Difficulty: Medium–Hard | Potential Earnings: $$
The classic carwash. A great business for adults and a staple on the list of how to make money as a kid.
There are a few approaches to this.
Kids can offer a ‘to your door wash’, where they take the wash to the house. This is really convenient and people will pay extra for this!
Alternatively, they could ask to use your local school or church parking lot and offer some of the proceeds to the lot owners.
For the cost of a bit of car soap, sponges and buckets and some time, your kids could be earning in a flash.
There can be a few add-ons to a car wash too.
While the people wait for their car to be washed, kids can offer the paper (free-to-borrow or pay-to-keep) or other publications. They could also look at offering cool or hot drinks to the carwash patrons as well as snacks. Waxing services could be a high end upsell, but it takes a bit of practice to get right – good first clients might be Mom or Dad!
Nonetheless, kid-powered carwashes make a great multi-faceted revenue stream and a fantastic way for kids to make money.