A man acts as the first New Year’s caller

Many manual workers stay in the city until the last days of the lunar year to earn extra money for their families, earning good money for often minor work.

In the lead up to the Tet holiday, many families in the capital city of Hanoi have opted to use house cleaning services before hanging their decoration for the special festival.

Phi Thi Loan, a woman from northern Thai Binh Province who works for a food store in Hanoi also does house cleaning and last year stayed on until the final day before the Tet holiday to take on extra work. Many households let their usual helpers take the holiday to return to their home villages.

“I can earn from VND500,000 to VND700,000 a day cleaning people’s houses,” Loan said.

This year, the price of house cleaning services has risen 10-15 percent on last year.

Nguyen Manh Hai, the managing director of Hoan My Industrial Cleaning Co., said, "Cleaning an apartment of 120 square metres costs VND1.8m this Tet, compared with VND1.6m as last year.

"Prices on an hourly basis for cleaning services over Tet have increased to VND70,000 an hour, against the normal rate of VND50,000," Hai said.

Some students have opted to stay in Hanoi to work as domestic helpers or house keepers while landlords return to their hometown or take a holiday. They can earn up to VND800,000 a day, but there are few applicants for such jobs as landlords are often very demanding.

Another popular job is banquet preparation, with payments ranging from VND100,000-150,000 a tray of food.

Then there is the job of being the first New Year’s caller. Many companies are willing to pay up to VND10m for the service, which fulfils a special part of the Tet tradition. Families pay students VND500,000 to carry out the role.

Perhaps the most unusual job is that of "lover". In order to save face in the eyes of their families and friends, many young people hire someone to act as their partner during the holiday, at a cost of VND1.5-2m an hour. Actually being introduced as the person's "lover" attracts a substantially higher rate.

Another profitable tradition is that of buying salt for luck at the New Year, and many students have gone into the holiday salt business, breaking down a VND10,000 kilogram of salt into small, beautifully wrapped packets that sell for as much as VND20,000 each.

And as more and more people keep pets, luxury facilities have sprung up pander to the needs of pampered pooches and pussy cats. Prices range from VND200,000 to VND1m a day for top of the line care, with cheaper care ranging from VND50,000-150,000.