25 Creative Ways to Make Extra Money From Home

If you’re reading this, it means you’re looking for creative ideas that can help you make extra money from home legitimately. Who doesn’t want an opportunity to make hundreds of dollars every month without having to leave the comfort of their home?

We’ve scoured the Internet for the most creative ways to make money from home, and we’ve been able to pick 25 of the best. This list only details ways you can make money at home. You won’t find anything that requires you to leave your house here.

1. Complete Online Surveys

Completing online surveys is a great way to make extra money from home. There are lots of companies who are ready to pay good money to get your opinion on their brand for marketing purposes.

Good to Know: Online survey sites are free to join and easy to use. And if you want to make even more money, you can sign up for more than one survey site. You can earn as much as $50 per hour on surveys or even more depending on the number of paid online surveys you’re eligible for and how consistently you take them.

Below are four of the best paying online survey sites:

Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie is one of the most straightforward survey sites, and it’s quite easy to find your way around the site. All you have to do it to create an account (or sign up with Facebook), browse the categories, and complete a survey that you like.

How Does It Work? Similar to Swagbucks, Survey Junkie works on a point system. Completing a survey earns you points (between 100 to 200 points) which can then be converted to $10 when you reach 1,000 points.

You can cash out via PayPal or redeem your points for gift cards.

Swagbucks

There’s a reason why Swagbucks is one of the most trusted and well-known survey sites around (funny name aside). They’ve been in business for over 12 years and are rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau.

Pro Tip: For every survey you complete, you earn “Swagbucks,” also called SBs. After you gather enough “SBs,” you can convert them to cash, PayPal credit, or gift cards.

For new users, Swagbucks offers you a free $10 bonus just for signing up.

InboxDollars

If there are two things InboxDollars users love about the site, it’ll be cash and ease of use. When signing up, you’d need to answer a few basic questions about your demographics and watch a short tutorial about how the site works. After which you’ll be instantly rewarded with your $5 signup bonus.

Good to Know: Unlike Swagbucks and Survey Junkie, InboxDollars doesn’t use a point system. Instead, they pay cash to everyone who completes their surveys.

According to the survey site, they have paid out over $57 million to people who have completed surveys on the site over the years.

Nielsen Computer & Mobile Survey

The Nielsen Computer and Mobile Survey is run by Nielsen Research, which is arguably one of the giants within media and consumer research.

Good to Know: Also known as the Nielsen Digital Voice Panel, it gathers data about how people spend their time on the internet.

• After you sign up and complete the short survey, you will then install the Nielsen app on your device, and it automatically sends data about your Internet usage to the company.
• You can earn points for every hour you spend on your smartphone, as well as a chance to win $10,000 in their monthly prize draw.

2. Get Cash Rebates

If you shop online, do you know you can get back some of the money you’ve spent on your purchases? Cashback sites can get you deals up to 40% off your total purchases.

To earn your cash back, you have to make sure you shop through the cashback site’s portal.

Here are a few of the best cashback sites.

Rakuten

Rakuten (formerly Ebates) has been around for over 20 years now, and the site is affiliated with over 2,500 online stores at the moment.

Pro Tip: New users get $10 just for registering, and when you get into their program, you can also earn $25 on every qualified referral you make.

Ibotta

Ibotta is a free app for Android and iOS devices that allows you to earn cash rebates for completing in-app tasks, and then buying specific grocery items.

Keep in Mind: These tasks might include watching a 30-second video, taking a quick survey, and so on. The tasks are quite easy, and they don’t take long.

Ibotta is an excellent way to make extra money on the side while doing your grocery shopping.

Swagbucks

Apart from online surveys, Swagbucks also offers online rewards for shopping, searching the web, and watching videos.

Good to Know: New users can earn a $5 signup bonus which can only be cashed after they must have gathered 2,500 Swagbucks within the first 60 days of membership.

Shopkick

We’re a big fan of cash back apps, but the issue with most of them is that in order to make money with them, you have to buy something first.

However, there’s an app called Shopkick that will pay you simply for downloading it and walking into stores like Target, Walmart, Walgreens, TJ Maxx, and more.

Dosh

Launched in 2017, Dosh has quickly become a close competitor for other established cash back apps like Rakuten and Swagbucks.

Did You Know? Dosh is becoming increasingly sought after because of its impressive list of participating stores, and generous referral bonuses ($8 for every friend you refer to the app).

You can cash out once your Dosh balance reaches the payout threshold of $25, via direct deposit or PayPal.

3. List a Room in Your House

Do you have a spare room in your apartment that you don’t mind renting out? You could be missing the opportunity to make extra money on the side by not listing the room on Airbnb.

Airbnb connects people who want to rent out their homes for a short while with people who are looking for accommodations in that area.

Good to Know: Under the Airbnb’s Host Guarantee program, you can get protection for up to $1 million in damages to covered property if any damage happens in your absence. As the host, you can decide to charge per night, per week, or month.

Check out Airbnb’s calculator to see how much you could make.

4. Rent Out Your Car

Similar to using Airbnb for your house, you can make extra money from home by listing your vehicle on Turo. It is an even better alternative to make extra money if you don’t move around much with your car.

