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It’s possible to earn extra money – even a few hundred extra dollars each month, and make a big impact on your life. Let’s face it. Cutting back every joy in life, like a Starbucks coffee here and there, isn’t gonna pull you out of paycheck to paycheck mode. But if you can earn extra money and dedicate it to debt payoff, and then start an emergency fund, now you’re well on your way.
Here’s the thing about side hustles:
- You don’t need a college degree.
- Most people who start one, do it from the seat of their pants. You don’t need to research for 3 years.
- There’s almost no investment.
- Many times, a side hustle turns into a full-time income.
Table of Contents
20+ Ways to Earn Extra Money Without a College Degree
Earn Extra Money at Home by Decluttering Your House
If you’re looking for ways to earn extra money fast, the answer may be in your closets, your garage or your basement. We all tend to accumulate stuff that we may need when it’s purchased, but a year or two later it’s relegated to the back of your closet.
You know you’ll need to get rid of it eventually, so why not earn extra money now, instead of tossing it in the garbage one day.
Maintaining clutter is unconsciously stressful. Even if you store things out of sight in the closet, in plastic bins or cardboard boxes, your mind still keeps track of it all. Getting rid of clutter can be a huge relief.
Why not check for some of these items and earn extra money while you declutter your space:
- Tools you rarely use.
- Kids outgrown sports equipment.
- Electronics like cameras, cell phones, video game consoles.
- Sports equipment like ski’s, golf clubs, treadmills, weight sets, baseball, hockey, martial arts or lacrosse equipment.
- Even old solid wood furniture.
Someone is always looking for the things you’re no longer using. They may not be able to afford a new one, but they’ll be happy to pay cash for yours.
Clearing away your clutter is a great way to simplify your life while you earn extra money..
If a garage sale feels a bit overwhelming, there are other options. Local consignment or second-hand shops are always looking for gently used items, especially clothing and furniture.
One easy way to earn extra money while decluttering is by using the app Decluttr.
Decluttr’s specialty is buying your used technology, like CDs, DVDs, books, Blu-rays, games, tablets, laptops, smartphones. It’s simple to use. Just load their free app on your iPhone or Android and scan your item. You’ll get an immediate price quote that you can accept or reject.
If you accept, just pack the items into a box large enough to fit them, print a free shipping label from the app, and bring it to any authorized UPS location. You can even use a drop box. You’ll receive a payment via PayPal, direct deposit or check the day after your item arrives.
I like using Decluttr because you get a selling price immediately, there are no seller fees, and you’ll receive a guaranteed payment within a day of their receipt of your stuff.
Another great option for books is BookScouter . If you have any old textbooks collecting dust you’d be surprised at the value they hold. Just load their free app, then scan the book’s ISBN number and you’ll see immediately what they’ll pay.
Granted, it’s much less than what you originally paid, but I think of it this way – what would I have done with them otherwise? Probably kept them in a box for another seven years, until I’m ready to move, and then end up throwing them out or donating them.
I have 3 textbooks on my night table now. I just entered their ISBN number in and it turns out I have $53.75 sitting there right next to me! I’m going to print out a FREE shipping label and send them off.
Get Paid for Your Photos
Foap is an app you can use to earn extra money just by selling your photos. Do you have a knack for taking great nature, still life or candid shots? Why not be paid for them? Charge whatever want. Content creators are constantly looking all types of photos. That close-up of your dog’s face or your local beach could pay for your next phone bill.
Click here to start using Foap. Just scroll to the bottom.
Become a Virtual Coach
Are you an experienced runner, or an all-around fitness guru? You can share your experience, while you earn extra money online. The old way might be to spend time at your local high school track coaching a handful of people. Or you can spend less time, coaching more people and make more money.
Wait…less time, and more money?
Absolutely. By becoming a virtual coach, this is possible.
A virtual coach wouldn’t meet the customer in person for each session. You’d set up an initial meeting with the client, either in person or via Skype, Facetime, phone or email. Together, you’d go over the client’s needs, their experience, and fitness level.
The client might be training for a specific event or just need an ongoing program. You, the virtual coach, would then put together a personalized program.
Then you’d agree on a specific schedule to check in, go over progress, and make adjustments. Since a virtual coach rarely travels to meet the client, he or she can take on more. You could easily charge $50-$100 per hour or more with experience.
Your only up-front expense could be setting up a personal website. My tutorial walks you through this in about 15 minutes and your cost would be about $59 per year. Once your site is up, you’ll attract customers across town or across the ocean.
