Whether you’re a stay-at-home parent, a student in high school or college, have a disability or are unemployed, there are many reasons to find yourself without a traditional 9 to 5 job.
Being out of work means the paychecks stop, but the bills don’t. From utilities to groceries, there’s still plenty to pay for, which can quickly deplete what savings, if any, that you have.
If you’re out of work (which with the current employment situation, many people are) you might be wondering how to make money without a job.
Thankfully, right now there are more ways than ever to make money without having a traditional job.
There’s flexible at-home work like writing and customer support that anyone can do to make money, gig apps like Uber that allow anyone to get a share in the gig economy, fun gaming apps that pay you, and plenty more ways to make money when you’re out of work.
And we list hundreds of them below!
Table of Contents
Ways to Earn Money without Working
Here are some of the best ways that you can make money without a job.
Be a freelance writer
Have a way with words?
Well then pick up a little freelance writing work!
You could make a great income from this.
What’s great about freelancing is that it’s such a varied job. You could write anything from a short product description to a full-blown how-to book.
Here’s where you can get some freelance writing work that pays:
- FlexJobs
- UpWork
- Freelancer
- Writers Domain
- Indeed
- Textbroker
- Boost Media
- Verblio
- BKA Content
- Writers Access
There are pretty much two types of freelance writing work:
- Content sites: Apply for a content site and once you’ve joined, you’ll be able to select from a pool of articles. The pay usually isn’t that great, but content sites are good for beginners looking to get experience. Content sites include Textbroker and Verblio.
- Private client work: A client posts a job and freelancers can apply for it. Working directly with private clients tends to pay more. Platforms like Freelancer and UpWork are great for finding private clients.
What can I make?
With freelance writing, the pay can be per hour, per word, or per project.
So what you earn and how you earn it can vary.
Writers on PayScale say they can make anywhere from $10 to $55 a hour, with average reported earnings at $23 an hour.
In terms of pay per word, rates can be as little as $0.005 a word or as much as $0.06 or more in some cases.
The sky is the limit with freelance writing!
Make the Internet a better place as a website tester
Pick up some website testing work.
You’ll need to visit a website and then give your feedback on a variety of things, like how easy it was to navigate and how many links, if any, were broken.
It’s a pretty simple job that anyone can do from home.
You can pick up work whenever you want to as well, so it’s a super flexible way to make cash.
Why does this pay, you ask?
Well companies want to make sure that their customers have a great experience on their site.
You know how annoying it is when you visit a site and items just won’t add to your cart no matter how many times you click on them, or you get a bunch of 404 errors.
Companies don’t want that type of experience for their customers.
This means they’re willing to pay testers like you to make sure everything works properly and the site runs smoothly, and that the overall customer experience is good.
Here’s where you can find work testing websites:
What can I make?
Pay varies from place to place.
Here are some examples of pay rates:
- Make $10 a test at Usertesting.
- Get paid $3 a test at UserBrain.
- Make $5 to $20 a test at Userlytics. Sometimes you can get as much as $90 for a project.
- Make $0.10 for each credit you earn at UserCrowd. You’ll get 1 to 2 credits per response for most tests, and some can pay more than that.
While it doesn’t pay a ton, website testing work can easily be done during your downtime.
Spend time with puppies and kittens!
Well it might not always be puppies or kittens – it might be cats and dogs, but still fun right?
Who doesn’t love animals?
Isn’t it awesome that you could actually get paid to spend time with them?
Yes, it’s crazy but true.
Pick up some pet sitting work and make cash while you play fetch with a dog or stroke a purring cat.
Here are some places to find pet sitting gigs:
What can I make?
Pet sitters on PayScale say that gigs pay from $8 to $25 an hour, with average earnings at $13 an hour.
You often see gigs on PetterSitter.com that pay from $8 to $20 an hour – so similar to those figures reported on PayScale.
Rover says its top pet sitters earn up to $1,000 a month – awesome right?
Put your photos up for sale
Pretty much everyone nowadays has a camera right in their pocket!
Yes, your smartphone snaps could make you cash.
If you don’t have a job, this is such an easy way to make money.
Basically, list your images for sale, and when someone buys them you’ll get money.
And before you say, well how am I going to get people to see my photos?
Don’t worry, there are plenty of sites out there that let you list your photos for sale.
They take a cut, but it’s so much easier than having to start your own stock photo site.
Here are some great sites for selling photos:
This is so easy to do. You can take photos easily from your phone and make money.
Simple, right?
What can I make?
Stock photo sites charge a commission. So they get a percentage of your profits. This commission rate is different on each site.
Here are some examples of what each site charges:
- 500px gives you up to 60% commission.
- Get 50% to 100% commission on Snapwire.
- Get 40% to 50% commission with Alamy.
The more photos you sell, the more money you’ll make. Also the commission rate you are charged will determine how much cash ends up in your bank account.
Donate plasma and help others while making money
Why not donate plasma?
It helps people in need, and you can make some pretty good cash from doing it.
Plasma is a component of your blood.
It makes up around 55% of your total blood volume.
It can’t be manufactured, so companies rely on donations.
Plasma is used to make medications and also for other medical purposes.
All you have to do is sit down while your plasma is collected through a process called plasmapheresis.
While the whole blood is taken, the plasma part is separated and stored and the rest of your blood is re-infused into the body.
Taking blood is quick, but donating plasma takes longer.
The donation process takes about 90 minutes – although your first visit to the center will probably be 2 hours, so a little longer.
Here are a few places to get paid to donate plasma:
What can I make?
Centers each pay differently.
For example, you can get paid $70 or more a week with BioLife Plasma Services.
Get $400 a month with CSL Plasma.
You can expect to earn from $280 to $400 a month donating plasma.
You can donate plasma twice a week – so no more than twice during a seven-day period.
Make money as an influencer
Have a big following on Instagram?
Make cash from your following as an influencer.
It’s not just Instagram that you can make money from either.
Having a following on other social platforms, like Twitter, YouTube, and blog sites, can make you money.
As an influencer, you promote brands on your social media profiles, blogs or YouTube.
You’ll get cash in return.
Great right?
Imagine making cash for sending a Tweet or mentioning a company in a blog post?
Here’s where you can find work as a brand influencer:
- GOsnap
- FameBit
- BlogExpose
- PayPerPost
- SponsoredTweets
- Influencer Central
- ModernMom Influencer Program
- Socialix
- Cooperatize
- BrandBacker
- Best Buy Influencer Network
What’s great about this type of work is that you can pick it up whenever you want to!
It’s so easy to fit into your schedule.
What can I make?
We can’t give you a precise figure on this one.
This is because you don’t usually get paid by the hour and you don’t get a set salary either.
Most of the time, influencers are paid a fee for each project or assignment that they work on.
That being said, you could make $100s or even $1000s – it really depends on the size of your following and the brands that you work with.
Cooperatize pays $150 to $800 for each opportunity, for example.
Keep in mind that some assignments pay you with free stuff, instead of money. Just check the pay before you start working on a project.
Get rid of your old DVDs and make some cash!
Ah, Netflix, it makes watching TV and movies so easy.
Along with other streaming platforms, like Hulu and Amazon Prime Video, Netflix has made DVDs all but obsolete.
You’ve probably got a bunch of them cluttering up your closet.
Well clear them out and start making a profit from them!
You might be wondering: will someone actually pay me for my old DVDs?
Well, yes!
Want to know the best part?
You don’t even need to go to a store to sell them.
Nope, there are sites out there that will buy your old DVDs from you.
You get a quote, ship your DVDs, and get paid.
Some of them even pay for shipping!
Here are some websites where you can sell DVDs:
What can I make?
I sold a few boxes of DVDs and made $100.
It was pretty easy and I didn’t even have to pay for shipping. The company gave me a pre-paid shipping label.
Awesome right?
You could make way more than that if you have a larger collection or some high value titles.
Play games, shop and do other easy tasks on rewards websites
Imagine getting paid when you shop online, play games, or take quizzes?
Well with rewards websites, this is a reality!
Yes, these websites will actually pay you for doing things like:
- Taking quizzes.
- Searching the internet
- Shopping online
- Watching videos
- Playing games
- Completing offers
Pretty awesome, right?
Here are some rewards sites that pay:
- Swagbucks
- TreasureTrooper
- Perk
- InboxDollars
- SquishyCash
- MyPoints
- InstaGC
- QuickRewards.net
- EarnHoney
- Gift Hunter Club
What can I make?
