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32 Legitimate Ways to Make Money at Home
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The Penny Hoarder
August 25, 2017
money tips
Honest Abe
Listen – we all know the internet is full of work-from-home scams, so we’ve scoured through thousands of different ideas to find you 32 legitimate ways to make money at home.
These are all ideas that we’ve done before, so we know that they’re real and that you’ll get paid. Plus, I guarantee there are some in here that you’ve never heard of…
1. Share Your Amazon Purchase History
Heather Comparetto/The Penny Hoarder
If you’re a regular Amazon shopper, you can earn money each month contributing to research to help companies understand what people are buying online.
Download and connect Shoptracker to your Amazon account.
It’ll instantly send you a free $3 Visa gift card, plus another $3 for every month you keep it installed.
2. Watch YouTube-Like Videos
jobs freemixer/Getty Images
The folks over at InboxDollars will actually pay you to watch videos!
Now, most of them aren’t as entertaining as the Grumpy Cat series, but you’re getting paid — so who cares?
The videos are sponsored by brands who need to get them in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Every time you watch one of the ads InboxDollars will credit your account with a little bit of cash.
You’ll get a free $5 just for signing up.
3. Give Your Opinion to Make $100+/Month
$100
Most of you know surveys aren’t our favorite way to make extra money, but we make an exception when we’re just vegging out on the couch. We figure as long as we’re just watching TV, there’s no reason we can’t click a few buttons at the same time.
Vip Voice & Ipsos Panel are two legitimate paid survey companies (both are rated an A+ with the Better Business Bureau).
I’ve heard some of the top-end paid online surveys can pay up to $95, but those are rare and can take awhile to complete. Most surveys pay a buck or two and only take 10-15 minutes, making it pretty easy to earn $100 or more per month.
4. Stop Deleting Your Emails
Portrait of a handsome young man working on a digital tablet in a cafe
It turns out that deleting your emails could be costing you serious money. Intrigued?
My new secret weapon is called Earny — a tool that gets you money back for your online purchases. It’s free to sign up for Earny. Once you do, they will scan your email archives for any receipts. If it discovers you’ve purchased something from Amazon, Target or one of the other 20+ retailers listed on their website, it will track the item’s price and issue you a refund anytime there’s a price drop!
You don’t have to do anything!
5. Earn Up to $60/Hour as a Part-Time Bookkeeper
Stay at home bookkeeper
Does earning $60 an hour sound appealing? How about the freedom to work remotely while helping others succeed?
Those are the perks of working as a bookkeeper, says Ben Robinson, a certified public accountant and business owner who teaches others to become virtual bookkeepers.
And no, you don’t have to have a CPA to be successful in this business. In fact, all you really need are decent computer skills and a passion for helping business owners tackle real-world problems.
It’s a great opportunity for moms who want to work part time, millennials who are just out of college and anyone who wants to bring in real money while working from home.
We talked to Robinson about what it takes to become a virtual bookkeeper, as well as tips and advice for making this career track work for you. You can read the full interview here, or check out his website for more information.
6. Rent Out an RV
darrensp/Getty Images
How many people do you know who bought an RV for one awesome camping trip or music festival… only to look back a few years later and realize they don’t use it as much as they thought they would?
If you’re in that boat (er, camper), you can turn your unused RV into cash.
You can rent your RV to other travelers through RVshare, a peer-to-peer rental marketplace.
How much you’ll earn per day will vary based on your location and the type of vehicle you have. We ran a quick hypothetical and found that Class A models made in the past 15 years range $185 – $375 a night here in St. Petersburg, Florida!
That’s a smart way to make your pricy RV pay for itself — or to bank some cash for your next big road trip.
To see how much you could earn renting out your RV, enter the specs here.
7. Sell Your CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, Video Games and Electronics
Decluttr
Have a bunch of movies or CDs collecting dust on a shelf? Decluttr will pay you for them!
Decluttr buys your old CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and video games, plus hardware like cell phones, tablets, game consoles and iPods.
One user, Gil Flores, sold about 100 DVDs and 75 CDs and made $275 — an average of $1.57 each.
Just download the app and start scanning the barcodes on your media to get immediate quotes. It’s completely free to use, there are no listing or seller fees, payment is super fast and there is even free shipping.
