15 Simple Ways to Make Extra Money
Posted in Personal Finance by Kevin | Tags: career, income, job, jobs, make money, money, WorkDuring a recession, where jobs are scarce and unemployment is high, extra money is something most people can look forward to earning. Besides the conventional jobs, there are many things you can do that can earn some money.
Ever since high school, I have been making great money without having a regular job. I have been resourceful, doing research on what kinds of jobs and services are in demand, and doing freestyle work.
I currently web design part -time and do some tutoring for most of my money.
Here are some easy ways for YOU to make extra cash.
- Sell things on eBay – You can find lots of valuable things at local garage sales and swap meets. Focus on a particular thing so that you become an expert and know the prices. For example, I used to buy and sell mobile phones for about 7 months and made about 800 a month. I even had a website to sell by myself without paying extra to Ebay/Paypal but sold the domain on Sedo for $1100.
- Paid Reviews – Paid reviews are becoming a big hit. You can easily make $50 a day by writing product reviews. Depending on your writing cells and readership, some companies are willing to pay hundreds for good reviews. PayPerPost is a great online service which acts as a middleman between writer and buyer.
- Tutor- I tutor math and science because my degree is in Biochemistry, but you can make a bunch of money offering tutoring services around your community. Spread the word, make a website, and enjoy earning money while helping someone in need.
I made this website: http://lasciencetutors.com for my tutoring. - Begin a Blog- Sure, for the first year or so, you will probably make a measly few bucks a day. But if you are a determined writer and can do some social networking espionage, you can build up a nice reader base and sell advertising spots to markets in your niche.
- Write a Book – I recommend this step if you have a particular skill or interest along with some monetary cushion as publishing a book can take almost a year and a half. However, if you’re lucky and your book starts selling, you will quickly find yourself with enough money for a nice house down payment.
- Sell Stock Photos- Are you a great photographer? You can make great stock photos and sell them to larger websites for extra money. Have some samples of your work ready.
- Sell an eBook – You can make money faster making an eBook and selling it on a related blog or website (could be your blog or website). eBooks with tutorials and tips are good seller. You can also keep most of the profit and track your sales much easier than an actual book. Tons of websites are available to help you publish your eBook.
- Become a Social Network Guru – Large companies are willing to dish out hundreds to savvy social networkers with lots of readers. For example, I have heard of offers in the ten thousands for the top Diggers to submit a link. Could that be you? Your credibility and status could take time to build up, but the market is there for sure.
- Design Twitter backgrounds- Twitter is the next big social networking website. Celebrities, businesses, and bloggers are flocking to Twitter – most of them without any tech skills. You can design them a nice Twitter background and make some quick money. It took me like ten hours to design my Twitter page and I still think a redo is around the corner.
- Social and Micro Lending- Got a few grand to invest? You can lend it out on social lending sites like Prosper.com or LendingClub. With default rates at a low 2.5%, you can spread your notes around and make substantial amounts on interest alone. Why not help people out and make some extra cash doing so?
- Start an Online Store- You can sell everything and anything. I have male friends selling cosmetics and lady friends selling car equipment. Use Cafepress or start your own shopping site. Design unique products and make a ton of money.
- Get a Job with The US Census- Thousands of jobs will be added this year to finish the 2010 Census. These great government jobs can bring in thousands a month if you have time. Census offices in my area are going to grow from ten to hundreds of workers by the time applications begin rolling in.
- Sell Custom Designed Water Bottles at Events- Find local events in the newspaper or online and order custom designed water bottles. You can buy them very cheap and sell them for an extra dollar or two a bottle. Imagine how much money you could make at a big event?
- Teach English classes at Adult Centers or Colleges- Does your city have a large immigrant population? There are almost always employers looking to pay a native speaker good money to teach a class. Here in Los Angeles, these classes pay $45-55 an hour for 8 hours a week – almost $1,200 a month.
- Sell Homegrown Fruits and Vegetables- You don’t have to be a agribusiness to make money selling crops. Grow a few exotic fruit trees or vegetable patches and sell the harvest to locals. I guarantee you, not only will your food be better than what they are eating, but also less expensive. You can even use this to supplement your own purchases and save a bunch of money.
These are the legal and scam free ways to make money that I have thought of. Have you made money doing something else recently? Please share your tips and experiences with the rest of our readers.
30 Comments to “15 Simple Ways to Make Extra Money”
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John says:
My wife makes money walking the dogs and doing house sitting … brings in about 500 a month.
jOE says:
A few edits. If you write a blog, be ready to make ZERO dollars, and pay some for the first
jOE says:
several years. Also, the LAST reason anyone should begin (or finish) a book, is so that they can make money. It isn’t *simple*, it’s murder getting published (it does happen with lots of hard work) and even MORE rare to make money. In this economy, even fewer books than ever are getting published, and new authors are often left out in the cold.
