As much as I love my frugal lifestyle, additional income creates so many opportunities. Whether you want it or absolutely need it, and you will be amazed by the easy and interesting ways you can earn $100 every day.
People might say “more money more problems”, but I know that a lot of my problems come from not having enough money. And I know I’m not alone. Right? Right?! I don’t care what they say.
Making extra money is always a good thing. It can help you:
- Pay off debt
- Save for retirement
- Stop living paycheck to paycheck
- Cushion a career change
- Stay home with your kids
- Invest!
- Go on a vacation
- Become financially independent
- Take a break from being super frugal
Earning that extra income isn’t hard, either. While some of these ideas require more work than others, many of them can be done in 10 minutes or less. But like everything else, you get out what you put in.
When I was a breadwinning mom working outside of the home, I needed more money AND more time. With a combination of these tasks, I was able to replace my daily income in less time. It doesn’t get much better than that.
The easiest ways to make $100 a day
A lot of these ideas can be done in addition to a full-time job. And depending on the work you do, maybe even while you’re working 😉
Time is money, so the next time you’re sitting around burning time – try some of these and figure out which ones work best for you! If you have all day, you could earn well over 100 dollars with one or more of these ideas.
1. Become a Virtual Assistant
One of the smartest ways to make money at home is by becoming a virtual assistant. Providing services through skills you already have at a price.
More skilled tasks call for higher prices (upwards of $50/hr or more, it’s wild), but you can easily charge at least $10 an hour for the simplest things. Check out this post that gives the best rundown of the whole job and why you should consider it.
RELATED: How To Become a Virtual Assistant
2. Test Websites
“User testing” is how brands, bloggers, and businesses get the everyday user’s point-of-view of their website. Most tests take 5-15 minutes to complete and you can earn $10-$15 a test. This is one of the easiest and most practical ways to make money online.
The best places to start testing are:
They are always looking for testers from every age and background, so all you need is a computer, internet, and a microphone. (A built-in microphone is just fine.) They aren’t expecting any particular skills either, just honest, real-life perspectives.
3. Become a Critic
You can get paid to watch commercials and listen to music before it’s released to the public at SlicethePie. They will pay you for your opinions and there is a never ending supply of things to judge!
SlicethePie is the biggest online review service. Big brands like Walmart, Kelloggs, and Disney use them for customer insight before new things are released. And well-performing songs get radio time based on the user judgements! You could pick the next song on the Top 40!
It’s seriously ridiculous, only because we have opinions on these things all the time. Why not get paid for them?
They pay you with PayPal once you hit $10.
4. Get paid for your opinions
Surveys all day! This isn’t the best way to make money, but it’s so easy and there are soooo many places that want to know what you do and think. Most survey sites will give you points to redeem for cash or gift cards, but others will pay you pure cash.
It’s arguably better than playing Candy Crush in your spare time.
The most reputable (& highest paying) sites are Inbox Dollars, Opinion Outpost, and American Consumer Opinion. But if you want to maximize your survey earnings, there’s no shame is registering for all of them haha! You’ll get emails when new surveys come available, and just opt out if you’re over it.
Survey sites for you to check out:
- Inbox Dollars
- Opinion Outpost
- American Consumer Opinion
- Survey Junkie
- Pinecone Research (earn $3 a survey)
- Swagbucks (get $5 for signing up)
5. Become a Secret Shopper
Secret shopping or mystery shopping is one of the most interesting excuses to get out and go somewhere. As a shopper, you will be tasked with testing and grading a store, restaurant, or phone picker-upper on things like if they tell you their name, offer a credit card, check your ID if you’re purchasing alcohol, and stuff like that.
After shopping, you’ll be paid, reimbursed, or both! It’s so fun and like I said, a perfect excuse to get up and out of the house. I usually stay home just to save money, so this is the best of both worlds haha!
Companies hire shoppers through agencies. Here are some busy secret shopping agencies for you to check out:
6. Sell your stuff
Go through your closet or any storage in your home and purge, baby! But don’t just trash it all, make money from it. Take some pictures are offer it up online.