Here’s the deal; singularly, rewards sites don’t pay a lot.
The secret to making a good amount of money with them is to join a few of them.
If you join a few, you can do tasks on all of them and really increase your income.
Here’s what people have to say about their income on rewards sites:
- These Redditors say they make from $30 to more than $125 a month with Swagbucks.
- With Perk, these Redditors and the ones on this thread say they’ve made $30 to $120 a month.
- You could earn $50 a month with Treasure Trooper, according to these income reports.
With most rewards sites, you earn points that you can exchange for gift cards or cash.
Some sites send this cash to your PayPal account and others pay by check.
On sites where you can redeem your points for gift cards, there’s usually a great selection available for popular retailers – you know the ones you’d actually shop at! – like Amazon and Walmart.
Our advice would be to join a few sites.
When you combine rewards sites, you could make $100s a month.
That’s pretty great for doing easy things such as watching TV and playing games!
Donate sperm
Make money donating sperm if you’re a guy between 18 and 39 years old.
You have to meet certain eligibility criteria of course.
Each center has its own guidelines, so do check to see if you’re eligible.
Here are some places that pay you to donate sperm:
- Sperm Bank Directory
- Fairfax Cryobank
- Phoenix Sperm Bank
- California Cryobank
- Xytex
- The Sperm Bank of California
What can I make?
You can make from $280 to $1,500 a month donating sperm.
The center you donate through and how many times you donate will affect what you earn.
Here are a few examples of pay rates offered by centers:
- Earn up to $1,500 a month with California Cryobank.
- For each donation, you can earn $70 at The Phoenix Sperm Bank.
- The Sperm Bank of California pays $125 a donation. It says most of its donors make from $400 to $600 a month.
Make money while you shop with cashback sites
Next time you find yourself shopping online, give cashback sites a go.
Each time you shop, you get a percentage of what you spend back.
Great right?
You could get anywhere from 2% to 70% or more in cashback.
Here are some awesome cashback sites:
What can I make?
With cashback sites, it really depends on the percentage that you get back.
Of course, getting 20% cashback is going to put more cash in your pocket than 2% cashback.
It all helps though!
If you were to spend $100 online and get 25% cashback, you’d make $25.
Give people lifts for cash!
Get in the driver’s seat and make some money!
With ridesharing companies, you give lifts to people using your own car.
You are basically a taxi driver, except you use your own car!
You can give as many lifts as you want.
It’s an easy way to make money that you really can fit in anywhere.
Just open up the app and take lifts when you want.
Here’s where you can get paid for giving lifts:
What can I make?
Pay rates differ from place to place, meaning it’s tough to give exact income figures.
There are a few examples from drivers and the companies themselves of what you could earn:
- Uber pays around $15 an hour say drivers on Glassdoor.
- Lyft drivers on Glassdoor say they earn around $16 an hour. The pay can vary anywhere from $5 to $43 an hour though.
- Drivers can earn up to $32 an hour with HopSkipDrive.
Sell electronics
Have an old laptop you don’t need anymore?
Or do you want to upgrade your phone for a newer one?
Well, sell your old tech!
Whatever it is, it’s likely that you have at least one device in your home that you no longer use.
Don’t just let it gather dust!
Sell it!
You can actually get money for your old tech stuff.
This is such an easy way to make money without a job.
If you’re in high school, this is a great way to make money – as long as you have your parent’s permission to sell your old tech, of course.
If you like to upgrade your tech stuff often or you have a lot of devices you don’t use anymore, then this can be an easy way to make money.
Here are some great places for selling electronics:
What can I make?
Depending on what you have to sell, you could make $100s or even more than that!
Make money from your old college textbooks
If you’re wondering how to make money without a job in college, consider selling the textbooks you don’t need anymore.
Or if you graduated a while back and just have textbooks taking up space, sell them!
It’s so easy nowadays.
Lots of sites will buy them directly from you.
All you need to do is enter the ISBN of the book you want to sell and you’ll get a quote.
If you like the quote, you can ship the books to the site and get paid. Often, the site will pay for shipping.
Great right?
Here are some awesome sites to sell your used textbooks:
- Bookbyte
- Textbook Buyer
- Chegg
- TextbookRush
- Barnes & Noble
- CampusBooks
- Textbook Recycling
- FirstClassBooks
What can I make?
We can’t give you an exact figure. If you have a lot of books or some high value textbooks, then you could make $100s selling them! It’s an easy way to make $100 fast.
Tutor people online
Pick up some freelance tutoring work, and you can make money from home.
If you like helping others, this could be the gig for you.
You don’t need to leave the house.
No, instead, you teach online in a virtual classroom.
Since it’s freelance, you can take on a much or as little work as you want to.
Here are a few places to make money as an online tutor:
- Chegg Tutors
- Aim-for-A Tutoring
- Tutor.com
- TutorVista.com
- Homework Tutoring
- TutaPoint.com
- Smarthinking
- Kaplan
- Manhattan Prep
Do keep in mind though, that for tutoring work, you will normally need to have some qualifications, like a degree and sometimes teaching experience.
Just check with the company you plan to tutor with for their qualifications.
Don’t worry if you don’t meet the qualifications – there are plenty of other great paying gigs on this list that don’t require any qualifications.
What can I make?
On PayScale, tutors say they earn from $15 to $20 an hour, with the average hourly income being about $19 an hour.
Chegg Tutors says that pay starts at $20 an hour and that it’s top tutors earn $1,000 or more each month – great right?
Get paid for clicking on stuff
Out of work?
Well why not get paid for clicking on things?
Yes, you read that right, you can actually make cash from this. Usually, you’ll need to click on ads.
Here are some great sites that will pay you to click on stuff:
What can I make?
This doesn’t pay a lot – about a few pennies per ad.
Still though, it’s a bit of extra cash and it’s so easy!
You’ll make more by combining this with some of the other easy options on this list, like doing tasks on rewards sites.
Make money from your receipts
At the store shopping?
Don’t throw out that receipt!
No, hang onto it and make some cash out of it!
This is crazy but true.
There are apps that’ll pay you for your receipts.
Who’d have thought that you could make money from something you’d usually throw in the trash?
Take a look at these sites and apps that pay you for receipts:
Some of these places pay you for any receipt, others will pay you when you browse their offers and buy certain items featured in those offers.
What can I make?
You’re not going to make $1,000s from this. You’ll make a couple bucks for each receipt. Pay varies from app to app.
While the pay isn’t super high, getting cash out of something you’d otherwise just throw out is great!
Become an affiliate marketer and make money from other people’s products
You don’t even need to sell your own stuff to make money.
No, you can make money by selling other people’s stuff!
All you need to do is join an affiliate program.
What’s an affiliate program you ask?
It’s a program that you can sign up to and you can get affiliate links.
These are links to product pages. For example, it could be a link to a page for a Canon Camera on Amazon.
When a customer clicks on an affiliate link, they are taken the product page as usual. The difference is that if that customer buys the product, you get a percentage of the sale.
So, let’s say that the camera is $500, and you get 5% commission. You’d earn $25 from the sale. Not bad right?
Here are some great affiliate marketing platforms to join:
Some brands have their own affiliate marketing programs. Target and Bluehost are two examples of brands that do this.
Think about what brands you like and would like to promote and do a search online to see if they have an affiliate program.
Just search online for the brand’s name, followed by the words, “affiliate program,” and you’ll get plenty of results.
You promote and post your affiliate links through:
- Social media posts.
- Videos.
- Blog posts.
- Newsletters.
- A product resources page.
- Landing pages – this is essentially a website with a static sales page.
- A comparison review site.
What’s great about affiliate programs is that they are free to join, so if you’ve been wondering how to make money online without paying anything, give affiliate marketing a try!
What can I make?
Like we said above, affiliate links give you a percentage of the sale.
Commission rates can vary quite a lot. You could get as little as 1% from each sale or as much as 75% or more in some cases.
It just depends on the program you join.
There’s no reason though that you can’t make $1,000s a month.
Of course, you’ll need your links to get a lot of clicks and to get lots of sales to make this amount.
Plus, you’re going to earn more from selling higher value products and if you get a higher commission rate.
For example, if you get a commission on a $500 camera, rather than a $20 pair of jeans, you’ll make more.
If you get 75% commission on a product, you’ll get more cash than you would if your commission rate is set at 2%.
There are lots of factors that affect your income – overall though, affiliate marketing is a legitimate way to make money.
