40 Side Hustle Ideas To Make Money From Home

Last Updated on January 20, 2024 by Work In My Pajamas

If you are reading this, chances are that you want to work from home, quite possibly in your pajamas as I’m doing right now writing up this list. Many of you are looking for some extra part-time work, or a “side hustle” as they call it these days, to do in addition to their day job to earn some extra money.

These 40 side hustle ideas may not make you a millionaire, but they all have little or no investment costs involved so you can start earning money today in your spare time.

1. Affiliate Marketing – This is how I make the make the majority of my income, but it also involves a lot of work. I’m only listing it first because I’m alphabetizing the list. I suggest reading through this whole list, and if affiliate marketing is still what you’d like to try, click here.
2.  AirBNB – If you have an extra bedroom in your house, you can make money renting out your guest room! You not only will make money, but you’ll also get to meet new people from different states or possibly different countries.
3. Amazon – People can make money from Amazon several different ways (stay tuned as I’m writing another post with list of all of the ways to make money on Amazon).
4. Babysitting – You don’t have to open a daycare to make money watching children. Sign up at Care.com for free if you offer child care service at either your house or onsite. Parents are looking to hire babysitters for all hours, from a date night to a long-term schedule.
5. Blogging – For me, blogging goes hand in hand with affiliate marketing. If you want to be a blogger, here’s how to get started blogging.
6. Car Care – If you’re handy at fixing cars or changing oil, check out YourMechanic.com and make $40-$50 per hour.
7. Car Flipping – Check out this site on how to buy and sell cars for a profit.
8. Car Rental – People can rent your car by the day on Turo.com. Buyers prefer this option as it’s less expensive than using a car rental service. Or if you have a unique or sports car, someone may just want to rent it for the experience.
9. Caregiver – If you are willing to provide care for a special needs person or senior citizen, Care.com will match you with clients to care for in your area.
10. Cleaning – Many people dislike cleaning (me included). Care.com also matches people looking for housekeepers.
11. Consulting – Do you have knowledge in a certain area? Get paid to teach others about that knowledge. Feel out your friends first to see if there is a demand. For example, you could post on Facebook something like, “Is anyone interested in learning more about ABC123? If so, what would you be willing to pay to learn about such?”
12. Cooking –  If you’re willing to host people to eat at your house as well, check out EatWith.
13. Couponing – Some people make money selling coupons. You can also earn money by printing coupons. Redeeming coupons also saves money, and we all know that a penny saved is a penny earned.
14. Data Entry – Entering numbers and verifying links may be boring work to some, but it also puts food on the table for many. Big well-known companies, such as Xerox and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk pay for data entry/verification agents.
15. Donor – You can can get paid for donating bodily fluids, such as plasma and sperm. Donating plasma is basically the equivilant to giving blood. Donating sperm, on the other hand, is exactly what you imagine. You may need to meet certain criteria to do such though.
16. Drawing – Are you a wanna-be artist? Upload your works of art to such sites as Cafepress and Teespring and sell your designs on tshirts, mugs, cellphone cases and more.
17. Driving – Lyft and Uber allow you to basically be a taxi driver with your own car on your own schedule. You can make the most money with your car during “surge pricing”, which is usually when weekend nights when the bars close or after special events, such as concerts and sporting events. Don’t want people in your car? UberEATS pays you to deliver food and packages for local businesses.
18. eBay – You can sell almost anything on Ebay, and chances are you have stuff laying around in your basement that you no longer need or want, but someone else may. Make some extra cash while cleaning out those storage shelves!
19. Etsy – Etsy originally started as a place for people to sell handmade items, but it has grown to become a place to sell almost anything. While you’re listing your items for sale on Ebay, add them to Etsy, too (but don’t forget to take your listing down if you sell on one instead of the other).
20. Online Store – Start your own e-commerce shop reselling or with products you make yourself including physical and digital products on Shopify. Start your shop to day with a 14 day free trial.
21. Fiverr – Fiverr was originally a place to buy and sell digital services for $5 each, but now you can set your prices and upsell in multiples of $5. I have made made nearly $5000 selling marketing placements on Fiverr.
