memorial day

7 Ways to Make Money Over Memorial Day Weekend

Rachel Slifka — Fri, 11 May 2018 09:00:10 +0000

With Memorial Day right around the corner, people are getting ready for a weekend of travel, hosting visitors, shopping, and parties. But for many side hustlers, Memorial Day is the perfect weekend to make some money.

Whether you're just looking to make a few extra bucks, or you're hoping to give yourself a serious financial boost, here are a few easy ways to make money this Memorial Day weekend.

1. Host a garage sale

With an extra day tacked on to the weekend, it's a perfect opportunity to hold a garage sale. Spring clean your home and take stock of all the items you no longer want or need. Once you have an inventory, start advertising on Facebook or Craigslist to drum up your sale.

If a garage sale isn't your thing, you can always sell used items on Craigslist, Facebook, or eBay, or use apps like LetGo and OfferUp. These apps allow you to easily post for-sale items and provide a safe way to collect payment. (See also: 12 Garage Sale Items That Sell Like Hotcakes)

2. Rent out your home

Since Memorial Day is a travel-heavy holiday, many people will be looking for affordable accommodations in their planned destination. If you're planning on leaving your home empty to do some travel of your own, you may as well have it earn money while you're away.

Even if you have an extra bedroom or couch to spare, you can rent out your space on Airbnb to earn some quick cash. Just be sure you can provide a clean, safe environment and be available to answer any questions your guests may have. (See also: 5 Easy Ways to Make Good Money From Airbnb)

3. Do yard work

As the unofficial kickoff to summer, Memorial Day weekend is the time when many people take a look around their yard and realize it's in need of quite a bit of TLC. Offer your assistance to folks who don't want to — or are unable to — do all that work themselves. You could mow lawns, weed-whack, prune hedges, rake leaves, and power wash decks and siding.

Yard work gigs aren't hard to find, as you can likely spot a few neighbors whose lawn could use a refresh. Ask around your neighborhood and you will be sure to find business.

4. Pet sit

Do you have any friends who might be out of town for the long weekend? Do those friends have dogs or cats at home? Offer to pet sit for them and earn a few extra dollars.

You can also use a site like Rover.com to sign up as a pet sitter. You can choose to watch the pet in your own home or in the owner's house. Many pet sitters earn $20 to $40 per night, per pet, making it a pretty well-paying side hustle. Plus, if you enjoy animals, you get the added benefit of spending time with some furry friends. (See also: How to Make $400+ a Week as a Pet Sitter)

5. Work in retail

Memorial Day brings the masses to the stores to shop sales and stock up on summer necessities. As such, some retailers are in need of additional part-time or seasonal help. If you have the time and can provide exceptional customer service, there is likely a seasonal job for you. Ask around your local area to see who is hiring.

6. House sit

Since many people are traveling for Memorial Day weekend, you can take advantage and offer to house sit for your friends or family. Most of the time, all you have to do as a housesitter is check the mail, water the plants, and make sure everything is secure and in order. What could be easier than getting paid to hang out in someone else's home?

7. Event staff

Your town may be hosting public celebrations over Memorial Day weekend, such as block parties, bonfires, or concerts. These events need staff. Check out event venues as well as your local Chamber of Commerce to see if any jobs are available.

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This article is from Rachel Slifka of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Ask the Readers: Did You Shop Memorial Day Sales?

Ashley Jacobs — Tue, 30 May 2017 08:30:07 +0000

Editor's Note: Congratulations to Jen, Lorraine, and Sharon for winning this week's contest!

Memorial Day, like most federal holidays, has become an opportunity for retailers to draw in customers with huge sales. Whether you'll actually snag a great deal depends on where you shop and what you're looking for.

Did you shop Memorial Day sales? What were some of the best deals you came across? If you didn't do any shopping, how did you spend the holiday instead?

Tell us whether you shopped Memorial Day sales and we'll enter you in a drawing to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

Win 1 of 3 $20 Amazon Gift Cards

We're doing three giveaways — here's how you can win:

Tweet about our giveaway for an entry.
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Use our Rafflecopter widget for your chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards:

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Giveaway Rules:

Contest ends Monday, June 5th at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. Winners will be announced after June 5th on the original post. Winners will also be contacted via email.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered, or associated with Facebook or Twitter.
You must be 18 and U.S. resident to enter. Void where prohibited.

Good Luck!

Tell us whether you shopped Memorial Day sales and we'll enter you in a drawing to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

This article is from Ashley Jacobs of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Best Money Tips: Cost Effective Things to Do This Memorial Day

Ashley Jacobs — Mon, 19 May 2014 09:00:23 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some amazing articles on cost effective things to do this Memorial Day, saving on moving, and affordable wedding venues.

The Best and Worst Things to Buy in May

Dealnews — Wed, 02 May 2012 10:24:06 +0000

It's easy to know that you're getting the best deal around when shopping through dealnews, but sometimes you want to plan for purchases in advance. So to help you out, we've mined our archives of product prices, sales, and coupons to see what consumer goods are best buys throughout the month of May. (See also: Shopping Calendar: The Best Time to Buy Anything)

While every month features its own unique deal fluctuations, we often see overlap across months, especially when they fall within the same season. As such, some of the advice for May might sound familiar if you've diligently followed the April guide. That said, May has some unique shopping characteristics to take note of, like stellar Memorial Day sales later this month. So dive in and brush up on the best and worst things to buy in May.