Get paid as an online assistant
Be an online assistant and make some cash while you’re out of work.
Virtual assistant work typically involves scheduling appointments, making phone calls, organizing meetings and other admin and organizational tasks.
Here are some places to find virtual assistant work:
Want to know the best part?
For many places you don’t need to have any qualifications or experience to get started.
Some will have more stringent requirements though – just have a quick check.
Anyone can get started with virtual assistant work. All you need is a PC and the internet of course.
What can I make?
This can be a pretty good side hustle that some people even turn into a full-time income.
Of course, each place is going to pay differently. Things like how many hours you work and your hourly rate will determine how much money you make.
On PayScale, people who work as virtual assistants say they earn from $10 to $29 an hour, with the average reported income being $15 an hour.
That’s pretty good, right?
Even better when you realize this job can be done entirely from home!
Deliver food and make money
Don’t want to drive a stranger in your car?
That’s fair enough; driving for Uber’s just not for everyone.
Is there still a way to make money from your car?
Heck yes!
Deliver food instead.
You don’t have to give anyone a lift.
All you need to do is use the app to find orders, accept the orders you want, pick up the food and deliver it to people’s homes and workplaces.
This could be food from the grocery store or a restaurant or fast food place.
Have a gander at these companies who pay you to deliver food:
For most food delivery gigs, you don’t need any special qualifications. You just need your car and a valid driver’s license of course.
A car isn’t even required for many of these jobs.
Some delivery places will let you make deliveries on a bike, scooter, motorcycle or van.
What can I make?
Delivering food pays about $10 to $25 an hour.
Each company has a slightly different pay rate. Here are a few examples:
- Make up to $22 with Shipt.
- EatStreet pays from $12 to $20 an hour.
- Make up to $25 an hour delivering stuff for Caviar.
- Burpy pays up to $25.
That’s a pretty good hourly income – right?
How much this one will make you depends on your hourly rate and how many jobs you do and the hours you work.
Write people’s resumes
Another gig to consider if you enjoy writing is resume writing.
People pay writers to do their resumes for them.
Here are a few places to find resume writing work:
- WriterPay
- RiseSmart
- Talent Inc.
- WriteZillas
- Boardroom Resumes
- ResumeYard
- UpWork
- Indeed
- Freelancer.com
- SimplyHired
(You could also consider starting your own resume writing business.)
You can get certified as a resume writer, which can increase your chances of getting hired.
Here are some of the places where you can become a certified/trained resume writer:
- National Resume Writers’ Association (NRWA)
- Career Directors International (CDI)
- Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW)
Getting certified isn’t a requirement though.
Many places will hire you even if you aren’t certified.
Certain clients will require a degree instead of or as well as a certification.
For some places, you don’t need any qualifications, as many clients are just looking for experience or a good portfolio of samples.
Check with the company to see what qualifications, if any, are required.
What can I make?
On PayScale, resume writers say they make $23.96 an hour.
Pay varies from place to place though.
Some places pay per hour, but others pay per page or per project.
Here are some examples of what you could make:
- At the time of writing, there were jobs available on UpWork that paid from $20 to $200 per assignment.
- Resume writers with WriterBay say on Glassdoor that they make $10 to $14 an hour.
- On Glassdoor, resume writers with RiseSmart say they make from $22 to $28 an hour, with the average income at $26 an hour.
- Earn up to $15 a page with WriteZillas.
- Make up to $3,500 a month with Talent Inc.
It’s totally possible to make a full-time income from resume writing.
What’s great about this job is that you can take on as much or as little work as you want to as well.
Listen to and rate music
Who doesn’t like listening to music?
If you’re anything like me, you love listening to music – what if you could get paid for it?
Well you can!
There are sites out there that will pay you just for listening to and rating music.
Pretty amazing right?
Take a look at these sites and get paid for something you actually enjoy doing:
What can I make?
Make from 2¢ to $1 a review. That’s not a lot of cash, but it’s easy cash.
Be a mystery shopper and make money visiting stores
Mystery shoppers visit stores and give feedback on their experience.
It’s a pretty easy gig and there are plenty of places to find work:
- IntelliShop
- BestMark
- Sinclair Customer Metrics
- Market Force
- SurveyMini
- Mobee
- EasyShift
- iSecretShop
- Field Agent
This gig is pretty simple – you just need to give feedback on things like how well the staff served you and the cleanliness of the store.
What can I make?
You can make $8 to $25 an hour as a mystery shopper, according to JobMonkey.com.
Review stuff
Another good way to make money is by writing reviews.
Here are some places that pay for reviews:
This is as simple as it sounds. Give your opinion in a review and get paid – easy right?
What can I make?
It depends on which place you write reviews for, as each one has its own pay rate.
Here are a few examples of what you could earn writing reviews:
- Make $5 to $60 a review with Online Book Club. With this one, you even get a free book!
- Get $1 to $50 a review with SoftwareJudge.com.
- Get money and a free book from Any Subject Books
That’s pretty great right?
Make cash renting out your spare room or your entire home
Do you have a spare room?
Rent it out and make some cash!
Or maybe your home often sits empty because you travel?
Whether it’s your spare room or your entire house, you can make money renting out property.
Here are places where you can list your property to let:
What can I make?
You could easily make $1,000s each year from renting out your home.
Almost half of all hosts on Airbnb make more than $500 a month and many earn more than $10,000 in a month!
Make money as a Kindle Author
To be an author nowadays, you don’t need to go through a traditional publishing house.
Now, anyone can publish books of their own on Amazon and make a full-time income from it.
Awesome, right?
Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, get writing and start making a profit with Kindle.
If you’re looking for a good side hustle, this is such a good option.
Here’s where you can make money from writing books:
What can I make?
With Kindle, the sky’s the limit. There are authors that make $100,000+ a year.
Mark Edwards is a British author who publishes on Amazon and he makes £100,000 a year.
Awesome, hey?
We’re not saying that’s what you’re going to make – but it does show you that you can earn a lot from publishing on Kindle.
Amazon gives you 35% to 75% royalties on the books you publish.
Of course, the royalties you get, how many books you publish and how many you sell all factor into how much you earn.
Here are a few more examples of what you could earn:
- During the first month of selling their books on Amazon This Redditor earned £421 ($511).
- Selling their books on Kindle makes this Redditor $300 to $500 a month.
Sell books
College textbooks aren’t the only type of book you can sell.
From used cookbooks to classic novels that you’ve read and no longer need, you can sell a variety of different books online.
Here are some great websites for selling used books:
- Amazon Trade-In
- Book Scouter
- Cash4Books
- Sell Back Your Book
- Blue Rectangle
- CKY Books
- Paperback Swap
- BookFinder.com
- Craigslist
Book Scouter lets you compare the price offered across lots of different buyback vendors.
This is such a time-saver! You don’t have to check the price you’d get at each individual site, so Book Scouter and BookFinder.com, which works in a similar way, are definitely useful.
What can I make?
You’d easily make a couple $100 if you have a large collection of books or some high value titles to sell.
Share your opinion and get paid as a focus group participant
Get paid for your opinion by participating in a focus group. This is such an easy way to make money!
Basically, you talk about a product or service with a group of people.
Easy right?
In return, you get paid.
Here are a few places where you can get paid to participate in focus groups:
What can I make?
You can make from $20 to more than $400 a study with paid focus groups.
That’s pretty great, right?
When you’re out of work and are looking for a way to make a good amount of cash, focus groups are the way to go!
Get paid to sign up to free websites
This is one of our favorite methods!
You basically sign up to these sites, which doesn’t cost you anything, and you get a signup bonus.
Here are some sites where you can get paid to sign up:
- Extrabux – $20
- InboxDollars – $5 bonus.
- Ebates – $10 bonus.
- Swagbucks – $3 bonus.
- FusionCash – $5 bonus.
- Cash4Offers – $5 bonus.
- PointClub – $5 bonus.
- Univox Community – $2 bonus.
- TreasureTrooper – $1 bonus.
- BeFrugal – $10 bonus
Some of these sites might need you to complete simple tasks to unlock the bonus, but other than that, you don’t have to do much to make cash!
What can I make?
Get $61 for signing up to all of these sites. Not bad hey for something as easy as joining a free website!
Make money as a test scorer
Make money scoring people’s tests!
In most cases, you’ll need to have some qualifications for this gig. You can check with the particular site you plan to work with.
Here are some places to find test scoring work:
What can I make?
On Glassdoor test scorers make $11 to $16 an hour, with the average income being $14 an hour.
