5 Ways to Work at Home This Winter

When it's bitter cold outside, going to work can be even harder than usual. Even if you love your job, if the roads are icy and your car windows need to be scraped, it's easy to want to stay in your nice cozy home.

I completely understand this. Over a year ago, I took a job outside my home to help me deal with my financial situation dramatically shifting as I faced a divorce after 29 years of marriage. I spent last winter schlepping through snow, ice and bitter cold temperatures to get to work in the mountains of western NC. And I'm about to do the same this winter.

That is, unless I can find a comparable work at home job. I struggle with change and I need something that isn't seasonal. But your situation is most likely much different than mine (at least I hope so!) and seasonal might be perfect for you.

So, lets jump in and take a look at these at home job options that will keep you at home earning a paycheck this winter.

1. Customer Support / Seasonal

I realize many of you dread the idea of customer support. But hear me out. The holidays and post holidays seem to always bring seasonal opportunities for customer support work that is remote. And most of these jobs are for online retailers. You're literally just helping people place orders, refund orders or exchange something.

This isn't the same as being a technical support person or being in a high pressured sales position. These retail customers are usually just trying to do their holiday shopping and/or exchange something or return it.

For instance William Sonoma, the upscale kitchen retailer is hiring right now for seasonal help. The offer paid training and a discount to boot! This a great way to earn a paycheck right from your home while the bitter winds blow outside.

Colony Brands is another one to look into. Have you ever seen the Swiss Colony holiday catalogs with all kinds of yummy treats? This is that company. They typically offer flexible schedules and shift differential pay for weekends and evenings. They also give their seasonal employees DEEP catalog discounts of 40% to 50%.

And this is just one example. There are many companies out there needing to ramp up their support numbers for the holiday shopping and after the holiday returns. Many of these opportunities pay decently and offer flexible schedules.

Check out the job board here on the site right now for seasonal jobs.

2. Teach English

If I thought I had the personality or skills to do this well, I would do it. One of my personality flaws is patience. I'm not a great teacher. But there is money to be made if you can swing teaching online.

Companies like Magic Ears and Preply are examples of online teaching platforms that need teachers and tutors. These typically pay well and let you work part-time if you like.

Some of these companies will require a degree. But there are others too that pay you to teach conversational English that don't require a degree, like NiceTalk.

3. Mystery Shopping

Mystery shopping has changed A LOT in the last 5-10 years. With apps like Field Agent and Mobee, you can roll up into a Lowes or Target and do a mystery shop right from your phone.

Of course, there are still traditional mystery shops to be had, and I have a huge list of mystery shop companies here on the site.

4. Flexible Freelance Transcription

If you're a quick and accurate typist and want to earn extra cash in a non-phone position, you'll want to set up a free profile on Rev. You can set up your account with Rev, verify it with a photo ID like your driver's license and then start selecting projects. These can be captioning tasks, transcription and data entry. Get started with Rev here.

5. Appen Projects

If you've not heard of Appen, they offer opportunities like search engine evaluation, social media evaluation and video annotation. That's certainly a short list — so, if none of those sound interesting, rest assured you'll probably be able to find something. These are independent contractor jobs and most require at least 10 to 20 hours per week. As well, most will have qualification testing in order to do the job. But — once you get through the testing… you can earn a nice part time income on a schedule of your choosing. They pay via Payoneer or PayPal and offer opps internationally. Get started with Appen here.

Honorable (Winter Side Cash) Mentions

If you've gotten this far and none of these appeal to you, remember that there are also gigs out there like Rover (walking dogs, pet sitting) and DoorDash or UberEats that also allow you super flexibility and decent side hustle pay. I've seen some mention in forums that they make their full time income with these types of gigs.