40+ Passive Income Ideas and Ways to Make Extra Money
Are you looking for actionable ideas to help you earn $100, $1000, or even more on the side? I have complied this list of ideas that you can use to start building extra income today. Just spend an hour or two each day and work on items that are practical for you and you will be on your way to build alternative income sources that could help you earn more. It is worth noting that not all of these are passive income ideas, so you will actually have to actively work for these income streams to grow.
In compiling this list, I did my best to avoid any sort of scams, and stick with practical ideas that work. I have tried many (but not all) of these ideas. Some of these helped me earned a few dollars here and there, but there are some that helped me earn extra money on the side every single day and are still going strong! Also, it is important to note that some ideas may be worthwhile for you (but some may not be), it all depends on your your ability and your current financial situation.
Photo by ErRbBbiiIE via Flickr
Passive Income Ideas
Passive income involves ideas or methods that once you set up in motion, they require minimal maintenance work for your part to keep the money flowing in. Here are some money making ideas that are mostly passive and have been proven to work.
1. Earn Higher Interest on Your Savings
One of the easiest way to increase your passive income is to shift your savings to a bank that pays a higher yield on your savings. Although it doesn’t sound like much (especially in this low interest environment), little things do add up and the interest rates will rise.
2. Build a CD Ladder
For a slightly higher yield, you can build a CD ladder. The basic idea is to break your money into smaller chunk and buy a serie of 1-year high yield certificates of deposit. To learn more about this, take a look at How to Create a CD Ladder.
3. Lend Money on Social Lending Network
Lending Club is a platform where you can lend your money to other people as if you’re a bank. Each loan is only $25, so you can for example invest $1,000 and lend money to 40 people. There are many grades of loan (from safest to riskiest) and investors earn between 5.49% to 13.55% on average. For more information, check out Investing and Making Money with Lending Club Peer-to-Peer Lending.
4. Invest in Dividend Paying Stocks or Funds
If you’re looking for current income, investing in the dividend paying stocks (or dividend fund) is a good way to earn money regularly. Pay particular attention to the S&P Dividend Aristocrats, these are companies that pay high dividend and has a long history of increasing their dividend payment over the years.
5. Use Cash Back Reward Credit Cards
You buy stuff everyday, why not make the most of your purchases? Take a look at these credit cards that pay 5% cash back on your purchases. When you make your day-to-day purchases, use these cards and get money back. My family get several hundred dollars a year from using these cards.
6. Get Cash Rebate When Buying Online
When you shop online, make sure you go through Ebates. This web site will give you extra cash back (on top of your credit card cash back) when you buy through them.
7. Earn Money When You Search
You probably do a couple of web searches each day. If you do all your web searches through Swagbucks.com (instead of Google or Bing), you can collect points called SwagBucks which you can trade for a variety of prizes, including gift card for Amazon.com, Walmart, PayPal, etc.
Visit BeingFrugal.net to see how you can get 70 bonus sign up points through the end of May.
8. Real Estate Investing
This is mostly passive once you have it all set up, but it does take a lot of work at the beginning and will require occasional maintenance. Currently, we are investing in a couple of rental properties and we are earning about $500 profit from each a month. You can read more about my rental properties at MoneySmartLife.com: How and Why I Became a Landlord.
If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, you can also do real estate investing through Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). These investments invest in real estate and mortgage, and they pay out 90% of the taxable income to shareholders annually.
Ways to Make Extra Money
In addition to the passive income ideas above and other broad income generation ideas such as starting a business, getting a second job, and learning how to invest here are specific money making ideas you can try. Note that these do require ongoing work to maintain the income.
- For college students, sell your used books and textbooks as soon as your classes are over for the semester.
- Sign up for Cash Crate, complete surveys, and refer your friends.
- Freelancing (you can check out Elance, Guru, RentACoder, Amazon Mechanical Turk, etc. for leads).
- Make money blogging. For example, this blog provides me with daily income since 2007. You can learn more about blogging and start one. Here are some more good articles to learn more about this:
- Write for money — e.g., Squidoo, Yahoo Contributor Network, Triond, etc. – or you can write for various websites that work with freelance writers.
- Ghostwriting. This is very similar to the idea above, but you write anonymously and the assignments are usually longer.
- Offer basic services — e.g., babysitting, housekeeping, gardening, dog walking, painting, snow removal, etc. These basic services are good for motivated teenagers and most of these can be done right around your neighborhood.
- Offer skilled services — e.g., tutoring, resume writing, business consulting, blog development, logo design, etc.
