Meeting your financial goals can sometimes be tough.

This is why more and more people are deciding to start up a side hustle to bring in some extra cash.

Yep, I include myself in that “more and more people” category and I’m assuming that, since you’re reading this, you do too.

Don’t worry, side hustles don’t have to be difficult or a ton of extra work. If you choose the right one, you can easily be on your way to some extra money in your pocket and a fun way to spend your free time.

So, are you ready to find some new and great ways to make extra money? Let’s dive in!

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.

Why are Side Hustles so Great?

Adding a side hustle, or an additional job on the side, to your life can be incredibly beneficial to you. This is a fantastic way to grow as an individual, boost your finances, and so much more. Some of my favorite benefits of side hustles include:

Creating your own opportunity to make extra money and meet your financial goals
Push you outside your comfort zone and allow you to grow as an individual
Give you space and time to chase your dreams (perhaps of becoming a business owner or get paid to travel)
Allow you an opportunity to leave your day job for a different career
Help you better understand and manage your money
Network with new and different professionals
And so much more!

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Top Ways to Make Extra Money

So, you think starting a side hustle is a great idea now, right? Awesome! However, there are countless side hustle ideas out there. How do you know which ones are actually legit? Don’t worry, today I’m going to help you out on this. Here are my favorite ways to make extra money.

Ways to Make Money Online:

1. Start a Blog

My top and FAVORITE way to make extra money is blogging. I started my blog back in 2017 and never looked back. It has been an amazing experience and a fantastic income. In fact, if I wan’t so passionate about civil engineering, my blog could easily be my only job and support me financially. I started out as a travel blogger (yep, I actually got paid to travel!) and loved it. Over time, my blog has evolved with me, which is such a great benefit!

So, once you have a website up and running, how exactly do you make money blogging? Great question, let’s break it down…

There are several ways to monetize your blog including:

Sponsored Blog Posts: Companies pay you to write a blog post
Affiliate Linking: Companies pay you a percentage of a sale when someone buys through your link
Social Media Ads: If you have a decent amount of followers on one or more of your social media accounts, companies will pay you to create a specific post (and pay really well I might add!)
Product Creation: Many people use their blog to promote and sell their own products (like I do with my Student Printable Planner)
Website Ad Placement: Placing an ad on your website and getting paid when someone sees and/or clicks on it

This all might sound a bit overwhelming at first, but don’t worry. Starting a money making blog is actually incredibly straight forward and, with a bit of work, you can truly create a serious income stream into your life.

How do you start a blog?

Like I said, starting a blog is actually really simple. Personally, I started my blog by turning to the experts at It’s a Lovely Life. They offer a FREE five-day “Start a Money Making Blog” course. I followed it step by step and ended up with this great website! Again, this class is free with no strings attached. I highly recommend taking it, even if you aren’t sure about blogging. It will give you a taste of what you’re getting yourself into.

Enroll in a FREE 5-Day Start a Money Making Blog Course!

As a side note and for full transparency, I did also enroll in It’s a Lovely Life’s other courses to get the ball rolling a bit faster. Some of them were free (you’ll see them when you get to their website) and some of them I paid for. I considered this as an investment into my blog and it was the best thing I ever did. However, it is absolutely not a requirement. I highly recommend their free classes to start with!

More Information About Blogging:

I’ve written quite a few different blog posts to help others in their own blogging journey. If you’re interested about learning more, check them out!

Enroll in a FREE 5-Day Start a Money Making Blog Course!

2. Start an Etsy Shop

Alright, alright! Enough about blogging, let’s move on to number 2… starting an Etsy shop! Etsy is an online marketplace where you can sell a ton of different items including crafts, printables, furniture, toys, jewelry… anything you can build or create really! The great thing about Etsy is that they help you with all the boring, legal stuff. In fact, in many states, they even take care of sales tax for you! They also help you with marketing, give you amazing tips along the way, and so much more.

Start your Etsy Shop today with 40 FREE listings!

Related: Everything You Need to Know to Start an Etsy Shop

3. Work as a Virtual Assistant

Next, working as a virtual assistant can help you bring in some great money. In fact, I know quite a few people who have used this to leave their boring day job (so they can work from home)!