One great example of someone who’s making a living this way is Laura Fountain. Her site, Lazy Girl Running offers coaching for individuals or groups. She offers personalized programs and has some great testimonials.
Self-Publish Your Own Books
Have you ever read how big name authors like JK Rowling and Stephen King were rejected from dozens of publishers before they finally found someone to publish their book?
Getting your own book into circulation is no longer a matter of submitting it to conventional publishers, one by one. You can become a published author and start making a passive income without ever stepping into a publisher’s office.
Publishing your own eBooks is one of the most creative ways to make money. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing enables you to write your own eBook and then upload it using their KDP wizard. You can even use their cover wizard to create your eBook cover. They’ve made it a pretty simple process from start to finish.
What sells very well, are non-fiction, how-to books in the 30-50 page range. Think about your hobbies, your interests or experience. Even if you’re not a world re-knowned expert, if you put together a short, informative guide on a specific subject, you can put it in front of literally millions of readers – for FREE.
How much could you make?
Most eBooks on Amazon sell for between $2.99 and $9.99 and Amazon pays you a 70% royalty for eBooks priced within that range. With Amazon’s reach of hundreds of millions of customers, uploading your eBook is comparable to a publisher distributing a hard copy book to numerous countries
Don’t let the length of 30-50 pages scare you. If there’s a subject you’re familiar with, once you outline the areas you’ll cover, you’d be surprised how fast pages will start to fill up.
You wouldn’t want to publish an all-encompassing guide on your subject. You can target a specific audience better if you try not to cover every aspect of a subject. Just focus on one area.
For instance, instead of publishing a general diet book, publish one like “50 Great Paleo Recipes”. Or if you’re an experienced woodworker, don’t try to cover woodworking in general. Write something like, “20 Birdhouses You Can Make in an Afternoon”. These are focused subjects that can be covered in around 50 pages or less.
What’s great about publishing eBooks is the passive income they can produce. You don’t have to consistently update and maintain them. You do the work once, publish it and it’s available to an audience of millions 24/7/365.
If you’re considering a certain subject, or you just want to get ideas, browse through the eBooks for sale and you’ll get a good idea of what’s already available in a certain price range.
It’s surprisingly easy to self-publish on Amazon. The basic steps are:
- You’d write the text of the book in your preferred word processor.
- You’d choose a cover. You can either pay someone to create a cover, or use Amazon’s cover wizard that’ll walk you through it free of charge.
- You’d upload your text and cover using the Amazon KDP wizard, and tell them what you want to charge for it.
- That’s it! Now you’re a published author!
Think about your own expertise. By sharing it, you could be earning extra money in your sleep.
Ways to Make Money on the Side with a Full Time Job
Earning extra money doesn’t have to mean exchanging your time for their money.You don’t need to drive somewhere, punch a clock and be away from home for hours.
So here, we’ll focus on ways to make extra money online. And on your schedule.
One of the easiest ways to make extra money online is to give your opinion on surveys.
When manufacturer’s are making products, they need to know what’s gonna sell. They want to know simple things like:
- The type of store you’re likely to shop at.
- What types of things you prefer – anything from shoes, to household items.
So survey companies will pay you for your opinion. What’s nice about surveys, is that you can do them whenever you want – your lunch break, waiting to pick up your kids, or curled up on the couch with a movie on.
Here are a few surveys I’ve earned money from:
Pinecone Research
Pinecone Research is a great option if you’re looking to earn money online in short segments of time whenever it’s convenient for you. Pinecone pays you in the form of points when you complete questionnaires about merchandise they send to you.
That’s right, they’ll send you free products, and you can let them know how you like them.
Like most survey companies, they’ll have you fill out some demographic info. That’s so they’ll know what kinds of products you’d be interested in reviewing.
You wouldn’t always review products they send you. Sometimes they’ll just send you a survey about something you may have bought or used. I had one where they asked me questions about different types of flooring I preferred, and where I’d prefer to buy it. They’re really simple.
Then you redeem your points for cash or prizes. One thing I like about Pinecone is there’s no confusion about your compensation. You’re paid $3 per product test or survey. And that’s for sitting on your couch (or wherever you happen to be) and spending maybe ten minutes.
Paid Surveys at Home
Paid Surveys at Home is free to sign up, there are no reports to fill out and no calls to answer. You can do a number of things to earn money from where ever you happen to be:
- Take online surveys (I made $20 for a survey that took maybe 20 minutes.)
- Participate in focus groups.
- Take phone surveys.
- Try new products (and keep them after you give your opinion).