Plus, enter PENNY10 at checkout to get an extra 10% for your trade-ins!
8. Get Paid for Your Useless Trivia Knowledge
cutting cable franckreporter/Getty Images
Have you added a ton of random knowledge to your repertoire over the years? Use it to earn some cash.
With the QuizXT app, you can test your smarts on topics like sports, history, music and more. You’ll earn rewards points for every answer you get right — so study up, Poindexter!
The app also pays you for taking surveys and playing other games. We know you’re hanging out on your phone, anyway — why not get paid to do it?
You can cash out via PayPal.
Itching to show off the history lessons you’ve learned watching “The Crown”? We thought so. Download the QuizXT app here to get rewarded for it.
9. Snag a $10 Amazon Gift Card
Amazon Gift Card
Have you heard of MyPoints?
It’s a cash-back site that lets you earn rewards by shopping online and printing coupons. We use it all the time at our house, because it’s instant way to save on everything you buy (for example, you can get up to 5% cash-back on purchases in some categories on Amazon).
But, enough about that, here’s how to get a free $10 Amazon gift card that you can use to buy groceries (or anything for that matter):
Sign up for MyPoints here using your email or Facebook account (it’s free).
Use the MyPoints portal the next time you need to shop online (it’s connected to thousands of stores including Walmart, Amazon, and Target).
As long as you spend $10 at any of those stores, MyPoints will reward you with 1,750 bonus points which you can redeem for a free $10 Amazon gift card.
10. Let Someone Borrow Your Place for the Night
Rental Real Estate Sign in Front of house
Have a spare room? Might as well use Airbnb to make some money by renting it out.
If you’re a good host with a desirable space, you could add hundreds — even thousands — of dollars to your savings account with Airbnb.
Taking a few simple steps can make the difference between a great experience and a less-than-satisfactory one.
Here are a few tips:
Make your space available during high-demand times in your area. Think: concerts, conventions and sporting events in your area.
Be a good host, and make sure your place is stocked with the toiletries you’d expect at a hotel — toilet paper, soap and towels.
Be personable. A lot of travelers turn to Airbnb for the personal touch they won’t find at commercial properties.
Here’s the link to sign up as an Airbnb host.
(Hosting laws vary from city to city. Please understand the rules and regulations applicable to your city and listing.)
11. Get a Free $5 From Stash
martin-dm/Getty Images
It’s no brilliant secret that investing can be a smart way to make money.
But it feels restricted to a few wealthy elite.
But Stash is different. This app lets you start investing with as little as $5 and for just a $1 monthly fee (the first months is free).
Stash curates investments from professional fund managers and investors and lets you choose where to put your money.
But they leave the complicated investment terms out of it. You just choose from a set of simple portfolios reflecting your beliefs, interests and goals.
Bonus: Right now, The Penny Hoarder is teaming up with Stash to match your first investment — so you’ll get an extra $5 to get started!
To get your $5 match:
Enter your email here.
Download the Stash smartphone app and create your account with the same address.
That’s it! Within two days, they’ll put $5 into your account!
12. Download These Apps
Tim Snell under Creative Commons
A number of companies will actually pay you for downloading apps on your smartphone — and you’ll get paid for every month you keep them installed.
The apps collect data and help companies better understand web and mobile usage — such as what times of day people browse, how long they stay on websites and use apps, and what types of sites and apps are popular (or not).
Nielsen Panel – If you have a PC or laptop, this Nielsen panel will pay you $50/year to keep this software on your computer and browse the web like you normally do.
MobileXpression for Android: After you’ve installed this app for one week, you get to play an instant rewards game for a prize. (Everyone wins something.) We won a $25 Amazon gift card, but some of the other prizes include iPads and Samsung TVs.
MobileXpression iPhone: This is the same, but for iPhones.
SavvyConnect — You can earn $5 per device (phone, tablet or computer) for each month SavvyConnect is installed. That’s a total of up to $180 per year to help rank the most popular sites and apps. Make sure you keep it installed at least a month to get your first $5 per device.
13. Earn a $100+ Bonus by Opening a New Credit Card
$100 Credit Card Bonus
As long as you pay down your credit balance in full each month, rewards cards are a great way to make some extra money.
