Trying to earn extra money on the side? These easy side hustles can help you increase your income and pay those never ending bills!
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At a recent family get-together, a bunch of us were hanging out around the table talking when my brother-in-law wryly said, “Yeah, I just need to figure out how to make an extra $20,000 a year and we’d be set!”
We all laughed empathetically because let’s be honest, who doesn’t think an extra $20,000 would help make life a little easier?
As the laughter died down, he turned to me and asked more seriously, “What can I do to make an extra $20,000?” Apparently being a frugal homemaking blogger makes you the family expert on these kinds of subjects? 🙂
Really though, his question is one that a lot of us have, right? Money is tight, we have mortgages to pay off or we’re trying desperately to stay out of debt.
And we wish we could find an easy side hustle or two that would make it at least not too hard to earn a bit of extra money.
There are hundreds of ways to make money on the side, and there’s no way that I could cover them all. But here are some of my favorite side hustles that are mostly easy and have the potential to pay decently.
Quite a few of these side hustles are things you can do from home too, which is a big plus if you’re a stay-at-home parent. By investing as little as 5 to 8 hours a week, I think you can easily earn a nice little side income!
At any rate, hopefully, these ideas will inspire you and help you figure out how to make a little extra money on the side so you can enjoy the freedom of having a little less tight budget. 🙂
Side Hustle Ideas to Make Extra Money
1. Rent out a room…or your whole house
Have a spare room? Or a spot that you could turn into a guest house? Maybe you’d like to just do what some friends of ours do and pay for your vacations by renting out your house while you’re gone.
Either way, being an Airbnb host can be a great way to earn a little extra money! You can especially do well if you are in an urban location or close to lots of events, conventions and the like.
2. Get Paid to Grocery Shop
Love shopping for groceries? Why not become an Instacart Shopper and get paid to grocery shop for other people?
If this sounds like fun to you, check out this Instacart Shopper Review that gives the low down on how Instacart Shopper works, the best tips to do it well and one shopper’s side hustle experience where she made over $1500/mo.
3. Become a Proofreader
If you enjoy detailed work and have a bit of a knack for grammar, becoming a proofreader could be a great fit!
This free proofreading workshop by Caitlin Pyle is a great way to find out if this is something that might work for you. And I was amazed to learn that the majority of Caitlin’s proofreading students make $17/hr at the start!
4. Be a Virtual Assistant
Want to work from home and help business owners and influencers with online work? Then virtual assistant work could be the perfect side hustle for you!
Virtual assistants do a lot of different tasks– everything from graphic design, social media management, blog management, email management, content production, bookkeeping, project management and more.
VA work is in demand, especially in the blogging world! I have a couple of VAs that help me with my blog and I’m ever so grateful for them!
You can learn more about how to become a VA as well as sign up for the amazing course that Fully Booked VA offers. The average rate for virtual assistants that have gone through this course is $35/hr., with some going as high as $100!
5. Do Recipe | Craft Photography
Do you love photography? Guess what? You can get paid to work at home taking recipe and craft photos for bloggers, social media influencers and even brands!
With the huge growth in blogging and social media marketing as a business, the demand for skilled photographers to develop, create, style and photograph recipes and crafts is in high demand!
As someone in that niche, I know from experience how valuable a good, experienced photographer is. And at an average rate of $85-$150 per recipe/craft, it’s not a bad way to side hustle either.
Not sure where to start? The Pretty Focused food photography course is a great investment and will teach you all the skills you need to do recipe and craft photography successfully.
In fact, the photographer that helps me do some of my recipe photography is actually a graduate of this course!
Another less expensive option is this Tasty Food Photography ebook written by a top food blogger. I’ve long admired Lindsay’s recipes and photography and she always does such a great job of making things so easy to understand!
6. Baby Sit
If you enjoy kids, babysitting is a great way to earn a little extra money! Obviously, you can try to find your own connections, but if you want to simplify things and more easily find opportunities, check out Sittercity.