- Turn your hobbies into income streams — e.g., photography, videography, quilting, etc.
- Sell handmade products on Etsy.
- Write and sell eBooks. This is easier than ever with the help of Amazon and the Kindle.
- Enter contests and giveaways (use Google Alerts) and sell the prizes.
- Search for freebies and sign up bonuses. For example, you can typically get a $100 bonus from a credit card sign up.
- Turn your everyday spending into college savings with Upromise.
- Becomes an Amazon Associate, and ask your friends to use your affiliate link to buy things.
- Sell unused items on eBay or Craigslist; or buy bulk items and resell them individually.
- Sell your collectibles.
- Start a bulk candy vending machine business.
- Mystery shopping.
- Find missing money — MissingMoney, Where’s My Refund, TreasuryHunt, PBGC database, and GovBenefits.gov.
- Create and sell CafePress T-shirts.
- Set up niche online store — i.e., Amazon.com aStore or eBay Niche Store.
- Participate in paid focus group studies.
- Sell your body parts and fluids.
- Collect cans and bottles for recycling.
More Income Resources
- 65 Home Business Ideas You Can Do From Your Kitchen Table at Good Financial Cents
- 15 ways to make $200 quick at Christian PF
- 10 Unusual Ways to Get Money Fast at Cash Money Life
- 25 Ways to Make Money Today at WiseBread
- Multiple Income Streams: 10 Ways to Earn Extra Income at The Dough Roller
- How to Make Your Income More Passive at Frugal Dad
- 5 Ways To Make Some Extra Money at Bible Money Matters
- 52 Ways to Make Extra Money at Prime Time Money
- Everyman’s Guide to $30 / Month in Passive Income at Money Smarts Blog
- Spend less than you earn – the wrong way to think at Brip Blap
- 20+ Free Passive Income Resources at Life Optimizer
- Passive Income: How to Earn More and Work Less at About.com
- 8 Ways To Earn Passive Income Online at iSiteBuild.com
- Automate Your Income to Simplify Your Life at Zen Habits
- Passive Income is the Key to Freedom and Retirement at All Financial Matters
- 11 Great Ways to Earn More Money at Free Money Finance
- Defining Alternative Income at Lazy Man and Money
- 50+ Resources to Legitimately Raise Your Income at My Super-Charged Life
- 40 Ways to Make Money on the Internet at Dumb Little Man
- 102 Ways To Generate Extra Cash at Savings Advice
If you like this article, be sure to check out my Extra Income Guide.
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What an AWESOME list! I have been selling stuff on eBay, half..com and Amazon like mad in the last week and it’s been pretty great. I agree that there is some challenge to this, but I have been doing it off and on for years. Only recently have I started to get serious about selling.
Thank you for the ideas, though! I have been trying to think of other ways to earn money and a few of the things here (particularly rent-a-coder and tutoring) I have thought about before but not acted on. I appreciate the suggestions!
At this point, I don’t really need the extra income to pay off my debt, but as I look to my future and my goal of being able to retire at 35, I have a LOT more I need to do to build up my income over the next 13 years
I don’t believe that Amazon allows you to tell your family and friends to buy things through their associates account. I know that their TOS actually tell you that you can’t buy things for yourself through it nor can you have others buy things for you through it.
Now, how they go about enforcing it is a different story, but you may want to read the fine print when it comes to affiliate programs.
I think MInTheGap is right, Amazon does ask you to not have your friends use your affiliate links. I don’t know how they can police it, but I believe in the terms of service.
I notice that most of these involve A) getting a second job or B) investing income that you already have. There are quite a few examples of each, but they are fundamentally the same.
@MInTheGap. From Amazon’s page: http://bit.ly/uny5Qk
You can’t make the purchase on their behalf, but it doesn’t say anything about asking your friends to make their own purchases through your web site.
Pinyo, it’s this part of what you quoted that concerns me:
“This includes orders for customers or on behalf of customers or orders for products to be used by you or your friends, relatives, or associates in any manner.”
Orders for products to be used by your friends, relatives or associates in any manner seems to me to equal having your friends buy things through your site even if it is for themselves.
Now, I grant to you that I think that this is insane, and highly unenforceable. Also, I would think that Amazon would gladly accept the business and let the people that are advertising share in some deals, but obviously that’s not what the TOS state.
@MInTheGap – Yeah, I don’t know why they would be against asking friends. I can understand why they wouldn’t want family. I guess it’s up to the person if they want to point their friends to the web site or not.
