11 Easy Ways I Have Made Extra Income

Hello cents-able!

I just like playing with that phrase. Right! Being “cents” able is being sensible, for sure.

All I know is, I want to help each and every single person stuck in serious debt, low paying jobs, or in that lower income bracket where you can’t claim poverty income, but you know you would be better off financially if you could.

That was me just a few years ago.

This blog is dedicated to those like me who are willing to make some decisions, and brave actions to take back their finances.

Sound peachy-keen?

Great. With that goal in mind, here are some ways to make some extra cash – 11 actually, that I either did myself, or was getting ready to implement that I am sure work for people right now in 2020.

These ways below are among the easiest ways I know. “Easy” meaning, I didn’t have to work 80 hours over-time and/or sweat a whole lot. For example – I left out “Painting a house” because, in my experience, it was good money, but not at all “easy” to perform.

1. House sit for a friend

Many people hire housesitters to watch their house while they are out of town. This is one thing I have done several times and I was usually paid very well. It may involve taking in the mail, watering plants, taking the dog for walks and feed times, and just being around to make sure nothing happens.

Most house sitters stay at their client’s house, but some are asked to check in a few times a day. I have done both. Most of the time you should get paid more if you actually stay at the home the entire time. If you’re up for the responsibility, there are a number of websites where you can advertise your services.

2. Become a dog walker or pet sitter

I mentioned that I have had to walk dogs as part of a job where I was house sitting. Well, some people are willing to pay almost as much simply to watch the pets when they are gone.

If you actually take the pet into your own home, it’s yet even more money generally speaking.

In doing these kinds of micro jobs on the side, I have become very adept at bartering and negotiating prices. You may feel totally out of your comfort zone doing this kind of thing, but I am here to tell you to just get through it, do it, and you will soon get the hang of it.

To find dog walking, pet sitting, dog boarding jobs, and even house sitting jobs, I recommend reading this blog post: Rover – A Great Way To Make Money And Play With Animals.

Other than Rover, you may be able to find pet watching gigs through Craigslist, Facebook, and more.

3. Sell items that you have at home.

I have written about this on other posts. I love this one. Getting a piece of electronics, or camera accessory cleaned up, in working order ship shape and then staging pictures with good lighting might sound like a drag.

But I love it.

Because in order to sell stuff you own to people online, you must do this same “high quality picture treatment.”

So remember, make sure it works, take outstanding pictures of everything and many pictures of the featured item from multiple angles. This simply creates a deep urge inside a camera owner (if it is camera-related) to buy it! The more clear and detailed the pictures are the better.

The average person has a lot of extra stuff in their life. Too many clothes, old electronics that have been tossed to the side (like old cell phones), appliances that have been replaced, books that will never be read again, useless furniture, gift cards that will never be used, and more.

Really, we all have things around the house we can sell, and there are many ways to sell your things. These include:

Thrift stores– Come on! It doesn’t get any easier than this! Forget pictures and all that online preparation! If it is the right kind of item you might be able to get some serious cash from just selling it over the counter to a brick and mortar thrift store! Some may pay on consignment, cash on the spot, or store credit. Taking your stuff to a thrift store will probably be the fastest way to sell things as they will likely offer you cash for whatever they can sell.
eBay– This online auction site can be a great way to reach a larger market. But make sure you study your competition and their pricing. And make sure your pictures are equal to theirs in quality. I have a whole teaching for selling on Ebay. If you do it right you can make a lot of money!
Craigslist– Selling on this free site can be one of the easiest ways to make money fast, but be safe and don’t fall for any Craigslist scams.
Garage/yard sale– This can be an easy way to sell a lot of things at once, plus you can do it all from your home. A downside is that the pay is usually lower.
Facebook– There are specific groups on Facebook dedicated to selling items in your area. Facebook makes it SO easy to sell things you no longer want.

4. Sell Your Services on Craigslist.

Hey I have got gigs this way! If you have any kind of skill that others seem to need in their lives, check out all of the services that people are advertising on Craigslist! I have edited people’s articles, blog posts, documents and I have also advertised video gigs.

There are many kinds of services being offered. So look through the topics and if you find an area where you are skilled that many others are promoting, then obviously you will do well to promote things that already have a proven track record.

There are lots of gigs that you can check out. But this list is about EASY WAYS only so make sure you only look for those in this particular list. But for those who love to sweat and consider heavy-lifting an easy money maker – then BE OUR GUEST!

5. Become an Uber driver-partner or Lyft driver.

Spending your spare time driving others around can be a good way to make money, and it’s a simple and easy way to work, right? Another cool factoid about this kind of work is it’s an interesting way to make money as you can meet all sorts of people as a driver. Read more about this in my post How To Become An Uber driver-partner Or Lyft Driver. Click here to sign up to become an Uber driver-partner and start making money.

Here’s a quick snippet from an interview I did with an Uber driver-partner:

“For those unfamiliar with rideshare, it’s basically a way to hail a ride with a smartphone app. There are thousands of drivers out there just like me who work full-time jobs, part-time jobs, etc. and whenever they want to drive, they can just turn their app on, and they’ll be matched with passengers in need of a ride. The entire transaction is cashless, and everything is done over your mobile app.

You can every day if you’d like or you can take an entire month off from driving.

Everything is handled by the app, and you are paid via direct deposit weekly. Some customers will tip in cash, but for the most part, the entire transaction is cashless.

As a driver, you have to pay for pretty much everything, including gas and maintenance on your car, but typically, I don’t use more than a few dollars worth of gas per hour. The big ‘hidden cost’ is probably the depreciation of your car ”

If you’re like me, you consider “driving in your car” a luxury; an activity of de-stressing, or relaxing.

