If I offered you an extra $100 today, would you take it? I know I would. Extra cash always comes in handy.
American budgets across the country could use a cash influx. Last year the average American spent $805 on holiday spending. This year 46% of Americans reported they can’t cover a $400 emergency in cash. Coming up with an extra $100 today is a great way to ease either holiday costs or to beef up savings.
Barring me walking up to you and offering you cash money, how can you earn an extra $100 today? Many people focus on saving money, but increasing your income is the other side of that coin. You can utilize your skills, your social media, or your free time to make a little extra green today.
Put Social Media Skills To Work
Sell photos- If you’re big into Instagram, try selling some photos. Stock photo sites hire photographers.
Sponsored posts- If you’ve got a large following, brands will pay to get access to them. You can charge per post, or set up a long-term agreement with a company.
Host an event- Sell tickets to an event where you help people build their social media followings. If you’re a whiz, people will pay for your knowledge!
Work as a freelance virtual assistant– You can use your skills to build a company’s social media. You can charge $30 an hour easily, and make $100 in less than four hours.
Do a social media audit- Charge a flat fee to examine a person or company’s social media accounts, engagement, and suggest ways for them to grow. Give them detailed feedback, and hard data to really provide value.
Take Care of Someone
Babysit- Babysitting is cold, hard cash just there for the taking. You can find families that need a sitter by asking friends, or joining a site like Sitter City. Six and a half hours at $16 an hour gets you to $100!
Housesitting- Similarly, housesitting can be a way to score a bit of cash. Ask co-workers or friends if they need a housesitter, or check out websites like Caretaker.org.
Pet sitting- People love their pets, and you can turn that love into a career. People make full time salaries from pet sitting.
Dog walking- Spend some time with cute dogs, get some exercise, and get paid. Dog walkers make an average of $10-$30 an hour.
Mover- Everyone hates moving. I know I’l pay a premium to not have to do all the lugging myself. This is a great way to get some serious exercise and make some extra cash.
Host family- Become a host family for a foreign exchange student.
Make Shopping Work For You
ReceiptHog.com- This company will pay you to shop literally anywhere. Take a picture of the receipt and submit it. They use the data for market research and you make money.
Ebates.com- Ebates will also pay you for shopping. Shop at a store through their links and you’ll earn a percentage back. Percents can range from 2% to 12%, and they often do double cash back deals
Swagbucks.com- On the internet all day? (Who isn’t?) Swagbucks will pay you to take surveys, watch videos or shop. Get paid while feeding your internet addiction.
Survey Says: Make That Money
SurveyJunkie.com- Opinionated? Survey Junkie will pay to hear your thoughts.
Research Studies- One of the most popular ways to make extra cash is to participate in research studies. What you make can range hugely. You get more for overnights, even into thousands. Robert Rodriguez partly financed his first film with money from medical research.
Sell unused gift cards- Sites like cardwoo.com will buy gift cards with at least $20 on them for cash.
Secret Shopper- One of the best ways to make money on the side is to be a secret shopper. You’ll provide feedbak on employees, store cleanliness, and apparel, and get paid for it.
Instacart- Deliver food with Instacart. You’ll take a mini quiz and go through a phone interview, and then you’ll be a one person food delivery truck.
Working Online
There’s a lot of ways to make money online. Find your strength and play to it.
Freelancing- Offer freelance services for something you’re good at. Photography, writing, editing can all be done online. Freelancing means you can set your own rates, so you can make that $100 with one project.
Raise your rates- Already a freelancer? Raise your rates. You should do this annually with each client. It’s a simple way to put more cash in your wallet today.
Rent out your car- If you’re not a big driver or have a second car, you can rent it out on sites like Turo. It’s like Airbnb for your car.
Sell your crafts- Make money off your art! You can open a whole store on Etsy, or you can simply list your items on Craigslist.
Fiverr- A very popular way to sell services online is Fiverr. You can offer design, editing, music, animation…if you’ve got a skill, you can sell it on Fiverr.
Write- If you don’t want to go freelance full time or build a side business, you can still make some quick cash by writing occasionally. For example, the book series ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ pays $200 per selected story.
Old School Money Making Ideas
The great thing about these ideas is that you can set your own price on your labor or your things.
Rake leaves- It’s fall, and that means trees are losing their leaves. People will pay good money not to have to rake, bag, and cart off the leaves that pile up from those trees this time of year.
Shovel snow- Similarly, if it’s snowing in your area already, grab a shovel and clear some driveways.
Clean out the closet- Sell your gently used clothes to second-hand stores. You’ll create space and generate some cash.
Have a yard sale- If you want to get rid of more than just clothes, have a good old fashioned yard sale. Invite your neighbors to take part to increase your visibility and get more people to stop.
Clean gutters- Another seasonal side hustle is cleaning gutters. People hate to do it themselves, and it’s the perfect time of year to get it done.
Rent your driveway- Small living is very in at the moment. Someone with a tiny house or living in an RV will pay you to keep their home in your driveway.
Rent your garage- If your garage is just playing host to your old junk, put that space to work. People will pay to store their cars there, or to use it as an office if it has electricity.
Clean houses- House cleaning is a task many people outsource, so there’s lots of demand. If you don’t mind the dusting and scrubbing it entails, you can easily make $100 to clean one house.
Fix cars- Become your neighborhood mechanic and fix neighbors and friends cars. This is especially perfect if you already have a lot of the tools you’ll use.
Event planning- Putting together an event is no joke, and you can charge accordingly. Birthday parties, retirement parties, or even big weddings will make you plenty of cash.
Teach Others
Have a skill that other’s are dying to learn? Put that to use and make some cash.
Tutor- Set up hours at a local library and advertise online and with fliers. Tutors can make $25-$35 easily.
Coach- Contact local high schools and see if they need a sports coach. They usually come with a monthly stipend, but some places will pay hourly.
Referee- Becoming a certified referee usually takes some cash upfront, but you can make a wonderful hourly rate being a ref.
Teach English- You can offer private English lessons to people who want to improve their skills.
Editor- You can edit student’s papers for a fee. Some consultants are making upwards of $50/hr.
Music lessons- If you play an instrument you can charge anywhere from $25-$50 an hour for lessons.
Cooking lessons- If you’re a whiz in the kitchen, offer small cooking classes at your home. Or you can offer private cooking lessons. Especially around the holidays, people will pay to know how to make a turkey and a pumpkin pie.
Miscellaneous Ideas
Sell your stuff- You can sell clothes, furniture or books pretty much anywhere. Ebay and Craigslists are classics but try the new app letgo. Just upload a photo of your item and let people come to you.
Write to Congress- You can get paid to write letters to Congress! If you have good writing skills and a passion for it, this is a great side hustle.
Mock juror- I know people hate jury duty, but you can make between $10-$60 an hour to serve on a mock jury.
Donate plasma- Another oldie but goodie. Research centers will pay for plasma.
Handyman (or woman)- If you’re handy around the house, sell your skills to the world.
Organize- Similar to cleaning someone’s house, some people will pay for you to organize them. If yo’re a neat freak, put those skills to use.
Lemonade stand- Or a water stand, or a tea stand! Better with cute children, but not impossible for adults. Sell water at a stadium on game day and capitalize on the hoards of people.
Sell ads on your car- We’ve all seen the cars with the ads plastered on them. If you’re fine with it, you can make $200-$400 a month just for driving around.
Session musician- Recording artists need musicians to play at their studio sessions. If you’re talented and happy to play someone else’s music, this can be a very lucrative gig.
Sell your jewelry- Precious metals and stones are always in demand. Turn those pieces of jewelry that you never use into cash you can use today. Pawn shops and jewelry stores are good places to start.
Write resumes- A necessary evil, writing resumes is harder than it looks. You can charge a flat fee to help people get theirs looking professional.
Use your trivia knowledge- Some cities or companies host trivia nights that reward you with cold, hard cash. The Big Quiz in NYC offers $100 and $200 in prizes.
As you can see, there’s always a way to make a little extra cash. Turn your skills or your stuff into extra money today.