There is a wide range of tasks and hours virtual assistants complete, it definitely depends on your employer. Some might include: proofreading documents, managing social media accounts, acting as a personal assistant, scheduling meetings, managing the books, and researching.

Related: 57 Insane Money Saving Tips to Try This Week

4. Day Trading and Investing

As our technology advances, it has become more and more easy to day trade and invest your money into meaningful causes. The key here is to start small, do your research, and track the market. You can even do this with your phone! If you’re seriously interested in day trading, Andrew Aziz’s book How to Day Trade for a Living is a fantastic place to start. Gives you all the best tips and tricks to really get going!

Check out this game-changing day trader book today!

5. Become an Online Tutor

Next, there are several companies out there looking for tutors to help students in various fields. Utilize your own field of expertise and help out someone in need (and get paid while you’re at it!). The most legit company I can think of is Chegg (I would start there!) but I am sure there are a ton of other great companies you can look into as well.

Related: 63 Study Tips to Ensure Your Success this Semester

6. Teach English Online

In addition to becoming a tutor, you can also help teach English (or another language for that matter) online. Again, Chegg is a great, legit company to start your job search, but I am sure there are some others that are great too (I’m just not as familiar with them).

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7. Write an EBook

Next, writing an EBook is a fantastic way to make money! The great thing about this is, once it is finished, you can put it on the market and you are done! From then on, you’re making a passive income!

You can sell an EBook in numerous ways. First, you can create your own website to sell it (creating a blog to promote your EBook would be a great way to get your name out there). Next, you could sell it on Etsy, Amazon, or a similar website… or you could work with a company to publish and distribute it. Finally, you could get fancy and actually write a paperback book and submit it to different publishers!

Check out THIS GREAT BOOK to get started! It tells you the secrets of writing a phenomenal EBook in 21 days flat. I’ve heard some surprising success stories from it, so a great way to get started!

The top productivity tips and time management ideas that will change your life in college, work, business, or as a stay at home mom. Start staying organized and blast through your to do list by using a planner, becoming a morning person, and mastering your daily schedules, study habits, and writing. Even includes free printables to help you stay focused and utilize these life hacks. Pin this post now so you don’t forget these life changing secrets! #planneraddict #organization #college

Easy Evening and Weekend Jobs

Next, let’s take a look at some easy jobs to help you get out of the house…

8. Become a Petsitter or Dog Walker

Many of my friends petsit or dog walk on the weekends and they make an absolute killing in money. In fact, many of them get paid more than they do at their real job (maybe they should switch careers to dog walking…)! The companies they use are Wag! and Rover, check them out!

9. Babysitting

Babysitting is a classic side hustle many of us are incredibly familiar with. However, I would like to point out there are a TON of nanny jobs out there that get SALARY PAY PER CHILD. I’m not joking. You can make so much money watching kids, it’s ridiculous. So, if you love kids, definitely check this side hustle out!

10. Become a Driver

Next, this list would not be complete without mentioning becoming an Uber or Lyft Driver. If you’re not comfortable driving people around, you could also become an Uber Eats driver. I’ve never done any of these jobs, and don’t know anyone who has (I know… shocking! Everyone seems to be doing it these days!) but I’ve heard you can make some serious cash with it.

11. Housekeeping

Housekeeping is a side hustle not a lot of people talk about. However, it can bring in some great money (especially if you work in nicer neighborhoods). The larger companies I’ve heard of (but have no experience with, so do your research) include: Tidy, Maidsapp, and Handy (for more maintenance things…).

12. Plasma Donation

Plasma donation is similar to donating blood, but a slightly longer process. When you donate plasma, medical researchers can use it to help advance our medical knowledge as a community and create better practices for the future. Most clinics allow you to donate twice a week, and pay you more as the month goes on (to help promote more donations). On average, the process takes about an hour to an hour and a half and you can get paid from anywhere between $40 to $100 per donation.

