Extra time could result in some extra money in your post-retirement years.

Have you found yourself with a bit of extra time on your hands in your post-retirement years? Studies show that people between ages 65-74 have nearly seven hours of leisure time each day, and it jumps to eight hours for those over 75*. Frankly, it could get boring if you let it. Now might be a good time to find some economical ways to use your spare time.

If you’re interested in dedicating your time and a little bit of your hard-earned knowledge, your extra hours could lead to new experiences and extra income. Here are few ways to spend your time and possibly make a little bit of extra spending money.

Get Paid For Your Experience

Encore.org is spearheading efforts to engage millions of people in later stages of life as a vital source of talent to benefit society. Their ultimate goal is “to create a better future for young people and future generations” (Encore.org).

They set up Encore Vision to leverage the experience of older adults and newly retired business people. The company offers fellowships, and pays for 1000 hours of work. This work can be done either full time in six months or part-time over a year. You would help a nonprofit or a foundation by dedicating your skills to a particular project.

The Fiverr website is dedicated to connecting entrepreneurs with creative people willing to do easy tasks for pay. The tasks include those that people launching a business either don’t have time for or just don’t have the budget to hire a full-time person for.

A Gig is a service offered on Fiverr. While many Gigs start at $5, as a seller, you have the option to choose your starting price point. You can even offer multiple price ranges by using Gig packages. With Gig packages, you can offer buyers’ different service packages for different prices. Popular tasks include transcribing audio into documents, drawing out plans for an office space, recording a short voiceover for a product and thousands of other quick creative tasks. Put your years of experience to work and make a couple extra bucks.

There are countless online tutoring sites but Tutor.com is by far the leader in the field. There are several areas of expertise that need qualified tutors, and all you need to do is pass an exam in your specified field. The students range from students (K-12) to college and adult learners, and there is a growing need for language tutors.

Get Paid For Your Time

Rover is an app for pet lovers and owners. Sometimes emergencies come up in a day and pet owner can’t always be there to care for a dog, cat or other beloved animal friend. With Rover, you can be that go-to person that someone contacts to help care for their pet in a pinch. The app has over 65,000 users, and if you’re an animal lover, the work won’t really feel like work. Plus, it’s a good way to shoot down those occasional bouts of loneliness with the kids being away from home.

Spending extra time in front of the TV? It’s time to get paid for binge-watching. Mypoints and Vip Voice are two of the only legitimate paid survey companies out there and the Better Business Bureau rates both sites with an A+. Some of the sites pay in points instead of cash but you can use put those accumulated points toward the purchase gift cards for major retail stores.

Make Money Off Of Your Own Possessions

You don’t use your second home as much as you did when the kids were younger. Or maybe you’re spending more time in the vacation home and your house is empty for long periods of time. It could be time to consider renting out unused living spaces for extra income. There are always people looking for short-term housing for vacation, work or traveling purposes. Airbnb is the online marketplace that enables people to lease or rent short-term lodging including vacation homes, apartments, and even permanent homes.

If you want to make a little extra money while also reducing the amount of stuff around your suddenly quiet home, check out apps like Declutter and LetGo. Declutter will pay you money for books, DVDs, CD and old video games. All you have to do is input the barcode numbers and Declutter will give you a price immediately. Send only the stuff you want to sell and they’ll give you cash in return. LetGo is an online marketplace. Just snap photos of your unwanted items, upload them to the app and set a price. People interested in your stuff can contact you right through the app.

Get Paid to Run Errands

Was that Walgreens you visited yesterday clean? How was the lunch service at Wendy’s? The QuickThoughts app relies on customer input, and occasionally cellphone photography, to give businesses important feedback.

Using your phone’s GPS technology, the app will prompt you for information from places you’ve visited in the past few weeks. It can even ask for opinions on the store you’re shopping in right at that very moment. QuickThoughts will pay you for your investigative skills and opinions. It even has missions you can accept and complete in the future.

There are some simple tasks that people just don’t have the patience, or time, to complete. TaskRabbit is another great side hustle (as the kids call it) and you can use your skills — doing things like gift wrapping, gardening, etc — and get paid. You can set whatever rates you’d like for your skill set and even complete tasks outside your area of expertise.

Volunteering

Volunteering doesn’t pay but the reward is worth more than money. Helping people in need is just good for the soul. VolunteerMatch is about helping people, especially those living right in your community. They believe in the power of volunteering to enrich your own life and the world. They believe that to be strong, a community must constantly evolve. VolunteerMatch will assist in finding causes in your area that need support and manpower. The website breaks down into categories like the environment, women, hunger and homeless, letting the user easily find the cause they want to help the most.

Another option is offer time and assistance at the places you visit the most: the local library and area schools. Some places don’t always ask for help, but few will turn down the offer of an extra set of hands.

Conclusion

Your post-retirement years don’t mean idle opportunities. If you find yourself with some free time and would like to become more involved in outside activities, there are plenty of opportunities to make your life and the lives around you better! Don’t let the chance to help, and earn a little extra cash, pass you by!

*2014 results of the American Time Use Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics