This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a small commission if you make a purchase. Originally posted on millennialtwist.com.
Welcome to our list of ways to make extra money!
Do you have something coming up that you need some extra money for? A trip perhaps? Holiday? RENT?! Just trying to bump up your savings a little? Making some extra money (even just $50 or $100) can really make a difference in your life.
Think about all the things you can do with some extra money! Things like:
- Build up an emergency fund
- Eliminate your credit card debt
- Increase retirement savings (or begin saving for retirement)
- Buy something you want (trip? purse? new video game ?)
- Give to causes / people you love
So why not try a few of these ideas out and see what works for you? You got this!
Make $100 Fast
If you want to start making money TODAY, I highly recommend Survey Junkie (get 100 points for signing up and completing your profile!)
Making Extra Money From Home
Take Surveys
Companies will gladly pay people to answer a few questions because they want to know their customers better so they can create better products and more effective advertising campaigns.
Now you won’t get rich by doing surveys, but the website are free to join and easy to use. Most website will also send you an email when there’s a survey available for you to take so you don’t have to check the websites every day!
The other survey websites I recommend are:
Survey Junkie (get 100 points for signing up and completing your profile!)
Inbox Dollars (get $5 for signing up!)
Panda Research (get $3-$75 per completed survey!)
Vindale Research (get $2 for completing your profile, unlimited surveys!)
Survey Voices (make up to $800/week!)
Test Websites and Apps
There are companies that will pay you $10+ to test a website or app to see if it’s user-friendly or not. These tests can be completed from home and usually don’t take more than 30 minutes at a time. If you’re interested in testing websites check out:
Usertesting
TryMyUI
UserLytics
Enroll
What Users Do
Short Task Websites
Short task websites are exactly what they sound like, they are websites that have small tasks that can be completed for money – like rating pictures, answering surveys, watching videos, transcribing things! If you’re interested in short-task websites check out:
Amazon Mechanical Turk
CashCrate
Clickworker
Inbox Dollars
Microworkers
Swagbucks
Be A Mail Decoy
Companies that send marketing materials through the mail like to ensure that the mail was sent on time and that the piece(s) of mail arrived in good condition. They will pay people to accept these mailings at their homes and “process” the mail, which usually means inputting information on the website about the piece of mail (what day it was received, what condition was it in, etc). Here are some companies that will pay you to be a Mail Decoy:
US Monitor
The Hauser Group
SBK Center
ReportEZ
Local Influnencer
Mystery Shopping (Over the Phone)
Companies that have call centers or do business over phone sometimes want to evaluate their employees by having someone do a test call. The mystery shopper will usually be told what questions to ask and what things to listen for during the call. Once the call is over, the mystery shopper will write a report and then submit that report for review. Once the report is accepted, the mystery shopper is paid. If you are interested in doing mystery shops over the phone then check out the following websites:
ARC
Call Center QA
Confero
Talk2Rep
Yardi Matrix
Rate Music for Extra Money!
Slice the Pie is a website where you can listen to music or watch commercials and then rate them! Once you’re finished listening to the song or watching the commercial, you just write a small blurb about what was good/bad about the song or commercial, and that’s it!
Make Money With Activities You Already Do
Cashback On Online Purchases
You probably shop online at least once a month, right? Why not get a percentage of that back in cash, or with a giftcard that you can use to buy something else? Even if it’s just 1% cash back, it does add up! Here are my favorite cashback websites:
eBates
BeFrugal
Earn Cashback When Grocery Shopping
Ibotta is an app that will give you cash for buying certain items. Just download the app, pick your favorite store, and find the items you’re interested in buying, and just upload a picture of your receipt when you’re done shopping! Money will be added to your account, and when the balance reaches $20 you can withdraw via PayPal. Neat, right?
Monetize Your Daily Walks
Do you like running or taking walks? Do you also have an iPhone? Awesome! There is an app called SweatCoin that will give you a type of currency called SweatCoins. You can redeem the SweatCoins for things like gift cards, running shoes, Apple watches, and even trips!
Lose Weight and Earn Money!
Interested in losing weight and making some money in the process? There are two well-known websites that will pay you cash for making your weight loss goals! With both websites, you join a group of people who also have weight loss goals, and everyone puts in a fee. Then if/when you reach your weight loss goal during the pre-determined deadline, you split the pot with other people that have reached their goals. If that sounds like something you’d be into, you can visit:
DietBet
HealthyWage
Earn Interest on Savings
Do you have an emergency fund or some money set aside for a short-term goal? Take a look at this, and take some time to find a savings account that fits your needs AND that gives you a good savings rate. The extra money from compound interest REALLY adds up.
Sell Your Unwanted Items
Sell Your Books
Maybe you have some books or manga that you’ve read a million times that you want to get rid of. Or maybe you have some old textbooks? If you want to sell your books I highly recommend using Amazon.com, it’s easy to use and for new books, there’s usually an option where you can trade in your books for an Amazon gift card. Other good sites to use are: bookscouter.com, eBay.com, craigslist.com
Sell Your Clothes Online
There’s tons of websites for selling your clothes online. If you have higher end gently used clothing and you don’t want to go through the trouble of selling anything yourself, I recommend using ThredUp. They send you a bag in the mail that you fill up and shop back to them. They will photograph and list your items on their website, all you have to do is sit back and relax! If you want to take a more active role in selling your items you can use eBay, Poshmark, Craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace.
Sell Your Unused or Gently Used Makeup
If you have some new or pre-owned makeup (not expired with at 50% of the product remaining), then you can ship them to Glam Bot and get an offer for your makeup. When you accept the offer you can either get store credit from Glam Bot or cash (through PayPal).
Sell Your Gift Cards
Maybe your dad got you a gift card to Home Depot when you’re more of a Sephora girl? (No? Just me? Ok..) Anyway, if you have some giftcards you’d like to get rid of I suggest using Raise.com. You can list your gift card for sale, and when someone buys it you get the proceeds via PayPal. There’s other websites for selling gift cards out there, but Raise is one that I’ve used for years (for both buying and selling!)
Side Hustles
Drive with Uber or Lyft
This can be a side hustle or a full-time job. If you want to make some extra money on your commute or on the weekend by driving people around, I suggest you sign up with Lyft or Uber.
House Sitting
Maybe you know someone that’s going away for the weekend? Or longer even? You could offer to housesit for them for a small fee. This is an easy side hustle that requires almost no effort. All you have to do is take care of the house (might include watering plants or taking care of pets), and you get a place to sleep and potentially whatever food you can find in the kitchen.
Yardwork
This is something that has little-to-no start up costs, all you need is a lawnmower and a few tools. You can mow lawns ($20-$35 a lawn isn’t too bad at all!), weed removal, raking leaves, etc.
Shovel snow
If you live up north or someplace else that gets a lot of snow, then you may be able to make some extra money shoveling snow. You could make anywhere from $10-$20 for shoveling your neighbors driveway!
Pet Grooming
This could be a lucrative side-hustle for someone with the patience and training for it. You could charge anywhere from $30-$100 depending what services you’d offer and how big the dog is.
Dog Walking
Every dog can benefit from a daily walk, but sometimes people are busy or out of town and are unable to walk their dogs. This is where you come in. You can ask your neighbors or friends if they could use your services, or you can look online to see if there’s anyone in your area in need of a dog walker. You can charge anywhere from $15-$35 per walk.
Pet Sitting
If you love taking care of pets, are responsible, and have some space in your home, pet-sitting could be a great side-hustle for you! Rover is a good option for finding work as a dog walker or a pet sitter. You can even set preferences for the types of dogs you want to pet-sit! You could potentially earn up to $1000/month!
Poop Scooper
Lots of dogs in your neighborhood? You could charge people $15-$45 to scoop the poop in their yards and dispose of it! Might not make you rich, but it is an easy job, just hold your nose!
Litter Box Cleaner
Sort of the same idea as scooping poop, only this is for cats. You could offer to both scoop the poop in the litter box and deep the litter box for a small fee.
Mystery Shopping
Companies want to evaluate their employees by having someone do a test transaction or ask questions. For example, you might be asked to order something at a restaurant, inquire about opening a bank account at a bank, or ask questions about inventory at a car dealership. The mystery shopper (that’s you!) will usually be told what questions to ask and what item(s) to buy. Once the transaction is over the mystery shopper will write a report and then submit that report for review. Once the report is accepted, the mystery shopper is paid. If you are interested in doing mystery shops then check out the following websites:
A Closer Look
Call Center QA
MarketForce
GFK
Second to None
Get a part-time job
I know, I know it’s not the greatest or the most unique idea, but I feel like the list wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention this. There’s plenty of jobs you can get that can compliment your full-time / other type of schedule (night jobs, weekend jobs, seasonal, etc).
Rent Your Car
You can rent your car to travelers on a website called Turo. You create a listing for your car, and when someone requests to book it, you can approve or deny the request. Once you approve, you will meet the guest and send them on their way. You could make anywhere from $300-$45,000 a year renting your car out. Check out Turo for more information.
Become a Landlord
If you have an extra room in your house you could rent it out to someone. This is a small side hustle that could make a big difference in your budget.
Passive Income
Phone Photography
Have a creative eye? Love taking photos on your smartphone? There’s an app called Foap, that will pay you for your pictures. All you have to do is download the app and upload your photos (or videos). When a person or company purchases your photo or video, you split the sale price 50/50 with Foap.
Invest Your Spare Change With Acorns
You probably use your credit or debit card at least once a day, right? What if you could round up the purchase to the nearest dollar and invest that change?
That’s what Acorns does!
Acorns invests your spare change into a portfolio for your future! You can also set up recurring investments and you can always do a one-time deposit (anytime you want!).
Also, Acorns will give you $5 just for signing up!
Bigger Side Hustles / Businesses You Can Start
Freelance Writer
If you like writing you could easily make a career out of it. People can (and will!) pay you for writing articles, blog posts, sales copy, even tweets! If you’re interested in learning how to become a freelance writer, check out this article from the Horkey HandBook, How to Become a Freelance Writer. If you’d like to see what niches you can write about check out this list of 200+ Writing Niches.
Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants help bloggers, businesses, even just regular people with day to day tasks. If you have graphic design, social media, bookkeeping, content creation, or customer service skills (or are willing to learn!), then you’d be a perfect fit for being a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants can make anywhere from $35-$60 an hour depending on what services they offer. Not sure if this is right for you? Check out this list of 150+ Virtual Assistant services.
Transcription
A transcriber is someone who takes audio and converts it into written word. The audio can be anything from TV Shows, YouTube videos, even podcasts! Most websites split the audio into bite-sized pieces to make the job easier. It does take a lot of practice, but it can potentially become a full-time job!
Here are my favorite websites for transcription work:
TranscribeMe
Rev
Cleaning Business (residential or commercial)
Nearly every community has a need for a cleaning business. You can either go to peoples homes and clean them, or to a small office and do the cleaning there. The work can be tedious and labor-intensive, but if you like to clean and are willing to hire people to help, this could grow into a small business!