16 Ways to Make Extra Money This Month
When you’re short on money, an extra couple hundred dollars in your bank account feels like a dream. Thankfully, there are many ways to turn that dream into a reality…and fast! Take a look at these ways to earn extra money this month.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means that I may receive compensation when you click on a product link or purchase an item linked on this site. Click here for details.
1) Sell your unused stuff
My favorite way to earn money is by selling second-hand items online. I started a few years ago by selling my old clothes quickly moved onto to sourcing clothes at my nearby thrift stores.
Take a look at what you and your family have in your closets and around the house. Do you have any designer or name brand items? Are any items new with tags?
You can sell clothes, shoes, jewelry, designer purses, household items, electronics, and whatever else is in demand.
Try selling goods locally on Craigslist, Letgo, Nextdoor, or Facebook. Expand your reach by selling on online platforms like eBay, Poshmark, and Mercari.
You can also try selling to second-hand and consignment shops like Crossroads and Buffalo Exchange. You’ll likely make less than trying to sell the items yourself, but you’ll have cash in hand much faster.
If you don’t have a Poshmark account, you can receive a free $10 bonus when you sign up with the code SFGIRL2015.
You can receive a $10 bonus on Mercari when you sign up with the code JENMHM.
2) Offer virtual assistant services
Virtual assistant services are growing more and more in demand as people take businesses online. A virtual assistant can do a variety of typical administrative tasks like answer emails and manage a schedule or calendar to more modern tasks like posting on social media, editing videos, and writing content for websites.
If you have in-demand skills that can be offered across the internet, you can be a VA. A good VA can be essential to helping a business run smoothly.
List your services on sites like Upwork and Fiverr, or create your own website and social media profiles to market your services. VA work offers flexibility to work as much or as little as you want and when you want.
3) Make Pinterest pins
Do you like browsing Pinterest? Did you know that you can make money by making those pins that you see in your feed?
More and more businesses are getting on Pinterest to promote themselves but they don’t have time to manage their profiles, much less make tens or hundreds of pins to advertise their products.
If you have a knack for eye-catching design and can work quickly, you can make money by making Pinterest pins. I’ve seen this offered for as low as $1 per pin to $5 per pin and sometimes more for established creators.
You can charge more if you need to search for stock photos to use for the pins. You can make the pins on free sites like Canva.
4) Be a Poshmark sharing assistant
I mentioned above how much I love selling second-hand items online. My primarily selling platform is Poshmark. It’s time-consuming to use because you have to manually share your listings one by one to publicize them.
Most people don’t have the time to share their listings several times a day, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of listings. Automatic sharing bots are not allowed on Poshmark either.
Poshmark virtual assistants do this task for sellers. I’ve seen this service offered at $5 for 1000 shares at the lower end on Fiverr. FYI, it takes about 3-4 minutes to share 100 listings.
You can earn more by offering other services such as following other Poshmark users and cross-listing items to other platforms. This is an easy job but your hands and fingers may get tired from all the sharing.
5) Sell your other services
If you have any other valuable services, this is a good time to turn what may be a hobby or your day job into a money-making side hustle. Some in-demand services:
freelance writing
photography
graphic design
copy writing
video editing
translation work
6) Rent out your stuff
Imagine being a first-time snowboarder or camper. You probably wouldn’t want to buy an expensive item like a snowboard or tent without knowing if you’ll ever use them again. That’s why renting items has become more and more popular. Offer up your in-demand items for rent.
Car – Companies like Getaround and Maven make it easy to rent out your car when you’re not using it.
Parking space – If you live in a city where parking is a premium, you can rent out your space and make easy money without having to do a thing. I’ve seen spaces for hundreds of dollars a month in San Francisco.
Home – Rent out your home or just a part of it on Airbnb or VRBO. My friend rents out the lower unit in her home and receives regular income with minimal work.
Sports & recreational goods – Companies like Clutter in San Francisco and Portland make it easy to store your stuff and then rent it out. You set the price for your items.
Popular items like snowboards and camping gear are more likely to be rented, making you more money. Clutter does the delivery and pick-up for you. Zilok is another site where you can list an even greater variety of items for rent.
Baby gear – Babies require lots of gear, but not everyone has the inclination or money to buy it all. You’ll find a lot of parents happy to rent what they need, so list the strollers, cribs, and other baby gear you have. BabyQuip is a popular rental company in the US.
7) Teach English online
Before you brush off the idea of being a teacher, check out teaching English online through companies like VIPKid. You don’t have to be a credentialed teacher. VIPKid provides lesson plans, grading, and communication with parents so all you have to do is teach.
