Nowadays more Americans are turning to side hustles so that they can help them make some extra cash – 27% to be precise. If you’re looking for something that you can do during your spare time so that you can earn some money, the following are about 200 ideas to get you going.
We all benefit from earning some additional cash. Whether you’re trying to build your savings for an emergency, paying off your student loans or saving up towards a down payment for a home, you can achieve your goal by increasing your income.
Every year, more and more people are turning to side gigs so that they can make some additional money. Millionable recently did a survey where 57% of the respondents said that they had side gigs that they did during their free time.
Almost 73% of the respondents stated that they were making $200 or less every month from their side hustles. However, about 1 in 6 people are making about $500 per months from both their salaries and side hustles.
An additional $500 can really go a long way in most people’s lives. If you’re hardworking, focused and determined, you can achieve your goals for months or years sooner. But since there are different types of side hustles to choose from, how does one even start?
This article lists several of the most ideal side hustle ideas that are available out there. All of them have been broken down into how to get started, income potential, the requirements, level of difficulty and a brief description of how they operate.
Make sure you select something that suits your lifestyle and goals. For instance, if your aim is to be earning an extra $500 per month, you ought to go for a gig like taking online surveys. On the other hand, if you’re just looking for ways to get free gift cards from time to time easily, a great option could be taking surveys as well.
Simple Ways to Start Earning Money
Everyone will be able to get something from this list, but we’re starting off with side hustles that need the lowest effort means for making additional money. If you’re looking for how you can earn some additional money without putting in a lot of effort and time, consider the following gigs.
1. Get a Delivery Gig
Over the past several years, food delivery service has become more and more popular. Whether it’s getting food from a local restaurant or grocery shopping, they can be time consuming especially to people who are very busy at work. If you don’t have some time to spare, you can simply pay someone else to pick up your meal for you. People who do deliveries go to the restaurant or grocery store, pick up orders and deliver them to the designated location. Some common delivery services to use include:
- Instacart is a service that delivers groceries to the designated location. If you’re Instacart Shopper, you’ll have to claim orders, go to the grocery store, purchase what was ordered and deliver it to the customer. For all the gigs you finish the previous week, your earnings will be paid to you through direct deposit at the end of every week.
- DoorDash caters to people who place meal orders from different restaurants. If you’re a DoorDash delivery person, you’ll know your earnings before your assignment is complete. Unlike most platforms that do food delivery services, the app displays how much money you’ll get depending on the driving distance, food order, traffic and a couple of other reasons.
Something to remember: most of the companies don’t require their delivery guys to own vehicles. There are those that allow you to make deliveries with a scooter, bike or even on foot. Fortunately, there are rental services that work around providing potential delivery drivers with cars in case they don’t own one. For instance, HyreCare is a company that provides delivery drivers with rental cars on a regular basis so that they can work for popular delivery companies.
2. Complete Online Surveys
Companies and brands appreciate getting feedback from their customers because the information helps them make the right decisions on future and current services and products. This is why most of them are ready to pay people to tell them what they think from surveys. Although you won’t become rich from taking paid online surveys, it’s a great way to earn some extra cash that can be used to pay for utility bills each month.
Moreover, survey sites like InboxDollars, Swagbucks and Branded Surveys also pay people to complete a number of small tasks other than surveys – watching videos, shopping online, taking part in daily polls and playing games – and the companies often offer gift card or sign-up bonuses ranging from $10 for becoming a member.
3. Store People’s Items at Your House
In case you have some extra space that you’re not using in your home – attic, basement, driveway, garage or even a closet – you can use the opportunity and rent out the space via Neighbor.com and earn extra cash.
The app will connect you with other people in your neighborhood. You’ll be able to talk to people who would like to use your space and find out more about them before accepting their request. When you approve a request, you can meet the person who’s renting out your space, put their stuff in storage and receive payment at the end of each month they are renting the space from you. If you want to know how much money you’ll make, you can use Neighbor’s income estimator.
Related: 7 Ways to Earn Money by Renting Out Your Extra Space
4. Allow Someone Else to Negotiate Your Bills
While this isn’t actually a side gig, saving money is also as good as earning money. Since the world is slowly becoming subscription-based, our expenses keep recurring quickly. We all have about one of two subscriptions that we’re not using but pay for at the end of every month.
Nowadays, there are a couple of apps that focus on helping people cut back on subscription expenses as well as other bills. Some of the most popular apps for this are Trim, Billshark and Truebill. By using such negotiation services, you’ll end up saving somewhere between $20 to $50 each month on normal utility bills. This money can be put towards your savings goals.
5. Get Cash Back for Shopping
Nowadays, you can get cash back on most purchases you make thanks to the very competitive world of online shopping. If you’re not already benefiting from cash back offers or you feel that they are not enough to engage yourself in, think again. Over time, we’ve come across readers who have managed to save hundreds (and in some instances thousands) of dollars just by using cash back rewards.
There various different cash back browser extensions and apps so make sure you get a few that you like and use them to compare prices on your next online shopping spree. For example, you can get a 4% cashback on Nike shoes from Rakuten, but you can get a special offer of 8% from Wikibuy.
6. Sell Your Old Smartphone
If we’re the same, you probably still have one of your old smartphones stored somewhere in the house that you’ve never bothered to get rid of. You can try selling your old technology or smartphones online so that you can earn some extra cash.
One of the best options is eBay. However, you can use a site such as Decluttr if you don’t want to make a listing, choose a buyer and ship it off on your own. If you’d like to know how much money you’ll get from the sale, use the company’s free income estimator. There is not shipping free and Declutrr does most of the work for you.
7. Open a High-Interest Savings Account
One of the easiest ways to earn money effortlessly is to transfer the money you’re saving to a bank that actually offers its customers a decent interest rate. CIT Bank and Discover are some of the facilities with high-interest savings accounts, offering you at least 5 to 6 times more to what is considered as the national average interest rate. These accounts are usually from online banks. They can provide people with better deals because they don’t have brick-and-motor locations. This method might not earn you much money (it all depends on the amount of money you’ve saved up), but it’s some extra earnings that you won’t need to worry about when it’s already set up.
8. Get a Sign-up Bonus from Banks
If your savings account already has a decent amount of money in it (maybe you’ve been saving to buy a house), earning money from bank deposit bonuses is another easy way to make some money.
For example, I recently earned a $300 after depositing $25,000 in a new bank account (I won’t mention the bank because the offer is no longer there). A number of banks offer much more in terms of bonuses when people make larger deposits.
Related: Best Online Savings Accounts for 2021
9. Rent Out a Room in Your House
Do you have a spare room that you’re not using in your house? You can earn some money by listing it on Airbnb. On weekends when there are games in my town, homeowners earn a couple of extra dollars by hosting game-goers for several days.
There are people who stay with their friends in one house during these weekends and split the profits they make when the weekend is over. If you want to know the amount of money that can be earned from such a gig, check out Airbnb’s calculator.
10. Cash in Any Unused Credit Card Rewards
At the moment, I have more than $1,500 in my account from unused credit card rewards. I wasn’t aware of how much my rewards had accumulated until I wanted to book for next year’s vacation and had to check my account and see whether I still had any unused points.
If you own a cash-back credit card, be sure to look at your balance for any rewards. You can possibly use the rewards to pay for groceries, holiday gifts, a vacation or even convert them to reduce an outstanding balance on your credit card. While you might not be earning any extra cash, it can help you clear some of your bills.
11. Try Real Estate Crowdfunding
If you’ve always wanted to start investing in real estate but can’t afford to because you don’t have enough funds for a down payment, a viable option would be to invest in crowdfunded real estate. Fundraise is one of the online platforms that does crowdfunding that you can use to start fulfilling your dreams. It enables people with smaller amounts of cash to combine their funds and purchase shares of REITs (private real estate investment trusts).
You can join Fundraise with as little as $500 and buy the shares of some commercial properties and private residential properties. Its real estate professionals who take care of all the details when people invest their money with Fundraise. You won’t be required to do anything.
12. Rent Out Your Car
Are you a car owner who doesn’t travel with it frequently, prefer using public transportation or work from home? If any of the situations seems very familiar with you, you should consider renting out your car to other people and earn some cash when you’re not using it.
Turo is the biggest and most popular peer-to-peer marketplace for sharing cars in the world where you can be connected with someone who would like to rent your vehicle. It has more than 10 million users and over 350,000 listed vehicles. You’ll get listed on Turo whether you own a luxury SUV, pickup truck or an economy sedan.
13. Walk Dogs in Your Neighborhood
People who have dogs normally seek the services of dog sitters when they’re planning to go out of town. If you’re a dog lover and like taking care of them, a great side hustle that can help you earn some cash is dog sitting. You can either dog sit in their home or your own home and get paid great money for doing so.
If you’re looking for a dog sitting gig, Rover is a site that will connect you with people who are looking for your services. Rover allows you to make your own schedule and choose the size and age of the dogs you want to look after. They also offer pet care education resources for free.