I’ve tried the online survey route. WAY too much effort for the return. I can’t tell you how many lengthy surveys I’ve gotten halfway through before being told that I’m not a candidate. They still got tons of info, I got zip. Pretty scammy, if you ask me.
One great source of income I have found is doing in-person consumer opinion studies. Once or twice a month, I get paid anywhere from $75 to $200 in cash for an hour or two of providing my opinions on a wide variety of topics/products. Look up these firms in the yellow pages in your town and get your data entered into their database. They’ll call if you match who they are looking for.
@Phil – I agree, survey is not for everyone. I am too busy for it, but I have friends who said survey works well for them. I linked to her site.
I will have to take a look at in-person consumer opinion. I haven’t done one, but is seems to be worth it at $75-$200 a shot.
@Shanti – Thank you. I used to be a seller on eBay too. I buy wholesales, then retail sell them. But the margin is not as good as I’d like it to be due to all the fees, and I didn’t get a very good price to begin with.
If you are interested in tutoring, paidtwice is doing it online and getting decent income from it. You should check out her blog and ask her.
@MInTheGap – I didn’t say family because you and people in the same household cannot buy from your affiliate links. Last time I checked, nothing is wrong with asking your friends to visit your web site and use your affiliate links.
A friend of mine got some vending machines too and I thought it was a really horrible idea. He goes around to them every weekend and collects change and restocks. It sounds like a huge amount of work. I’m all about passive income.
This is such a wonderful resource. Thank you for sharing. If you don’t mind, I’m going to link to this on my blog for all my stay-home mom readers!
@Buck — That’s probably one of my dumbest investment, but some people made it work. Not to mention it’s a big business.
@Christy — I am flattered. Yes, please do share this with your readers.
Thanks, Pinyo; increasing income is the only way to accelerate your investments (such as by putting at least 50% of the extra income these generate towards your investmnet strategies) … and accelerating your investments is the only way to get financially free or, dare I say … rich!
Oh, what a surprise! I just found my link here under second jobs. Thanks so much for the mention.
Andrea Coutu
Here’s an income stream most people have but don’t benefit from, online shopping. I earn over $50 per month as a member. When I shop or those I referred shop, I earn a small cash back amount. So if you shop online at Wal-Mart, Best Buy or Target (did I mention eBay) you can earn cash back as well.
Why don’t you have this income stream working for you?
Hi Pinyo,
Have you personally used Prosper or LendingClub? I’ve heard of these websites and I think they’re interesting, but how much protection does the lender have? What happens if the lendee doesn’t pay you back? Are you covered in some way?
@Lauren — Yes, I use them both. The amount is not insured in anyway. You judge the investment by borrrowers’ credit rating. Ones with higher credit ratings usually pay back. The one that doesn’t go to collection agency, and you may or may not get your money back.
That seems very high risk. Have you had good experiences with them?
@Lauren — This is no different that want the banks and mortgage companies are doing. If you stick with the highest credit rating, you should be able to get returns that are better than savings and CD. But if you go with high risk borrowers, you could ended up like Bear Stearns and Countrywide.
Would two sources of interest be considered two streams of income? Or one?
@Zeke — I don’t think that’s important. The key thing is that you are earning income passively from these sources of interest. Good job!
Selling on Amazon.com used to be a good idea but now they take most of your profits. I’m looking for a better alternative to Amazon. Any ideas?
@ LuLu Malou
I’m not sure what percentage Amazon takes, but Etsy is a good alternative – I believe they take a 3.5% selling fee and it costs .20 to list an item. It’s not a bad deal – especially if you have ten or twenty items that you can throw together into a “store”. Here’s a link to “How to Sell”
http://www.etsy.com/sell
@LuLu — Thank you for your comment. I don’t know the answer because I’ve only used Amazon, but it’s definitely a good topic to write about. I did a Google search for “sell used books” and there are a lot of potential web sites where you can sell your books.
So far, I tried pricing some books on cash4books.net and bluerectangle.com. The latter pays better. I’d encourage you to look through these sites (from search). I’ll try to put together a list of these and compare them. There are a lot of books I need to sell too.
@Lauren — Thank you for the idea to sell on Etsy. I’ve always associated it with craft products, not used books.
On point #8 – Becomes a landlord, or a real estate investor — e.g., rent out a parking space, a room, etc.