You can sell clothes, dishes, furniture, toys your baby doesn’t touch (or never touched), PLANTS. I mean seriously, you can sell anything except sexual favors (unless you’re in Europe).
These days, Facebook Marketplace is all the rage. I’m betting it’s because of the paper trail and sort of background check you can get from Facebook. But that’s how a lot of online selling is done these days. It’s getting harder to scam people, so you don’t have to worry about that.
The best sites for selling are:
7. Sell other stuff
Selling your own stuff is great, but eventually you won’t have anything left to sell! That’s fine.
You can find and flip items from thrift stores, garage sales, or flea markets and make a pretty penny. You can learn about picking the money-making gems here!
OR you can become an Amazon FBA seller. FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) is when you sell your products through Amazon, but they take care of shipping, returns, and practically everything. All you have to do is send them the product and create the sales information (description, price, etc).
Want to hear more? Check out The Selling Family. They have created a six-figure business all from selling on Amazon and teaching others how to do it too. All of the information is on their blog.
8. Drive people around
If you have a car and don’t mind being behind the wheel, driving for companies like Uber or Lyft is an easy way to make $100 in a day.
Rides are cheaper than a taxi, but the drivers take home 80% of the fare and don’t need to go hunting for riders. The app lets you choose the rides you take so you can be choosy and don’t need to drive all the way around town if you aren’t up for that.
9. Drive food around
Driving for Ubereats, GrubHub, or Postmates is a great way to get extra cash without making small talk with strangers.
Ubereats offers same-day payouts for fast cash, and even allows you to deliver via scooter or bike!
10. Rent out your car
Turo let’s you list your car for rent, and you could make much more than $100 a day depending on the value of your car.
There’s a guy in Arizona who rents his Tesla on Airbnb for $85 a night. Yes. A NIGHT. People sleep in it haha! This is the literal definition of making money while you sleep.
I recently saw a school bus for sale, and I’m wishing I was cool enough to buy it, renovate it, and RENT IT!! Next time…
11. Rent out a room
Do you have extra space in your home? You could offer it up for nightly stays on Airbnb! You can make money, meet people, and have the perfect excuse to give your place a deep cleaning. There are so many perks to becoming a host on Airbnb. But the best is the easy income.
Short-term rentals have more room for profits but if you’re looking for something more long-term, roommates are still a thing! It’s a great way to decrease your living expenses (which is my first tip for a frugal lifestyle).
Other places to list rooms or properties are:
12. Pick up odd jobs
Are you free to help people or businesses get stuff done around town? Odd jobs don’t all have Silence of the Lambs vibes. There are a handful of apps that you can download and start earning cash today with simple services.
With these jobs, all of the money is handled by the company so you don’t have to worry about getting stiffed.
If you want to meet and help people, check out TaskRabbit. This is where you can find jobs like hanging a mirror or raking leaves. Simple household chores.
At TaskRabbit you choose the job from the app, arrange details like how much you want and when it needs to be done, do the work, and get paid through PayPal ASAP.
Other options give you more flexibility and might make it easier to just grab a job without worrying about handling clients.
GigWalk allows you to pick a task with the price and details already laid out for you. The jobs can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour to complete, and the pay varies from $3 to $100 depending on the time commitment.
In this case, the “client” is a business that might just want you to take a picture of a product at the store. You can pick up gigs around town and cherry pick the ones on your way to where ever you’re going.
13. Play with Dogs!!
You could be a dog walker or stay at home with your own doggie daycare! This is a dog lover’s dream, and it can pay pretty well. The average pay for a walk is $17.50.
If you’re interested, two sites for you to look into are:
On Rover, you can offer boarding services which pays the best. If you aren’t interested in hosting slobbery slumber parties, then doggie daycare is available with them too!