That’s a pretty great side hustle!
Make money from ads on your phone’s lock screen
If you’re looking for a really simple way to make some extra cash while you’re not working, display some ads on your phone’s lock screen.
Yes, you can actually get paid for this!
Want to know the best part?
You don’t need to click on these ads to get paid!
No, all you need to do is display them on your phone.
Here are apps that pay you to display ads:
This is such a simple way to make money!
What can I make?
You won’t make a ton of cash from this. It’s a good way to make money passively though!
Make money cleaning
This is a great local gig if you don’t have a job.
Here are a couple of places to find cleaning work:
You could even offer your cleaning services on Facebook or Craigslist.
How much does it pay?
Housecleaners on PayScale say they make about $14 an hour.
They also say that pay can range from $9 to $25 an hour.
Get paid to take surveys
Don’t mind sharing your opinion?
Give surveys a go.
Just share your opinion and you’ll get paid. It’s that simple!
Since brands can use your feedback to improve their current products or services and to get a better insight into what their customers want, they value your opinion and are willing to pay you for it.
Here are some great survey sites that pay you:
- Toluna
- Vindale Research
- iPoll
- MySurvey
- Pinecone Research
- QuickThoughts
- SurveySavvy
- Darwin’s Data
- Google Opinion Rewards
- Ipsos i-Say
- Survey Junkie
- Qmee
What can I make?
In our experience, the best way to make money from survey sites is to join a few of them.
Because you won’t always qualify for surveys, being a member of a few sites means you increase the chances of getting surveys that you actually qualify for.
The more sites you join, the more money you’ll make!
Survey sites pay you with money or gift cards.
Each site has its own pay rates and payment can also vary from survey to survey.
Here are some examples of pay offered by different survey sites:
- With QuickThoughts, you can earn up to $3 a survey.
- Earn up to $25 a survey at Darwin’s Data.
- With SurveySavvy, you can get Get $1 to $2 a survey. Some surveys even pay from $5 to $10 each.
- This Redditor says they make $20 to $25 for some surveys at MySurvey.
- This Redditor says they make $3 a survey with Pinecone Research.
Join a few sites and you’ll make more money. Join five sites and take two surveys a week on each one, and even if you only make $3 a survey, you’d make $120 a month.
Not bad considering that you can do surveys on your lunch break, during the commercial break or when you’re waiting in the doctor’s waiting room.
Get money from your unwanted gift cards
Gift cards can be great – who doesn’t want free cash to spend?
Saying that, gift cards are only good if they are for a place that you’d actually buy from, otherwise, they’re pretty useless.
If you have a gift card that you’ll probably never use, don’t let it go to waste.
You could actually make money from it!
There are websites where you can sell gift cards.
Here are a few of the best sites for selling gift cards:
You don’t tend to get the full value of the gift card back, but you do get a good percentage of it! These sites are great because you can trade in a gift can that you’ll never use for money that you can spend anywhere.
Donate eggs and help out a family while making money
If you are a woman between the ages of 18 and 35, you could make money as an egg donor.
You will need to meet certain health requirements, Other than that though, you don’t need to have any particular qualifications.
It’s a good way to make money locally.
Here are some centers where you can donate eggs for money:
What can I make?
Egg donors can make $3,000 to $15,000 or more per donation. Donating eggs isn’t the quickest way to make money. It is quite profitable though.
Let apps collect your data
This is such an easy way to make money.
All you need to do is install an app, allow it to run in the background and it will collect your data. In return, you’ll get paid.
Here are two apps that pay you for your data:
AppOptix is only available to Strategy Analytics panel members. To learn more about this panel and how to apply to it, read this page.
What can I make?
SavvyConnect lets you install it’s app on multiple devices. You can earn $108 from it.
You get up to $50 in Amazon gift cards each year if you participate for 12 months with AppOptix.
Get paid to play games
How awesome is it that there are apps that actually pay you to play games?
If you love games, then this is such a good way to make a little extra spending cash.
Whether it’s trivia quizzes or word searches, there are lots of games you can get paid to play.
Here are some great gaming apps for making money:
- Swagbucks LIVE
- Quiz Rewards
- Perk Scratch & Win: iOS and Android
- Perk Pop Quiz: iOS and Android
- Perk Word Search: iOS and Android
What can I make?
This doesn’t pay a ton of cash, but you could make a few bucks for each game you play. If you play lots of games across multiple sites and apps, you could earn yourself some extra spending money.
Be a data entry clerk
Not your traditional 9 to 5 job, picking up some data entry work is a good way to make some money without a job.
Whether you’re a student, stay-at-home parent, or just want some extra income, data entry work is a good way to make money.
What’s great about it is that pretty much anyone can do this gig. You don’t usually need any special qualifications or experience to do data entry work.
Take a look at these places to find data entry gigs:
This job is pretty simple. Basically, you enter data into databases, spreadsheets, documents and other data management systems.
In return, you’ll get paid for it.
What can I make?
Data entry clerks on PayScale say that they make $9 to $17 an hour. Average hourly pay for data entry work is $12.
That’s pretty great, and like we said almost anyone can get started with it, so it’s a great way to make cash from home.
Make money from your car by renting it out
Car payments, insurance, gas; the cost of owning a car seems never ending.
There’s a really easy way to make money from your car though.
And no, you don’t have to drive for Uber or deliver food if you don’t want to.
No, you can make money with your car by renting it out to others when you don’t need it.
Here are a few places where you can rent out your car:
What can I make?
The amount you will rake in depends on how often you rent out your car and what you get for renting it.
Each place has its own pay structure.
Here are a few examples of what these companies pay drivers for renting out their vehicles:
- Make $1,000 renting out your car with Hyre Car.
- The average driver makes $1000s a year with Getaround.
- Earn $6,500 a year renting out a $20,000 market value car for 15 days a month with Turo.
Sell your clothes
Most of us have clothes we don’t wear – reports show we only wear about 20% of our stuff!
Don’t leave your clothes in the closet. Sell them online instead. If you’re out of work, this is such a good way to bring in some extra cash.
Here are some awesome websites and apps for making a profit from your unwanted clothes:
What can I make?
Some sites charge a commission, so you have to give a percentage of the profits to these sites.
How much money you’ll make depends on what you’re selling, how much stuff you have to sell and the commission fee if any, that the site charges.
You could easily make a couple $100 if you have a lot of clothes or some sought after items to sell. Just keep the commission fees in mind when listing your clothes for sale.
Deliver packages
Another great alternative to driving for Uber is to deliver packages.
Don’t mind picking a few things up in your car and delivering them to people’s homes and workplaces?
This could be the job for you.
Companies like Amazon pay you to deliver packages. Some companies need you to have a truck or van, but some just require you to have a regular car.
This job is so flexible as you can pick up as many or as few deliveries as you want.
This means that if you want to make money without the rigidity of a regular 9 to 5 gig, then delivering packages is ideal. It’s so easy to fit it into your schedule.
Here are a few places where you can get paid to deliver packages:
A quick note about GoShare. You need a truck or a van to sign up as a Driver. But if you have a car, you can still work with the company. Just sign up as a Helper.
What can I make?
Want to know the best part about delivery gigs?
They pay well!
If you want to bring in a side income or even a full-time income, delivering packages is a good option.
Of course, things like how many deliveries you make and the company you work with will affect how much you make from this gig each month.
Here’s what you could make:
- Make $18 to $25 an hour with Amazon Flex.
- Earn from $8 to $60 for local jobs with Roadie. You could earn up to $650 for long distance jobs!
- Deliv pays up to $22 an hour.
- Depending on what type of vehicle you drive, GoShare pays from $33 to $71 an hour.
- Make $45 an hour as a truck driver with Burro.
- Earn $25 an hour with Postmates.
There’s plenty of earning potential with this one.
Get paid to go on social media
Social media managers get paid for a range of tasks, from uploading posts on social media platforms to responding to comments.
In this job, you essentially get paid to spend time on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram – not bad hey?
Here are a few places to find social media management gigs:
What’s great about social media management work is that most jobs are freelance, so it’s a flexible gig.
What can I make?
On PayScale, social media managers say they make from $10 to $27 an hour, with the average income being $15 an hour.
Give your advice and get paid for it
Everyone has a topic that they’re knowledgeable about. It could be cooking, skincare or exercise.
Whatever it is, you could make money from your knowledge of a topic as a paid expert.