You don’t even need to be a landlord – if you have a spare room or even a couch, you can charge travelers to stay the night on sites like raystay.com
Some great resources, I find that Amazon, eBay and Clickbank deliver more controllable results and the widgets that are now available from Amazon and eBay are awesome. I have created a number of associate sites combining widgets from Amzaon, eBay and Affiliate links from Clickbank, to great effect. The key to it all though is thorough niche research and deep, long tail keyword research…always!
I think the key is to focus on what skills that you have that can be turned into an extra income source. No matter what your background or experience there is always something that is transferable into other sectors of society whether it is writing e-books or how to articles and getting paid for it, or selling cosmetics through organisations like AVON in your spare time
Excellent list, Pinyo!
I would add opening checking accounts to the list, right next to sign-up bonuses. I have been doing that and have generated several thousand dollars in 2008 just from checking/savings bonuses.
This is great list Pinyo. Which one of the alternative income sources are you currently working on besides blogging? Which are the most succesful for you?
The best passive income stream is simply the risk-free income from your big nut. Work hard now, save like mad, save your million bucks for $40,000/yr in income and go higher if you want more.
This is such a great resource!
One idea that has worked for me: Learn how to play Texas Hold’Em and play online for real money .. Pokerstars and Full Tilt are the highest trafficked sites that are open to deposits from Americans.
Sounds fishy but poker is the only gambling discipline where you aren’t playing against a built-in house edge, only against other players. In the long-run, if you are better than the other players, you make money!
I really got a lot of great info off this site, I plan to use some and I am open to any others.
Hi Pinyo,
Awesome post.
I felt that Amazon’s return was not really worth it. I’ve been trying to work on my own eBooks but I’m still looking for a niche.
Right now I’m busy with affiliates.
I’m glad to have come across your blog.
Chi
Great post, especially as summer is approaching, there are a whole bunch of extra revenue streams to engage in. With so many outdoor chores through the summer months, a simple chead ad in the local newspaper could lead to a decent amount of business such as mowing lawns or clearing brush. I have also used craigslist for extra stuff i dont need anymore, and it has worked great!
Smart income tips. No wounder why people like this site. You even get a link from the swedish newspapaer metro.se, congrats…!
I think the CD ladder (which doesn’t really make you money once you adjust for inflation. It’s just a way to keep your money worth the same amount as time goes one) is really just a savings strategy. On P2P, a lot of the commenters lost money. Yikes!
There are some good ideas for bloggers here though with the ad networks and review sites. Thanks for the list!
Thanks for a great website. I Have been unemployed for two years now, and would appear that I am too old to find another traditional job. I wasted my precious years in corporate and placed all my eggs in one basket (did pay off my debt though.) I have been searching the internet trying to find an opportunity, did some customer service which caused so much stress, I would have been better off being a cubicle dweller. Anyway, my questions is, which is best for a newbie? Should I try building a website (don’t know to) or try an affiliate program? Thanks for your response and keep up the good work.
@Jen – I am sorry to hear about your situation. Instead of looking at building a website vs try an affiliate program, these should be part of overall income generation plan. Both of these do not provide immediate return for time invested (if ever). There are millions and millions of websites out there, but few are successful and profitable. However, do not let this discourage you…by all means, start a website and give it a good effort. I just want to warn you that it takes a lot of hard work and learning to build a successful website.
These are some great tips, I actually did not think of many of these before, so thank you for the ideas!
Full of new information (well at least for me). I tried tutoring, decluterring and the usual recycling stuff. I would like to learn more about website development and more of the freelance jobs. But I don’t think my stomach can take plasma donating and selling of body parts. I faint at the sight of blood. I didn’t know you could make fast money from dog walking. But that’s okay I don’t like dogs, actually just cats… I’ll click the links on your article later so that I can learn more of these nice opportunities. I have a nice job; but dire financial straits require me to have a side job to earn money fast.
Great article. Like many others I am already practicing many of these alternative methods since the economic depression. I have found that every little bit helps!! I currently work a day job, babysit at night and on weekends often, & also have my own online business.
Affiliate marketing is a great extra stream of income but you have to get the right education first and avoid throwing time and money into the countless ways people are promoting that you can make quick, fast money online. There is no such thing — Passive income streams take hard work, dedication, and months to build up. Yet now is the time for many to start building before you are left out in the cold by a job cut, pay cut, business failure, whatever. Or if you have a spouse who has a secure good paying job today and you can stay home. This may not be the case tomorrow and it is best to start preparing in advance if you have the time. It may not be for all but could be a viable option for some.
Lots of income ideas here and many of them can be easily put into action. Lately, I started to upload products on Zazzle and I am sure it will be a nice source of income for me in the long term.