We’re not advocating that you open 1,497 credit cards like this guy, but taking advantage of a sign-up bonus here or there can definitely help your bank account!
Check out this list of seven credit cards with no annual fee that offer a $100 bonus or more when you open a new account.
14. Earn $250 By Opening a Second Bank Account
saving money hidesy/Shutterstock
We’ve put together a huge list of banks that will pay you just to open a bank account! Some of them will pay you up to $250 just for opening a savings account!
There’s no harm in having multiple bank accounts. In fact, I often find it’s helpful to have multiple places to save (I’m less likely to touch the money), so I have savings accounts for my Christmas fund and my vacation fund.
The top bank bonus is $250 right now — head over to this list to see all of the banks in your area that are offering free cash.
15. Drive Folks Around Town
PHILADELPHIA, PA – JAN 13, 2017: Lyft driver Paul Pruce in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 13, 2017. (Jessica Kourkounis)
Need a fun, flexible way to earn money while also meeting lots of new people?
Try driving with Lyft!
Demand for ridesharing has been growing like crazy, and it shows no signs of slowing down. To be eligible, you’ll need to be at least 21 years old with a year of driving experience, pass a background check and own a car made in 2007 or later.
We talked to Paul Pruce, who’s been driving full-time with Lyft for over a year. He earns $750 a week as a driver.
Best of all, he does it on his own time. You can work days, nights or weekends — it’s up to you!
Since it’s simple to switch between apps, many Lyft drivers also sign up as a driver partner with Uber.
As an Uber contractor, you’re responsible for setting your schedule and motivating yourself to work — no one is keeping tabs on you. Your earnings will be calculated by adding a base fare, plus time and distance traveled after your pickup, and Uber charges a service fee (20-35% depending on your city).
If you want to give it a try there are a few things to keep in mind. You must be at least 21 years old, have three years of driving experience, have an in-state driver’s license, a clean driving record and be able to pass a criminal background check.
16. Get Paid to Go On Secret Missions
A young woman texting on the phone outdoors at night. filadendron/Getty Images
Remember scavenger hunts when you were a kid? Ever pretend you were a private investigator on an important mission?
Don’t let a few years get in the way of your fun.
QuickThoughts turns your cell phone into private-eye technology, taking you on top-secret missions in your area.
Was that Target clean the last time you shopped there? Were the checkout lines long?
QuickThoughts Missions relies on your input — and sneakily-taken cellphone photography — to give businesses important feedback. And like any respectable PI, you get paid for your investigative footwork. Pretending as an adult is looking better and better!
Using your phone’s GPS technology, the app will prompt you for information from places you’ve visited in the past few weeks, as well as places it detects you’re visiting right now.
It even has missions you can accept and complete in the future. For instance, it might prompt you to go to your local Walgreens and snap a photo of the seasonal display.
And you’ll earn valuable gift cards for Amazon and iTunes while you’re at it.
17. Rate Your Local Pizza Place
domino’s pizza Samantha Dunscombe/The Penny Hoarder
Awww…yeah! Who wouldn’t want $5 and a free large pizza? 🙂
As many of you know I was a professional mystery shopper for many years (I got my start conducting liquor audits all over the Southeast).
One of the most popular types of mystery shops is for pizza companies — both Papa Johns and Pizza Hut regularly conduct mystery shops at all of their locations. As part of the assignment you’re required to time their delivery service, quality of pizza, etc.
It’s pretty easy to do and you can do it several times a year. If you’re interested in giving it a try, here’s a list of my favorite mystery shopping companies.
18. Get a Free $5 From Clink to Start Saving
Macro of Five American Dollar Bill. Macro of Five American Dollar Bill.
I’m kind of obsessed with Clink (and not just because they give you $5).
Clink helps you save for a rainy day or retirement by taking small amounts of money out of your checking account each day (around $1).
To get the $5 bonus, download the Clink smartphone app and setup your account with the same email address. Be sure to use the promo code: PH2016
I already got my bonus and now I’m investing $5/week. I’m already up to $40! That might sound small, but for someone who resists saving money like the plague, it’s a pretty remarkable start!
19. Earn up to $700/Month Fixing Search Results
work from home
I’ll make about $700 this month for evaluating search engine results this month.
