There are few people out there who, given the opportunity, wouldn’t jump at the chance to earn a living from the comfort of their own home. Though few of them will match up to a full-time salary, there are lots of ways to earn at least a little extra from home. Here are my top picks.
Online Surveys
These aren’t always very lucrative, but if you have the time, you can make a few bucks per survey. They range from 5 minutes or so to tedious 30-minute interrogations (that’s how it feels anyway). But the right site will send you quick questionnaires that you can fill out while watching TV.
Freelancing
If you have skills people are looking for, register on a site like Upwork for freelance jobs. There’s a demand for all sorts, from web design to copy editing and transcribing. Content writing seems to be a constant need, so if you have a flair for it, find sites and businesses that need content for their blogs, journals, magazines or newspapers. A little research and a little skill could earn you quite a bit.
Profit from your Hobby
Whether it’s knitting, wood-work or quilting, if you’re good at it, you can probably sell it. Advertise your finished products on Etsy or somewhere similar and you could easily make money doing what you love.
House Sitting
Technically you’ll be making money from someone else’s home, not your own, but housesitting is a great passive income. You may be required to stay overnight, feed pets, or just check up on the place. As long as you’re not hosting parties or burning the house down, it’s easy money.
Tutoring and Teaching
Parents wanting to give their kids an edge, or just help them keep up, will often enlist a tutor. If you’re fairly academic and have the patience for tutoring, you can teach from home or online. If you play an instrument, and feel you could teach someone else fairly easily, teach music lessons out of your spare room.
Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a great way to make money from home. Somewhat like running an online store, but without having boxes of stock lying all over your house. You advertise and sell products at retail prices, then order them from a supplier at wholesale prices and have them shipped directly to the customer and keep the difference.
Bed & Breakfast
If you have a spare bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, or a cottage you don’t use, rent it out as a bed and breakfast. You don’t have to be in the middle of a perfect tourist spot, you can cater for people in town for business and events. It’s up to you what meals you include, whether you offer self-catering, or have different options at different rates.
A quick Google search will turn out hundreds of ways to make money from home. Just be wary of the ‘get rich quick’ schemes, life doesn’t give you something for nothing.