Memorial Day Sales and Coupons — Some of the Best of the Year

Oftentimes, stores want you to believe that every holiday weekend will feature some of the deepest discounts of the season, but that isn't always the case. However, as an almost-mid-year sale, we found that Memorial Day weekend tends to boast some of the most exceptional sales since January. You'll see the ubiquitous sale ads, but where these promotions truly become money-saving is in the plethora of stacking coupons we find on those already-discounted goods. Look to your favorite apparel and home goods stores for special holiday promotions. And in particular, keep an eye on department stores, nationwide apparel retailers, and home stores like Pottery Barn and West Elm.

Spring Clothing Deals Heat Up

Late April was an excellent time to start shopping for spring clothing deals, but the discounts really heat up in May where you could find cuts of up to 75% off. And if you want a particularly strong discount, try holding out until Memorial Day weekend for those aforementioned stacking coupons.

Sleep Easy with Mattress Deals

May is generally a good time to find a deal on a new mattress, and indeed for the past two years the sales we saw on mattresses received deeper discounts in May over April. So far we've seen items at Sears, for example, hit about 60% off after all discounts, which we anticipate improving in May and potentially spilling into June. Keep in mind, however, that last year we saw excellent discounts on mattresses around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so you'll have another opportunity to cash in on strong deals later in the year, too.

Opt for the Less Traditional on Mother's Day

Last month, we suggested that shoppers buy their Mother's Day gifts early to get the best deals possible. But, if you still haven't bought Mom that perfect gift, consider avoiding the traditional. That's because, for the past two years, we've seen a lot of jewelry styles actually increase in price at the beginning of the month, so you may not be getting the best value possible if you go that route.

For Grills, Wait Just a Little Bit Longer

We mentioned it last month, but it's even more pertinent as the weather truly starts becoming dreamy — hold off on buying a grill, regardless of whether its charcoal or gas. We see an increase in Editors' Choice offerings in June, so you'd be better served shelving your buying plans for another month. You can also wait until after the 4th of July when we'll see a wealth of grill models featured in summer home sales.

Growing Discounts on Home Office Furniture

We begin to see an influx of deals on home office furniture — desks, shelving units, and padded chairs — in May. If you can hold out until June though, a majority of these items will likely see their all-time lowest price points of the year. If you want to update your home office, then look to OfficeMax, Staples, Office Depot, and Walmart for the best offers.

Jump on Outdoor Gear Deals

Breathe in the fresh spring air and get active outside with a plethora of deals on camping and outdoor gear from stores like REI, Gander Mountain, and Altrec. Look for hiking, fishing, and camping accessories to hit appealing prices.

Learn to Haggle for Gym Memberships

When the weather is warm enough to run or exercise outside, you have more ammunition to haggle a good deal from a gym that's looking for ways to encourage people to work out indoors. You can seek out promotions that cut initial costs like initiation fees or the first few months of enrollment, or you can put your game face on and demand the discounts while negotiating the terms of your contract.

Ivy Bridge to Usher in New Deals on Sandy Bridge Systems?

May will be an interesting month for laptop deals. On the one hand, we have Intel's new Ivy Bridge-based systems poised to enter the market with better battery life and more powerful graphics than today's laptops. Naturally, these new laptops will be competing with the very capable line of Sandy Bridge laptops already on the market. However, initial reviews indicate consumers won't notice that much of a performance increase with Ivy Bridge laptops. Nevertheless, the new systems are bound to lower prices on current Sandy Bridge-based laptops.

Secondly, deals on fully equipped quad-core desktop replacements continue to sell at all-time low prices. In fact, last month we saw an HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition Intel Core i7 Notebook come in at $700; that's the second lowest price we've ever seen for any 17" quad-core Core i7-based desktop replacement with a full 8GB of RAM, dedicated graphics card, and 750GB hard drive. Savvy shoppers should look for deals under $800 and snag anything under $700.

LED LCDs Remain Flat, OLED Makes Its Official Debut

As expected, April wasn't a stellar month for HDTV deals; deals generally remained flat for name-brand 42" and 47" models, and rose by roughly $50 for name-brand 55" sets. We expect May to offer more of the same. However, we started seeing deals on 2012's new line of HDTVs. The LG 47" 120Hz 1080p 3D WiFi LED-Backlit Widescreen LCD HD Television (47LM6700) in particular has dropped from its debut price of $1,379 in late March to $999.99 in late April. That's a $379 drop in just four weeks. Not bad for a new TV that packs every feature imaginable. We expect to see more deals on this TV in May. (For comparison, brand-name 2011 47" LCD HDTVs have averaged $547 so far this year.)

Another 2012 TV, the Panasonic VIERA 50" 600Hz 1080p Widescreen Plasma HD Television (TCP50U50), also made its first debut on dealnews for $781. It's one of Panasonic's budget models and will likely see further discounts in the coming weeks.

