How To Make Extra Income – 100 Ways To Make Extra Money!

Written By:

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Last Updated: December 9, 2024

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via my links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See my disclosure for more info.

Here on Making Sense of Cents, I discuss how to make extra income, side hustles, side income, and how to make money online a decent amount.

I believe that earning extra income can completely change your life in a positive way. A person can stop living paycheck to paycheck, they can pay off their debt, and more all by earning extra money and learning how to make extra money.

In fact, because of extra income and my blog, I was able to pay off $38,000 in student loans within 7 months, I was able to leave my day job in order to pursue my passion, travel full-time, and more!

Learning how to make extra money completely changed my life.

From my How To Make Extra Income series please read:

My monthly income reports

To read my posts about how to make extra income and how to make money online, such as through blogging, click here. Below are my monthly extra income reports. I recommend checking out my online course for bloggers, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. I have earned over $5,000,000 from my blog, such as through affiliate marketing, and I share my exact strategy and tips in this very informative online course. If you’re a blogger, then you will benefit from hearing about the strategies in this course.

You can also learn more about my blog income reports here.

How To Make Money and Extra Income

Below are many different ways to make extra money, but check out the related sections further down to see many, many more.

Disclosure: There are some affiliate links below, but these are all products I highly recommend. I won’t put anything on this page that I haven’t verified and/or personally used.

Start a blog. Blogging is how I make a living and just a few years ago I never thought it would be possible. I have made over $5,000,000 blogging over the years. You can create your own blog here with my easy-to-use tutorial and learn how to make money from home. You can start your blog for as low as $2.95 per month plus you get a free domain if you sign-up through my tutorial.
Sell your stuff. There are many things you can do to make money by selling items. We all have extra things laying around that can be sold, or you can even search for items that can be bought and resold for a profit.
Answer surveys. Survey companies I recommend include American Consumer Opinion, Survey Junkie, Pinecone Research, Opinion Outpost, and Branded Surveys. They’re free to join and free to use! You get paid to answer surveys and to test products. It’s best to sign up for as many as you can as that way you can receive the most surveys and make the most money.
Use Swagbucks for your online searches. Swagbucks is something I don’t use as much, but I do occasionally earn Amazon gift cards with very little work. Swagbucks is just like using Google to do your online searches, except you get rewarded “Swagbucks” for the things you do through their website. Then, when you have enough Swagbucks, you can redeem them for cash, gift cards, and more. You’ll receive a free $5 bonus just for signing up today!
Try InboxDollars. InboxDollars is an online rewards website I recommend. You can earn cash by taking surveys, playing games, shopping online, searching the web, redeeming grocery coupons, and more. Also, by signing up through my link, you will receive $5.00 for free just for signing up!
Find a part-time job. There are many part-time jobs that you may be able to find. You can find a job on sites such as Snagajob, Craigslist (yes, I’ve found a legitimate job through there before), Monster, and so on.
Pet-sitting. Websites such as Rover allow you to become a pet sitter or dog walker.

Starting a blog for extra income online and to make money online.

It is possible to make extra income online from a blog, but it does take time. It is my favorite way of making money from home too!

Related articles about making money blogging:

The first step is to get your domain. For the loooongest time ever, my blog was known as senseofcents.blogspot.com. I finally bought www.makingsenseofcents.com and haven’t looked back since. I don’t think anyone has ever said “I regret buying my domain and looking more professional.” If you sign up using my Bluehost link, then you will receive your domain for free.

The second step is to get your web hosting. There are a lot of hosting companies out there, and Bluehost seems to be one of the best. Hosting starts at around $2.95 a month. It’ll most likely cost you around $60 a year, which is really good deal! If you pay for more than one year at a time, you also get a free domain name through Bluehost if you buy through my link.

You can read more detailed instructions in my post How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost.

And once you have your domain and hosting, also make sure to start an e-mail list. ConvertKit is great and very easy to use. Not having an e-mail list for so long is something that I definitely regret, but I am glad that I’m finally starting with this.

I recommend checking out my online course for bloggers, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. I earn over $50,000 a month through affiliate marketing and I share my exact strategy and tips in this very informative online course. If you’re a blogger (even if you’re a new blogger!), then you NEED this course.

There are many other ways to make money blogging as well, such as with display advertising (such as with Google Adsense), sponsored partnerships, speaking, creating products, and more.

Work From Home and Make Extra Income

There are plenty of ways to make extra income from home. Check out these options as well as the free courses that go along with them.

How To Start A Blog FREE Course: With this free email course, I show you exactly how to create a blog, from the technical side (it’s easy – trust me!) all the way to earning your first income and attracting followers. Each day for seven days, you will receive an email in your inbox that will help you create a successful and profitable blog, all from the very beginning. You can sign up here.

How To Work From Home Selling On Amazon FBA: The first year that Jessica’s family ran their Amazon FBA business together, working less than 20 hours a week total, they made over 6 figures profit! Check out this interview for more information on how to work from home selling on Amazon FBA. If you want to learn more about starting an Amazon business, I recommend signing up for this free training that will teach you how to sell products on Amazon and make $100 to $500 per day.

