5 Side Hustles to Help Pay For Your Wedding
Heck YES!
You’re engaged and the planning of your Dream Wedding is about to kick off. But how the heck do you pay for your wedding? I’m here today to give you my top 5 side hustles to help pay for your wedding and get the vendors you WANT, not just the ones you feel you can afford. There are a ton of resources out on the web about how to pay for your wedding and who should pay for what but what if you find a vendor you are head over heals with … a phenomenal photographer, an out of this world florist to bring your Pinterest board dreams come to life!?! What if you are just too busy or too stressed and need a wedding planner or wedding coach to pull it all off … and what if those are not in your budget?
Wedding budgets are vital, they are so incredibly important … but remember, you make your budget. If you find a vendor you are in love with, look at your budget and see where you can rearrange the numbers to make it work, it certainly isn’t worth a few hundred or even a thousand dollars to not get what you want … you just need to figure it out!
According to The Knot :
According to Oregon couples surveyed, the average total cost for an Oregon wedding in 2015 was $20,456 (excluding honeymoon expenses), with the price per guest averaging $186.
Anytime in my life that I have wanted something, I mean REAALLLY wanted something, I figured it the heck out. I looked at the number I needed and then I brainstormed every possible way to make that shit happen. Everything worth having is worth working for! PUT IN THE WORK!
If you found a bomb wedding photographer , wedding planner, florist, DJ etc. who you totally click with, you love their personality &work … make it happen. I like to start by getting a notebook, writing out the total cost in the middle of the page and then surrounding it with different ways I can make it happen.
After I scribble it all out, I write each topic on a separate page and then brainstorm what it would look like to make some $$$ from it and how much time I would need to commit in order to profit. In the end, some won't be worth it but some will be a gold mine!
Keep in mind your natural skills and passions, what can you do to make money while doing something you already love or have a skill at!?! The trick is to solve someone else’s problems because they will legit pay for it!
Alright alright, enough chit-chat … here are my top 5 side hustles to help you pay for your wedding!
1. Babysitting/Kid Hosting
Did you just roll your eyes!?! I hope not because this is actually a brilliant side hustle and one that is greatly needed by your friends and community. I can basically guarantee you have friends/family who have children and who themselves are overworked and don’t ever get out for dates themselves (trust, I am one of them). Furthermore, if we do get out and have a teenager come watch our kids, we are basically coming home to a shit-show of a mess, kids jacked up on garbage and dishes everywhere … also, where the heck is the gerbil? Seriously. If you put a little thought into making this a side hustle, you could arrange weekly Kid Hangouts at your place for up to 4 hours while parents get out and get to enjoy themselves. For $25 per kid, you could provide a decent meal & a fun evening of games or activities (not just video games). Trust! I would pay for this and just knowing my kids are also having an enriching evening makes me feel so much better! Now, how many kids would you like to have over? 3,4,4,6? $75-$125
2. House Cleaning/Laundry
now I am sure you’re like “Betty, there are professional services people can hire … why would they hire me?” and I am here to tell you as a working mom, I don’t necessarily want someone to be “scheduled weekly” to come up in my house and do a “routine cleaning” … BUT, would I love for someone to stop by before I throw a party, or after an exhausting weekend and freshen everything up!?! yes, please! I don’t need a pro, I just need someone trustworthy and reliable to get up in here and clean something cause my dang kids are crazy! I am talking $50 for 1.5 hours of your time … now, not everyone will be willing to pay that but I am sure you could brainstorm a few ideas and make “a day of it”. Create a Facebook group and invite all your mom friends to it!!! Let them know you are busting your buns to try and afford your wedding and want to work Saturday from 10-4pm, in Portland Oregon (or where the heck ever you are) and will have your cleaning supplies ready to tackle those darn stoves, toilet bowls or that ridiculous pile of clean laundry that needs to be put away …set your price and watch them beg you!
3. Pet Sitting
If you are the k9 lover I know you probably are, check out Rover! Earn money by hosting pets at your home while people are on vacations or at work, walk pets or take them on a weekend hike with you … this is such a fun way to make money.
4. Become a Virtual Assistant
There are some incredible opportunities for project based virtual assistants. Not someone who is paid monthly or hourly but by project. Are you a good proofreader?, Are you awesome at keeping your email inbox super organized and clear of junk? Are you quick at creating spreadsheets? There are so many opportunities that could be a quick way to make money from the comfort of your home while streaming Netflix. You can use platforms like Lastpass to have clients share their log-in information with you but not actually give you their passwords. Cause security. $50 right now to whoever wants to get in my inbox and create organized folders for all my many hats! It really is that easy …
5.
AirBnB Your Spare Room
So stinking genius. Now listen, if you’ve got the extra room in your house where you shove all the things you don’t know what to do with … Marie Kondo your ass and make the room available for rent. You get to set when it’s available or not available. If you could rent that extra room in your house for $50-$75/night … say 5 nights per month …. COME ON! How bad do you even want that wedding planner? To easy! People all over are using AirBnB constantly! I don’t even look for hotels anymore, I get more for my money from an AirBnB, and if you make them breakfast you can charge more. This is also a great way to meet awesome people!
Again, these are too easy, you just need to make yourself available, use your community and network of friends and if they know you are hustling to pay for something that means so much to you they will likely hire you even if they don’t really need to, haha. So start brainstorming, this is just a short list but I am sure once you sit down and really think … answers are all around you! It’s just like when you were a kid trying to make that extra money to go down to the corner market and get you a snickers bar and 32oz fountain soda!
*If you have other awesome side hustle ideas, please leave them in the comments to help your fellow wedding planning couples out there!!
Happy Planning/Hustling!!!
YOU GOT THIS!