Unfortunately there is a sad negative stigma around plasma donation (because many low-income or homeless individuals used to rely on this as an income). Please don’t listen to the rumors. My husband (and many of his classmates and colleagues in medical graduate school) have done it for years to help out the medical community (and get paid for it… I might add). The clinic they donated at required proof of residence and if your blood work came back with any harmful substances, you weren’t allowed to return. Not once did he ever have any issues. He would donate once to twice a week and just study during his appointment. One of his friends actually won free NFL tickets during an appointment!

You can read more about donating plasma HERE but you will need to find a local clinic to donate at.

13. Pickup a Seasonal Job

There are a handful of incredibly fun seasonal jobs you might find to help boost your income during certain times of the year. These are usually local jobs that post listings in the paper or on local job search sites. Here are some of my favorite seasonal job ideas that either I have done, or someone I know has done:

Become a mover for a furniture or moving company (summer)
Weekend or evening lifeguarding (could be year round, summer if outdoor)
Help farmers harvest different crops (spring, summer, fall)
Gardening for local botanical gardens (spring, summer)
Assist in taxes (spring)
Seasonal park ranger (usually summer)
Snow removal from roads or sidewalks (winter)
Various holiday related jobs, such as sorting mail, organizing toy donations, help run holiday events, Christmas tree farms, etc (November, December)

14. Local Part-Time Jobs

You could also pick up a local part-time job to work year-round. This has a lot of potential (and can have added benefits) but you will need to look at local listings to see if there is anything that would work best for you. Some ideas to get you started include:

Cleaning work at your own gym (get paid and a free membership)
Setting routes at your local rock gym (again, get paid and a free membership! I know a ton of people who do this.)
Grocery store work (get paid and a discount)
Work for your landlord (get paid and reduced rent)
Assisting at a non-profit or organization with a good cause (get paid and feel good about it)

Work-at-Home Jobs:

15. Become a Landlord

Adding a roommate to your household or creating an apartment on your property can bring in perhaps the largest amount of money for the least amount of work. Of course, you would have to find a great tenant and stay up with your local laws and taxes, but it would be worth it!

I have a friend who was able to purchase a home her first year of college. Thanks to her roommates, by the time she graduated she had paid it completely off and nearly doubled her investment. She now lives in a giant house she paid for with cash… pretty sweet deal!

16. Become an AirBNB Host

Hosting for AirBNB is another great way to bring in an income! If done right, you can actually make more money doing this than renting long term. However, it is a bit more work. You will have to clean the space between each guest, maintain your AirBNB account, etc.

You can host an AirBNB in several ways:

Rent out one of your rooms in your home
Rent out an attached apartment on your property
Rent out an entire house you own (and live in an apartment or second home)

I would like to add that I know several people who have done option 3 (from above) and now own multiple different vacation homes around the United States. They now simply hire a company to do the turnovers and make a TON of money during the days they don’t visit their own vacation homes. Umm…. YES PLEASE. These people learned their tricks from Rick Wong’s book The Entrepreneurial AirBNB Hosting Guide. I’m currently reading it and can’t put it down.

Check out Wong’s book full of AirBNB secrets here!

17. Sell Your Unwanted Stuff

Do you happen to have a ton of unwanted stuff laying around? Sell your lightly used clothes, electronics, books, etc. to bring in some good cash! There are several great apps to sell your clothes on and Craigslist is great for furniture and larger items.

18. Become a Flea Market Flipper

Speaking of selling your belongings, many people have gotten so comfortable with this process that they are now flea market flippers! What is this, you might be asking? A flea market flipper is someone who purchases antiques or used items, spruces them up, and sells them for a profit. People usually do this with furniture. If your items are easy to ship, you can easily sell them on Etsy. If not, you could sell locally to individuals or local stores.

Want some great inspirational ideas? Just head over to Pinterest and search “Flea Market Flips.”

19. Monetize Your Hobby/Start a Business

Do you happen to have a hobby you think you could make money from? That is exactly how I started my blog! My hobby was traveling and making vintage journals. I created my blog to monetize the travel aspect, then my Etsy shop to sell my journals. It just blew up from there!

Simple Money-Making Habits:

I would also like to add some simple money-making habits you can easily integrate into your current life to make (or save) some cash. Remember: a little can add up to a lot over time!