Most dog sitters who use Rover usually charge between $20 to $40 for every overnight stay and an additional $20 to $30 for each walk. However, you’ll have to give Rover 20% of what you make as service fee and the rest of your earnings will be sent via mailed check or PayPal.
14. Let Apps Save You Money
You can get cash back from Dosh for doing thing that you normally do every day. Each time you use your card to shop at a retailer that is partner with Dosh through your account, you’ll receive money directly in your Dosh Wallet.
However, the app doesn’t have any activities for scanning receipts, promo codes or coupons. You’ll only have to download the app and start purchasing things. You’ll also be rewarded with $5 for referring your family and friends to the app. The cash out system is simple too. Your earnings can be transferred to PayPal, a bank account or be donated to any charity through the app.
15. Ensure Your Credit isn’t Costing You
Having bad credit can cost you a lot of money at the end of every year. The lower your credit score, the more you’ll need to pay in terms of credit cards, car loan as well as other debts. If you maintain a great credit score, you’ll be able to make some of that money back.
I personally use Credit Karma for my daily credit monitoring. The app gives you a screenshot of all your credit score happenings at once. You’ll also be provided with advice about your savings on a personal level on the areas that you might be overpaying like student and car loans.
16. Invest in The Stock Market
A great way of getting a higher earning potential instead of putting it away in a savings account is by invest some of your money in the stock market. Some of the available accounts include a brokerage account or a 401(k) plan which is sponsored by your employer.
Always remember that there are no sure guarantees if you decide to invest your money in the stock market. This means if there’s a stock market crash or a recession, you can lose your money. Before you take the step and invest, make sure that you’ve started an emergency fund or cleared your high-interest debts. When you’re ready to start making investments, look for long-term financial goals.
17. Invest Online with a Robo-Advisor
Robo-advisors manage your portfolio efficiently by using technology. This means that there won’t be any hidden charges and less fees to pay, allowing you to keep most of the money you earn from investments. If you opt to use Betterment, one of the best-rated online investing platforms, they don’t stipulate a minimum amount for deposits when you want to invest with the.
Have you already created your portfolio? Consider going for a service such as Personal Capital which allows you to view the performance of your investments and the areas that need some improvement. The app has a tool for investment checkups which will help you compare your recent portfolio allocation to a better allocation for your future financial goals.
18. Get 1-on-1 Interviews from Brands
One of the best ways to earn some extra cash is with online surveys, but there are research projects which need deeper digging from companies. Site such as Respondent.io conduct 1-on-1 interviews for several companies.
Since one-on-one interviews are more involving compared to a regular survey, you’ll receive higher compensation – plus it’s more difficult to qualify for such interviews. If you manage to qualify for an interview, the payment will be from $200 or more per hour.
19. Make a Budget
Making a budget isn’t exactly a method of earning extra cash, but it can help you discover the areas where you’re spending more without realizing it. You’ll also be able to see the dents in your finances by reviewing you credit card and bank statements. You might come across subscriptions that you didn’t cancel, bills that are accumulating with no explanation or purchases that you shouldn’t have paid for in the first place. A few improvements to your finances can help you free up some extra money that you didn’t know was available.
How to Use Your Smartphone to Make Extra Money
If you have a lot of spare time on your hands, you can as well use it to earn some extra cash from your smartphone. The following are a couple of free apps that pay people to use them.
20. Earn Money by Watching Online Videos
Swagbucks is one of the sites that provides peoples with different ways for earning additional money other than taking paid surveys. There are companies normally pay people for testing video ads. You’ll be required to watch short videos through the app and get rewarded with points which can later be redeemed for cash. You can even earn $10 just for registering with them.
21. Install Specific Apps on Your Phone
There are companies that monitor people on the time they spend using technology such as Nielsen Digital Voice. Immediately you download the Nielsen app, you’ll be awarded with points for the hours you spend on your smartphone. You’ll also be given the chance to participate in the $10,000 sweepstakes each month.
22. Sell Your Old Textbooks
Textbooks are very expensive, and a lot of people look for them at a bargained price whenever they can. If you graduated recently from college and still have most of your text books, you can use online platforms such as Buyback Boss or BookScouter to sell them off.
Of course, you’ll only get a percentage of the original price, but that would be better than nothing. Plus the amount you’ll get from selling through these sites is always better than what you’d get from from the university bookstore.