Imagine getting paid to relax all day!

See where I’m going with this?

🙂

6. Rent out a room in your home.

Renting out a room in your house may not sound like a big deal. But let me tell you, it has made a huge difference in my case. In fact, I had such a good experience doing this, I eventually rented out 2 rooms in my multiple bed-room house. I think I had 5 bedrooms in a house less than 2000 sf. How fun!

Well, it might not be fun with all those renters. Ha ha. But for me, what I made from 2 renters, paid my monthly mortgage payment. Basically my house was rent -free!

Can you imagine what would change in your financial life if you had no mortgage or rent payment? How many loans would be paid off that much quicker? How long would it take for you to be 100% debt free? I really recommend this one if you have a house that would at least make it possible to have 1 extra renter.

THIS IS A HUGE TIP – having $1000 a month coming into your bank account every month for years, with nothing more than a handshake at the start and some communication and regular interaction is MY NUMBER ONE SECRET MONEY MAKER TO GETTING OUT OF DEBT!

There is nothing else in this list that makes you this much money – especially recurring monthly income (kinda the holy grail of all succesful entrepreneurs), with so little effort required!

IT IS A NO BRAINER!

If you are interested in renting out a spare room on a short-term basis (such as for holiday vacations), I highly recommend you check out Airbnb. I know people who are making thousands of dollars a month by renting out rooms on this site!

There are many other places where you can advertise your rental. You can put a sign on your front lawn, advertise in a newspaper, or place an online ad on a website such as Craigslist.

Everyone and everything is online now, so posting your ad online will most likely be your best choice.

When you make your listing, always be honest! You should be honest about how big the room is, what rooms come with the agreement, if there is a separate entrance, and more. Also, be sure to add pictures of what is included.

7. Get paid to fill out online surveys.

This one won’t earn you actual cash overnight, but it’s an easy way to make a little extra cash for vacations, extra purchases, the holidays, etc. With most survey companies, you’ll get your check or payment at the end of the month. That’s cash from answering surveys and testing products.

To increase your chances of making money, I recommend signing up for as many online survey companies as you can.

I say this because individual survey companies may only send a few surveys your way each month, so the more you sign up for, the more money you may be able to make.

By joining as many sites as you can, you’ll receive the most opportunities. It’s really that simple!

The paid online surveys I recommend signing up for include:

These survey companies are all free to join and free to use!

8. Get rewarded with Swagbucks.

Swagbucks is a company where you can earn free gift cards and cash for the things you normally do online, such as shopping, searching the web, and taking surveys.

They give out 7,000 free gift cards every day and have given out $372,921,474 in cash and free gift cards since they were created. I’ve been using Swagbucks for years and it’s great!

You’ll receive a free $5 bonus just for signing up today!

9. Babysit or nanny for a family.

I don’t babysit. But my wife used to all the time. She loved it. One year she actually nannied for some parents who were doctors. Lets just say they were generous to those who invested in their children! Professional parents are almost always looking for good babysitters, and they are willing to pay well for a night out.

Websites like Care.com and SitterCity.com allow you to advertise your services, while letting you see if there is anyone in your area looking for help. This means that you may be able to find a one-time job or even a permanent babysitting gig, just by searching online.

If you have any special skills or can provide extra work, such as cleaning up around the house, teaching the child how to speak another language, tutoring, picking up the child from activities, and so on, you will most likely be able to charge more than $10 an hour.

10. Get paid to shop as a mystery shopper.

Now when I first heard about “Mystery Shopping” the first thing that came to my mind was “It sure is a mystery why people shop.” This was immediately followed by the next thought – “I think my wife shops for Mysteries.”

Just kidding! I like to shop every once in a while myself!

Mystery shopping can be one of the more fun ways to make extra holiday cash while also getting paid to eat at restaurants or to go shopping.

While you likely won’t make your money back right away, you can sign up for mystery shopping companies today and get your first mystery shop done fairly quickly.

Some don’t require you to spend money either, such as if you do a phone call mystery shop where you just have to call a store and pretend to be a customer with questions.

And, yes, I used to mystery shop in the past, and I did it quite often!

Back when I was paying off my student loan debt, I mystery shopped a lot to make extra income. I made anywhere from $150 to $200 a month mystery shopping and received free meals, makeup, and more. I only used Bestmark for mystery shopping, so I know that they are a 100% legitimate company.

There are other legitimate mystery shopping companies that exist, but you should always do your research.

Learn more at Want To Make An Extra $100 A Month? Learn How To Become A Mystery Shopper.

11. Rent out your RV.

If you don’t own a home to rent a room (Point #6) RVing is super popular right now, and many people are looking to rent one for their next trip.

According to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, a growing number of households own an RV – around 10 million households now!

Many RVs sit unused in storage lots, driveways, and backyards, so why not try to make a little extra holiday cash while you’re not using your RV?

In addition to extra money, you may be able to earn enough to cover some of your RV ownership costs, such as maintenance, storage, etc.

RVshare is helping travelers save money by cutting out the middleman through renting RVs directly from owners.

Think of it as Airbnb for RVs (RV Airbnb!). My sister actually has experience doing an RV share by renting two travel trailers, and she loved it! It seems like a great side hustle to do if you already have an RV. If you’re interested in enjoying an RV rental for yourself, you can check out possible RV rentals for you and your family here.

But, if you already have an RV, you may be able to rent out your RV for extra money!

You can learn about how renting your RV works here – How To Make Extra Money By Renting Out Your RV.

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