20. Revamp and Overhaul Your Budget

Reserve an afternoon to really take a hard look at your current budget. I have created an Ultimate Guide to Budgeting to help you get started. During this time, you can cut unused or unwanted subscription services, really hone in on where you’re spending the most each month, and better understand your finances. This will help you save a ton of money over time (which is just like making money, right?!).

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Creating and Sticking to a Budget

Be sure to download my freebie to help you get started on your monthly budget:

21. Use Money-Making Rebate Apps While Shopping

My final tip is to use rebate apps (like Ibotta… I LOVE THIS APP!) after you shop. They are so easy to use, all you do is take a picture of your receipt and they credit your account based on which deals, promotions, and rebates they currently have in their system. I can usually get at least $20 a month using my app. It is great and only takes seconds!

Check out Ibotta HERE!

Top Side Hustle Tip: Protect Yourself with a Smart Virtual Mailbox

If you decide to go the business-side-hustle-route (start a blog, Etsy shop, write an EBook, etc.), you will probably find that you need to give out your address. Like, a lot.

This means that your address will become public knowledge.

Don’t panic! If you use a Smart Virtual Mailbox address instead, you’ll never have to make your home address public.

So, what is a Smart Virtual Mailbox and how does it work?

With a Smart Virtual Mailbox, you are assigned a non-PO Box physical address located at a trusted third-party facility. Once your mail arrives, it is sorted (with junk mail removed), scanned, uploaded to your online account (unopened), then forwarded to your home address.

Why a Smart Virtual Mailbox?

You’re probably thinking “I could just get a PO Box at the local post office.” And, you’re totally right.

However, a Smart Virtual Mailbox is WAY more convenient, cost-effective, safe, and professional. In fact, a Smart Virtual Mailbox has a TON of great benefits including:

Protect yourself and your family by enjoying a mailing address unrelated to your place of residence
Never waste time with pointless trips to the post office
Enjoy checking your mailbox virtually from the comfort of your own home
Save money with a cheaper mailbox alternative (depending on which option you go with)
Never have to change your business address (even if you move to a different state)
Never get junk mail… ever (it’s all sorted out for you)

The Best Part? You Can Try a Virtual Mailbox for FREE!

So, how do you get a Smart Virtual Mailbox? And try it for FREE?

I personally use US Global Mail. And, you know what? I’m absolutely obsessed.

I’ve been using them for a while now, and I honestly can’t believe I was wasting my time with a PO Box for so long…

Anyways, you can try US Global Mail by heading over to their sign-up website here, and be sure to use code SARAH-L5LP33UO.HO to get your first month for FREE!

Sign Up for a Smart Virtual Mailbox with US Global Mail for FREE using Code: SARAH-L5LP33UO.HO

Additional Money-Making Ideas for College Students

If you’re a college student, you know all too well just how difficult finances can be. Here are my favorite (additional) ways to make money as a student:

On-Campus Research: Many professors and graduate students need help in their research labs. They will usually post these positions on the campus job boards. This is a fantastic way to truly beef up your resume and make some money!
Scholarships/Grants: When you apply for scholarships and grants, you will be making the most hourly pay you will ever make in your life. Think about it, you spend 2 hours and win $2,000 scholarship, that’s $1,000 an hour! Learn my top secrets to winning scholarships HERE to ensure you do!
Become a Resident Assistant: You can make some great money by bypassing rent altogether as a Resident Assistant. Some schools have some really great programs, be sure to check them out!
Land a Summer Internship: In many career fields, you can find some great summer internships that PAY REALLY WELL!
Part-Time Work on Campus: Yeah, part-time campus jobs can sometimes be a drag. However, some come with awesome perks! For example, my friend who works at the registrars office gets to sign up for classes before anyone else…

Bonus: Top Books on Side Hustles and Making Money

You can really find some fantastic books out there to really help you grow your business, meet your financial goals, and help you on your path to making money on the side. Here are some of my favorites:

The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss

This bestselling productivity book is a great way to get started in researching how to really optimize your money by working less! In his book, Ferriss outlines how he successfully doubled his own income in half the effort by efficiency and smart decisions. Be sure to check it out!