Once you sign up to be a sitter, you can take on jobs as a full-time nanny, date-night sitter, last minute care and even pet or senior care and housekeeping!
More ideas for how to make extra money on the side
7. Pet Sit
Love pets? This side hustle will be a dream come true for you! Sign up with Rover to get paid to pet sit, dog walk, board pets and more.
8. Become a driver
If you have a car, one unique way that you may be able to make money is by signing up to drive with Uber or Lyft. If you aren’t familiar with Uber and Lyft, they are companies that enable people to catch a ride whenever they need one.
This is a great great opportunity if you are looking for a side gig that is flexible and can be done whenever you have time available.
9. Become a Transcriber
Are you a fast typer and good at remembering what someone says? Then you might enjoy being a transcriber!
This free general transcribing mini course is a great way to learn more about it and whether it’s a good fit for you.
And for reference sake, according to the Transcribe Anywhere website, the average annual income for a transcriber is $45,000 to $60,000.
10. Teach English As a Second Language
You don’t have to leave your home to teach English as a second language! With VIP Kid and Italki, you can make around $19/hr. teaching English from the comfort of your living room.
There are some requirements to become a teacher though. For instance, VIP Kid requires that all teachers have a Bachelor’s degree of some kind. But overall, it’s a unique, relatively simple to start side hustle option!
11. Sell your skills
Fiverr is an online platform where freelancers can sell their skills and services.
While you can sell almost any service and even actual items, Fiverr works especially well as a side gig for graphic designers, programmers, writers, artists and similar freelance type jobs.
12. Deliver for Local Restaurants
Like the idea of making money on your own schedule? Sign up with Uber Eats and bring the local food people love right to their door.
Depending on your city, you may be able to deliver food with your car, bike, or scooter. The gig is super flexible—you can deliver day or night, for however long you’d like.
When you are ready to do a delivery, you simply turn on the Uber Eats app, and you can start receiving delivery requests in your area. And one of the best parts? Any money you make can be paid out instantly thanks to Uber’s Instant Pay feature!
More easy side hustle ideas
13. Sell your Hobby
If you’re good at creating things, why not try selling on Etsy? You’ll get to do what you love and get paid for it at the same time!
A few of the things that are often quite popular on Etsy are homemade clothing, handcrafted accessories, handmade home decor items, handmade party decor, homemade art items.
14. Start a Blog
Yup, you really can make money blogging! But contrary to what many people think, it’s not an easy or get-rich-quick type of job.
However, if you’re willing to invest enough time and effort into it and if you love the topics that you share about, it can be a great way to make extra money or even become a full-time income!
I’ve been blogging for 14 years, but only really started getting serious about earning money from my blog about 8 years ago. We have been living off the income that I make for the last 6 years, but I’m not going to lie- it’s been a lot of work!
However, I love that blogging offers a flexible schedule and that I can do it while still being at home with my children.
If you’re interested in starting a blog, I recommend using Food Blogger Pro to help you get started.
It’s packed full of great information and will give you a great basic framework to help you set up your blog and get started making money. And while it’s geared towards food blogging, there’s lots that is helpful for other niches too.
15. Make Money on Your Purchases
This isn’t exactly a side hustle, but it is such an easy way to make a little extra money that I had to include it. What’s not to love about making money on things you were already buying?
These apps or websites will allow you to get cashback on items that you purchase at places like Target, Walmart, grocery stores, CVS, Costco and more! If you buy groceries or household items, this option is worth checking into too!
- Ibotta
- Fetch Rewards
- – This one is the absolute easiest to use…you just scan your receipt and that’s it.
- Rakuten (sign up and get $10 when you make your first purchase of $25 or more!)
– This one is exclusively for online purchases. It’s so simple to do and I earn an average of 5% cash back on almost all of my online shopping! It’s awesome!
No matter how you look at it…side hustles are awesome for earning extra money!