- Preview new movie trailers and give your opinion.
Inbox Dollars
Inbox Dollars pays you to take surveys that they’ll send to you depending on your particular demographic. Marketing companies are looking for information on consumer preferences, and they’ll pay for information from targeted demographic groups. So, when you signup they’ll ask you questions like your age group, geographical location, so just answer honestly and you’ll receive the appropriate surveys.
It’s a great way to earn extra money because you can do it whenever it fits into your schedule. If you’re waiting for the kids at the bus stop or the athletic field, breaking for lunch or relaxing on the couch. And finding $75 or $100 in your mailbox every week or two isn’t too shabby either.
Swag Bucks
Swag Bucks is a search engine that pays you in the form of ”Swag Bucks” for using it. You’d download their search engine, install it and start using it. There are other ways to obtain swag bucks too, like taking surveys, playing games, and cutting coupons. You can also get paid for watching movie previews, news, or other videos. Once you accumulate some swag bucks you can redeem them for cash, gift cards, and merchandise. There’s no cost to sign up. In fact, they’ll give you $5 just for signing up. You just download their search engine toolbar and you’re off.
Become a Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant, sometimes referred to as a VA, is another one of the most creative ways to make money. A VA would would work from home performing some of the office tasks that someone else may not have the time or resources to do.
It’s a creative way to make money because you can carve out exactly what you want to focus on – typing, research, emailing, updating contacts or mailing lists, making phone calls, updating blogs, creating graphics are just some of the areas you can offer your services for.
Helping out with someone’s successful blog is also a great way to learn how to build your own site. Things like social media updates or scheduling tasks are things that a blogger might be happy to pay someone to take care of.
If you’re trying to learn how to make extra money from home, a becoming a VA can be a great opportunity. It’s flexible, interesting work, with no commute. And depending on the workload, you may be able to take on more than one client.
Clean Homes
Getting started cleaning homes has very low overhead, and you can tailor your own schedule. You can earn extra money while your kids are in school or work weekends. Just assemble some basic cleaning supplies, have some business cards made and drop some off at a few of the local real estate offices.
You could use my tutorial to create a simple website to advertise. Cleaning homes is one of those side hustles that starts to grow by word of mouth. As soon as you have a few satisfied customers, you’ll be hearing from their friends and neighbors.
$100 is a reasonable price for an average size home where you’re in and out in a few hours. For more advanced cleaning you’d charge more. And if you live in an area with a lot of summer rentals, that weekly changeover day can be your most profitable day of the week.
Earn extra money by giving man’s best friend a break
There are an estimated 46 million dog owners in the country. Imagine how many of them in your town leave poor little Fido in the morning to face a long lonely day of staring out the window.
Many of those people regularly pay someone to stop by and spend 15 minutes with him/her.
You can earn between $15-$25 dollars per visit, so this is something you can easily earn at least $100 dollars a week. And do it around your schedule.
How would you drum up business? I’d suggest investing about $10 in a box of business cards and just put some up in the local Vet office, the dentist, the real estate office or supermarket. Having a professionally printed card will give a good impression. And this is one of those gigs where word of mouth will generate more clients.
Become an Uber Driver
If you have a dependable car and like to determine your own work hours, Uber can be a great way to earn extra money. You keep 80% of everything you earn and give Uber 20%. Uber doesn’t require you to drive all over the state either. You can decide what fares you accept.
There are a few regulations. You’ll need a valid, in-state driver’s license and a four-door car that seats a minimum of four passengers, not including you. Your car needs to be registered and insured in your state, and you’ll have to pass a background check. But you can easily make several hundred dollars per week.
If you’d like to apply to be an Uber driver, click here.
Freelance Writing
Freelance writing could be writing posts for someone’s blog, magazine articles, print ads or social media platforms. Usually, you’d agree on a price, a format and due date and then it’s up to you whether you work days nights or both to get the job done.
How can you get started? If there’s a particular niche you have an interest in, start following some blogs related to your subject. Read the posts, start making comments and you’ll soon be making contacts. The blog may have a link for submitting proposals, but if not you can always send the blogger an email with your simple proposal, and maybe a sample of your writing. If they need more, they’ll ask.
There’s a chance you may write a few for free just to get your name out there, but once you have a bit of a portfolio you’ll be able to charge. You can probably expect $50 or so for an article, but once you’ve established yourself the price goes up – and the opportunities expand.