Make Money Proofreading By Becoming A Freelance Proofreader: In 2014, Caitlin made slightly over $43,000 by being a freelance proofreader, while also going on several fun vacations. Caitlin also has a great FREE 7 day course just for people who want to stop wasting time and start making more money with their proofreading skills. I definitely recommend that you check it out.

Make Money Online As A Freelance Writer Or Virtual Assistant: My friend Kayla has a free workshop that you can sign up for – 5 Steps To Become a Virtual Assistant. Here she will teach you how to become a virtual assistant and go over the typical virtual assistant salary and the hourly rate you can make.

Make Money At Home By Becoming A Transcriptionist: In 2007, Janet started working from home as a medical transcriptionist for others. Shortly after that, she started a successful general and legal transcription business. While running her business, the idea of a course popped up. Janet now teaches others in her online course how to transcribe online and work from home as a transcriptionist. This is when you transcribe audio to text. Learn more about how you can become a transcriptionist here.

Becoming a virtual assistant for extra income online.

You can make extra income by becoming a virtual assistant. This is something that I started doing after I created my blog. It doesn’t comprise a LARGE percentage of my extra income, but it is there. I like to be diversified just in case anything does happen to one of my other extra income streams (yes I realize that I am not fully diversified because a lot of my extra income is earned online – just in different ways).

There are many things that you can do as a virtual assistant. You can manage the social media of a business, website, etc. (Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and everything else), handle the newsletter, work on the website, proofread and edit, do market research, handle emails, and so on. The list is really endless. Are you interested in becoming a virtual assistant? Don’t forget to also read about what exactly a virtual assistant does.

Freelance writing to earn money online.

A lot of you seem very interested in making extra income by freelance writing. For the sake of this section, a staff writer = freelance writer, just to make this all easy. I made a post titled So You Want to Be a Freelance Writer?, so please check it out. Below is a snippet of it.

Just a few years ago, I never thought I would be staff writing, and I never even thought about it. But once I began, I really started to enjoy it. I really love to write (yes, I do realize that I’m not the best and I probably should proofread more, but I do like to talk), and writing for different blogs was fun for me. How are people supposed to know that you are looking for a freelance writing position?

Over one summer, I was asked to be a staff writer for a blog. The e-mail came out of nowhere, but after I received it, I started looking into staff writing further. Having a blog (as talked about before), helped people find me and consider me for their staff writing positions. After that initial e-mail, I then posted on Yakezie (a personal finance community with a great forum) and stated that I was searching for a staff writing position. After I made the post on the forum, I received a couple of e-mails and this is what launched my staff writing career. The power of throwing yourself out there and just asking was definitely helpful for me.

Also, there are the ProBlogger job boards, and there are a lot of staff writing positions on there. I know of a couple of people who have found their positions through that website.

If you do have a blog, then make sure you have a “Hire Me” tab if you are available. This will then let others know that you are looking, and also what you are available for. Many blog owners might also be looking around, or they might make blog posts directly stating that they need staff writers. Keep an eye out for this. It doesn’t hurt to just e-mail the websites directly. If you truly want to write for them, try sending them a quick e-mail, and attach some writing samples, and/or link to your blog as well.

IZEA – An easy way to earn money online through your social media accounts.

IZEA is a company I used a lot when I first started blogging. If you already have a blog or social media accounts such as Twitter and Instagram, then signing up for Izea is a great way to make some extra money. You can sign up for it even if you don’t have a blog. You can just connect your social media accounts and start making money right away.

All you have to do is sign up and wait for opportunities to come your way. It’s easy, but if you have any questions just shoot me an email and I can try my best to help you out.

With Izea, you are getting paid for whenever a company wants to advertise themselves through your blog and/or social media accounts (such as your Twitter account). You get paid electronically, and they always pay. They partner with big name companies such as Marriott, Netflix, Walmart, Kraft, Lego, and more. It’s an EASY way to make money through your social media accounts, so I highly recommend you check Izea out.

Click here to sign up for Izea. It is free to join and free to use. To get started, sign up, connect a few social media accounts, and validate your email so that you can start earning extra cash.

Renting out an extra room for extra income.

Back when we had a house, we had four bedrooms in our house and only used one. So when my sister needed a place to live, we of course invited her to live with us. It worked out greatly and she paid around $325 per month. She was hardly home so we didn’t really noticed an increase in any of our bills also. It was a great way to learn how to make money fast.

Read A Complete Guide To Renting A Room For Extra Money.

How to make extra money by mystery shopping.

There are many ways to make money online. The next one we will talk about now is mystery shopping.

I’ve talked about BestMark in a lot of my posts so far. It’s easy money and I do secret shops for restaurants, Best Buy, and so on.
Click here to read my post about mystery shopping.
Want To Make An Extra $100 A Month? Learn How To Become A Mystery Shopper
If you do join, please say I referred you! My ID is MO4999

Swagbucks to earn extra money.

