You can do it anytime and from anywhere – at home on your couch, in doctor’s office (while you wait), at the airport, while waiting in line somewhere, or any other place where you have a few minutes.
Before the days of the Internet, making more money meant doing one of these things:
getting a second or a part-time job
cutting grass
babysitting
waiting tables
washing cars
cleaning houses
etc
Thankfully, today there are a wide variety of free ways to make money on the side.
You know what’s the best part?
The best part is that you already have the skill and knowledge that’s required for most of these opportunities.
Sure, you won’t get rich, but you will make enough money to make it worth your while.
Now, for those who don’t mind going the extra mile, some of these options can lead to earnings that can actually surpass what a teenager may earn working at a traditional fast food job.
Let’s get started…
1. Help shape the future of Google
Like Google and its products?
Wanna tell them what you think of their products and features?
Become a participant in Google’s User Experience Research Studies.
And yes, you earn rewards like gift cards and donations to your favorite charity.
There are a few different kinds of studies you can participate in:
Usability study at a Google office: Usually, you’ll meet up with a Google researcher and answer a few questions about a Google product. Needless to say, for this to work, you have to live close to one of Google’s offices.
Remote usability study: You can do this one from anywhere in the world. This is done through a screen-sharing session with a researcher. They’ll ask you to visit a site (Google-owned properties like YouTube, Google+, etc) and try different things while browsing.
Experiential sampling study: You’ll be using a product and asked to take notes or answer questions. This usually takes over several days
Field study: Google researchers will schedule an appointment with you to come to your house or office and conduct the study in person.
Surveys: Just like any online survey, you’ll be able to fill out the survey anytime and from anywhere.
To get started, visit https://userresearch.google.com/ and sign up for free.
Need Extra Cash for Free?
If you like getting paid for surveys, and are going to join only one site, I would recommend you choose Ipsos-iSay. Ipsos is the most fun and well-paying panel. Give it a try to see how you like it. It is free anyway!
Click to Join Ipsos Now!
2. Make money online with Swagbucks
Since you’re reading this, it’s safe to assume you’re internet savvy and know your way around.
You probably read your emails a few times a day, watch a few videos, visit a few interesting sites, shop…
Wouldn’t it be great if you could get paid for doing these things that you already do anyway?
Well, there is a company that does pay people for doing exactly the things you do every day online.
It’s called Swagbucks, and millions of people (probably some of your friends and family, too) are already using it to earn some extra cash.
Swagbucks is an online reward site, one of the very few sites in that category that gets an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.
They have paid their members $94,247,401 in free online gift cards, to date.
You can make money doing almost anything you do online, including:
Searching the web
Playing games
Shopping (you earn cash back)
Taking surveys
Doing easy tasks like website testing
Answering polls
I’ve been using SB for over 6 years now and I have earned more gift cards that I can count.
It’s an easy and fun way to earn a little money without doing much but the usual stuff you do online already.
By the way, if you join Swagbucks now, you’ll get a $5 sign up bonus.
3. Get paid $50 to install an app
The Nielsen Computer & Mobile panel is a panel by the famous Nielsen Research.
Basically, they pay you to install their app on your device.
The app works unintrusively in the background gathering data. This information helps companies improve existing products or develop better one.
But here’s the best part…
You don’t have to do anything differently!
All you have to do is install the app once and get paid for every month you keep it.
You go about using your device as you do today. You don’t have to change a thing!
And yes, the data they gather is totally anonymous.
None of your personally identifiable information is attached to the info they gather. It’s just generic info like sex, geographical location, type of device, etc.
This has to be the easiest $50 you’ll ever make.
4. Ditch Google for Bing
Google is the giant when it comes to the search and that means millions of dollars for the company.
That’s why Microsoft is trying to increase the usage of their own search engine, Bing.
And to get more users to search using Bing, Microsoft is now willing to pay you every time you do a search on Bing.
All you have to do is sign up with BingRewards, then simply use Bing to do your daily searches. Each search earns you rewards that can be cashed out for gift cards (including Amazon).
You can sign up with BingRewards here.
5. Watch videos via Inbox Dollars
If you’re one of the millions who watch online videos almost every day, this is for you.
InboxDollars pays you for watching videos on their site.
The catch?
The catch is that these videos have ads!
Advertisers pay InboxDollars to put ads in the videos and that’s how ID is able to pay people for watching these videos.
I’m sure you see ads when you watch videos on YouTube, but you don’t get paid, but here you do.
It doesn’t end there, there are tons of other ways to make cash on InboxDollars – taking surveys, playing games, shopping, doing offers, and much more.
The best part is that they’ll actually give you $5 free just for signing up.
Sign up here to get your $5 bonus.
6. Give feedback via video
VoxPopMe is a market research company that helps brands and companies get feedback from real consumers.
Here’s how it works:
You signup and install the app for free.
Log in to your account and browse a list of available surveys.
Pick one you like to start the process.
Next, you will record yourself with the app, answering the survey question. It usually takes less than 30 seconds to do a video response.
An average survey pays about a $1. You’ll need $15 in your account to cash out.