Shelly Chadha
I’ve read a lot of articles on this topic, so i’m glad i’ve finally come across one with unique ideas! I got tired of reading the same things over and over, so I just wanted to thank you for sharing this with us. Since graduating from university, I have been wrapped up in student debt and I have been trying to find some good ideas to adopt as a side hustle so I can repay my debt quicker and comfortably, without having to work 7 days a week! Definitely excited to try a couple of these out and very interested to see what my readers will think too! Thanks again 🙂
ThriftyFrugalMom
Thanks, Shelly! And go you for working hard to get the debt paid off as quickly as possible! You won’t ever regret it.
Liz Beavers
Thank you so much for this post. I haven’t heard of a few of these sites. I have a blogging question, did you write more articles the last 4 years or did you do anything different to get your blog to the point of earning income? I have a blog and am serious about growing it but I want to make sure that I am also being realistic as well. I am a stay at home mommy and that comes first for sure. Any tips would be helpful.
ThriftyFrugalMom
I did spend a lot of time initially writing posts, although the last year I’ve really decreased the amount of new posts due to lack of time and also due to trying to focus on a few other aspect of blogging. One thing that I think is so important to remember is to not just write a post, but to write an amazing post. Add lots of value to it. Make it better and offer more in it than any other competing post about the same subject. Figure out how to serve your audience. If you are solving a need or offering help to a problem, it will connect more and be more successful. One thing that I highly recommend and wish that I would have done sooner is focus more on SEO. That has been a huge game changer for me! I know for myself, it took me a while to find my groove…and sometimes I still feel like I am! 🙂 Hope something that I shared there is helpful for you!
Ginny
Thanks for these ideas, Lydia! We are currently trying to save up for a down payment on a house, so we are looking for extra income these days too. I had not yet heard of Fiverr, but I am checking it out as an option. I have recently started a blog too, but it’s a long way from making any money. You’re right about it requiring a lot of time and energy.
ThriftyFrugalMom
Go you on working on saving up for that down payment, Ginny! So exciting! And yes, I only recently learned of Fiverr myself and have been so intrigued. And I checked out your blog and I LOVE it! You have a lot of good content on there already and I had fun reading through different of your posts….you definitely have what it takes to make it a business. And if you ever have blogging questions, feel free to reach out! I love helping others along in this blogging thing!
Kristen @ Joyfully Thriving
I didn’t realize how similar we were in our blogging journeys, Lydia! I started blogging 7, almost 8 now, years ago, but it was really in the last 4 (since my first baby was born) that I became serious about…and that has when it has grown into the blessing of a part-income for our family as well. Sure, I haven’t grown as quick as some but I’ve invested more time in my family than in my blog, and that is okay by me. I am thankful for the flexibility of blogging and the blessing it has been to our family!
ThriftyFrugalMom
I didn’t know that either, Kristen! So interesting. And I totally agree with the whole thing about not growing as quickly as some . That’s been me too! But it’s been important to me to not let it take over my life and for my family to come first. So I’ve been okay with the sacrifice as well.
Amanda Robinson
I’ve read A LOT of side gig articles and this one offered many great sites and info I haven’t come across yet so THANK YOU so much for all this awesome info! Shared to Facebook. 🙂
ThriftyFrugalMom
Thanks for your kind, encouraging words, Amanda! Glad you found this helpful. And I appreciate the Facebook share too! 🙂
Jackie Bolen
ALL about the side hustle for sure. My favourite one is self-publishing on Amazon. It’s a ton of work up-front, but has the potential to earn for years. And it’s also easier to do all other ones once you figure out the first.
ThriftyFrugalMom
Thanks for the self-publishing idea, Jackie! I don’t know much about it, other than it can be a bit of work. But if you like writing and have a book idea that will sell decently, I know it can be a great way to make an income! In fact, I think you can even make it so that you don’t have to print the book but rather, Amazon does that for you too. That would make it super simple, for sure!