You’ve almost certainly heard of Craigslist. The bare bones site is probably the biggest classifieds section in the US, if not the world. People visit the site to find houses, jobs and free sofas.

They also have several ‘gigs’ sections, which are basically short term jobs. Anything from working a single one day event, to temp work that can last months.

For this post, we want to explore to viability of the Craigslist ‘gig’ section as a way to make money on the road. First off, it will no doubt depend on where you’re going. This post is more intended for travelers within the US than those abroad. Craigslist is an international site, but seems to be more ore less popular in different areas. If you have information about other countries where Craiglists gigs can be a helpful source of travel income, we’d love to hear about it. But for now, I’m going to focus on Craigslist gigs in the US.

To get started, just Google ‘Craigslist’ plus the closet city to where you are. For example, I’m in Chapel Hill at the moment, which on Craigslist gets combined with Durham, Cary, Apex, and Raleigh. This is actually nice, since I have no problem driving to Durham or Raleigh most of the time, and it’s helpful to just be able to look at one page.

Once you find your regional Craigslist page, the ‘gig’ section is at the bottom right. The sub categories are computer, event, creative, labor, crew, talent, domestic and writing. You can also explore them all at once by just clicking the “gigs” title. Personally, I tend to look at categories one at a time, since sometimes the categorical context can be helpful.

If you’re on the internet a lot, you’re probably already aware that Craigslist has a reputation for a certain degree of sleaziness and scamming. This is true to some degree of any major site where strangers interact, but Craigslist also doesn’t have much accountability. There’s no way to review other users, no pictures of who you’re dealing with. You don’t even need an account to post.

Most of the people on Craiglists are just good, honest, regular people looking to buy/rent/sell/get help with something. It’s just that there’s some creeps as well. So just be careful. Meet in a public place if there’s any question. Don’t put yourself in a position where you’re likely to get scammed.

Within the gigs section the ‘talent’ category, in my experience, has a particularly high concentration of “college girls with big boobs wanted” type listings. I’d say it’s still worth looking at, since sometimes there’re great opportunities in the section, but just be warned!

I’m starting a running list on Google Drive so that I can keep track of any gigs that sound interesting to me. Then at the end I’ll go through and decide which to apply for. (I also tried just applying for opportunities as I find them. Both ways work.)

After about half an hour of looking, I’m slightly less optimistic than I was going in. There are absolutely good opportunities to make money on the road using Craigslist gigs, but unfortunately they seem to be buried in mountains of get rich quick schemes, links to sketchy websites, crappy commission sales jobs, etc.

But I’ve found a few promising leads so far.

2ND Day Looking For Gigs on Craigslist 

Not feeling great about it. There are legitimate money making opportunities on the site, but you spend a lot of time just wading through crap to find the few gems that’re legitimate and that you’re qualified for, and then you have to fine tune your resume, write a cover letter, etc.

It’s like all the work of applying for a regular job, but the job only lasts a day or two and you have to go job hunting again. It’s kind of a pain. And your hourly pay for the work is greatly reduced if you spend an equal amount of time just trying to get the job.

And, for the most part, the gigs there are aren’t exactly great.

I’m going to keep trying, but my initial sense is that while it might be a good way to make some money quick if you get in a bind, I’d prefer to come up with a somewhat more dependable, less unpleasant way to make money on the road on a day to day basis.

Now, Craigslist gigs might be a better opportunity if you have a specific skill that’s in demand on the site, such as photography, or something construction related.

The long and the short of it is, you absolutely can make money on the road with Craigslist gigs, but you’ll have to wade through a lot of sketchy offers to find the gold one, which takes time. There’re also a lot of people advertising regular jobs, rather than what I would call ‘gigs’, which are less suited for itinerant vagabonds living on the road.

But, as a way the make a little extra money in a difficult spot, the Craigslist gig section is a great resource.

After a few hours of poking around, I have a lead on a mock trial opportunity. Not a lot of money, but I’ve been wanting to do one anyway, so I’m still happy with it.

Read more about making money on the road with mock trials.

I’ll keep you posted as I continue to explore using the Craigslist gig section as a way to live on the road.