They pay via PayPal.
The good thing is they pay fast – within 72 hours.
7. Earn rewards for watching TV
You watch TV probably every day, you may as well get paid for it!
Viggle is an app that wants to pay you for watching your favorite shows.
It’s an app that gives you points for watching TV.
Here’s how to get started:
Step 1: Install the app for free (Viggle for iPhone – Viggle for Android).
Step 2: “Check in” via the app every time you’re watching a Live or Streaming show.
Step 3: Earn points for every show you watch.
Step 4: Redeem your points for gift cards or cash.
The longer you watch a show, the more points you earn.
There are also opportunities for bonus points along the way.
8. Write an article or two for these sites
Writing articles for money is one of the simplest and fastest ways to start making money online.
You don’t need to be an accomplished writer either. As long as you can write decently, you can get paid to write.
Here are a few good sites that’ll pay you to write for ’em:
TopTenz
They publish “Top 10” style articles–Top 10 Ways to Save Money, Top 10 Cities to Live in, etc. They’ll pay you a minimum of $50 for every article you submit that gets published.
The Dollar Stretcher
They’ll pay you $50 for a 500-word article. They like articles related to personal finance.
WOW! Women On Writing
This is a global magazine that is centered around women’s issues. They pay between $50 to $150 for each article you write.
Matador
Matador is an independent travel publisher, and as you might have imagined, they accept articles related to travel. Their standard pay for a single article is $40, however, longer and more interesting articles are paid way more than $40.
Scary Mommy
This is a parenting website with tips and guides for parents. You can make up to $100 per article.
9. Earn cash buying & selling used books via BookScouter
We all have books we know we are done with. Now you can have your books collect cash for you instead of dust!
BookScouter searches over 40 book buy-back sites to find you the one that pays the most for any given book.
Simply visit the site, enter the ISBN number of the book, and the System will automatically tell you how much your book is worth and which site pays the most.
If you like the number, you’ll send the book to that site via a prepaid envelope, and receive your money a few days later.
You can actually scale this up by finding cheap or even free books from family and friends, garage sales, thrift stores, etc, and selling them at high prices with the help of BookScouter. I know one person who has built a reliable small side business doing exactly that.
10. Take online surveys via SurveySavvy
This is arguably one of the most popular ways to make money online.
Online surveys are one of the tools that the multi-billion dollar market research industry uses to gather feedback from consumers that will help businesses and manufacturers improve or develop new products.
Here is how it works:
You sign up with a survey site and fill out your profile.
Then whenever there is a study that matches your profile and demographic, you get invited to participate.
At that point, it is up to you whether you want to actually answer the survey questions or not. If you do decide to participate, you answer a few dozen questions about the product/service/topic of the survey.
Once you are done with it, your account gets credited with the promised amount.
Some survey sites pay cash (PayPal or Check). But most give you points for each survey which you can then redeem for cash or gift cards.
Surveys usually take between 10 to 40 minutes. And you can earn anywhere from $0.50 to $50, with the average pay being around $3.
Getting paid to take surveys is a fun way to earn a little side cash and free gift cards, while at the same time impacting the development and/or improvement of the products and services that you use in your daily life.
A few trusted survey sites you can try are:
MySurvey
Ipsos
Valued Opinions
PineCone Research
9. Get paid to find coupons
If you’re anything like me, before you buy anything online you open another tab and search for coupons.
That’s great. You save a little money.
But what if I told you not only can you save money, but you can also make money for finding those coupons?
I’m serious!
There is a company called CouponChief that will actually pay you for sharing your best coupon with other members of the community.
Here is how to get started:
Visit Couponchief.com/pays2share.
Fill out the registration form to become a member (it’s free)
Then, click the “Submit A Coupon” tab on the right side of your dashboard to submit your coupon(s).
For every member that uses your coupon, you earn cash.
Once you have enough cash in your account, ask for a payment.
Receive your cash in your PayPal account.
12. Get paid to shop via eBates
If you shop online, you’d be crazy not to use a site that gives you cash back for shopping through them.
I mean, if you’re going to buy something anyway, you might as well go through a channel that gets you some of that money back.
And eBates is by far one of the best cash back reward sites out there.
You can earn cashback on almost anything you purchase, from food and clothes to electronics, tools, and everything in between.
Sign up with eBates here to get a free $10 gift card.
13. Fatten your wallet by slimming down
We all know that every single year, the top new year resolution is losing weight/getting in shape.
We also know that a few weeks into the new year, most of us have already forgotten about that resolution.
Maybe what we all just need is a little more motivation than just looking awesomely sexy–perhaps some of that green may do.
Well, you’d be happy to know that there are a few companies that’ll actually pay you for being healthy.
HealthyWage and DietBet are two companies that’ll let you place bets and earn cash if you actually do lose weight.
You can sign up for free. Then install their apps and start placing bets. Reach your goal and you earn money (money comes from all of those who didn’t reach their goals).
14. Get paid to answer trivia questions
Givling is a site that aims to “End Student Loan Debt.”