If you want to write, do it because you love to and want to, whether you make money or get published or not. A fun way to start is http://www.nanowrimo.org.
Kevin says:
Joe,
I wouldn’t say ZERO dollars for blogging at first… even if you get a hundred or so people reading a day.. you can make a little cash. Maybe zero for the first month.
15 Simple Ways to Make Extra Money | SmarterSpend.com Help just to Me says:
[…] is the original post: 15 Simple Ways to Make Extra Money | SmarterSpend.com tags: easy-ways, generally-work, learn, list, make-extra, money, some-time, taken-part, […]
Mike King says:
I think its funny how these are listed as simple but many are far from it. How about picking up an easy boost job, selling your stuff, trading services, and other shorter easier tasks. Writing books, designing sites and selling ebooks are the farthest thing from easy money that I can think of.
Delonghi says:
Those are very helpful, thank you very much.
Kevin says:
Mike, writing a book and designing a site are simple… because you work at your own pace. That’s the single biggest benefits of being a freelancer worker.
Isabella says:
Becoming a blogger can be lucrative, but it takes alot of work. If you think you are going to make some money/turn a profilt in a few months that probably wont happen. Sometimes its 1+ year before you even see that first adsense payout. Choose your nice wisely and pump out articles daily
* How to Minimize Your College Debt and Student Loans says:
[…] your debt because you won’t have to take money out for personal expenses. In addition, here are 15 ways to make extra money to give you some […]
Matt says:
I like helping my neighbours out, most of them are elderly It’s mostly yard work or some heavy lifting. The funny thing is I never ask for money so they tip me. Like a lot of your ideas and might try a couple of them, like the online store. Sell some T-shirts or maybe even painted rocks with a story about them. I know I’d buy one with a cool enough story :PThanks for the Ideas,Matt
Kevin says:
Thanks Matt, hope you check back again!
Alex Burda says:
HI…….I think the post so many things to learn tx for help for the other people nice post every one wants to make the money and making the money is not a wrong thing and writing a blog is really hard work its really help full blog .
Forest says:
I make good money now with my blog but it took a while! I also have online graphic design clients and have a fairly freestyle life because of it.Great post.
Emily says:
A lot of these aren’t really ways to make extra money, they’re careers. I definitely agree with Mike. I found this comment to be especially offensive:”Mike, writing a book and designing a site are
simple… because you work at your own pace. That’s the single biggest
benefits of being a freelancer worker.”I don’t know much about website designing, but I know it’s not simple. Maybe it is if you know what you’re doing, but most people don’t. What’s so offensive to me is the writing part. I myself am a writer and it’s not just something you jump into, it’s not something you do just for the sake of making money, and it’s not simple. Getting to work at your own pace is nice, but the less often you write, the longer it takes to make money in a process that is long even if you work at it all the time. And that’s all it is, it’s nice. Nice doesn’t make it simple. It’s simply a convenience that freelance writers have. Writing a book is hard and you have to have a real passion for the subject and skill in writing to be able to do it. It takes dedication to the craft of writing to produce anything decent and even then it’s a long shot to even get published. Writing is a career, not just something you do to make some extra cash. It is very hard to convince someone to publish your work, and the business is especially hostile to first time authors and those who aren’t writing for a career. You should really do some research before you just suggest people just pick up random careers and instead try actually giving decent suggestions. The water bottle, ebay, census, and vegetable selling were good suggestions. Everything else at least requires certain skills or considerable time or money to invest and in this economy no one has either of those.
Kevin says:
Hi Emily,
Emily says:
Just read over my post and I would first like to say I now realize I may have come off as a bit snappy and that was not my intention. To respond to your post, I will admit that writing does not have to be a career, but not everyone can write. Like I said it does take a lot of skill that I think you are underestimating. Also, self-publishing a book may be an option, but that can be just as hard as going with a contract. You have to pay the cost of getting the books printed which can be expensive. You then have to know how to market your book and it has to actually have an audience that is willing to purchase it. Self-publishing requires at least a small investment, and may take a very long time to turn a profit. It just seems to me that you are underestimating the challenge that writing is by classifying it as simple.Also, you said that you agree some of these may require some skill. What I don’t understand is what they are doing on a list of “simple” things to do to make money. If it requires a skill or is something that not everyone can do, then it’s not simple. Perhaps I misunderstood the purpose of your post. I assumed that a list of simple things to do for extra cash would be things that anyone could do.