Good to Know: Rather than trying to rent it out on your own (and possibly invalidate the insurance), with Turo, you can choose your rates, and get covered with $1 million in liability insurance. You can rent your car out with Turo as long as its mileage has not exceeded 130,000 miles, and the vehicle is less than 12 years old.

Check out Turo’s earning calculator to see your possible monthly earnings with the platform.

5. Lose Weight

Unbelievable, right? You can make extra money online with HealthyWage by losing weight. The process is quite straightforward: you bet on yourself to lose weight, if you lose the weight you’ll get paid, and if you don’t meet your target, you’ll lose your bet.

Good to Know: You can bet on yourself with as little as $5 or as much as $995 to lose at least 10% of your starting weight within a specified number of months.

Pro Tip: Use the HealthyWage prize calculator to determine how much money you can win (up to $10,000) by losing weight. If you meet your weight loss goal, you’ll get your pay in either cash, PayPal, or via credit using Amazon.

Now you have the motivation you’ve always wanted to shed that extra weight.

6. Become a Virtual Assistant

Becoming a virtual assistant is one of the best ways to make extra money from home legitimately. Some of your responsibilities include responding to emails and phone calls, preparing reports, scheduling meetings, and making travel arrangements.

Good to Know: As a new hand on the job, you can make between $15 to $20 an hour, and after some time on the job, you could get as much as $30 per hour.

If you have excellent phone, email and instant messaging communication skills as well as a good Internet connection, being a Virtual Assistant might be a great idea.

7. Start a Blog

Launching a blog is probably one of the most creative ways to make extra money on the side depending on how you approach it. If you’re a fan of writing and sharing your ideas with people all over the world, then blogging might just be perfect for you.

Good to Know: There are so many types of blogs that exist presently. Some of the popular kinds include fashion, food, travel, music, lifestyle, fitness, sports, and DIY blogs.

You can make some cool cash by blogging, and in no time, you might end up quitting your day job (at least we did, and we’ve been raking in thousands of dollars every month).

8. Launch a YouTube Channel

After blogging, the next best option to make extra money from home is monetizing YouTube videos.

Did You Know? People watch about 500 million hours of videos on YouTube, every day. And people are earning as much as $20,000 every day from their YouTube videos.

Ways you can use to earn money on YouTube include merchandising, crowdfunding, sponsored videos, channel membership, and the YouTube Partnership Program.

9. Sell Your Old Stuff

How much junk do you have lying around your house? Rather than having all those old stuff take up valuable space, you can get rid of them and make extra money on the side using Decluttr.

Decluttr accepts old electronic gadgets; phones and tablets, games, books, DVDs, and much more. To get started, visit the Decluttr site and type in the barcode of the items you want to sell.

Good to Know: You’ll receive a notification from the company with a list of how much they’ll pay for those items including a packing slip to mail your items.

Within less than 24 hours of receiving your products, Decluttr will pay you via direct deposit or PayPal.

10. Invest with Worthy Bonds

Worthy Bonds is an app that uses the spare change on your groceries as the fund to help you invest money in bonds paying 5% interest. For example, if your total purchases at a grocery store amount to $31.70, Worthy Bonds will round the bill to $32, and invest the remaining $0.30 on your behalf on its over 7,000 stocks and bonds.

Apart from this, you can also enjoy cash back on your everyday shopping, as well as referral bonuses.

11. Sell Homemade Crafts

Do you have a flair for creating handmade stuff? If you do, you can make extra money from home with your creative skill. You can set up an Etsy store that deals in creating handmade items such as crafts, candles, clothes, soaps, or jewelry.

With the proper marketing strategy, you’ll start attracting potential customers from around the world to your store in no time.

12. Sell Stock Photos Online

If you’re an artist or a photographer, you can make extra money online by selling or licensing your artwork to a stock agency.

Good to Know: A great example of where you can sell your photos online and make money with your art skills is Shutterstock. Shutterstock has been in existence for over 15 years, and has become the first choice for buying stock photos online.

• The platform has over 200 million images and videos available for purchase royalty-free, and they have paid out more than $500 million to their worldwide community of artists and art contributors.
• Shutterstock allows you to keep the copyrights of your artwork protected, and you don’t have to sell your images only on this site (you can use other platforms like Adobe Stock and 500px).

13. Sell Your Art and Designs Online

You can use creative selling websites which offer a print-on-demand service to get your artwork printed on tangible products and make extra money online from it.

• These websites handle all the aspects of printing, packaging, branding, and shipping of your custom products to your customers, leaving you to deal with the creative aspect.
• The best part is that you can join these websites without paying a dime. They only earn commissions after a purchase has been completed.

Examples of websites where you can sell your designs include Zazzle, Art Pal, and Society6.

14. Become a Freelance Writer

If you have good writing skills, there are lots of online opportunities for you to make extra money from home legitimately. Many companies and organizations need content in the form of blog posts to speeches, and if you have experience on a subject matter, or you have excellent research skills, you can earn money from this.