Swagbucks is a search engine (like Google or Yahoo) that offers you the chance to earn “swagbucks” for different things. I mainly just do my normal internet searches through Swagbucks. Then when you accumulate enough, you can go to the prize store and get anything from toys, electronics, and gift cards. Most people buy Amazon gift cards.
So far I have made over $300 in Amazon gift cards. It’s super easy to use, so sign up NOW!

Rakuten for extra income.

With Rakuten you just shop like you normally would online. Go to Rakuten first and then search for the store you are wanting. They have many stores and most likely the store you are wanting to buy your item(s) from will be listed.
Then you just click to your online retailer of choice through ebates, and then ebates will give you your percent back! Sometimes you can get 10% to 15% back on your purchase. It’s easy money!
This is a free service, click here to sign up.
This is a quote from their website: “People often ask: “This sounds too good to be true, how are you able to do it?” It really is quite simple. Just like almost every other online shopping center, we get a commission from the stores when you make a purchase. Instead of keeping that money – like almost all other sites do – we share it with you!”

How to make extra income while working full-time

If you have a full-time job, then you may want to learn how to make extra income while working full-time.

When I first started my many side hustles, I still had a day job. I was often working 50 to 100 hours each week between my day job and all of the different things that I was doing to make extra income. It was not easy, so I want to give you some tips on how to manage your time better so that you can make extra money while working full-time, and still have an enjoyable life with a good work life balance!

Here are my tips on how to make extra income while working full-time:

Use your time in the morning before work to get some side hustle time in. Yes, this just means that you will get less sleep, but sometimes this may be what you have to do.
Wisely use your lunch time. When I had a day job, I would use my lunch hour to side hustle and eat at the same time. Bringing my lunch helped me to save time so that I didn’t have to drive somewhere to get lunch – every minute is precious when you are trying to make extra income!
Take a vacation day at your day job. Using vacation days at your day job can allow you to make some side hustle income. It can help in other ways as well – Sometimes, I would take just one or two days off at a time so that I could relax somewhat and not feel like I was constantly running around with my head chopped off.
Analyze how much time you waste. There are many time wasters in your life most likely, such as watching too much TV. The average person watches over 30 hours of TV each week. This can be put towards a side hustle so that you can make extra income from home, extra income online, extra income with a part-time job, and more.

You can learn more at 16 Ideas That Will Teach You How To Find Time To Make Extra Money.

How can I make extra money from home in the evenings?

If you want to make extra money from home in the evenings, there are many things that you can do, such as by finding online earning opportunities.

If you have a day job, then you may not want to commute somewhere else to work for several hours after you get off of work. If that is the case, some online earning opportunities may include:

Freelance writing
Selling stickers on Etsy
Virtual assisting
Starting a blog
Voice over actor
Run Facebook ads
Affiliate marketer
Virtual bookkeeper
Graphic designer

And so much more. The list is never ending!

There are also a lot of side jobs in today’s gig economy that may allow you to earn extra income. This may include driving for Lyft or Uber, renting out a car on Turo, charging a scooter, being a delivery driver, and more.

What are creative ways to make money?

There are many unique ways to make money that may be non traditional, crafty, and out of the box.

Some creative ways to make money include:

What can I sell to make money?

There are many things you can sell to make money. You can sell printables on Etsy, sell clothing on Poshmark, invitations for weddings, flip items for resale, and so much more. The list is never ending.

You can learn more in the articles below:

How do I make an extra $1000 a month? What can I do for extra income?

If you are looking for extra income ideas and for real ways to make money from home for free, one of the above may interest you and fit you best.

Whether you are looking to learn how to make extra income while working full-time, how to earn extra income online on your own schedule, or if you’re just looking to make extra money in some other way, there are tons of options.

You could sell items on eBay, sell crafts on Etsy, find freelance work on UpWork or Fiverr, become an Airbnb host, become a graphic designer, run errands for others, sell your photography, start a podcast, walk dogs or pet sit on Rover, sell on Facebook marketplace, drive for Uber Eats, rent your spare bedroom, be active on Taskrabbit, start a YouTube channel, have a garage sale, rent out your extra space, clean out your closet and sell items to consignment shops, create a course to sell on an online platform such as Udemy, moderate Facebook groups, take online surveys, create lesson plans, sell t-shirts, and so much more!

You could find a full-time job, find companies looking for freelancers, get an hourly rate part-time gig, start a side business, and so much more. There are quick ways to make extra income (such as by selling items that you already have in your closet to a consignment store) or renting out a spare room, there are gigs that simply require an internet connection, and a ton of other options.

There is an endless amount of side gigs and full-time jobs where you can make more money.

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Author: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Hey! I’m Michelle Schroeder-Gardner and I am the founder of Making Sense of Cents. I’m passionate about all things personal finance, side hustles, making extra money, and online businesses. I have been featured in major publications such as Forbes, CNBC, Time, and Business Insider. Learn more here.

How To Make Extra Income – 100 Ways To Make Extra Money!