23. Let an App Track Your Data Usage
One of the most reliable apps you can install on your tablet or smartphone to help you track your internet usage is MobileXpression. When you become an active member for at least one week, you’ll receive your first gift card reward. The longer the app remains on your phone, the more eligible you become for extra credits which can be redeemed for more gift cards.
When you make it to the 90 days mark of using MobileXpression, they’ll make a donation to Trees for the Future as a way of recognizing your participation. From then on, they’ll keep donating trees every month if you’re still an active member. Apart from contributing towards the internet’s future, you’ll also be contributing to the planet’s future.
24. Use Your Smartphone to Scan In-Store Purchases
You can earn cash back for your in-store purchases by using Shopkick. If you’d like to earn additional cash with Shopkick, the first step would be to download the app, activate the location services and start getting kicks.
You’ll be awarded with points every time you enter a store and additional points for purchasing things or scanning items. Payment is made in form of gift cards from reputable stores like Starbucks, Target, Walmart and Sephora.
25. Sell Your Old Electronics
Do you have a stack of old CDs and DVDs, or maybe an old iPhone stored somewhere in your house that you don’t use anymore? You can look for places to sell them instead of letting them continue losing their value and collect dust.
Since new phones are pretty expensive, a lot of people are opting to used phones instead. Most people can’t afford to buy a phone at a grand or even more when they have the option of getting an old model that’s two to four years old at a more affordable price.
26. Invest in Cryptocurrency or Refer Your Friends
Cryptocurrency investments are going to be in the market for a very long time. bitcoin can be used to shop online, pay for travels and buy pizza. You should take advantage of such an opportunity and earn yourself some extra money buy purchasing some of this new type of currency.
Use apps such as Coinbase to purchase bitcoin worth $100 and earn a $10 bonus. You’ll also be rewarded with $10 for each person you refer to use the app.
27. Receive Cash Back on Groceries
Apps like Ibotta offer people cash back for buying groceries that eventually would. There are offers which are brand specific, while there are those that will offer you cash back just for buying specific kinds of products such as bread from any brand. Select the deals you’re interested in before checking out from the app, take a photo of your receipt and submit it, and then wait to receive payment from PayPal, Venmo or you can choose to redeem your points for gift cards. The best thing about using the app is that you’ll be given a $10 sign-up bonus.
Online Side Hustles
If you want to try any of the following money-making ideas, you’ll need a reliable internet connection and a computer.
28. Start a Blog
One of the best side hustles that you can do virtually as an interest or hobby is to start a blog centered on a topic you like. If you decide to become a blogger and manage to build an audience, you can use this opportunity to make some money for yourself.
Bloggers make money using some of the ways mentioned below:
- Selling an online course that focuses on their area of expertise
- Placing banner ads on their site
- Giving some of their reader one-on-one coaching especially if they need more guidance
- Promoting affiliates and earning a commission in exchange
29. Teach English as a Second Language
Teachers are in high demand in foreign countries like China who’s second language is English. Since parents would like their kids to become very competitive in the job market, they hire tutors to teach them English.
There are several companies like VIPKid which focus on remote teaching services to foreigners so that they can learn the English language. The payment varies between $15 to $22 hourly depending on the number of classes you teach and your experience.
30. Sell Handmade Items
If you’re looking for a site where you can sell vintage or handmade goods online, Etsy is what you want. There are a variety of products available on this platform, from art and collectables to paper and party supplies.
Are you a crafty person who make a lot of unique items and would like to join a platform where you can sell them and earn some money? Having an Etsy shop can be an ideal way of using your skills to earn some extra cash. Do you need more advice about this? Register at Transform an Etsy Shop into a Money-Making Machine, invented by Lisa Jacobs who transformed supplies worth $100 into $1,000 by selling them on Etsy. The course will help you learn about the different ways you can avoid making common mistakes on Etsy, how to convert visitors into potential buyers and how to refine your storefront.
A Parting Suggestion
Choose something that you’re interested in and you’ll enjoy doing so that you can reach your goals faster.
If you’re going to spend a few hours on your side hustle along with your full-time (or any other part-time) job, look for a gig that you’ll really enjoy doing. I can’t promise that you won’t feel like you’re working, but you’ll get over it after some time.
Go for a side gig that will help you achieve what you’re hoping to without putting in a lot of effort. If you intend to quit your current job eventually, you can then choose a side hustle that will help you build and scale with time into a full-time financial opportunity. Some great options ca be delivering groceries or walking dogs.
If you choose a side hustle wisely, it will not only be a way for earning additional money, you will also be able to level-up your career, finances and your overall life style.