A few sites hiring content creators are Izea, Social Fabric or Problogger
The best resume to have, to show prospective clients is your own website. They’ll get an idea of your style of writing and the areas you’ve written about. Check out my free guide on setting yours up in about 20 minutes. It’ll cost you about $59 per year to have a website that you can insert ads on but considering the possible return, that’s a pretty small investment.
RELATED : How to Create a Blog That Will Replace Your Income
Become a Tutor
If working from home is a priority, online tutoring is a great option to earn extra money.
One place you can do that is Studypool. To become a tutor for Studypool you’d sign up and then bid for jobs. The “jobs” are questions submitted by students where they propose a time frame and bid a certain amount.
You would then bid for a question and if selected, would follow up with the student.
Questions paying less than $15 are rated as “small” questions, and those over $15 are known as “big” questions. Tutors receive a rating based on customer satisfaction and difficulty of questions answered. It’s not uncommon to earn up to $500/week or up to $60,000/year as a tutor.
Become a Babysitter, Nanny, Pet Sitter or Housekeeper
Are you the caring type? Check out Care.com where you can earn extra money caring for children, pets, seniors, even empty homes. You can offer in-home or out-of-home child care or tutoring.
You can also offer your services as a dog walker, pet sitter, grooming, boarding or training.
Or just earn extra money as a housekeeper, house sitter or babysitter.
Are you a skilled nurse? Browse their database for jobs that fit your schedule.
Here’s how it works. You’d just sign up and create a profile, then search the Care.com database for jobs. They’d pay you by direct deposit right to your account.
Step by Step Blogging for Money
Starting a blog won’t put money in your pocket within a few weeks. You’ll need to be consistent.
But here’s the thing:
If there’s a particular area you’re so interested in that you could talk about all night, you can earn money by sharing your ideas. And if you stick with it, the sky’s the limit.
See, a blog is really a platform that’ll enable you to earn money in a lot of different ways. When you create content around a specific niche, you’ll start to attract readers who share your interest.
What’s really cool, is when readers start commenting, and you can see a real community building.
And that feedback is exactly what’ll tell you how to start monetizing your blog.
- You can promote products your readers have an interest in, and earn a commission on sales.
- You can create and sell a simple ebook.
- You can be paid to write posts on other blogs.
- You can work directly with companies and be paid to produce content geared to your readers.
What stops most people from starting a blog, is the thought that you need to be a technical wiz. You don’t.
If you can write a document on your laptop, you can create your own blog. And whatever niche you select, you don’t need to be an expert in it. Writing about your struggles, or your lessons learned is one of the best ways to connect with your readers.
What’s usually on your mind?
- Organization tips
- Parenting, or new Mom issues.
- Your struggles with money, budgeting or paying off debt.
- DIY, home or craft topics.
There’s no limit to the topics you can blog about.
If you’re ready to go for it, here are two ways to get a big head start:
My tutorial How To Start a Blog That Will Replace Your Income will walk you through setting up your own blog in about 15 minutes.
And my FREE email course (below) gives you all the info I wish I had once I started my blog. Each day for a week, I’ll share everything from producing content, promoting it, generating subscribers, and then income.
Get Paid For Using Your Cell Phone
Lots of companies collect information about what sites people visit. They’re interested in the time of day you visit sites, how long you stay, or what you might purchase. They’ll actually pay you to install their app on your phone. And as long as you keep it installed, you can earn extra money each month.
Some of the ones I’d recommend are:
Nielsen Mobile for iPhone Users – if you have an iPhone, this Nielsen panel will pay you $50/year to keep this app on your cell phone.
ShopTracker – Shop Tracker is similar to Neilsen, but if you’re a regular Amazon shopper, installing Shop Tracker could start putting money in your pocket. The information about what people are searching for and buying is valuable enough that they’ll pay you for it. This couldn’t be easier. You’d install their app, then connect it to your Amazon account. Right away, they’ll send you a $3 Visa gift card. Then another $3 for each month you keep it installed.
SavvyConnect – Install SavvyConnect and earn $5 for each device. It collects anonymous data as you browse the web. Installation is quick and easy, and you will become eligible for additional paid research opportunities. Install on all of your devices to earn even more!
Final Points
Sometimes a few hundred dollars extra per month is all it takes to start paying off your debt and be in a position to set up an emergency fund. And once you have an emergency fund, you’ll be able to save without putting emergencies on a credit card.
So earning extra money, even a few hundred dollars on a consistent basis could be a game changer for you. And who knows, one of your side hustles could even turn into a full-time job.
If you’ve had a good experience with any of these methods or any of your own, let me know!
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