22. Freelancing – Offer your skills, such as web development and consulting, to help others grow your business. Websites such as Upwork connect businesses to freelancers where you can charge per hour or job. Here’s how to get started as a freelancer.
23. Garage Sale – For items that are either too big or heavy to sell online or aren’t worth the fees associated with selling online, have a rummage sale for some fast cash. There is no need to advertise in the newspaper these days; simply post about your sale in online Facebook groups for the most customers.
24. Ghost Writing – If you have a passion for writing and don’t mind getting not getting credit for your work, other authors will pay you to pass off your work as their own. This isn’t as bad as it sounds. I have paid ghost writers to write articles for me when I’m short on time or don’t have any knowledge on the subject.
25. House Sitting – People need their houses looked after while they are away and possibly their plants watered and pets fed. You may not make much money, if any, housesitting, but you may get to stay in a dream house in an exotic location for free.
26. Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) – I personally don’t recommend joining an MLM company unless you are passionate about the their products or services. Most MLM companies require some sort of investment, and the way you make the most money is by growing a downline (aka pyramid scheme).
27. Mystery Shopping – You can make money being a mystery shopper by providing feedback to companies. Mystery shopping evaluations don’t pay much, but they do reimburse you for expenses (i.e. food bought, oil changes), so saving on those expenses adds up.
28. Pet Sitting – If you have a love for animals (I don’t), you can get paid to care for other’s pets. Sign up to be a pet sitter or dog walker at Care.com or Rover.com.
29. Postmates – Earn up to $25 per hour plus tips delivering goods and food in major cities. You can walk, bike or drive to do your deliveries.
30. Referee – If you play sports (or a just fan), chances are you also know the rules of that sport. Schools (public and private) and activity centers (i.e. YMCA) will pay you to referee games.
31. RentaFriend – Are you social? Get paid to be a friend! There are people looking to “rent a friend” for all kinds of activities, from showing them around a new town, keeping a disabled or senior company, be a wedding date or simply hang out.
32. Scrapbooking – Many people don’t have time for this hobby, so you can do it for them! Click here on how to start your own scrapbooking business.
33. Sing – Do you have a talent for singing? Offer your vocal chords for events, such as weddings. Some churches even pay singers to be a part of their choir.
34. Surveys – Get paid to take online surveys. Legitimate survey sites will pay you for answering questions about your lifestyle and preferences.
35. TaskRabbit – Become a tasker to help people get things done around their house, such as mounting a TV or mirror, put together furniture or lift and move heavy furniture.
36. Teach – You don’t have to be a teacher or have a degree to share your knowledge. Create an online course about any subject and make money at such sites as Invanto, Teachable and Thinkific.
37. Transcription – This is where you listen to audio files, usually dictated from doctors or lawyers, and type out what you hear. Most transcription companies pay per page or per audio hour, which is not the same as a regular hour, as it may take you longer than one hour to transcribe one hour of audio.
38. Translation – If you are bilingual, you can get paid to translate live conversations for court cases and medical facilities via video-conferencing. Or you can translate documents and articles, normally getting paid per word, from sites like Gengo and Transperfect.
39. Travel Agent – Get paid to help friends and family book their vacations and possibly earn free vacations for yourself. Click here to discover how to get started as a home-based travel agent.
40. Tutor – Wyzant connects tutors with students looking for 1-to-1 instruction on the subject you are knowledgable about (in person or online).
41. Virtual Assistant (VA) – A VA is an independent contractor who provides support adminstrative, creative and/or technical services from a remote location. A VA is usually less expensive for a business to outsource the work to than to hire an employee.
42. Website Tester – Earn $10 per test at such sites as Try My UI and UserTesting.com. To get paid, you visit a website or an app, complete a set of tasks, and speak your thoughts.
43. Woodworking – If you are handy, you can create masterpieces to sell online and at craft fairs. Click here for popular woodworking plans.
44. Writer – Get paid to write articles, blog posts and ebooks. Writing-jobs.net connects freelance writers with partners who pay up to $30-$120 per hour. Or try your hand at self-publishing, like I did with my first ebook.

There you have it: 40+ side hustle ideas to make money from home. Please leave a comment if you have more ideas for some extra side income. I’d love to hear your side hustle ideas!