Debt Free

Are part time, evening jobs the new way people are using to cope with the rising tide of mortgage payments, food costs, and fuel bills. What are some of the best part time evening jobs? As many people are under assault from payments that seem to be going nowhere but up, many folks are searching for some way to make ends meet.

You have a few choices when confronted by such attacks on your personal finances. You can earn more at your current job. While that tie honored strategy may work for some, employers aren't doling out raises the way they are when times are better. Sure, in some industries, there's no reason to fear, but the increased costs for transportation have many business owners and shareholders on edge. Raises don't grow on trees in this business environment.

Something to try is finding another job with better pay, and hopefully a better benefits package too. The problem with that tack is  that, for much the same reasons that folks find it difficult to get a raise at their current job, many employers just aren't hiring. Those that are are looking for more talent seek workers with specialized skill sets. You'll be most likely to land a better psoition if you're an exemplary employee with a proven track records in your field. If you don't meet this criteria, good luck landing a better job. There just aren't that many available. Not to say you won't be able to locate a better job, but be prepared to look for a while, as employers that are hiring can afford to be much more selective.

The Employment Situation Summary for April 2008 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that the unemployment rate stood at an even 5%. That's up about 10% from the 4.5% level of a year earlier. Encouragingly, this reflects a .1% drop from the March figure of 5.1%. The health services sector, professional and businesses services sector, and leisure and hospitality sector, all posted slight employment gains, while as you'd expect, the construction, manufacturing, and retail sectors showed drops in the numbers of those employed.

Another choice to cope with higher payments for everything from food to fuel is to economize. You can inject a bit of frugality into your lifestyle. Do more with less, as it were. While this approach is laudable, and I espouse the benefits of it here, a cost cutting strategy can only take you so far. While you can drive less, shop at warehouse food stores, and ensure you're not wasting energy around the house, the reality is that there is only a finite level of savings you'll be able to realize with these strategies.

The grim reality some people are finding is that the only way out of this financial pickle is to pick up a second job, usually of the part time, evening variety. For those that must take on an extra, part time job in order to feed their families, or make their mortgage payments, here are some of the top part time, evening jobs to consider.

Part time, evening job choice 1 -
Side jobs –
Yes, you can do much the same work as you're doing for your regular employer, if you're in a field that allows such luxuries, or you can do other side work for which you have the requisite skills. Enter the side job. You can do all manner of jobs for clients outside your regular sphere of employment, and in some cases be paid rather handsomely for it, too. Many of these jobs are in construction or some type of contracting field, such as landscaping, tile, carpentry, electricians, etc. You can also find such work in such fields as graphic design, web design and interior design.

As prices of goods continue to increase, people are looking for ways to get more done for less, and this is where the side job comes in. Take note that although this can be a great way to earn extra money, it is not without peril. The main reason that many people can make such good money doing side jobs is that they are cheaper that a normal contractor who does the same work because they have little of the overhead associated with a traditional business. Which overhead is cut back? Typically such niceties as business licenses, contracting licenses, insurance, bonding, and permit fees.

It doesn't take a missile scientist to see that this avenue to saving money could lead to all sorts of trouble for both parties. If you're the one doing the side job and have no license, you have no recourse in most cases, should something go wrong and you customer decides they don't want to pay you. As far as the state is concerned, you had no right to be contracting for work in the first place. With no business insurance, your little venture could prove very expensive if you back your truck into your customer's brand new Lexus, or heaven forbid, burn down their house.

In addition to the legal issues listed above, the other place that most people running a side business save the client money is that the entire business is on a pure cash basis, meaning the IRS and state department of revenue known nothing about it. Should their state of ignorant bliss regarding your little venture end, you could find yourself owning a whole big pile of back taxes, penalties and fees.  These are just some of the tings to think about before entering into a little side business in order to make ends meet. It's best to do it above board to avoid possible trouble.

