of advertising?

What kind of steps would you need to take to start getting a few jobs? And is it easier in more urban areas/large cities vs. suburban? I’m in a pretty suburban area in the Midwest for example, and not a super dense city or affluent area.

4

Delivery jobs. My neighbor delivers for a pharmacy on the weekends and I have a couple friends who put in a few hours at the local casino.

5

Raleigh said:
Delivery jobs. My neighbor delivers for a pharmacy on the weekends and I have a couple friends who put in a few hours at the local casino.

Do most of them have to use their own vehicle?

I do see occasional postings for decent delivery jobs like medical courier or security driver gigs, but seems like most of the ones that provide vehicles require pretty extensive qualifications. Armed/weapons/defense certifications and whatnot for security transport. Medical training for ambulance/EMT posts. And then a lot of the courier jobs I see (medical/laboratory, construction/surveying) usually are listed as PRN and on call, or require crazy availability.

I wouldn’t even mind delivering pizzas or something, that sounds awesome (I love driving and don’t mind customer service or talking to people)…but my current car is a total piece of shit that I’m borrowing/renting from a friend, so that’s not really an option.

6

I have ADHD and I feel you. I am self employed and need something to do outside of the home as well. I got a part time shift working nights at the hospital by me and I have to work every other weekend which I don’t mind. Easy work and keeps me stimulated for 5 hours, I work 3 nights a week.

7

@Chen
I absolutely love this!

I actually interviewed for a job like that several months ago. Hospital lab, blood transfusion prep stuff and analysis, I think it was 2 nights every other weekend.

I was pretty excited about it!! Would’ve been an awesome opportunity as I already do lab work, but it would’ve been a different environment, and doing something maybe a bit more “boots on the ground” helping people than my research job so I was psyched!

But I was also working on a lot of deadlines at work at the time, and taking some online classes, and started feeling a bit unsure if I wanted to take on the additional responsibility, and I think that kind of showed through in the interview unfortunately. I had also just started Vyvanse and was kinda still adapting to it haha. I think I came across as a little overqualified and a little too excited about my full time research job, and a little too busy…

The vibe I got was “we’re looking more for a college kid who desperately needs extra cash and isn’t gonna have any problem committing fully to this part time position for a few semesters…you just seem like you already have a full plate and this job won’t be a priority.”

So yeah, unfortunately didn’t get it and haven’t really seen any postings that aligned as well with my interests or an amazing schedule like that since :confused:

Would love to do something like that though especially now that things have kinda calmed down significantly in my life since then!

8

Try looking into DePIN projects. You can farm them and earn rewards just like how successful Grass is. You can also explore DePINs on Peaq like Silencio, Natix, Teneo, and many more. Everything is free.

9

@Hayes
So this seems pretty cool/interesting, but a cursory glance and I understand the premise but not exactly sure how to get started.

Could you explain it a bit? (Like giving a TedTalk to a 5 year old)

Seems like distilled to its basics it involves almost enabling your hardware (routers/computer) to passively act as a node or hub within a local-ish network, either allowing increases data transport in that network or using spare space as a data storage space for that network? … I think(?)

What are requirements for various projects? (Hardware, software types/capacities? Internet/service specs?) ((I.e. if I’m in an apartment, paying the apartment to syphon off internet/network access as a resident, wouldn’t any DePIN projects have to go through and be authorized by their network/provider? Or am I misunderstanding?))

Could definitely see myself deep diving into this tomorrow haha but any insight would be cool!

10

I used to bartend on Saturdays and would make about $200 a night on average. This was for a 6 ish hour shift. Now, I’ve also worked places where I made $1000+ on a Saturday but worked more hours and worked much harder. But if you’re already working full time you probably don’t want a super grueling side gig like that.

11

@Vaughn
That’s definitely not a bad idea! Especially as I’m kind of an extrovert and used to party a lot more. Working in a science lab all day with mostly introverts and not having the social life I used to have, that type of job would definitely be a nice change of pace, even just a night or two a week!

Would most places really be willing to take you on and train you though for just a shift a week if you don’t have previous experience?

My younger brother did that a bit in college but he made it seem like it’s a lot easier to pull a gig like that if you’ve worked your way up as a cook or waiter or bouncer and they’ve known you for a while.

12

I found cleaning on Mythtolegend money, not making much, and kinda hate it, but oh well.

13

Check companies that staff schools, hospitals, arenas like Sodexo, Aramark.

I got a PT working on the catering side of food service. There is food service separate from catered events.

BTW getting your Serv-Safe cert for food handling is easy to do online.