Here are some places where you can find work as a paid expert:
With this gig, you need to give advice to people who’ve posted questions about a specific topic.
What can I make?
JustAnswer says that the top experts on its platform make $1,000s a month.
Pay will vary from place to place though. You could make a good side income with this one.
Do some babysitting work
Get paid to babysit kids in your area.
There are lots of sites where you can find paid babysitting gigs.
Parents post jobs and you can browse them, choose the ones you want, and get paid.
It’s a good way to make a side income.
Here are some places to find babysitting work:
What’s great about babysitting work is that you can take on as many or as few gigs as you want.
What can I make?
Babysitters on PayScale say they make $7 to $15 an hour. The average income reported is $10 an hour.
While it’s not a ton of cash, you don’t have to work many hours to make a few $100 a month or even $1,000 plus a month.
Evaluate search engines and get paid
You can get paid to make search engines like Google and Bing better.
Search engine evaluators test search engines to check that their algorithms bring up the right content when people search for keywords online.
Most of the time to get hired as search engine evaluator, you won’t need any qualifications.
These gigs are freelance too, so it’s another flexible way to make money.
Here are some sites where you can find search engine evaluator work:
What can I make?
On Glassdoor, search engine evaluators say they make $13 to $16 an hour.
You could easily make $100s or even $1,000s a month with this gig.
Get paid to deliver booze
Another way to earn some extra cash is by delivering alcohol to people.
It’s a flexible gig that you can fit into your schedule whenever you have the time for it.
Here are a few places where you can get paid to deliver alcohol:
What can I make?
On Glassdoor, drivers with Saucey say that they earn $10 to $22 an hour. Pay will differ from place to place though.
Launch your own blog
If there’s a hobby you love or a topic you’re passionate about, why not start a blog about it?
From tech to knitting, you can make a blog on pretty much any topic you could think of.
Maybe you like fly fishing?
Or perhaps you enjoy movies?
Start a blog on your favorite topic and you could make money from it.
We’re going to level with you here – you won’t make any money from your blog when you first start out.
You won’t get paid to upload and it will take time for search engines like Google to actually rank your site.
Once it gets going though, you can make $100s or even $1,000s a month from blogging, but more on that below.
You’ll need a platform to upload your content. Here are two places where you can start a blog:
Aside from signing up to WordPress or Blogger.com, and having a topic to write about of course, you’ll also need to have a domain name, so your site’s URL, and hosting to host your site.
Check out Bluehost, HostGator, and GoDaddy for domain names and hosting services.
Once you’ve launched your blog, you can monetize it in lots of different ways.
An easy way to do this is by putting ads on your blog. You can work with an ad network like Google AdSense, put ads on your site and you’ll get paid when people view and click on the ads.
If you want to know how to make money without working for someone, give blogging a try!
What can I make?
Blogging income varies a lot. Some bloggers make pennies a month and others make thousands.
Here are some income examples from bloggers:
- Two Wandering Soles earned $14,179.97 in March, 2019.
- In April, 2019, Local Adventurer earned more than $21,700.
- In February, 2019, which was just its fourth month after launching, TheFab20s made $1,566.40.
So you really can make a lot of money from blogging.
You need to post content consistently and get a lot of visitors to your site though to make those kinds of numbers.
Stick with it though, and you could make $1,000s each month from blogging.
Sell games and consoles
If you play a lot of games, it’s easy to end up with a big collection of them.
We all have those games that we used to love, but just don’t play anymore.
Or maybe you have old gaming systems you don’t use?
Sell them!
Sell your old gaming stuff and make some money out of it.
There are sites out there that will buy games and games consoles from you.
Here are a few places where you could make some cash from your old gaming stuff:
You can use the cash you get for selling your games and consoles to pay a bill or just use it as some spending cash.
What can I make?
How much you’ll make depends on what it is you plan to sell. Some items have a higher trade-in value than others. There’s a calculator on Gamestop that you can use to get a quote for the stuff you plan to sell on there.
If you have a large collection of gaming stuff or some games or consoles that are newer or higher value, you could easily make $100s doing this.
Get paid as a customer support/service agent
Don’t mind chatting on the phone or dealing with people’s questions online?
Well, you might make a good customer service agent.
From answering customer questions to helping out customers with any problems they need assistance with, customer support work involves a range of different tasks.
Nowadays, a lot of customer support-work is home-based.
You know what that means – you can make money from the comfort of your own home, which is always great!
Here are some places to find customer support work.
- UpWork
- Indeed
- Monster
- Hilton Hotel
- Apple
- American Express
- TeleTech
- The Chat Shop
- SiteStaff
- LiveOps
- VIPdesk Connect
- Concentrix
This type of work is definitely suited to people who are personable, patient, and have a friendly demeanor.
There are lots of well-known companies who hire at-home customer support agents, as you can see!
What can I make?
On PayScale, customer service agents say they make $9 to $19 an hour. The average income they report is $13 an hour. Of course each place will have its own pay rate, so do check the pay at the particular place you plan to work with.
Customer support work is a good source of income if you are at home as a stay-at-home parent, because you have a disability, or if you are unemployed. You can get started with few if any qualifications and there are plenty of places that hire home-based customer support agents.
Participate in mock trials as a juror
Since lawyers want to gain experience and practice for trials, they often participate in online mock trials. For those, they need mock jurors.
This is a pretty interesting way to make cash and you can do it from your computer.
Take a look at these sites for work as a mock juror:
What can I make?
Each place pays differently. You get paid $20 to $60 with Online Verdict.
With eJury, you make $5 to $10 – and it pays you through PayPal, which is great.
Make money watching TV
This is crazy but true: you can make money watching videos.
Here are websites and apps that will pay you for watching TV:
Give this one a go and you’ll thank us when you’re actually being paid to watch Netflix!
What can I make?
Each place pays differently. You aren’t going to make a ton of cash from this. But, since it’s so easy, this is a great way to make some beer money.
This Redditor says they got $25 gift cards on Viggle and that they earn around $60 a month.
Get paid to be a research study participant
Universities need students and members of the general public to take part in research studies and surveys.
And they pay!
Differing from medical studies, research studies have more of a focus on behavior and psychology.
Here are some schools where you can get paid to be a research study participant:
- Center for Decision Sciences Columbia Business School
- UCLA Anderson School of Management
- Harvard University Psychology Study Pool
- Stanford Graduate School of Business
- Harvard Business School
- Georgetown University
- Vanderbilt University
- Columbia Business School
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- The Department of Psychology at Chicago University
- American University Psychology Department
- University of Colorado Boulder
- Boston University Behavioral Lab
What can I make?
You can earn $8 to $45 or more an hour with these studies. Each place pays differently.
Here are some examples on offer from different schools:
- The Stanford Graduate School of Business gives you $25 on average.
- Get $12 to $15 an hour at UCLA Anderson School of Management.
- Make from $10 to $20 an hour at the Boston University Behavioral Lab.
Make money as a Brand Ambassador
Are you a sociable person?
Well, you might want to give brand ambassador work a try!
Brand ambassadors represent brands at places like:
- Nightclubs
- Bars
- Sports games
- Conventions
- Concerts
- College campuses
- Festivals
- Beaches
- Trade shows
- Fairs
You’ll need to do things like give out free samples, hand out flyers and greet people.
Here are some companies where you can find brand ambassador gigs:
- Victory Agency
- ATN Event Staffing
- Fusion Event Staffing
- myStreetTeam
- Simply Hired
- Indeed
- Glassdoor
- New York’s Craigslist
- Monster
What can I make?
These companies all have their own pay rates. Here are some examples of what you could make:
- Make $16 to $50 an hour at Victory Agency.
- People who’ve worked with ATN Event Staffing on Glassdoor say they make $14 to $21 an hour.
- On Glassdoor, brand ambassadors with Fusion Event Staffing say they make $15 to $18 an hour.
Try new apps and get paid for it
Do you have a lot of apps on your phone?
Well what if the next time you installed an app on your phone, you got paid?
That would be great right?
With the apps below, you can do just that:
- AppBounty: Desktop and Android
- Appdown: Desktop, iOS and Android
- Tap Cash Rewards: iOS and Android
- Whaff Rewards: iOS and Android
- AppKarma: Android
- FeaturePoints: Android
- AppRedeem: Android and iOS
- AppMan: Desktop and Android
- AppLike: Android
- Cash for Apps: Desktop, Android and iOS
- AppNana: Desktop and Android
These apps pay you to download new apps. You don’t even need to keep the apps on your phone for long to get paid either.