Part time, evening job choice 2 -
Restaurant / Bar  – This is the time honored second job. For many of those in the entertainment industry, it's really their primary gig until they land that Oscar winning role or win American Idol. The benefits are that you can earn a pretty nice income if you work at an establishment where you are able to get good tips. There are bartenders and wait staff that regularly bring in $200 - $300 a night. In many cases their regular pay is so low they are making virtually nothing, so the tips are essential to survival. You can also get flexible hours, so you can arrange this around your current job. Many of the best shifts are at night, so you will be able to earn good money and retain your current job. My wife actually paid off her (rather large amount of) student loans in only 2-1/2 years using this strategy, while working as a regional sales rep for another company.

Part time, evening job choice 3 -
Real Estate -  Although this is probably not the best time to jump into this field in many areas of the country, you can do pretty well in it by working on evenings and weekends. As with many relatively high paying, part time jobs, you'll have to have a bit of training and expertise in order to have this as a viable possibility.

Part time, evening job choice 4 -
I alluded to this in the side job listing above, but you can do rather well in the design field on a part time basis. If you have the skills and contacts, you can earn $25 - $60 an hour doing web design, graphic design, graphic art, and other design/art related contracting work. You can do this from your house, on what ever schedule works for you. In order to land most of the better jobs, you'll have to show some level of professionalism, so get your business license, print up some business cards, and get a website of your own. Who knows, in time this could replace your current job.

Part time, evening job choice 5 -
Massage Therapist -  Once again, you'll need to have some level of skill and preferably a certificate to do this, but you can have extreme flexibility and make fairly good money. All you need is a massage table and vehicle large enough to fit it in. If you're good, you'll soon build up a list of regular clientèle, and have a nice, secondary income on the order of $25 - $35 an hour. 

Part time, evening job choice 6 -
Security officer – Like to laugh in the face of danger, or maybe extreme boredom? Then maybe you could land a part time, evening job as a security officer. The range in this field is tremendous. There are opportunities for everyone from the $8.00 security guards with a badge, a flashlight, and no experience, to very highly paid security officers with military special forces backgrounds. Many full time police officers do this sort of work on a contract basis for businesses and sporting events and earn a nice, secondary income doing so.

Part time, evening job choice 7 -
Personal trainer – Here's another job where you can earn great money and keep very flexible hours, especially if you get the clients that are willing to pay for you exclusively. You're probably starting to see a pattern here, but to make the best money, you'll need special skills and certifications in this line of work as well. You can get certified from ACE, NCSA, or one of the other certification organizations. If you already posses some of this, get to work, time's a wastin'.

Part time, evening job choice 8 -
Health care professional – This is a huge field, and many of the positions require at least some level of expertise and education. Others require so much as to not really fit the bill for the purposes of this post. The health care field is the largest growing employment field, and is projected to be so for sometime. Some of the jobs in this field that are suitable for part time, evening work include home health aides, certified nursing assistants, and paramedic / EMT positions.

Part time, evening job choice 9 -
Network technician – This is an area where you will need some skill and obviously a background in networking. The bright side is that you can teach yourself much of this, and there are many classes available at community colleges and learning centers that will get you the required certifications in relatively short order. As the number of home and business networks deployed throughout the country continues to grow, the demand for network savvy technicians will grow  along with it.

The great thing is that while much of our nation's tech support positions have been outsourced to India, there's not much chance that this sort of work can be outsourced, since it is performed on site. Much of this work is done at night, because the networks are in operation during normal business hours, so upgrades, changes and a good percentage of the troubleshooting must be performed during off hours.

Part time, evening job choice 10 -
Data entry – all of that stuff in your computer (and everyone else's) had to get there somehow. Welcome to the exciting world of data entry, just watch out for all those data entry job scams advertised out there. Seriously you can get a real, legitimate data entry job that you can do on evenings or weekends for extra money. If you're a decent typist, and have a computer, you're in. Get employment from a legitimate firm and don't fall for the “pay us for a job” or “make $5,000 a week, at home, from your computer” scam that’s fairly prevalent in the data entry field.

Hopefully you haven’t experienced the economic setbacks that would require you to get a part time job in the evening, but if you have, or you just want to earn extra money, this list could get you started looking.