Side hustles are a great way to build extra money for any purpose. Whether you want to buy a new car, save more for a down payment, or simply have more spending money, a side hustle to make extra income can get you there quicker! There are a variety of side jobs out there such as affiliate marketing or being a virtual assistant. In this article, I’ll go over 12 easy side hustles to make extra money.
Note: Looking for more unique side hustles? Check out these five unique side hustles you can do for extra money!
Table of Contents
What is a Side Hustle?
A side hustle is anything you do aside from the job that brings your main source of income. This can be anything from freelancing, a secondary job, contracting, or more.
A side hustle can be something you’re passionate about or it could be something that you don’t care too much for. Regardless, a side hustle brings in extra money so that you can achieve your goals quicker. Whether that goal is to save for vacation, have enough money for a down payment, career development, or anything else, side hustles will help you get there faster! When you have multiple easy side hustles to make extra money, you’ll diversify your income streams and not put all your eggs in one basket.
What is a Good Side Hustle for Me?
Not every side hustle is made the same! Some side hustles may be fun for some and tedious for others. Some side hustles can supplement your knowledge at your full-time job, which could boost your income and your accelerate your career growth. An example of this may be taking software engineering contracts while working full time at a different company.
Questions to Ask When Looking for a Side Hustle
When you’re looking for the perfect side hustle, you should ask yourself a couple questions.
Do I Enjoy This Side Hustle?
Regardless of if you found some easy side hustles to make money, no amount of side money is worth sacrificing your happiness. If your side hustle makes you unhappy and reduces your quality of life, stop doing it and find something else!
There are some side jobs that you may not necessarily like or dislike but the extra money is worth it. You can keep these side hustles around
Is This Side Hustle Worth My Time?
Don’t shed sweat and tears for pennies! If the side hustle isn’t paying as much as you’d like it to and it isn’t worth your time, scrap it and find something else. Look for the easy side hustles to make extra money, not the difficult and grueling ones that are not worth your time.
Is This Side Hustle Investing In Myself?
Not all side hustles have to help you grow as a person or in a career, but if it does, then great! If you can, try finding a side hustle that allows you to grow in more ways than just your income. You’ll be killing two birds with one stone!
12 Easy Side Hustles to Make Extra Money
There are millions of side hustles and different ways to make money out there. Here are 12 easy side hustles to make extra money!
Get Paid to Grocery Shop
Get paid to grocery shop with platforms such as Instacart or Shipt! Delivering groceries can be easier than driving Uber/Lyft or delivering food because you won’t have to deal with people. You also don’t have to wait for the food to be ready so there is no limiting factor. How much you make is truly dependent on how fast you move when you grocery shop.
Become a Freelance Writer
You can find these gigs on Fiverr or Craigslist to help start building your portfolio and make money blogging. A 1000 word article can pay anywhere from $25 to $200 depending on your experience! Freelance writing is always in high demand and producing high quality content quickly is a skill that writers can build up to get a higher hourly rate.
Note: Learn how to monetize and create your own blog here!
Sell Stock Photography
Have a knack for photography? Even if you don’t, stock photos are always in high demand. You can sell your photos on platforms such as Alamy, which pays you 40-50% of your sale price, or Shutterstock, which pays you 20-30%. Shutterstock even has an affiliate program in which you earn income if you refer other customers or photographers. Stock photos are used by everyone and can serve as digital commodities to sell.
Become a Babysitter
Babysitting will always be in high demand so that parents can have some breathing room. You can create your own flyers on platforms such as Canva and market in your neighborhood. Babysitting can also be done by telling your local connections that you would love to babysit.
Babysitting is also great because you can work on other things while you’re babysitting. If you’re not tasked with hanging out with the children you’re babysitting the entire time, you can double dip and do a side hustle while you’re babysitting!
Sell Your Crafts
Have a knack for art? Sell your crafts on platforms like Etsy. Many people have great artistic skills that can be turned into a side hustle if they decide to sell it.