And the best part? Most of it is done while sitting at home in my pajamas. What am I doing? Let me explain…
Search engines use complicated algorithms to determine the results you see. For example, if you type the name of one of our writers, Steve Gillman, into a Google search box, a half-million possibly-relevant web pages will be narrowed down using various criteria until a second later you see his smiling face. You’ll also see links to his personal website, his blog on the Huffington Post, and LinkedIn profiles for a bunch of guys who share his name.
But the search engines don’t always get it right.
They are full of errors, so they need real humans to look at the results and judge them for quality, relevancy, and usefulness. If you’re interested in this type of work, head over to this article to get more info on how to apply.
20. Take a Picture of Your Receipts
Ibotta review Colleen Rice, TPH email marketing specialist, uses Ibotta to search through deals at Publix. Tina Russell/The Penny Hoarder
Yeah, did you know that you can get paid cash back just for taking a picture of your receipt?
Here’s how it works….
1. Sign up for Ibotta here (you just need a name/email address to start).
2. Browse through the cash-back offers in your area and take note the next time you go to the store (the offers change every week). For example, in my city, Ibotta will give 2% cash back on Best Buy purchases, $0.25 cash back on any Target purchase, and $3 cash back when I buy an appetizer from any restaurant. Pretty cool, right?
Once you’ve reached at least $20 in earnings, you can request payment via Paypal or Venmo. And right now, Ibotta is giving new users a $10 sign-up bonus, just for redeeming their first receipt.
21. Sell Your Old Clothes
Guess Guess/Facebook
Do you still have a prom outfit from, like, 10 years ago?
It’s never going to fit — or come into style — again, but something just keeps holding you back from sending it to Goodwill.
Maybe money could change your mind? Instead of storing clothes indefinitely, try selling them on an app like letgo.
22. These U-Haul Jobs Let You Work-From-Home
Telecommuting Alija/Getty Images
Some good news for those of you who want to work from home…
Thanks to one of our readers, we found out U-Haul is hiring part-time, work-from-home customer service representatives all across the country. (Thanks for the tip, Tasha!)
Even better, you don’t need a college degree OR experience to snag one. U-Haul lists three work-from-home positions on its site. They’re categorized as “moonlighter jobs” with flexible hours, which U-Haul says are ideal for people with other work or familial responsibilities.
For each, you’ll need to have a headset, high-speed internet and a computer with Windows XP or 7. Training is paid and lasts four weeks. We reached out to U-Haul for further details about the jobs, and will update the post if and when we hear back.
23. Provide Customer Service — in Your PJs
BrianAJackson/Getty Images
Have you ever considered doing customer service from the comfort of your home? An increasing number of companies are hiring work-from-home customer service reps, instead of running call centers.
These jobs can be full– or part-time and offer a variety of schedules, including daytime, evening and weekend shifts with a range of pay depending on the position and location.
Your job is usually to answer customer questions over the phone or via online chat. You may find sales positions that include higher pay and performance incentives; or technical support positions, which are best if you’re tech-savvy and have an interest in helping people understand technology.
You should enjoy helping people, though! You know how a bad customer service call can totally ruin your day? You don’t want to be the bad rep on the other end of that call.
If you don’t like working with customers, keep an eye out for other work-from-home jobs at these job sites.
24. Sign Up for Free Gift Card Promotions
Believe it or not, there are sites that will give you free gift cards just for signing up with them.
One of my favorites is Ebates, the cash-back shopping site. They’re giving away $10 gift cards if you sign up as a new member and earn your first cash-back rebate. You can choose a $10 gift card from Target, Walmart, Macy’s or Kohl’s.
You do have to wait 30 days, but it’s free money so can you really complain? 🙂
25. Sell Your Trash
Trash
Americans throw away approximately 266 million tons of trash every year, and it turns out we might as well be throwing away cash! There’s a reason dumpster diving has become so popular in recent years and that’s because things that you think are worth nothing often have value.
Anything from your empty wine bottles to old magazines can be sold online. Here’s a full list of the things in your trash that might be worth cash.
26. Sell Your Skills for $5 on Fiverr
Earning $5 at a time may not sound like much, but those little sales can add up to thousands of dollars.
That’s the idea behind Fiverr.com, an online platform where users sell their products and services for $5 each. Fiverr says users create 4,000 new listings, or “gigs,” every day.