As a freelance writer, you can make between $20 to hundreds of dollars from writing depending on the type of work you’re paid to do.

15. Design Websites

If you have the technical know-how, you can make money building and maintaining websites for people. And the best part is that you can do your work from home, or even better, pick it up as a side hustle.

Good to Know: According to Payscale, the average web designer earns about $45,886 every year. You might not necessarily reach that stage if you’re freelancing, but you can make some extra money from home with it.

16. Become a Freelance Editor

If you have an eye for details and excellent language skills, being a freelance editor might earn you some money.

Keep in Mind: According to Payscale, the average online content editor earns about $43,520 every year. There is no shortage of demand for editing jobs on Fiverr and Upwork.

So, you can use those platforms to find opportunities for yourself to make extra money from home.

17. Become a Paid Translator

You can make money with your bilingual skills and work from the comfort of your home.

Examples of freelance websites where you can sell your translation services include Fiverr, Guru, PeoplePerHour, and UpWork.

18. Take Up Data Entry

If you’re fast and accurate in entering data, as well as a stickler for details, you can make extra money online under the employ of big organizations.

To get started, search “data entry” jobs on sites like Indeed, Craigslist, Fiverr or Upwork.

19. Write Resumes

You can make extra money from home by working as a resume writer. Your skill in writing great resumes can earn you really good money.

You can get freelance jobs through an online service like Fiverr, or you can consider companies that hire resume writers like RiseSmart, and Talent Inc.

Good to Know: You could earn about $20 per each resume you complete, while some other companies that hire writers pay hourly rates. In any case, it’s a wonderful chance for you to make extra money on the side.

20. Sell an EBook

You can make extra money online by writing and selling digital books or eBooks. These eBooks can be read on devices like Amazon Kindle, on smartphones, tablets, or even on a computer.

Good to Know: According to industry watchers, eBook revenues accounted for over $8 billion in 2018. And there’s enough to go round for people who want to make money with it as a side hustle.

You can cover just about any subject with your eBook or decide to tailor your content to suit specific niches.

Travel guides, how-to manuals, science fiction, manga, technology, and self-help are among some of the subjects you can base your eBook on.

21. Consider Online Tutoring

Did you know you could make money online tutoring without leaving the comfort of your house?

Online tutoring is a continuously growing industry with many opportunities for everyone, including college students, tutoring newbies, and even savvy professionals to make extra money on the side.

Good to Know: With so much online tutoring jobs to choose from, the pay rates may differ based on the industry, teaching experience, and your educational qualification.

Here are examples of some online tutoring jobs:

Elevate K12

You can make extra money online teaching subjects like Math, Reading, Science, Social Studies, Foreign Language, and Robotics.

Elevate K12 pays its tutors monthly – $12/hour for those without a teaching degree and $15/hour for those with a teaching degree.

MathElf

MathElf offers online math tutoring services to K-12 students and college students. The platform has worked with over 46,000 students since it was established in 2014.

MathElf pays tutors $20 every hour. Payments are made every week via PayPal.

Math tutors can earn an average of $270 every month.

Cambly

Cambly is an ESL platform that allows you to earn money online tutoring English language to people all over the world.

You only need to be a native English speaker, and you must have access to a computer that has a webcam.

You don’t even need to have experience in teaching. All you’ll just need to do is to chat with your students.

Cambly pays tutors $10.20 per hour, and there’s a weekly payout threshold of $20 via PayPal.

22. Sell an Online Course

These days, people use the Internet not only for entertainment and socializing but also for finding information and learning new things.

Pro Tip: If you’re an expert in a particular field, you can make extra money online by packaging your knowledge into an online course, and making it available for sale.

Keep in Mind: According to Global Industry Analysts, the online learning market is expected to exceed $275 billion by 2022. You can base your online courses on art or photography, music, marketing, personal development, blogging, language, and more.

Once you create your course, you can still sell it years later (as long as it is still relevant), and it can serve as a steady source of passive income. Some of the best online course services include Udemy, Teachable, and SkillShare.

23. Create Podcasts

With the increasing manner with which people are looking for passive ways to take in content, podcasts might just be the next big thing to build an audience and make extra money online.

If there’s anyone who is a perfect example of how you can make money with podcasts, it’ll be John Lee Dumas. Since he launched his podcast in 2012, he has made close to $13 million, and he currently nets more than $200,000 monthly (most of which come from sponsorships).

24. Narrate Audiobooks

If you’ve been complimented more than once on how good your voice is, you can start earning money with it by selling your services online. You can make extra money from home recording audio versions of independent and popular books.

25. Design Logos

Just like with website design, if you have a talent for graphics design and you can create stunning logo designs, you can make extra money from home by selling your services on outsourcing websites like Fiverr, 99designs, Creative Market, and Upwork.

Wrapping Up

The recent increase of online businesses has opened up the path for more people to make extra money from home or as a side hustle. This list highlights some of the most effective and creative ways to make extra money online fast.

Whether it’s starting your blog, or selling your artwork online, or even becoming an online translator, you can leverage whatever creative skills you have and make money with it.

Which of these ways of making extra money would you try out? Which ones do you think we missed?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.