If you go online and ask for ways to make money on the side, you’ll invariably get all kinds of snarky responses. Some will be suggestions for illegal things like robbing banks and selling drugs.
Others will be legal but ethical or unsavory. So here are some pretty easy ways to earn side income that are legal and aren’t icky in some way.
House Sitting
This is one of the easiest ways to earn some decent side cash. You stay at someone’s house while they’re away. The biggest tasks might be caring for a pet, bringing in the mail, and watering some plants.
Pet Sitting
Pet sitting, too, is an easy way to earn extra money if you’re responsible and like animals. You may not even need to stay overnight and might just have to make a couple of visits per day.
Electrical/Plumbing Work
If you’ve got electrical, plumbing, or other handyman skills, you can turn them into a nice side hustle. Professional contractors can be very expensive, even for relatively minor issues that a handyman can handle.
Scuba Diving
As a side job, scuba diving itself isn’t going to work out. However, people who do it as a hobby can collect and then sell shark teeth, rare shells, and other ocean treasures. We found a person saying he made over 100K in one year doing this!
Refurbishing Used Furniture
Buy cheap used furniture and then restore it to like-new condition. You can resell it for a nice profit and at a price way below new furniture from a store.
Flipping Thrift Store Purchases
Items in thrift stores often go for dirt-cheap prices way below what they’d sell for elsewhere. Often, you can buy these and then sell them at higher but still discounted prices.
Refereeing Youth Sports
Nationally, there’s a shortage of referees for youth leagues, middle school sports, and high school sports. Refs can make over $30 an hour. On busy weekends, earnings can be several hundred dollars.
Uber/Lyft
Doing this full-time is a grind that puts a lot of mileage and wear on your car. Doing it part-time, though, you can earn good money by driving for just a few hours at high-demand times.
Airport Rides
You can also go solo and offer rides on your own. Airport rides offer relief from the high costs of airport parking, and you can charge less than commercial services but still make a nice profit.
Selling Tee Shirts on Etsy
A lot of people with a creative mind have found Etsy to be a path to success. Tee shirts are pretty cheap to make, are always in demand, and return a good profit.
Taking Part in Paid Medical Studies
By the time a drug is ready for human testing, it’s known to be safe. To find out how effective it is, researchers will pay people to take part in trials. We found one example of someone who earned 10K for being in a 3-month study.
Food Delivery
DoorDash and Uber Eats are examples of companies where you can earn extra money delivering food. You have to be smart about it, though. For example, delivering an order on your way back from work doesn’t add much time or fuel cost. In areas where people tend not to tip well or at all, you may actually lose money after gas costs.
Copywriting
Freelance writers can earn extra money just by sitting at home and writing emails, articles, blog posts, and more. The best platforms are those that provide steady available work and the ability to choose what you do and don’t want to work on.
TikTok
People go live on TikTok and earn money for all sorts of things. One of the wildest examples we found was of someone playing a popular video game on the site, just showing his screen. People actually paid him to do requested maneuvers and other actions.
Buffing and Detailing Yachts
People who can afford yachts can afford to pay well to keep them looking good. If you live near the water, this can be a nice side hustle, and the work doesn’t require much in the way of special skills.
Painting
If you’re artistic, you can sell your paintings online or at art shows, for example. Another way to make money with a paintbrush is to offer house-painting services. As an individual, you’d want to stick to touch-up work and small jobs, like repainting baseboards.
Selling Food
Are you good at making a certain dish? Turn it into money! Using online platforms, people sell all kinds of foods to neighbors and others nearby, including tacos, barbecue, artisan breads, and more.
Donating Blood
Really, you’re selling it since you’re not getting it back, but you get the idea. Another legal and non-unsavory way to earn money with your body is to sell hair. There’s a need for human hair to make realistic-looking wigs for people who have experienced hair loss, especially for cancer patients.
Being an Extra in a Film
Warning: almost everyone who does this says the hours can be long and the pay doesn’t amount to much per hour in the end. However, you don’t really have to do anything, you’ll still pocket a couple hundred dollars or more, and you might get to see yourself in the finished product.
Rock Climbing
Thanks to climbing gyms and some feature films, interest in rock climbing has exploded in recent years. Many people want to try outdoor climbing, but they lack the gear and the know-how. A safe, experienced climber can get certified as a guide and instruct beginners as a side gig. And a lot of clients tip well!
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