Gigs range from the standard data entry and research tasks to the truly out-there. For example, as I write this, sellers in the “Fun and Bizarre” section are offering:
A piece of rare metal that will melt in your hand
A prank phone call to anyone you choose
Three balloons released into the sky with your message in them
Your name written on two grains of rice
A photo of you on the cover of “Rolling Stone”
A video of a woman pretending to be “crazy in love with you” — which has 253 buyers and a 98% positive rating so far
You can seriously sell almost anything on Fiverr. Here are some more ideas.
27. Make Your Own Schedule as a Data Entry Clerk
Data entry isn’t the best-paying online job, but it is one you can do with few skills or previous experience.
Typically, all you need is a computer and an internet connection. Fire up a pot of coffee, and find online data entry jobs through these freelancing sites:
Smart Crowd
Clickworker
DionData Solutions
28. Become an Online Tutor
Education is one of the world’s leading industries, and the private tutoring market alone is expected to top $102 billion by 2018.
Have you ever considered becoming an online tutor to make extra money? Well, if you haven’t, you most certainly should. You can make some serious coin by answering student’s questions, explaining your notes and uploading tutorials.
That’s right, by sharing your knowledge, you can be rewarded handsomely.
Ty marketing your services on a site like Tutor.com, where instructors earn $9-$13/hour, plus $5.50/hour just for being logged in waiting for students.
29. Become a Dog Masseuse
Puppy3
We’ve talked before about ways to get paid to spend time with cats and dogs, but this is a new one: pet massage.
That’s right — some people earn money for massaging animals. It might sound a little strange, but apparently many cats and dogs enjoy a good massage as much as humans do.
If you like petting your furry friends, why not explore this option? With a bit of training you can make $50 per hour as a pet massage therapist. Here’s how to get started.
30. Sell Board Game Pieces
Diane Macdonald/Getty Images
Ever seen a board game in the thrift store but noticed with great sadness it was missing half the pieces?
You might want to put the game in your shopping cart anyway. One Penny Hoarder made $250 in six months selling spare board game pieces online. You can even sell “mystery bags” of pieces for $12 a pop!
It may take some time for your listings to sell, but if you follow Laura’s guide, you can probably make $100 in about three months.
31. Write Slogans for Major Companies
voice acting
Can you sum up a product in a sentence? Think of something funny — and not another joke about too many candles — to put on a birthday card? Make a point in few concise words?
If so, you might be able to make money writing slogans.
Companies sometimes need new corporate taglines, advertising slogans and jingles. Bumper sticker and greeting card makers want cute, endearing or funny thoughts to put on their products.
When these businesses need help, they sometimes collect submissions from freelance writers or run contests that anyone can enter — including you!
Try one or more of these platforms to get started:
Slogan Slingers helps companies create slogan contests in which their registered writers compete. It’s free to sign up as a writer, and the company claims you can “make up to $999 per contest (minus our small admin fee).”
Get a Slogan is a “crowd-sourcing platform that brings in custom, creative and catchy slogans from a variety of sloganeers.” Companies come to them for help, and writers submit their ideas. It’s free to sign up, but you initially have only “qualifying” status. Once you obtain “qualified” status, you’ll receive $50 for each of your winning slogans.
Freelancer.com has a section devoted to slogan-writing projects, which are sometimes run as contests. For example, at the moment a personal injury law firm is offering $150 for the best “unique and memorable tagline/slogan.”
32. Watch More Television
Watching Netflix
Do you like to stay up-to-date on the latest popular — and not-so-popular — TV shows? Get paid for the TV you’re watching in your spare time by writing reviews!
Writing about TV comes in a lot of forms, according to NPR television reporter Linda Holmes. Lots of sites pay writers to review or recap shows, but they come with different tones.
You could do a straightforward review of the craft of the show, search for symbolism in the story or start a conversation with readers about the lives of the characters.
If you prefer a bit of snark, you might write for a site that prefers to riff off TV shows. These turn your review into an opportunity for biting punchlines.
A few places to get you started:
Pitch Previously.TV editors your ideas here.
If superheros are more your speed, check out this recapper job with HollywoodLife.
Get your foot in the door at Mic writing TV show recaps.
Honest Abe
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