This is such an easy way to make money without a job.
What can I make?
You’re not going to make a ton of money with this one, but you can easily make a few extra bucks. Since all you have to do is download these apps, keep them for a short time, and delete them from your phone, it’s really simple way to make money that can be done anywhere.
Be a Restaurant Mystery Shopper
We already talked about mystery shopping above. It allows you to make money by visiting stores, but did you know that there are mystery shopping gigs specifically for restaurants?
It’s true.
With restaurant mystery shopping jobs, you visit restaurants and provide your feedback on your experience. In return, you’ll get paid and get free food
It’s a pretty awesome gig.
Here are a few places where you get restaurant mystery shopping work:
- Coyle Hospitality
- A Closer Look
- Reality Based Group
- Confero Inc.
- Second To None
- Sentry Marketing
- Northwest Loss Prevention Consultants
- About Face
- Confidential Consumer
- Management Consultant Group
- Customer Impact
- Secret Shopper
What can I make?
You can make a decent amount of cash doing this, and who wouldn’t want free food right?
Of course each place will pay differently, and compensation might also differ from gig to gig even within the same company.
BestMark for example pays $7 to $20, and Secret Shopper pays from $12 to $25 for an assignment.
Write or illustrate greeting cards
If you have artistic skills, you could make money writing or illustrating greeting cards.
Here are a few companies that pay you to write and illustrate greeting cards:
This is such a fun and creative way to make money when you’re out of work.
What can I make?
Each place will have its own pay rate, so be sure to check the payment for the place you work with.
Get paid for having ads on your car
Don’t mind having some ads on your car?
Well, then you might want to work with car wrapping companies.
These companies will put ads on your car, for free, and then they will pay you just for driving your vehicle.
How easy is that?
Here are some companies that pay you to wrap your car in ads:
This has to be one of the simplest ways to make cash, as it requires very little effort on your part.
What can I make?
You can earn $100s a month from this, which is just great right?
Of course, the exact amount you’ll earn from this depends on the company you work with.
For example, Wrapify says its drivers earn, on average, $200 to $400 a month.
And Free Car Media says its drivers can earn up to $400 a month.
This is such an easy way to put $100s of dollars in your bank account each month.
Be a guest blogger (it’s a great alternative to starting your own blog)
We mentioned starting your blog above. While having your own blog can be very profitable, it’s time-consuming, requires a lot of effort, and you won’t make money from it from the get-go.
That’s why blogging just isn’t for everyone.
A great alternative is to write content for other people’s blogs.
Many blog owners pay people, called guest bloggers or writers, to write articles for them.
If you enjoy writing and blogs, this might be the gig for you.
Here are a few places where you can get paid to write guest blog posts:
These aren’t the only websites that pay for content though.
Many blogs accept guest posts. Just look at your favorite blogs to see if they pay for articles.
What can I make?
Each place pays differently, so it’s tough to give an exact figure.
Here are a few examples of what you could make:
- You could earn $100 for a list-style article at ListVerse.
- Cracked pays you $150 for your first four articles, and then $250 for each one after that.
- You can make $150 to $300 for a full Photoshop tutorial with Photoshop Tutorials. For a quick-tip, you can get $50 and for articles and roundups you can make $25 to $50 apiece.
That’s a pretty good right?
If you just write a few articles each month, you could add $100s to your bank balance!
If you want to know how to make money online for free, give guest writing for blogs a try.
Get paid for doing odd jobs
You can get paid for a multitude of odd jobs, like:
- Helping people to move
- Assembling furniture
- Handyman work
- Running errands
- Cleaning
These tasks are pretty simple, and you get money for them.
Here are a few places where you can make money doing odd jobs:
What’s great about these platforms is that you can take on as many or as few jobs as you want to, so it’s a really flexible gig.
If you’ve been looking for ideas to make money locally, then you should definitely give some of the places above a try.
What can I make?
Like with most of the gigs on this list, the pay varies depending on the company you work with.
Here are some examples of what you can earn with different companies:
- On Gigwalk, you can earn $3 to more than $100.
- On PayScale, people who do handyman work say they earn from $12 to $44 an hour, and average pay is $20 an hour.
- On Glassdoor, people say TaskRabbit pays $10 an hour
- You could earn $21 with Bellhops.
Make some cash doing micro tasks
Micro tasks are simple tasks, like annotating photos, or narrating videos.
You complete these small tasks and get paid.
There are a few places to find this type of work:
It’s easy to fit micro tasks into your day, making this a quick and easy way to make money online.
Do a couple of these tasks while you’re watching TV and you’ll make money in your downtime!
What can I make?
These tasks don’t pay a lot because they are so small and simple. The pay really varies with this one as well. You could make only a few cents or as much as a few dollars doing microtasks.
This Redditor says on Mturk that they make $20 to $30 a day, and another says they make $50 a month.
That’s not bad for something that you can do during a commercial break!
Participate in a medical trial
We’re going to level with you here; this one isn’t for everyone.
If you don’t mind this type of work though, being a subject in a medical trial can pay quite well.
Here are some places where you can find paid medical trials to participate in:
What can I make?
The pay for each study will differ, so we can’t give you an exact figure for this one. Just check with the place that offers the study to see how much you’ll earn.
Make money selling courses online
Maybe you’re great at sketching portraits, or maybe you know a lot about computers?
Whatever the subject is, from coding to makeup, you could create a course on a topic you know well and sell it for a profit online.
This is such a great way to make money, and if you’re knowledgeable about a subject, then you’re likely passionate about it too, and who doesn’t want to get paid for something they love?
Anyone can do this. All you need is a PC, and then, of course, your course content, which could include articles, videos, PowerPoint presentations, and whatever other mediums you want.
You can then sell your course on one of these platforms:
What can I make?
How many courses you sell, the price of your course and the platform you sell through all affect how much money you make from selling courses online.
Some sites charge a commission on your sales.
Skillshare says that first-time teachers on the site earn around $200 during their first month, and its top teachers rake in $3,000+!
Not too shabby right?
On Udemy, this Redditor says they make $550 a month.
There’s definitely the potential to make a lot of money selling courses.
Get paid to proofread and edit
Do you have a keen eye for typos, grammatical errors, and spelling mistakes?
Well you might make a good proofreader/editor.
You’ll need to proofread things like blog posts, books, and product descriptions.
Here are a few places where you can find proofreading/editing work:
- Scribendi
- FlexJobs
- UpWork
- Freelancer
- FlexJobs
- UpWork
- Freelancer
- Remote .co
- Cactus
- Domainite
- Editor World
- ProofreadingPal
What can I make?
On PayScale, Freelance editors say that they make $12 to $50 an hour, and the average income reported is $20 an hour.
Make money renting out your stuff
Whether it’s party supplies, musical instruments, or electronics, you can make money renting out your stuff.
You can rent out a wide variety of items too.
Here are two places where you can make money by renting out your stuff:
What can I make?
How much you make depends on quite a few factors. Things like how much you get per rental, what you rent out and how often you rent out your stuff will determine what you earn.
Do some transcription work and make money
Are you a good typist?
Well, you could make money as a transcriptionist.
All you need to do as a transcriptionist is listen to audio and then type what you hear.
After you deliver the transcript, you get paid.
Pretty easy right?
And this job can be done from home!
Here are some places that hire transcriptionists:
What can I make?
On PayScale, transcriptions say that they earn $16 an hour on average.
These companies all have different pay rates, so it’s tough to give an exact figure for what you’ll make from this gig.
Having said that, there are some examples of pay rates on offer that will give you a better idea of how much transcriptionist work pays:
- Earn $30 to $180 per audio hour with 1-888-TYPE-IT-UP.
- You can make $15 to $22 per audio hour at TranscribeMe. The average monthly income is $250 and top monthly earnings are around $2,200.
- Make $5 to $25 per audio hour with Scribie. There are even monthly bonuses available.
So there’s definitely the potential to earn $100s or even $1,000s a month from this.
Get paid to teach people how to speak English online (and other languages!)
Help students to learn how to speak English or another language, like German or Mandarin.
For this gig, you don’t even have to leave the house! You can teach your classes online.