Carl says:
Dang Emily, you certainly did miss the mark, and that is
speaking to both of your posts. Since you are an alleged writer, I emphasize
alleged, because if I were an editor and you sent me a manuscript, and the
first two paragraphs of that manuscript read similar to your posts, that would
be as far as I would get with them. They would be in the trash, you need some
more practice, but I digress. I suggest you go back and read #5 again, Kevin
had suggested you have “a particular skill or interest”, and a “monetary cushion”,
in addition to luck and a year and a half before considering this path. While I
agree “simple” may have not been the ideal term to use, I believe that the
title itself could be construed as an idiomatic expression and should not be so
torn apart literally. Having said that, I believe that these are all very good
suggestions at making extra money, I also believe that an argument can be made
that each and every one of these suggestions could be considered to be “not so
simple” or nice for some, and downright impossible for others. They are
suggestions! But to my point, I found both of your posts to be very offensive
and condescending. I cannot fathom how anyone could interpret this to be
offensive. You have every right to disagree with Kevin, maybe even a suggestion
or two of your own, I’ll grant you that, but take offense? Give me a break
little miss wantabe a writer. I know at least a half a dozen people who write
as a hobby and also have full time careers; they have also been published, so
this is another part of your absurd argument that does not hold true. I think
it is hard for you, maybe because you are just not that good of a writer. I
could go on and decimate each and every one of your paltry points line for
line, but I think I’ve made my point. By the way, nice job Kevin, all are very
good suggestions.
Kevin says:
Carl,
Carl says:
Thank you for the acknowledgment Kevin, and I apologize for bloviating or ranting on your blog, I just could not contain my disdain for Emily and her post. Which brings me to one of the points I wanted make regarding your acknowledgment, and that is the fact that you actually do respond to most of the comments, positive or negative. That is part of what makes your blog so appealing, that and your content of course. But, when Ms. Emily went as far to say that she was “especially offended” at this post, that just got under my skin for some reason, Mike also deserves a bozo award for sparking Emily’s response. Anyway, keep up the good work and I hope to see more of your work.
mr quackums says:
selling plasma.it is easy to do: just go down to the local plasma center and sign init is fast: an hour and a half to 2 hours twice a week for sitting on your butt (except for the first time, due to paper work and a physical the first time takes about 4-5 hours)decent pay: $65 every week (at two sessions per week) and usually with bonuses for new donersdoing a good deed: most plasma gained from centers is used as a raw material to produce treatments for burn victims and for those with certain blood diseases. the rest (from doners with a rare antibody) is used to help find a cure/vaccine for AIDS.
kermit says:
Go, Team Emily/Mike!I was also surprised at the depth of specialized information required to do some of these things…
kermit says:
Carl,’Blog Etiquette’ dictates both courteous behaviour and taking the high road, even when you disagree with someone else point of view. “I just could not contain my disdain for Emily and her post… Mike also deserves a bozo award for sparking Emily’s response.” According to this reasoning, Carl, Kevin probably deserves one of your bozo awards, too, for posting the article in the first place. Kevin, I did enjoy reading your post, and found the majority of ideas to be helpful to me.Thanks, and keep ’em coming!
Make Tons of Money says:
Monetizing your sites is a great opportunity to make tons of money. Always make sure prospects will be enticed to buy or click. Remember that your visitors do not pay attention to all banners placed on your site but rather to the information that they can get from your website.
Savvy says:
Kevin, I really enjoyed your article. I even recommended it to friends!
Kevin says:
Thank You!
Rich W. says:
Although I did appreciate the information in this blog, I think I would tend to side with Emily on this one. Certainly a person could write a book in a year or two, and an e-book in less time, the point I must make is that Kevin wrote “Of course, there are writers that write as a career, but anyone can write.” The truth, as I have become so painfully aware of in reading many blogs, is that not everyone can write. As a matter of fact, the definite majority of people who are trying to write blogs either need to go back to high school English, or find someone to edit their blogs (and in some cases even major commercial websites!)
Kevin says:
Rich,The good “writers” didn’t become writers overnight- it takes a lot of trial and error and practice to become great. This same process applies to those that don’t have a complete mastery of writing. Just ask yourself- what do people DO in high school English? They write. Maybe these people won’t have perfectly written articles to start, but with lots of practice and useful criticism from readers, they too will become experts.
Apple says:
Volunteer to be a research participant in a nearby university. Strict regulations guarantee that you will not be harmed, and researchers are often so tight for participants that they offer monetary compensation.
movers says:
You can definitely make money blogging. If you get many readers sometimes company would either send you products for free or they send you a voucher to spend at their store. I highly recommend blogging. It’s easy and fun.