Working from home can get boring and tedious, so have to have the right attitude in order for any home based work or business to succeed.
One of the easiest way to earn online is to sell people your services. For instance you are willing to design a new graphic ad for $5. This way you can put your talents at work and generate income.
I especially like blogging. Blogging for money is a great way to earn some extra income. Blogger and WordPress are two great sites to get started.
This is an excellent posts, and should be required reading for anyone looking for extra income ideas. I personally like point #8, having a comfortable passive income from 2 properties that I have purchased in early 2000, allowing me to live freely now.
Really an excellent site to get enough information for a need. Thanks for writing such an excellent article and starting this site. Your income ideas are a little unique and but i don’t think that it will be easy for everyone to utilize them. Still it is a good list. Can i ask you a question? How long did it take for you to get these ideas.
Such a great post! I’m a college student and have always wanted to help my mom with our finances since she’s a single mom. This post provided me with so much inspiration. I think I could finally do something (within my reach) that could actually help her without sacrificing my studies. Thank you for your effort in sharing these stuffs. It really helps A LOT! More powers to you… I’m sure you will be blessed even more.
The more I read about the options available to make extra income, the more I am drawn to writing. I believe the art of writing can be utilised night and/or day; regardless of the weather and no significant costs.
I would be delighted to hear from anyone who is writing – whatever form it may be apart from blogging
to learn how you make income from writing and publishing online.
I am not sure if I have the imagination to write interesting fiction (but I will try) if I believe it could be worth my while. Obviously I have much to learn!
Over time, I have written many personal letters to friends and aquaintances about whatever is happening in my life or about my occassional travels; comments regarding whatever is happening at the time (social, political, my career and so forth) and I have been thrilled to receive compliments for my writing. Of course, I have written many an obligatory essay for university. Whether I have what it takes to write and interst a wider audience and make money is yet to be tested.
I would appreciate any advice from those writing online to earn an income and utilising a their natural talent.
Thanks,
Judith
It occurred to me while thinking about this topic of some resourceful, proud entrepreneurs I came across while working in an outback town in Australia. The town catered for many itinerate workers a long way from home.
1. The local town clerk (local govt) once completing his regular employment for the day had a small business which entailed him using his minibus to show tourists and locals around his town pointing out and informing his passengers about the various sites of interest. The bus trip was approximatley 1.5 hours. The cost was reasonable to learn as much about the town and it’s history and he provided a running an educated running commentary and the occassional joke. The tour was completed in time to stop by another local business described below.
2. This business was a local eating house (for want of a better word) it was named as a ‘restaurant’. The entrepreneur was a woman who held a part-time job at the local post office.Her family were grown. After completing her day time job at 1pm she would come home and prepare a meal as she would for a large family (home cooking) and serve it to her guests who called at her home from 6pm sat a tables set as for family meals. The dining room for guests was her enclosed from verandah. The menu varied and had three courses each night. If she knew in advance, she would prepare for special occassions such as birthdays, anniversaries and so forth. The eating house was BYO alcohol.
I visited the restaurant twice while working in the town. The cook provided entertainment through her life stories and additional social history of her home town. It was the next best thing to being home in the harsh enviroment of the town’s location.
On my visits I estimated her taking for one night to be approximately AUD$1,500.
Wonderful list you have in here, Pinyo. All of these ideas are extremely doable. I should know having tried out my hands on a few of them. Some others in here are new to me and I’d be giving them a try quite soon.
I don’t know how some people do well at surveys and stuff like that. I’ve never found them to be productive or worth my time, but I guess some folks know how to get it to work for them. Thanks for this excellent write-up
The lesson behind all this is that there are still ways to earn money, even beyond the accepted 9-5 job. You wrote 40 ways, and there are a couple dozen suggestions just submitted by your readers.
Wow! This is quite the in depth article! I appreciate all the hard work you put in. I cannot believe how much money there is out there on this kind of stuff but things have changed greatly in the past decade. I will pass this article along to a few of my friends who can make MUCH better use of it. I did enjoy the read though.
Lot’s of great resources. How long did it take before you saw passive income from your website? How much do you expect each day in income from your blog alone?
@Free Money Minute – I am hesistant to call my website income passive, since I do update it regularly. At the same time, if I stop doing everything, it will probably keep running without losing too much traffic or income. I guess it took about a year for the site to be self-sufficient enough for most of the income to be “passive”.
I don’t have any set expectation for daily income since each day is different, but the total income-to-date has been unexpected and life changing.