6 Ways To Make An Extra $100 Without Leaving Your Room
Despite the abundance of articles found on websites and blogs that promise the reader ways to “gEt rIcH qUiCk,” and make serious money without having to step foot out of bed, the truth is, there is no magic way to make money. I’ve been researching this topic and the strategies for making money online for the last year or so, and I’ve found that it’s all about capitalizing on the skills and expertise you already have. Despite what people believe, making money from your bed or couch is never going to be as easy as snapping your fingers. It takes diligence and hard work. That being said, most full-time incomes and part-time side hustles require a great deal of set up before you have lucrative systems in place.
Online work is a fantastic way to supplement your income, and setting a goal amount of just $100 per month can be a great place to start! It’s a relatively low number which you can knock out by setting aside a few hours to whatever niche job you choose. While $100 is obviously not a boat load of cash, it can help pay off that last bill, pay for a few dinners/drinks out, pay extra on a student loan, etc. Below, I’ve rounded up seven viable ways to make money without ever having to step outside. Check them out!
1. Create something and sell it.
When I was in college, I knew a girl who had particularly beautiful handwriting and created a little empire for herself by selling custom-drawn monograms and logos for wedding invitations. She taught herself how to turn hand drawn sketches into computerized artwork, so it could be sent off to her clients and digitalized for their needs. She was able to conduct the operation out of her dorm room, and she brought in a decent amount of money on the side. She typically charged about $25-$50 per monogram (because she wasn’t yet a professional) and used the money to pay off a good portion of her bills. Another friend of mine made jewelry in her apartment and sold it to friends while another friend of mine designed Etsy shop banners using the skills she picked up in her graphic design courses. If you create a product that is unique and find a niche of people who actually want it, it can be a fantastic way to help financially support yourself without having to leave home.
2. Get paid to test/review products and services.
Rough rate for reviewing: Anywhere from $3-$20 per review.
Reviewing websites and products online involves a good deal of writing, but it’s work that you can knock out from your bed if you choose to. I have personally used sites like Userlytics, UserFeel, and UserTesting, where you essentially troubleshoot websites and leave an audio voice recording of your review as you go. Sites like these typically pay anywhere from $3-$20 per review, and if you’re serious about doing it as often as you can, you can potentially earn a few hundred bucks per month. In addition to testing, a quick Google search will reveal that there are a ton of resources online dedicated to showing you how to make money doing product reviews. There’s a pretty thorough article that talks about how to get paid to test products at home, which is a very useful read. However, be wary of the fact that work like this is not always a cake walk. Leaving reviews often requires a good amount of written detail and critical thinking to reflect on the reasons why a product was or wasn’t satisfactory. You’ll find that the more valuable and thorough your feedback is, the more frequently you’ll be sent work. You get what you put in!
3. Resell old book & clothes.
I am one of those people who hold onto books and old clothes for way longer than I should, and the truth is, I can probably let a majority of the extra crap go. Yes, it’s difficult because I constantly tell myself, “But maybe I’ll want to bring the book with me on vacation over the summer!” However, I know I’ll never end up doing it. As of today (after I looked around at how many books I have to dust off) I’ve made a promise to myself that I am going to let go of and sell 10 books from my collection by the month’s end. (I will document somehow on social media to keep myself honest.) Be sure to check out his article of the five best places to sell used books. You can sign up for a professional seller account with websites like AbeBooks and/or Amazon. Some sites, like eBay, give you a certain percentage of the books you sell. Alternatively, you can open up an Etsy store, which requires you to pay a listing fee of $0.20 per item plus fees after sales. Finally, you can go the old-fashioned route and snap photos of the books you’re selling, and use email and word-of-mouth to sell them to friends, family, and acquaintances. I wrote an article awhile back on rules for selling clothes and where to do it — definitely worth a read!
4. Sell your work on stock photography websites.
Rough hourly rate: Depending on your experience, and what site you’re selling on, this can range from $0.20 – $28+ per photo.
I used to work with a guy who paid for his lunches out at work with the money he made from selling the stock photography he shot for fun. If you have skills with a camera or have cultivated a particularly stunning Instagram aesthetic, there’s nothing keeping you from uploading those bad boys on various stock photography websites for cold hard virtual cash. Learn how to sell your own photographs on websites like iStock, Shutterstock, Fotolia, Flickr, and Dreamstime (just to name a few). It’s the perfect type of work/hobby you can draw money from without necessarily having to leave your bedroom. Once you’ve built up a library of worthy images (which, don’t forget, can take time) figuring out the best way to sell them can be a fun and exciting way to make $$$.
5. Become a virtual assistant.
Rough hourly rate: $10-$30 per hour
Working online as a virtual assistant is a great way to charge people for the skills you already have. There are a huge number of tasks that people need help with, which don’t require you to physically be there in real time to perform. Administrative-type tasks like scheduling, emailing, basic sales pitches/emails, making calls, organizing documents, following up with contacts, etc. can be found in abundance. There’s a great article on the how-tos of becoming a virtual assistant here.
6. Become an online or language tutor.
Roughly hourly rate: Experts recommend starting with $10-$20 per hour and adjusting from there based on a variety of factors.
If you have expertise in a particular area, are patient, and very comfortable with giving people feedback about their work via the internet, then online tutoring could be a great way to make $100 extra dollars a month. There are a variety of websites such as Tutor, Chegg, Verbling, Math Tutor, Verbal Planet, that you can use to connect with clients. Alternatively, you can always default to the standard job-searching websites likes Indeed and Monster to find work as an online tutor. You’ll definitely need to brush up on your skills if you’re going to charge others for your expertise, but this type of work is flexible, and you can take on as much or as little as you desire. There’s an excellent article about how to become the best and more effective tutor you can be, so be sure to read up!
Image via Unsplash