It’s basically a platform where you can answer trivia questions to win money.
Here’s how it works:
You sign up for free which lets you play once a day for free (you can play more times with Pay to Play.)
You get paid (randomly) with two other players every time you decide to play.
Then you’ll answer true-or-false questions.
Every correct answer adds more points to your team’s total amount.
If your team scores the highest, you win.
There are big prizes up to $4 million dollars which takes a long time to get there. But you get to win smaller prizes each time you play and win.
I have played a few times and won about $50 so far.
15. Scan your groceries
Most of you know Nielsen. The company behind Nielsen TV rating.
They also have a panel dedicated to market research of people’s grocery shopping habits.
It’s called Nielsen Home Scan Consumer Panel.
Basically, they reward you to scan your groceries (either via the app or a scanner they send you.)
After you join the site, you can install the free app.
Then you can either request a free scanner that they’ll send you, or you can use your smartphone to scan the barcode off of the grocery items you purchase.
You earn rewards every time you scan.
You can then redeem your earnings for all kinds of stuff–electronics, household merchandise, toys, and even jewelry.
Here’s how it works in a few simple steps:
Step 1: Join the site and install the app. You can do it here for free.
Step 2: Scan your groceries.
Step 3: Earn rewards every time you scan.
Step 4: Redeem your points for prizes and rewards.
Longtime participants also earn entries to sweepstakes with prizes that include cash, brand new cars, vacations, and more.
16. Review movies
This would the best job for anyone who loves movies. Unfortunately, finding one that can get you consistent gigs is very hard to do.
The closest you can get to being paid for watching movies is through market research companies that conduct studies about movies and TV shows, where you watch a show or a movie (normally just some parts of it), and then answer a few questions about it.
I haven’t been able to find a market research company that is only dedicated to those studies.
However, from my experience, SurveySpot is one of the survey panels that conducts the most movie-related surveys.
17. Take pictures on your phone
There is an app called Foap that pays you for the pictures you take using your smartphone.
Simply install the app and register yourself with Foap (which is free by the way). Then upload pictures you snap on your phone to Foap’s marketplace.
Every time someone buys one of your pictures, you make $5.
So, a single picture can earn you an unlimited amount of cash, and that’s all passive income. Once you take the picture and upload it to the site, you don’t have to do anything else, but collect your money.
Keep in mind, though, your pictures have to be quality and they must get approved by the Foap team before it gets added to the marketplace.
18. Get paid to click
This is one of the oldest and most famous ways of earning pennies online.
I don’t really recommend this since the amount of money you earn for spending so much time clicking on links is just too little to make this worthy of your time. But since this post is about available money making options, I am including it here.
Basically, you are paid pennies for clicking on ad links. The page opens up and you keep it open for a few seconds and you earn your cash. Not much work, but not much earning potential either.
If you’re interested, check out Clixsense.
19. Let your computer pay your internet bill
MQL 5 – Distributed Cloud Network is a research company that pays you for sharing your computer’s unused CPU.
Basically you will selling the unused power of your computer to the members of Distributed Cloud network. They use that extra power to do tasks like optimizing Expert Advisors optimization or developing mathematical models.
It’s an easy way to make money from your computer.
20. Become a (mock) juror
Online mock trials are used by lawyers and representatives to get a feel for their case and how an actual jury may react to their case.
And in order to get people to participate as jurors in these fake online trials, they’ll pay you.
Interested in becoming a mock online juror?
Try eJury.com.
21. Help students with their homework
If you can help students with their homework, they can help you with your bank account!
There are many homework help and tutoring websites out there. One of the biggest ones being Chegg Toturs (formerly, Student of Fortune).
Students post their questions, and experts (you) earn a certain amount of cash for helping them with answers.
There is also a cash incentive for the best available help or advice. If you are still pretty much in touch with schoolwork, this can be a great avenue to earn some money.
Answers posters have claimed that they could make a decent living out of this platform, with the top performer reportedly to have made $127,000 a year.
22. Get paid to test designs
The design of websites and apps play a huge role in the success or failure of said apps and websites.
That’s why companies behind them put a lot of emphasis on getting it right.
One way they try to “get it right” is by getting feedback from the same people who will be using these websites and apps.
Of course, nobody is going to devote their time to testing designs and providing feedback so these companies can make more money with the same apps and websites.
So to entice people to participate, companies and developers pay you to test websites and apps and provide feedback.
Interested?
Join UserCrowd (formerly known as UsabilityHUB).
This is a platform where designers and developers post paid design tests gigs and testers can make money participating.
You can earn between $6 to $10 per test.
If you are interested in learning more, check out my extensive review of UserCrowd and how best you can use it to make more money.
23. Work from home as a nurse
This company, Fonemed, will only accept professionally registered nurses. Members are expected to provide triage and medical information over the phone.
It will be helpful if you also happen to be a Canada or U.S. resident as their clients are largely doctors and especially pediatricians based in North America.
Your job is to attend to the phones after office hours (so expect to work in the evenings, nights, weekends and public holidays).
Fonemed says a typical nurse can make $27 per hour.
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