If you have a knack for digital design, you can even sell your products as print on demand products on RedBubble or Merch by Amazon! Simply upload your design onto these sites and digitally create your product. These print on demand platforms are great easy side hustles to make extra money as they do all the fulfillment process for you.
Make Cash Back On Your Purchases
This is one of my favorite ways to make money because you’re basically getting a discount on things you already need. I use a variety of platforms to get cash back by scanning receipts, get passive cash back, and maximize my credit card rewards.
Note: Check out CoinOut! This is currently my favorite one of these apps. ReceiptJar is the newest one that I use and is great as well!
Become a Transcriber
Transcribing is a great side hustle if you’re a fast typer. You can get paid $20-25 an hour on platforms such as Fiverr to transcribe audio or video.
Transcribing is a flexible side hustle because you can easily get paid per project instead of at an hourly rate. This makes it one of the best easy side hustles to make extra money because the faster you type, the more you’ll get paid.
Join a Focus Group or Research Study
Focus groups or research studies are some of my favorite ways to make money because they pay a high hourly rate. You can easily make over $75 per hour with focus groups.
The trick to being scheduled for a focus group is to be proactive. Research studies fill up fast and you have to pick up they call.
Most online focus groups and research studies schedule you the same way with these three steps:
- You fill out a screener to see if you initially qualify.
- The research scheduler will call you to screen you further. If you qualify, they’ll schedule you and send you a confirmation email.
- You’ll be sent a confirmation email with how you’ll receive payment and where to login at what day and time.
- Participate in the study and you’ll receive payment! That’s it.
Sell Items on OfferUp or Facebook Marketplace
Want to get rid of clutter? Take a more minimalistic approach and sell items around your home that you no longer need. Selling your unused items is one of the best easy side hustles to make extra money because it requires no capital to start.
There are different items that sell well on each platform. Read about the best items that sell on OfferUp!
Walk Dogs with Rover
Rover is one of the most popular platforms to walk dogs with as a side job. Rover can pay anywhere from $14 to $29 per hour according to Glassdoor. You can set your own rates, choose what kind of dogs you want to walk, and choose your times! You can even choose to dog sit with Rover as well.
Read more about how to make dog walking into a side hustle here!
Take Surveys
Survey sites such as Swagbucks and Inboxdollars pay you to take surveys. You can even take surveys through other passive income apps like Pinata to earn more on their platforms.
Do Odd Jobs like MTurk or TaskRabbit
Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and TaskRabbit are two platforms that hire anyone to do odd jobs for them. These platforms have jobs that make it easy to make money from home, on the go, or anywhere. Odd jobs will range from taking surveys, transcribing, doing handiwork, and more.
With TaskRabbit, you can set your own rates and your own projects and people can choose to hire you. With MTurk, people will post their rates and what projects they’re hiring people for and you’ll have to sign up per project. These are two easy side hustles to make extra money with no commitment required and an easy set up process.
Mystery Shopping
Mystery shopping, or secret shopping, is when you get paid to purchase items as an undercover agent. Apps such as FieldAgent allow you to do this and get paid when you finish the task. Many tasks will ask you to take pictures, interact with workers, and buy items. When you buy items, you will always get reimbursed. Try this out if you want some easy side hustles to make extra money while you do your grocery shopping!
Note: Download FieldAgent with my referral code yv6nefa to get started!
Easy Side Hustles to Make Extra Money – Summary
Side hustles are great and there are so many out there to earn more money! Read my other article about unique side hustles such as brand ambassador work or tutoring to make some cash. Whether you’re looking to make more money to reach a goal or pay down debt, side hustles will help you get there faster and can be fun too!
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Hello, I’m Chloe! I’m the primary author of Off Hour Hustle. Currently, I work as a software engineer, sell products through eBay, Etsy, and OfferUp, have 26+ credit cards, and am always working to diversify my income streams. In my spare time, I enjoy climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities.