Are you looking to make money with little to no work, and as quick as
possible? Have no fear - doing so is easy! Look into selling products or
services, picking up odd jobs, and other miscellaneous tasks as ways of
getting cash quick.
Selling Your Things
1
Sell your things to local stores.
There tons of stores, local and chain, who buy products from the public
at a reduced rate and then resell them in their stores. Sort through
your home to find things you no longer need, want, or use and make a
visit to these stores in your area.
- If you consider yourself quite the avid reader with a library to
match, consider sorting through your archives to find old books you no
longer want. Books in good condition can be bought for several dollars
apiece at used-bookstores.
- Clothing is something everybody has, and often something we have too
much of. If your wardrobe is overflowing with clothes, take a pass
through and find the things that you can’t fit or aren’t in style
anymore. You will get the best price for clothing that doesn’t have
holes, stains, or wear-and-tear.
- If your library is full of music rather than books, consider selling
some of your cds. Cds with their cases intact and without scratches or
blemish can be sold for a few dollars each. Find a local music or record
store in your area and see if they buy used cds.
- If gaming is your thing, try sorting through all your old video
games. Many video game stores will take your used games if they are
brought without any scratches or blemishes in the original case.
Although you may only get a fraction of the price you originally bought
the games for, making a few dollars on something you no longer use is
better than nothing.
- Try taking miscellaneous things to a local pawnshop. This allows you
to resell anything from a blender you never used to your old motorcycle
jacket.[1]
2
Sell your things directly.
If you would rather be responsible for selling what you own instead of
taking it to a store, consider having a garage sale or advertising your
items online. Although these involve much more planning than simply
making a drop-off at your favorite secondhand store, you can make much
more money by doing the work yourself.
- Throw your own yard or garage sale. At most, you can expect a
brand-new item to sell for 50% of it’s original price, but you will be
making money back on something you’re not currently using. Be sure to
plan ahead by placing ads in your local newspaper and putting up signs
for your sale on nearby busy streets with directions.
- Place big-ticket items on sites like craigslist or ebay to advertise
to a wider audience. If you have something worth a lot more money than
just some used clothes and garage tools, then open an ad for it online.
Craiglist is a great option for selling something right away to locals
without the hassle of shipping it across country.
3
Sell bodily materials.
Now, as strange as that may sound, you can actually sell parts of your
body for a lot of money. We’re not talking organs, but rather things
like plasma, genetic material, and long hair.
- If you hair is long (over ten inches) and in good health, consider
cutting it off and selling it to a company that makes wigs. Untreated
hair that has never been colored or relaxed gets the best price,
especially if it is a unique color or texture. The longer your hair is,
the more money you can make off of it!
- Sell your plasma at a local blood bank. Plasma is a part of your
blood that is given in infusions to patients with certain medical
disorders. You can donate your plasma multiple times over a few weeks,
and earn on average $50 per donation.
- Sell your sperm. Although not every guy is comfortable with giving
up his genetic material to strangers, if you are short on cash and
willing to help some unknown couple have a baby then sell your sperm.
You can earn up to $100 per visit.
- Sell your eggs. This is much more timely than selling sperm, but for
any ladies who want to make a lot of money and don’t mind selling their
eggs, you can earn up to $10,000 for a single treatment. The process of
selling eggs takes several weeks of injections and a minor outpatient
procedure, and may be slightly uncomfortable. The upside is that you
make a lot of money in a relatively short amount of time.[2]
4
Sell metal. This
could range from your old jewelry to a pile of scrap metal in the
backyard. Metal gets a good price, and is rather easy to find if you are
looking for the cheap stuff.
- Gold is being bought at an all-time high right now - $1,350 per
solid 24 karat ounce. Although most the gold in jewelry isn’t such high
quality, you could certainly make a few hundred dollars by selling some
old rings or bracelets you never wear.[3]
- Scrap metal is a great way to make money that most people don’t
necessarily think of. If you have an old car, boat, RV, or building with
unnecessary metal, then consider taking it apart and selling it to a
local scrap metal shop. You could make several hundred, or thousand,
dollars on metal parts you may have just left to rust.
- Whenever you throw a party, gather all the metal cans afterwards.
These can be sold to scrap metal shops for around 70 cents per pound
(about 32 cans). You’re not only being green by recycling trash, but
making a few bucks in the process as well.
- Salvage old scrap metal from nearby abandoned warehouses and through
dumpster diving. You may also be able to buy old metal in the form of
cars or boats for cheaper than you would get paid to sell the metal.[4]
5
Sell something you make.
Are you an excellent baker? An artist? A gardener? A carpenter? Then
take your handmade goods to market! This doesn’t necessarily mean that
your only option is to sell at a local farmers market. For a true
artisan, there are many ways to sell your wares.
- Try opening a shop with an online marketplace such as Etsy or eBay.
These allow you to advertise your products, give brief descriptions, and
promote your items around their sites. Etsy is becoming a massively
successful place for unique handcrafted goods sold at high prices.
- Bring things you make to a local holiday bazaar, fair, or market.
The people who attend these places go specifically to see the amazing
products people make themselves, so the audience is already tailored for
you. Some of these places may require you to pay a fee to rent a booth,
but you may be able to get a selling space for free.
- Advertise your products to local offices and boutiques. Visit places
where you might find a product similar to what you make, and ask to
sell your goods there. Many local business owners are happy to support a
fellow businessman by showcasing or selling their products.
6
Sell space on your website.
Are you the proud owner of a blog or website? Then consider selling ad
space in the open columns of your pages. You can sign up with different
affiliate links which provide ad space for major third party vendors.
Then, you get paid a percentage of the amount of sales that are made
through your page. The best way to make a lot of money in this fashion
is to keep traffic on your website or blog high by keeping posts
frequent and interesting.[5]
7
Rent some of your space.
If you have a spare bedroom, basement, or parking spot on a busy
street, consider renting it out. You are in charge of the renting
process, so if at any point in time it doesn’t seem to be working out
for you, then you are free to cancel the agreement.
- If you decide to rent part of your house, make sure you write up a
lease and have all your paperwork and licensing in order. This will help
you to avoid accidents with renters or the government.
- Try advertising an extra parking space to your neighbors who may
need room for multiple cars. Look at monthly rates in the area for
parking to gauge how much you should be charging in order to be fair.[6]
8
Sell stock photos.
Stock photos are simple, somewhat nondescript images that people can
use for a fee in the articles, brochures, presentations, etc. They don’t
earn much apiece, but if you upload a nice little collection, the sales
can really add up – especially since photos can be sold over and over.
Best of all, it doesn’t get much easier than clicking off a few decent
shots, uploading them, and waiting.
Getting an Odd Job
1
Try “sitting” for your neighbors.
Although it’s easy to associate babysitting as a job for thirteen year
old girls, it is actually a fast and easy way to make money. Sitting
doesn’t stop at children though, and can expand to include houses, pets,
and gardens as well. Advertise your sitting services at nearby bulletin
boards and around your neighborhood to increase the likelihood of
getting hired.
- Pet sitting or dog walking is a great way to earn money if you’re an
animal-lover. When your friends, family, or neighbors head out on
vacation, offer to take care of their pets for a low fee. This will help
them out, and give you an easy opportunity to earn cash doing something
you love.
- House sitting is possibly the best of the “sitting” types of jobs.
You get paid to stay in someone’s home and make sure there are no
break-ins or accidents during a family’s time away on vacation or
business. Although you may only have to make daily check-ins, this is an
exceedingly easy way to earn a lot of money.
2
Do odds and ends jobs.
Everyone has small tasks that they need done, whether it be cleaning
the gutters, detailing their car, or deep-cleaning the house, there are
plenty of tasks and chores to do. Advertise your services to friends and
family who would be willing to have you do their least favorite chores
at a small rate.
3
Become a mystery shopper.
A mystery shopper is a person who is paid to secretly visit stores and
restaurants and report back about the visit in an online survey
afterwards. You get paid about $10 on average per store, for a brief
10-15 minute run-in.
- The Mystery Shoppers Providers Association regulates the third
parties that are hired, so visiting their site can give you access to
some safe mystery shopper programs.
- If you are required to purchase something - food or clothing
typically - you will be reimbursed for that item after completing the
online survey.
4
Work for ChaCha.
ChaCha is a phone service which anyone can text or call to ask any
question they could possibly have. As a worker, it is your job to choose
an area which you feel you know a lot about, and research and send back
answers as quickly as you can.
- Before being hired as a worker, you have to take a test to make sure
you are compatible with their system and are able to perform the
required tasks.
- ChaCha workers are paid between $3-$9 an hour, with no minimum hours
of work required. You simply sign into their site whenever you want to
work, and do as much work as you would like.[7]
5
Get a job as an umpire or referee.
Do you love sports? Then read up on your favorite game’s rules and get
paid to ref! For around $15 per hour long game, you will get a little
bit of extra cash for participating in your favorite sports. Make sure
you are clear on the rules though, as you may have to deal with unhappy
players if you make a bad call by accident.
6
Get a job as a temp worker.
Businesses often need temporary employees, so offer your services up to
a temp agency. Although this might not be the quickest way to earn
cash, the jobs are easy because you won’t have time to be trained in
elaborate tasks.
- Become a virtual assistant. If you have administrative experience
and would like an opportunity to work from home, look into virtual
assisting jobs at a site like virtualAssistants.com or TaskRabbit.com.
It may take about a week to be processed, but the work is extremely
convenient for stay-at-home parents or for filling in the gaps of a
part-time schedule.
- Get a seasonal job. Many businesses and stores get extra busy at
certain times of the year depending on the services they provide. Get a
job that lasts a few weeks or months for a local store or office that
has a busy season coming up.[8]
7
Work for special events.
Many businesses need people for short periods to advertise or work for
special conventions. You may be paid to stand on the street holding a
sign, or to give out free samples of certain products at the mall.
Typically the wages are hourly and are on a very short-term basis of a
few days or weeks.[9]
8
Try a mechanical turk program.
This is an online job where you are assigned a simple task which is
difficult for a computer to manage. These are mundane, repetitive, but
incredibly basic jobs that you work at will. Typically payment is in
cents per job, so although the tasks are easy you have to put in a lot
of time to make much money.
- Amazon offers a mechanical turk program that deposits straight into
your Amazon account, but can be withdrawn as cash after you reach the
$10 mark.
- You get to choose which job you want to do from a list of needs, but
keep in mind that these jobs can be very boring. Have perseverance and
you can make a bit of money in a week of work![10]
9
Get a newspaper route.
Although this job is best for early birds, if you are willing to wake
up in the wee hours of the morn, you can make up to $10,000 a year just
delivering newspapers! The best part is, because of the hours you don’t
have to worry about your paper route conflicting with your regular work
or school schedule.[11]
Making Money Other Ways
1
Be part of a study.
Universities, researchers, and pharmaceutical companies are in constant
need of participants for studies. Depending on the study, you could be
paid up to several hundred dollars! Most studies are looking for people
who are in good health, although some have poor-health criteria they
need participants to fill.
- Visit the websites of local universities or the department of health to find out what studies are being conducted near you.
- Participate in the NASA sleep study. This requires you to stay in
one of their beds for three months straight with minimal physical
activity. The payment for this study in particular is a whopping
$10,000! Although the payment is due after months of forced bed rest.
- Participating in medical studies always puts you at risk for certain side-effects, although these are always very unlikely.[12]
2
Give your opinions.
Companies want to hear what the general public thinks of the services or
products they provide. To find out these opinions, many give online
surveys which anyone can take and subsequently be paid for.
- Try visiting opinionoutpost.com, which gives dozens of different surveys to take, each being worth a few dollars.
- Join a focus group. These may be online or in-person, and require
you to give feedback on a particular product or idea. You may be paid a
few dollars, or up to a hundred depending on the time and effort needed
for your group activity.[13]
3
Find sign-up incentives.
If you were thinking about switching bank accounts, getting a new
credit card, or recommending a company you like to a friend, for
example, shop around for cash-back bonuses before making your decision.
4
Advertise for companies.
Businesses and corporations want their products and services to reach
as many people as possible. To do this, they employ the services of
everyday citizens to spread their word for them. You may be asked to
advertise for them online or in-person.
- Have your car wrapped in advertisements. Depending on the product or
service, you may be required to have the wrap placed on your car for
several months or years. This, however, adds up to hundreds of dollars
over time. Removing the wrap when you’re finished does no damage to you
car.
- Sell your status updates for your twitter, instagram, or facebook
accounts. You will be given your choice of certain advertisements that
will show up as a status update posted by you on your favorite online
social media. You get paid more for the number of ads you post and
followers you have. Visit ad.ly.com for some introductory
advertisements.[14]
5
Volunteer time at a food co-op.
Many cities have local food co-ops in which the workers are volunteer
only. What’s the plus side of volunteering then? You will often be given
free groceries and food in exchange for your work services. This is
essentially money paying for groceries you would have to buy anyways![15]
6
Make money via your smartphone.
Apps like Field Agent, CheckPoints, WeReward, MyLikes, and Gigwalk
allow you to complete small tasks (anything from snapping a photo of
yourself at a cafe to scanning a barcode) for a few dollars. These are
great ways to make money while you’re out to lunch or going about your
grocery shopping.
7
Search for unclaimed money or property.
Go to unclaimed.org to be linked to the official pages of US states or
Canadian provinces you have lived in, then follow the instructions to
search for and, if necessary, claim funds owed to you. If you ever had a
deposit or check that went unclaimed because you couldn’t be found,
this is the place to go.[16]