Your schedule and how many hours you work is up to you. VIPKid says that you can make approximately $14-22/hr.
If teaching English isn’t for you, there are options to be an online tutor in other subjects through companies like Tutor.com and TutorMe.
8) Take surveys
You’re not likely to make a lot of money by taking surveys, but it’s a good way to earn a few dollars in the spare minutes of your day. Do a survey while waiting to check out at the grocery store or watch a video while waiting to pick up your children after school. Your earnings will grow over time.
You have many options for how to cash out your points too. I’ve collected some Amazon cards, which is practically cash. Some of the popular survey sites include Swagbucks, Pinecone Research, Survey Junkie, Inbox Dollars, and MySurvey.
9) Use cash-back apps like Ibotta and Ebates
You have to shop for groceries and household items, so why not make money doing it? With Ibotta, you get money back on purchases by submitting a picture of your receipt as proof of purchase. There’s a good variety of items that will earn you money, and it changes regularly.
I earned $0.50 recently just for shopping at Whole Foods and Target and snapping photos of my receipts into the app. Join Ibotta and earn up to a $20 welcome bonus (amount varies by promotion).
On Ebates, you shop your favorite retails online or in-store as you normally would and earn cash back on your purchases. Ebates has over 2,500 stores from which you can earn cash back.
Even better is when Ebates offers bonuses like double cash back. It’s all completely free to use too. You can receive $10 free bonus when you sign up for Ebates and spend $25 within the first 90 days of signing up.
10) Become a delivery person
Make money by delivering items around your town or city. Deliver food for Grubhub and Postmates or deliver groceries for Instacart, DoorDash, and Shipt.
You don’t have to have a car to do this job either. You can use a bike or scooter, which may be preferred depending on where you live. If those options don’t appeal to you, you can deliver for Amazon through AmazonFlex and make $18-25 an hour.
11) Offer pet sitting services
If you have a dog or cat, then you probably already know a lot about taking care of house pets. You can offer pet care like taking dogs on walks or dogsitting overnight.
Besides spending time with animals, you can set your own price and work when you have time. If you build rapport with your clients, they can become repeat customers. Apps like Rover and Wag are good places to look for clients.
12) Sign up for overtime hours/extra shifts
This isn’t the most exciting way to make money, but it’s extra work, which means extra pay. If the opportunity is available to you, take an extra shift or a few hours of overtime.
I work in the medical field as a speech-language pathologist. There are regular opportunities to pick up extra hours working overtime, covering weekends, covering other therapists’ vacations, and working as needed at other facilities.
13) Sell your ebook for Kindle
Are you knowledgeable about a topic and people are always asking you about it? If so, consider writing an ebook and placing it for sale for Amazon.
It doesn’t take weeks or months to write a book. You can outline a book, write it using a speech-to-text feature, and edit it all within a few days. An ebook can be short too, so you don’t need to write a novel.
14) Market affiliate products and services on Pinterest
Back to Pinterest, did you know that you can earn money by linking to affiliate products and services on Pinterest? Pinterest now allows users to put direct affiliate links in their pins. When people click on those pins to your affiliates and/or purchase items through your affiliate links, you make money!
You first have to create a Pinterest profile and boards for your content. Then you create pins that lead to products or services you are promoting.
Making good money consistently is more than just throwing up a few links here and there though. You have to put in consistent effort to create a Pinterest profile and pin to your boards, but you’ll see your earnings grow.
Join affiliate networks such as MagikLinks and ShareaSale to gather affiliate links. You can link to anything that’s allowed on Pinterest. I would stay away from Etsy and Amazon, as those are not allowed or frowned upon.
15) Become a test user
You can make money by testing out websites. At User Testing, you visit a website or app, speak your thoughts while completing a set of tasks, and then you get paid for it.
User Testing says you can earn up to $60 per test, but that’s the high end. You likely won’t make that much.
While you won’t grow rich doing this, you can make some nice side hustle money without much difficulty. You don’t have to leave your home or even move from your computer to participate.
FYI, I’ve signed up for this a few months ago. I haven’t passed any screenings to become a test user, but I’m hoping to get chosen soon.
16) Sign up for a walking challenge
Did you know that you can make money by walking? Check out HealthyWage to learn how you can join challenges that pay you when you succeed. Plus, this has the added benefits of improving your health and getting you into shape.
Next time you notice that you’re short on money, take a look at this list of side hustle ideas for how to grow your income this month.
Have you tried any of the above side hustles? What jobs do you recommend to earn money quickly?