Before I had my daughter, I was already a dog mom. I love him so much and felt so guilty when I would come home from work and run straight to the grocery store. So I threw his crazy self in doggie daycare twice and he was so exhausted when I picked him up that all he wanted to do was sleep (and leave me guilt-free for running out).
My point is, working families might not realize the power and affordability of dog services – and you should help them!
14. Babysit
If dogs aren’t your thing, hanging out with tiny humans might be. Babysitting is always in demand. It doesn’t have to be on Friday or Saturday nights, either (although you could charge a higher price for those slots).
For me, babysitting is the most logical choice. I’m already babysitting MY kid. Adding another one into the mix is easy money.
All you need to do is create an account on SitterCity or Care.com, or just let people know you’re available.
15. Teach
If you’re particularly good at something or just LOVE to teach, there are quite a few options for you. Check out your local school district for substitute teaching opportunities or become a tutor on weekends or evenings.
Proximity Learning can hook you up with local substitute positions, and they source the long-term substitutes for things like maternity leave or any leave of absence.
Unless you don’t want to leave your house. In which case, you’re still in luck! There are online teaching and tutoring jobs for you to consider. Tutor.com is a great place to start.
If you have a bachelor’s degree, then you can teach English to kids in China through VIPkid! You don’t need a teaching certificate just a degree (in anything)!
You would work 1-on-1 with a child via video chat, and all of the lesson plans and parent interaction is handled for you.
VIPkid is ranked by Forbes as one of the best companies for remote work. They allow flexibility and great pay at $14 to $22 per 30-minute class.
16. Create a course
Whether you realize it or not, you have valuable skills that you can share. Creating and selling your own course is one of the best ways to create a passive income stream.
Check out:
17. Become a transcriber
Transcribers are the people who type out captions on movies, tv shows, you tube videos, etc. I use them religiously because I hate loud noises AND can’t hear too well. I want them anywhere and everywhere.
Whether you use them or not, there are plenty of places that will pay you to listen and type what you hear.
Transcription is entirely remote. You can do it anywhere with one of these agencies:
18. Pick up a serving gig
Servers, bartenders, and catering crew can typically rake in at least $100 a day. Even if you don’t have experience, restaurants are usually willing to train and always need some backup staff on standby.
I worked with a dude who worked weekends with a caterer. He was making anywhere from $100 to $400 for a 4-6 hour serving jobs. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.
You can find local serving positions on:
19. Blog
A blog is the golden ticket these days. I remember reading things like this thinking “ok, ya sure” but it’s legit. There’s a reason why so many people are suggesting it. Blogging is crazy profitable. Considering you can get it all going for less than $100, it’s the best business model out there.
Yes, in case you haven’t heard, blogs are businesses. Or they at least have the potential to be. A lot of people blog just for fun, but a lot of them started that way and found out how to make money doing it, so it’s kinda like the perfect job for a lot of people (like me! haha).
I won’t lie, you won’t start making mad money right away, but you gotta start somewhere and this is a solid long-term investment. If you want to start your own blog, check out my tutorial to get you started with your own profitable blog.
RELATED:
- How to Start a Blog that Makes Money
- How Bloggers Make Money: a quick and dirty guide for the skeptics
- The easiest way to decide on What to Blog About
20. Offer freelance services
Freelance work was the final nail in my corporate coffin, because it allows so much flexibility. Not to mention – you can set your own rates! No negotiating your pay with an HR rep. Perks on perks on perks.
There are so many different services you can offer, and I started with freelance writing for blogs and small business owners. Gofigure.
Don’t know which freelance services you can provide?
Check out what’s already working by browsing what’s being offered on sites like:
There you have it
Making money doesn’t have to come in the form of a 9 to 5 job. Whether you’re unemployed, underemployed, or just bored, you can make extra money everyday. Which are you going to try right now?
Alicia Hursley says
The user testing has been so fun for me! I absolutely love it and doing it over the course of 6 months helped me save up enough to get a hardwood floor resurfacing done in my living room. Thank you so much for sharing.