And for you well-heeled shoppers out there, mark your calendars. On May 16, at the Cannes Film Festival, LG is expected to debut its 55" OLED HDTV, reports PC World. The price? A cool $8,000. Painful as that may sound, keep in mind that this could trigger further discounts on LED-based LCD HDTVs.

Ready to put this information to use? Set up an email alert to know immediately when we list the items of your choice.

This is a guest post by Dealnews.

May has some unique deals, like stellar Memorial Day sales later this month. So dive in and brush up on the best and worst things to buy in May.

This article is from Dealnews of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

6 Unique Ways to Eat Watermelon

Linsey Knerl — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:50:00 +0000

Watermelon can be considered frugal. While not exactly “cheap” in price, it can be purchased for a fair amount per pound (while on sale) and is one of those foods that goes the extra mile at a gathering. (We’ve been successful at producing a “fishes and loaves” effect when providing watermelon to more guests than we were prepared to have. Surprisingly, the watermelon helped keep everyone happy — even when the burgers and beans were in limited supply.)

If the thought of using a melon baller or cutting it into cubes is tedious and boring, try these ten inspired dishes. They are not for everyone, but for those that dig the melon, they are true delicacies.

Alcoholic Drinks

If you’re a teetotaler, just skip this part (or check out this simple recipe from Chow). Otherwise, you can easily reproduce the tasty flavor of more expensive melon liquors with your own homemade potion. Here’s a great place to start (recipe compliments of the National Watermelon Promotion Board):

Watermelon Cosmopolitan

Ingredients:
1 ½ ounces vodka
¾ ounce Triple Sec
½ ounce Roses lime juice
2 ounces watermelon juice

Instructions:
Pour all ingredients over ice and shake in tin until ice cold. Strain into chilled martini glass and garnish with watermelon ball.

Note: Recipes that require just the juice of the melon (and not the fruit) are easy to make ahead. Simply freeze the juice into ice cube trays and store the cubes in a freezer bag for when you need them. You can make mixed drinks and other treats all year long! (Additional ice cube strategies can be found via Myscha’s popular article.)

Sandwiches

What? I know. It freaked me out a bit at first, as well. When you think about how much a watermelon has in common with a tomato, however, you can see that you could easily substitute watermelon in many sandwich recipes. Watermelon is especially appropriate in a pita or wrap with ham, chicken, and a mild cheese (plus lot of lettuce to give extra crunch). A nice, warm ciabatta bread with grilled chicken is how I’d serve my ideal watermelon sandwich, but if that’s too tame for you, check out this Watermelon Sloppy Joe!

Soups

Melon soup would most likely be served chilled, and there are dozens of recipes for variations of it. I particularly liked this 90-calorie version from SELF magazine, which gives you options for including either wine or sparkling water in the recipe. (I’ve noticed that many traditional watermelon soups contain fresh mint leaves in the recipe or as a garnish. If you don’t already have a small pot of fresh mint growing on your kitchen window sill — it’s a very easy way to invest in your culinary future!)

Ice Cream

There are two ways to go with this: You can either make watermelon ice cream, or use the watermelon as a mix-in or garnish for your ice cream. There are plenty of watermelon ice cream recipes to choose from (many are actually more sorbets than creams), but I’m partial to this Emeril creation that also includes chocolate chips. For most standard ice creams, it’s usually common to use watermelon in the same proportion as the heavy cream, and then use honey and a tiny amount of sugar for additional sweetness (remember, watermelon is already very naturally sweet!).

The second option for incorporating watermelon into your icy treats is to do a banana split with no banana. You guessed it! Substitute watermelon instead. It’s very tasty!

Fried

What post of mine would be complete without frying something? Seriously, I grew up in a culture that accepted lard as an acceptable topping for toast, and I’m very aware that the state fair to the East of Nebraska deep fries everything (pickles, oreos, you name it). I’m in love with the idea of frying it lightly in a healthier oil (canola) and dusting the finished product with powdered sugar. I suppose it would be similar to a funnel cake?

Salsas

Fruit salsa are popular everywhere, and I’ve always been keen on the idea. Unfortunately, they usually require mango as a main ingredient, and to be honest, I’m not a mango fan. The inclusion of watermelon into a salsa recipe gives it a milder flavor, but still offers a sweet compliment to your chips, meats, and fish. Try this simple recipe from the National Watermelon Promotion Board to get started (it can be stretched further for additional guests by serving over shredded lettuce):

2 cans corn kernels, rinsed and drained
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 purple onion, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons mild chili powder
Juice from 2 fresh limes
¼ cup olive oil
Salt to taste
3 cups chopped seedless watermelon

Mix together all ingredients except watermelon until well combined. Gently fold in watermelon. Chill. Serves 12 to 18.

Don’t see anything you like? Maybe you’re not a watermelon fan, but it’s also possible that you just aren’t using the right watermelon. Melons come in all kinds of varieties (seedless, traditional, heirloom) and give varying amounts of flavor and sweetness. Some taste more like the earth that they were grown in, and others offer a palette of color and texture. Experiment to find the watermelon that works for you, or consider growing your own for next year!

This article is from Linsey Knerl of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: