How Long Islanders are making extra money with pools, cars, laundry and more

Wantagh resident Lauren French remembers wondering what she had gotten herself into after buying her first home — complete with a large swimming pool and all the upkeep that comes with it — as a single millennial in 2019.

Then the pandemic hit. French came across Swimply, an app sometimes described as Airbnb for pools, and decided to try renting hers out.

Since 2020, she said, the side hustle has brought in between $12,000 and $25,000 each summer — after Swimply fees but before her pool maintenance costs — with visitors paying about $70 to $80 an hour.  

"I can be at home and be with my son and make money," said French, 37, who works full time in finance.

French is one of several Long Islanders finding extra income in places they might once have overlooked — a backyard pool, an SUV, an empty room, or even a washing machine.

Apps and online marketplaces have made it easier to turn assets, skills and spare time into cash, sometimes producing hundreds or thousands of dollars a month. For some, the money helps absorb higher everyday costs. For others, it pays for extras or offers more financial flexibility.

Last year, 21% among 400 surveyed Long Islanders identified as gig workers, according to the Community Service Society of New York. 

The rise of gig economy jobs and income sources reflects the financial pressures facing Long Islanders amid persistent affordability challenges, according to Gregory DeFreitas, a labor economist and professor at Hofstra University. Prices in the metropolitan area are up 4.5% from last September, driven in part by tariffs and high fuel prices from the Iran war. 

Lower barriers to entry often make gig work more accessible to workers in search of extra income, DeFreitas said.

But the extra income can come with trade-offs, including fewer employment protections and expenses that eat into earnings.

Newsday spoke with Long Islanders about how they're making extra money, what it takes to make their side hustles work, and why they say it's worth it.

Let your car pay for itself

Owning a car is a common entry point for many gig apps, from delivery to rentals. While DoorDash and Uber are widely known, there are several less common platforms that let people use their vehicles to make an extra buck.

In June, Kings Park resident Brent Hardy, 35, listed his Cadillac Escalade for rent on Turo. Now, he makes an additional $500 to $1,000 per month — after insurance, car payment and other expenses and fees — from renting out the car.  

"I consider myself still in the building phase" of a car rental side business, Hardy said. And while the money he’s earned so far has largely been going into savings and not toward other bills, "it’s very comforting to know I do have money available."

Founded in 2009, Turo allows users to rent vehicles from "hosts" who list their cars for rental much like a traditional car rental business. The online platform, which had approximately 140,000 active hosts worldwide as of 2024, reported total earnings of $1.4 billion for its U.S. hosts in 2025, according to its website.  

Long Islanders interested in making deliveries have another option besides Instacart and Grubhub. Amazon rolled out Amazon Flex in 2015, a platform where drivers can pick up shifts to make Amazon deliveries using their own vehicles.

Drivers are paid for delivery blocks — shifts of three to five hours, during which they deliver a route of packages from a warehouse — not per delivery. The flat rate is paid even if drivers finish early. Tips are not possible for all routes and more than half of drivers don't receive any, according to analytics platform Gridwise.

In 2025, Amazon Flex drivers around the country earned $440 per week, or $22.60 per hour on average, according to the 2026 gig mobility report from Gridwise. After expenses, Gridwise estimates most drivers take home around $15 to $19 per hour. 

Drivers must have a four-door midsize sedan or a larger vehicle, like an SUV, and be 21 or older with a valid driver’s license and auto insurance.

Your home is an asset, in more ways than one

While online rental platforms like Airbnb have long allowed hosts to rent out their homes and apartments to travelers, Peerspace lets hosts rent out individual rooms for non-lodging purposes.

Founded in 2014, Peerspace is an online marketplace that allows property owners and businesses to rent out their underutilized spaces for events like parties, meetings or photo or film shoots, said Jason Rodriguez, chief technology and product officer for Peerspace.

On Long Island, where there are nearly 300 active spaces available for rent on an hourly basis, the number of listings grew 33% during the first half of 2026, according to Peerspace.

Most spaces on the Island are rented out by commercial landlords, restaurants, bars and production spaces, with about 22% of spaces listed by residential property owners, Rodriguez said.

While the asking rent for these spaces varies greatly based on size, location, amenities and intended use, listings for locations on Long Island range from $25 an hour for a small creative studio space to $500 an hour for a commercial-grade production facility, according to Peerspace, which charges hosts a 20% service fee on bookings.

For Long Islanders who don’t want to welcome strangers into their homes, there are other ways to capitalize what they already own. For Stephanie Zeis, 43, all it took was her washing machine.

For two years, the Ronkonkoma resident said she’s been making an additional $1,200 to $1,500 per month, not including supplies or utility costs, by cleaning other people’s clothes through Poplin, an online platform that pairs customers with local laundry pickup and delivery providers. That’s on top of the salary from her full-time job, working remotely in the home textiles industry.

"It’s helpful for gas money or if we want to do some kind of activity like go to the movies," said Zeis, who has two sons, ages 8 and 11. "It’s not income I try to rely on because it’s not always consistent ... but I feel the hit if I stop doing it."

Around 270 Long Islanders have worked through the peer-to-peer app, which pairs customers looking for laundry services with local residents who are willing to wash, dry, fold and deliver bags of laundered clothes to their doors.

Gig workers for Poplin — which the business calls Laundry Pros — have completed more than 17,400 laundry jobs on Long Island as of September, earning a combined $1.2 million after Poplin's fees were applied, according to the app’s internal data.

Love dogs? Make money.

Krissy DeVito, 41, started boarding dogs through the pet care app Rover after losing her job during the pandemic.

Since joining the app, she’s launched a dog boarding and daycare business. She also sometimes walks dogs and drops in to check on pets. Depending on the season, on a given day she might have three to five dogs in the house.

Working through Rover has allowed her to be her own boss, the East Meadow resident said. She can set her hours around the schedules of her two sons, who are 8 and 5.

Income varies, she said. DeVito charges $50 per day for daycare and $65 per night for boarding, although she charges more during holidays. A 30-minute walk costs $30, she said.

"It’s an awesome job but it’s definitely a job that you need to take seriously," said DeVito, who pays for insurance and has invested in kennels, gates and treats with her own money.

Rover declined to share how many active pet walkers and sitters are based on Long Island, but said the number in Nassau and Suffolk counties increased 37% between August 2021 and August 2026.

Some of those workers on Long Island, about a handful, earn up to $1,000 in gross revenue per month on the platform, a Rover spokesperson said. 

Sniffspot is another avenue for dog lovers to make a little bit of extra cash. The platform lets homeowners rent their yards to people looking for a private space for their dogs to play. Sniffspot advertises potential earnings of up to $3,000 per month, but did not provide figures showing what Long Island hosts typically make.

A company spokesman said there are 468 active listings on Long Island.

Sniffspot host Jaclyn Kozlakowski, 39, said her net income from the platform averages around $100 per month. But she didn’t join Sniffspot for the money. She loves dogs, has five of her own and volunteers at local rescues.

"Every once in a while, I get a glimpse out the window and I see a dog with the zoomies and I’m like, ‘This is what it’s about,’ " the Selden resident said.

She crates her dogs when people come over and leaves out a bowl of water for their dog. She usually has two to five bookings per week. She has insurance through Sniffspot, which provides host protection. There are some exclusions, including injuries to a host from a visit or damage to the host's property.

Gig workers, be careful 

As contractors, side hustlers generally lack typical workplace protections, such as workers' compensation and minimum wage guarantees, said Alexandrea Ravenelle, a sociologist and gig economy researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Gig workers also need to keep good records and put aside whatever they may owe in taxes, she said.

DeFreitas noted that when renting out property or high-priced assets like vehicles, gig workers should be wary of insurance coverage gaps or the potential for accidents that could lead to legal trouble and expensive payouts.

Since starting as a Swimply host six years ago, French said she’s made several investments to make her pool more appealing, like adding a slushie machine to the patio. During the summer months, she pays a pool maintenance business $3,000 for weekly visits throughout the season.

Swimply provides hosts with up to $1 million in general liability insurance for guests who may be injured during a reservation, and up to $10,000 in property damage protection, a company spokesman said. Exclusions to the liability insurance include host negligence or misconduct, injuries arising from the use of alcohol or other mind-altering substances, certain sports or activities, and injuries from lessons or classes held at the property.

Hosts are required to have a primary homeowners insurance policy or a liability insurance policy in order to list their pools on Swimply.

French said the money she makes on Swimply "has been the most passive and the easiest way to collect extra income."