Here are some places where you can get paid to teach English or another language online:
- italki
- Verbalplanet
- Cambly
- VIPKID
- Lingoda
- EF English Live
- Open English
- EnglishKey
- Englishunt
- iTutorGroup
- Learnlight
- TEFL.com
- Dave’s ESL Café
- ESL Jobs
- ESL Jobs World
- Teachlingo
- TESOL International Association
- ESL Employment
- UpWork
- Indeed
- FlexJobs
Most of the time to teach a language, you’ll need some qualifications, like a TEFL certificate or similar qualification.
Sometimes a degree is required as well.
Just check requirements of the company you plan to work with.
What can I make?
On PayScale, ESL teachers say that they earn $12 to $39 an hour, and the average income reported is $20 an hour.
That’s not bad for something that you can do from home!
Make money selling your own merch
Do you have design skills?
Well try designing and selling your own merch.
Whether it’s t-shirts, mugs, pens or any other merch that features designs or photos on it, you can make money selling merchandise online that you’ve designed.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to start up your own site to sell your stuff.
No, there’s a much quicker way.
There are websites out there just for selling t-shirts and other merch.
These online marketplaces already have a customer base.
So you don’t need to worry about driving customers to your own website.
What’s great about these sites is that aside from already having a customer base, they also handle the printing of your products, shipping and customer care.
How easy is that?
All you need to do is create some quality designs and upload them to the platform you plan to sell through.
Here are some great sites for selling merch:
- Merch by Amazon
- Instaprints
- RedBubble
- FineArtAmerica
- Gear Bubble
- Teespring
- CafePress
- Spreadshirt
- Threadless
- SunFrog
What can I make?
It’s tough to say exactly what you’ll make from selling your own merchandize. There are lots of factors that will affect your income, like how much you sell your stuff for, how many sales you make, and what fees the site you use charges for printing the products and other services.
With Merch by Amazon, this Redditor says they average $626 a month. That’s pretty good, right?
Make money searching the internet
Did you know that you could actually make money each time you search for stuff online?
Yes, this is crazy but true.
Here’s where you can get paid to search online:
Whenever you use Bing to search the Internet, Microsoft Rewards will give you points.
You get a certain number of points per search.
When you get enough points, you can exchange them for gift cards. So you get free cash to spend!
I’ve gotten quite a few gift cards using Microsoft rewards.
What can I make?
You’re not going to make tons with this. I’ve made around $60 in just over a year using it. But there are daily quizzes you can take that get you even more points, and other ways to earn extra points.
If you did those quizzes each day, you’d be able to earn much more than that!
Make your own YouTube channel
Have you heard about those YouTubers, like PewDiePie who make millions from their YouTube channels?
Well you could be one of them.
Anyone can start a YouTube channel, upload videos and get paid.
We’re not saying that you’re going to make millions from it, but it’s definitely a profitable venture!
Maybe you like playing on Minecraft?
You could start a channel on tips and ideas for playing Minecraft.
Or perhaps you love cooking?
You could start your own cooking channel.
Whatever it is you enjoy, it’s likely that you can start a YouTube channel on it.
Some people even just make a channel about their everyday lives, where they vlog about their daily routine.
Crazy right?
Here’s where you can get paid for doing YouTube videos:
When you join this program, you can make money from the ads that play during your videos.
You won’t be able to make money from your YouTube videos from the outset though.
No, you’ll need to have more than 1,000 subscribers, and more than 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months to be eligible for the YouTube Partner Program.
There are other eligibility requirements as well, which you can learn more about on the page we linked to above.
Once you’re a member of the program though, you’ll start making money.
What can I make?
YouTube can be highly lucrative, with many of its biggest stars raking in millions from the platform.
Of course, not everyone who gives YouTube a try becomes a millionaire.
Upload videos consistently, take the time to build up your channel and you could make $100s or $1,000s from your YouTube channel each month.
Since YouTube doesn’t really say what it pays, it’s tough to give you an exact number on what you’ll make from your channel.
There are estimated figures given online though, which say that for every 1,000 views their videos get, YouTubers make from $0.25 to $7.
Social Blade has a tool that you can use to estimate your YouTube income. You can find this tool on this page.
Make money investing in dividend stocks
If you can afford it in your current budget, you might want to think about investing in dividend stocks.
You’ll need to invest your money upfront, and the stocks aren’t guaranteed you earn money.
That’s the issue with investing.
But, if they do end up making you money, it can be a very profitable endeavor.
For some places, you don’t have to invest a lot either.
There are brokerage platforms that offer low cost investment options.
Here are some places where you can find low cost investment options:
Dividend.com also has a list of investment opportunities, which you can take a look at here.
There’s also plenty of information out there on how to invest in dividend stocks.
Dividend.com is a great site to check out for information.
Another site to check out for information is Investopedia, as it has some good articles on investing. Take a look at this article and this article for some information on investing in dividend stocks.
This list from the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats lets you see companies who have increased their dividend payouts for 25 consecutive years.
What can I make?
It really varies, depending on factors, like how many shares you own, and how much the company pays in dividends. This article from Investopedia provides an introduction to investing in dividends and gives you information about how much stocks can pay out.
Make money investing in crowd-funded real estate
This one is great because it’s a passive way to make money.
Like with investing in stocks above though, this is one venture that you should only try if you are the financial position to do so.
While investing in real estate in the traditional way can be very profitable, buying a property costs so much that it’s not suitable for everyone.
That’s why investing in crowd-funded real estate can be such a good idea.
Here’s where you can invest in crowd-funded real estate:
With Fundrise, you can invest in real estate with as little as $500.
How awesome is that?
It’s so much more affordable than the traditional way of investing in real estate.
What can I make?
This is tough to give an exact figure, because there are so many factors at play, like how much you’ve invested.
On this Quora post, one person says that they’ve made $123.16 on a $1,000 base.
Make money from an existing website
Having your own website can be such a good way to make money.
You can earn thousands from it. It’s a lot of effort though, as we mentioned before. Guest blogging can be a good alternative, but it’s not as profitable as running your own site can be.
That’s why a good alternative to starting a blog or writing for other people’s sites is purchasing a website that’s already up and running.
Online, you can buy established websites that already get traffic and make a profit.
While when you start your own website, you have to spend time and effort building it up before you make money from it, established websites will bring in money from the start.
Here’s where you can buy an existing website online:
What can I make?
On Flippa, in the past there have been sites listed for sale on there that say they make $1,000 to $4,000 per month.
To find out more about what you could earn, visit the Flippa site. On the site, you can see what’s for sale and how much profit the sites make.
Give peer-to-peer lending a try
Try out peer-to-peer lending and earn interest on your money.
With peer-to-peer lending, you loan money to another person who couldn’t qualify for traditional financing. You can then earn interest from the money you loan.
Here’s where you can try out peer-to-peer lending:
What’s great about the Lending Club is that you can choose how much you want to lend, and decide how many loans you want to offer.
This is a good way to make a passive income when you don’t have the traditional 9 to 5 gig.
Only try this one though if you can afford to loan out the money in your current financial situation.
What can I make?
Lending money will always come with risks. That’s why it can be a safer idea to spread the money you lend out over a few different loans. Having 100, $15 loans would be safer than having one $1,500 loan, for example.
Statistics show that you’ll see returns of 5% to 9%.
Use a cashback credit card when you buy stuff
There are cashback credit cards that give you money back each time you spend money.
These cards are great because you essentially make money for doing nothing!
You are shopping already, so why not make a profit out of it?
Here are some credit cards that give you cashback:
- Discover It Card
- Chase Freedom Unlimited Credit Card
- Citi Double Cash Card
- American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card
- Bank of America Cash Rewards Credit Card
- American Express Blue Cash Everyday Card
- Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa Card
- Capital One Quicksilver Card
- US Bank Cash + Signature Visa Card
It’s important to only use credit cards if you know that you can pay the balance before you incur interest charges.
What can I make?
The credit cards above give you cashback when you spend money on everything from groceries to meals out at restaurants.
How much money you get from these cards varies, as each card has its own cashback rate.
Cashback credit cards usually give you 1% to 6% cashback.
Here are a few examples:
- Chase Freedom Unlimited Card: You can get 3% cashback on all purchases in your first year up to $20,000 spent. After that, you can get 1.5% cashback on all your purchases.
- US Bank Cash + Signature Visa Card: Get 5% cashback on your first $2,000 in combined purchases each quarter on two categories you choose. You can get 2% cashback on one everyday category, like restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores. You can get 1% cashback on all other eligible net purchases.
- American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card: You can get 6% cashback at US supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases and 1% after that. You can also get 6% cashback on select U.S. streaming subscriptions. Also, you can get 3% back at US stations and on transit, like taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains and buses. You can also get 1% cash back on other purchases.
