Everyone’s looking for easy ways to make money from home—and we have some ideas. Check out these attainable avenues to earn some extra income from home.
Most people want to make more money. It could be because they want to increase their savings or because they have a specific goal in sight, such as buying a home or paying off debt. Whatever the reason, finding something to do outside of that regular job or outside of classes is one of the more obvious avenues to getting that extra cash.
However, the most obvious option for many is to get a part-time job, which means more time away from home. Luckily, the robust online world has provided people with many opportunities to make money at home—in legitimate ways.
In fact, there are so many easy ways to make money from home now that this list still isn't comprehensive, despite having 23 items on it. While all of these ways to make additional income from home take some setup, much of that setup is quick enough that you can start earning money soon—if not right after you start.
1. Rent out rooms in your home
One of the more traditional forms of earning extra money is to rent out rooms in your home and have housemates. Nowadays, you can also rent out rooms via Airbnb for long- or short-term stays.
In either case, you'll want good liability insurance and to choose a way that gives you the level of control you need over who is in your home. If you want to vet the person who will be renting, then you'd want to avoid Airbnb's instant-booking feature that allows people to simply book without contacting you.
Finally, make sure local laws, including HOA regulations if you deal with those, allow you to rent part of your home. Many HOAs ban short-term rentals, for example, even if they're just for a room.
If you're the one looking for housing, you can still make money from home—by being a housesitter. This is where you effectively babysit someone's home by living in it while they're gone on an extended vacation, for example.
Each home will have rules that you have to follow, such as whether or not you have to clean the home weekly or if you have to provide your own food. You can find these situations either through word of mouth or through sites dedicated to matching housesitters and homeowners. For some of these situations, the "pay" might be free rent, but others may pay you on top of having you stay.
3. Become an online tutor
If you know a subject well or are a native English speaker, you can sign up with an online tutoring company to offer your knowledge for pay. You might tutor a specific person in English or find people who need help with physics, if that's your specialty. Subjects include anything you could learn, including musical instruments.
4. Rent out your car
If you don't want to rent out your home, you can rent out your car. You will have to meet platform requirements regarding cleanliness, repairs, and overall condition. You'll want to ensure your car insurance allows you to do this, too, and find out from the rental platform what protection you have if the renter gets a ticket or gets into an accident in your car.
5. Start a freelance business
Freelancers are self-employed, and they run businesses that require licensing from the city or county and that have a tax structure such as a sole proprietorship or LLC. And you can make money from home as a freelancer, doing graphic design, writing, or another type of work. Do what you can to set aside estimated taxes whenever you get paid. It is all too easy to fall behind.
6. Pet sitting at your home
Pet sitting can involve you going to someone's home to check on and feed their pet. Or, you could have the pet stay at your home instead, if the owner doesn't want the pet to be alone most of the time. There are sites that match sitters with pet owners, and take note that it might take time to get started. You've got to build up word of mouth with owners so that others on the platform know that you'll take good care of their pets.
As with other work-from-home options that involve living things, make sure your landlord allows pets if you rent your home and check with the platform about what to do regarding medical costs if the pet has an emergency at your home—you might need pet insurance.
Sell web domain names
If you're really good at spotting trends and want to be actively involved in your money-making (and not have a passive process), flipping domain names might be your thing. This is where you buy domain names and then sell them to people who want to use them. People hold a website domain that another person or company wants to use, and that person or company has to buy the domain name to use it. So, the holder makes cash.
These deals are not always huge moneymakers; you'll hear about major sales where a multimillion-dollar company buys some guy's web domain name, but most of the time the sales are far smaller. Still, it's an option for earning money that you can do from home.
9. Make and sell homemade crafts, clothes, and art
If you're an artist, tailor/sewist, crafter, or what have you, you can sell your wares online. Your options generally are to set up your own website with a store that people can purchase from online, sell on a crafts-dedicated site like Etsy, or sell on an online marketplace like Etsy, Redbubble or even Amazon. Selling on another company's site will be easier if you don't like advertising yourself, but you'll have to give the site a cut of your profits or pay fees. If you want all the money from the sales for yourself, you'll have to set up your own website, hire designers and web security firms, and run everything yourself.
10. Trade cryptocurrencies
Just as you can trade stocks, so can you trade cryptocurrencies. You'll need to set up an account with a cryptocurrency site and choose your type of wallet (be careful here as "hot" and "cold" wallets each have different restrictions). You can choose to trade in futures or buy the currency and hold onto it as it rises or falls in price, selling it when it reaches a price you want in cash.
Cryptocurrency is still an evolving field, subject to more tax regulations and to the whims of the market. People can make money at this, but proceed with caution.