So how much you spend and the cashback rate you get will impact how much you will earn.
If you spent $500 in a month and got 5% back, you’d make $25 a month, and you’d make $300 in a year, for example.
Start a high-yield savings account
Having a savings account isn’t just good financial sense. It can also generate some extra cash for you.
It won’t be a lot, but it’s such an easy way to get some extra money.
When you open up a savings account and deposit money into it, you get interest and grow your money.
It’s sort of like investing, but it’s less profitable. What’s good about a savings account over investing in stocks and bonds is that it’s far less risky!
Here are a few places where you could open up a high-yield savings account:
All you have to do is start the account, deposit some money, and then you’ll earn money passively!
What can I make?
How much you make depends on a few factors, like the APY (interest rate) you get.
Here are a few examples of the interest rates on offer:
- Synchrony Bank: 1.3% APY
- FNBO Direct: 1.15% APY
- EverBank: 1.21% to 1.31% APY
It’s hard to give you an exact figure for what you’ll make, as there are a few different factors that’ll determine how much money you get back.
The amount of money you put into your savings account will also affect how much money you make.
FNBO has a calculator that you can use to get examples of what you can earn from a high-yield savings account.
For example, if you were to deposit the $5,000 minimum amount, you’d earn $65 during your first year of savings.
Although it’s not a ton of cash, it adds up over time and it’s a passive way to make money, that’s low risk too. Plus, saving is always a good idea.
Sell your own app
Another thing to consider when you’re not working is selling your own app.
Just hire someone to create an app for you, upload it to the Google Play and Android store, and you’ll make money when your app sells.
Here are a few places where you can find people to design an app for you:
If you know how to code, then you could make the app yourself. Hiring someone to make an app is the best option for most people though.
This one requires a bit of upfront investment, but it can pay off in the long-run.
What can I make?
The amount you’ll earn depends on how many apps you sell and how much you sell your apps for.
This Redditor made $5,400 from one of their apps in 2012, and $3,400 from it in 2013.
Another Redditor says their post made them £400 a month in iOS sales and £300 in Android sales.
This means you could make $100s a month from selling apps.
Make money selling products on Amazon with FBA
Did you know that you can make money selling products on Amazon?
Here’s where you can make money selling stuff on Amazon:
Fulfilment by Amazon, which is also called FBA, is a program that sellers can join to make selling on the platform a whole lot easier.
You select a product you want to sell, get it delivered to an Amazon fulfillment center, and Amazon will handle everything else for you. Amazon will ship the product for you, and deal with customer service as well.
It basically makes the whole process of selling stuff on Amazon a lot simpler.
Of course, for providing these services, Amazon charges fulfillment fees, which you can read here.
What can I make?
Income for FBA varies a lot, since things like how many units you sell, the fees you pay to Amazon and how much you get from each sale all affect your earnings.
Here are some income examples from people who’ve made money with FBA:
- One Redditor says that in their first month, they made $1,633.34 in sales.
- This Redditor says that from FBA, they make $17,000 a month in profits.
- Another Redditor says they broke 6 figures in sales, within 9 months.
You can make $1,000s a month from selling on Amazon, so it’s definitely one to consider.
Of course, with FBA, there are upfront costs, like paying for the products and shipping them to Amazon, as well as fees that Amazon charges.
So if you don’t have the cash to spend upfront, then you might want to give this one a miss.
Get paid for selling stock music
Do you love playing and writing music?
Well you could make money selling it!
This is true.
You can sell your music through stock websites. Just license it and earn royalties from it.
It works in a similar way to selling stock photos, except you make money when people buy your music, rather than your photographs.
People are looking for music to add to videos on YouTube, apps, ads, and other things, and they’re willing to pay for it!
You could even sell the same song multiple times, meaning you make money over and over again for the same track.
Here are some places where you can sell your music for a profit:
Take a look at these sites and you could make a good amount of cash from this venture.
What can I make?
It really varies. Most platforms will charge you a commission on your sales. Obviously, this will affect the amount of money you earn.
Also, how much you sell your songs for, and how many sales you get will also affect how much money you make.
Redittors on this post and this one, say they make $100s a month selling their songs.
The musicians in this article from The Guardian earn $30,000 to $40,000 a year.
How awesome is that?
Get free cash to spend from store rewards programs and loyalty cards
One of the easiest ways to get some extra spending money is to sign up to store and restaurant loyalty programs.
Lots of places have them.
Most stores and many restaurants have a loyalty card you can get or a rewards program that you can join, which basically gives you free cash to spend.
With most cards or programs, you get points you can redeem for restaurant or store credit, coupons, cashback and other deals that basically get you free cash.
Many of these programs and cards also get you free stuff!
Here are some awesome rewards programs and loyalty cards:
- Target CircleCard
- Sears Shop your Way
- Kohl’s Yes2You Rewards
- JC. Penney Rewards
- Nordstrom Rewards
- SaksFirst Store Card
- My Walgreens (former Walgreens Balance Rewards)
- CVS ExtraCare
- DICK’s Sporting Goods
- My Best Buy
- Sephora Beauty Insider
- Disney Movie Rewards
- Prime Reload
- Subway MyWay Rewards
- Applebee’s MVN Points
- Papa John’s Papa Rewards
- Domino’s Piece of the Pie Rewards
What can I make?
You’re not going to make tons from this. Rewards programs aren’t designed to make you a ton of cash though. But, they are a good way to get free cash to spend at the places that you often shop or dine at.
Make money from micro investment apps
Always dreamed of investing, but don’t have a huge amount of cash to do so?
Well, give micro-investment apps a try.
These apps will automatically choose stocks and bonds for you, and invest your money.
You don’t have to invest a lot either, as you would with traditional investments.
You could invest as little as $5.
Here are some apps where you can make money from investing:
This is another good way to make cash, and since you don’t have to invest much upfront, it’s not too risky!
What can I make?
How much you earn will depend on a lot of factors, like how much you invest and your return on your investments.
Get paid to exercise and be healthy
This is crazy, but true: you can get paid for doing healthy things, like losing weight, walking or going to the gym.
Give these apps a try, and you’ll thank us when you’re being paid to exercise:
- DietBet: iOS and Android
- HealthyWage: iOS and Android
- Sweatcoin: iOS and Android
What can I make?
Each app pays differently, so you’ll need to check with the particular app you use to see what their pay rates are. Also, things like how well you keep up with your fitness goals can also impact the amount of money you make.
Open a new checking account
Most banks offer promotions to new customers. This means that just for opening up a new account (and making a deposit in most cases), you’ll get free cash!
Here are some banks that give customers money just for opening a checking account:
- Chase Total Checking Account
- TD Premier Checking
- TD Convenience Checking
- Chase Sapphire Checking Account
- Capital One 360 Checking
- Bank of America Checking Account
- SunTrust
- HSBC Advance Checking
- HSBC Choice Checking Account
- HSBC Premier Checking Account
- Elements Financial High Interest Checking Account
- BB&T Bright Banking Checking Account
- UNIFY Checking Account
- PNC Virtual Wallet with Performance Select
- PNC Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend
This is a pretty easy way to make some extra cash.
What can I make?
Each bank will have a different promotion, so it’s tough to give you an exact figure for what you’ll get for opening an account.
Here are some examples of what you can get to give you a better idea of the promotions offered by banks.
- You get $200 when you open a Chase Total Checking Account and make a deposit.
- When you open a TD Premier Checking Account you get a bonus of up to $300. To get this bonus, you need to receive direct deposits of $2,500 or more within 60 days of opening your account.
- Get a $100 bonus when you open a Bank of America Checking Account. To get this bonus, you will need to receive at least two direct deposits of $250 or more within the first 90 days of opening your account.
So, these bonuses are pretty good, as you can see!
Making Money without a Job: Summary
There are so many ways to make money if you don’t have a traditional 9 to 5 job.
Lots of us find ourselves out of work at some point – maybe you’ve just graduated college and haven’t found a job yet, maybe you’re between jobs right now, or perhaps you’re a stay-at-home parent?
Whatever it is, if you don’t have a job, give one of the above methods a try.
With some of the methods on this list, like freelance writing and Amazon FBA, you could actually make yourself a full-time income.
Other methods, like doing easy tasks on sites like Swagbucks or using cashback websites are good for making a little extra spending money.
If you’ve wanted to know how to make money without a job, give the places above a try.