40+ Ways Real People Make Money from Home


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Make Money from Home

We all want more money (and if you don’t, shoot us an email and I’ll gladly give you the directions to our storage unit to deliver your neglected cash). The problem is that many of us full-timers, part-timers, and stay at home moms/dads can’t take on any more work outside the house. And if you’re anything like us, as soon as you read “Make money from home!,” you roll your eyes, judo chop the air, and pity the poor souls that fall for whatever scam they’re pitching. So what’s a money-hungry homebody like me supposed to do? We’re glad you asked!

We knew there were real people out there making real money from home, we just needed to find them. So we asked you, our readers, to help us start putting together a comprehensive list of all the ways you’ve made money from home and what a typical monthly payday looked like. As you can see below, we’ve already had a great response and our hope is that we’ll continue to receive suggestions and keep this page updated as we collect more.

So click here to submit your own suggestions, share/pin/morse code this article to friends and foes who might benefit, and help us grow this list and make it rain for all our fellow stay-at-home-ers and side-gig-ers.

Teaching a Skill

  • I teach online accounting courses. The monthly amount quoted below is for one class. You could make more teaching more classes. (Amy) $700
  • I teach online. When I’m disciplined, the extra income covers the cost of my law school loans and it’s something I can put on my resume. (Debrina) $900
  • I am a high school football referee and youth fitness coach. (Richard) $150
  • It requires a skill, (or rather 11 years of lessons) but teaching piano. Also, the income depends on how much is charged/how many students/how often they have lessons — but I shall attempt an estimate of an average. (Tabitha) $160
  • Teach per-course at a university. (Kayce) $650
  • I taught swim lessons in my pool in the summer. (Hannah) $75

Freelance Writing & Editing

  • Freelance editing/writing (Amanda) $75
  • I have a full-time job (huzzah!), but I’ve done occasional freelance work as an editor since my senior year of high school. Biggest tip: networking is wildly important (most of my work comes from friends or people who were referred to me by my friends/acquaintances). (Rennie$100
  • I made money writing short articles for TextBroker.com in my spare time. I submitted a sample of my writing (no need to be a professional) and they gave me a rating – from there I could pick and choose article requests from clients that were in my skill level. (Meg) $80
  • Freelance writing about topics related to my day job. I could have made a lot more, but I didn’t have time to do a ton of writing. (Carla) $65
  • After leaving my previous job, their sister company wanted to keep me on to do freelance design for them. I work from home on my laptop, using a company email. (Colleen) $300
  • I’ve done some proof-reading and website copy writing from home. I charge about $25/hr. (J.Mill) $20
  • Freelance writing at various personal finance blogs, as well as social media profile support. (Travis$1100
  • I read papers and scripts for people and/or film festivals. It’s very seasonal. (Liz) $100

Taxes & Accounting

  • I itemize receipts for truck drivers during tax time to break down their expenses. (Angella$200
  • I do taxes during tax season & do payroll for a company on a monthly basis. (Amy) $500
  • My dad is a CPA and trained me on Quickbooks so I can do bookkeeping on the side from home. I only have one client so far but my goal is to have many & start my own business! (Terri$70
  • Currently work from home doing admin/accounting for 2 companies run by my boyfriend, who also works from home~ marketing/research and an online magazine, both for the utility industry. (Diane) $2500

Selling Goods

  • I have earned money while staying at home by selling things on Facebook using groups created for resell items! (Laiken) $50–$100
  • I like to do a big clean out every year and sell whatever I can on Craigslist. I’ve sold everything from a paper towel holder (seriously), to a treadmill. (Miranda) $50–$100
  • Selling eggs – This requires quite a bit, start up costs, chicken up keep, feed costs, etc. The income is dependent upon several factors, how many chicks (I have 38), if they’re molting or not (production goes down) the price charged for a dozen eggs — since they’re farm fresh/free range one can get away with more than a grocery store charges — and you have to subtract the cost of feed. (Tabitha) $60
  • Selling items on eBay. I sold (am not currently) a set of durable “Dave Ramsey style” vinyl cash envelopes. I found a good product online and re-purposed it. Sold sets of 8 for $10. They are better than the paper ones Dave sells on his site. I made $5 per set. So not great profit, but I could sell 30+ sets per month. They met a need and definitely sold pretty good. I stopped due to my real job demands increasing. (Wade) $125–$150
  • Tupperware 🙂 Mostly I used the income (not that much, I was good at selling but not good at getting people to hold parties) to buy myself) to buy myself Tupperware. Good way to fund a collection. (Moonwaves) Unsure

Blogging & Web Design

  • Last year, I made more than $20K by freelancing, which includes staff writing, being a content manager for another website, and managing my own blog. (Erika$1800
  • Blogging at Pretty Providence – mostly through ad revenue and a sponsored post thrown in here and there. (Sarah) $800
  • Blogging – my personal finance blog makes a bit of monthly income every month, and website design – my husband works completely from home designing websites which I also help with. (Little House$2000

Etsy

  • I had an etsy store selling state pillows for $30 each. In the 5 months I was active, I sold over 35 pillows. (Megan) $1000
  • I make and sell jewelry, as well as jewelry making supplies, on Etsy. (Angella) $350
  • Selling items such as baby leggings, scarfs, state coasters and tea towels. Etsy shop to come soon so it will hopefully be less of a part time gig and more full time one day! (Kelly) $400+

Nanny

  • It’s not full-time income, however, two days a week I nanny for my sister, watching her two little ones. It’s a win-win for everyone, I am able to help my sister and spend time with my niece and nephew and she is able to save on child care. (Jennifer$280
  • I stay home with my two year old and watch a neighbor’s three month old baby one day a week. (Tarynkay) $400
  • I watch our neighbor’s baby on Thursdays & Fridays. It gives me the freedom to run around and do whatever as a SAHM most days and the small income is our fun money. (Bonnie) $160

Daycare

  • I have run a daycare out of my home for the past twenty-two years. I only watch teachers’ children so I am off all the same days as my children. (Jennifer) $4000

Field “Agent” (app)

  • Field agent is an app that lists “jobs” that can be done at home or at nearby stores. They collect data for clients, such as pictures of products, price checks, etc. (Kristy) $5–$50

Au Pair Rep

  • I work as a field representative for an au pair agency. I work with host families and au pairs during their program year, monitoring rules and regulations, answer questions, and provide guidance, all from my home. (Stefanie$1000

Foreign Exchange Student Host

  • We open our home to foreign exchange students. The length of time and involvement vary with different programs. (Brittany) $800 (2 students)

Ebates

  • I use Ebates.com when I shop online and try to get back some money that way. Amount back will vary on how much you shop online 🙂 (Morgan) $15

Data Scientist

  • Data scientist – very easy to pick up projects on a consulting basis if you have the background and know where to look! I was working full time from home for one company, but then switched to contract status to be able to accept other projects. (EMB) $6000

Software Tester

  • Work IT at home as a software tester, full-time job with benefits. (JKB5) $4900

Taking Surveys

  • While I haven’t made much, I take surveys from multiple survey sites. (Kasey$10

Dog Grooming

  • Dog grooming in the evening as a sideline, usually 1 client (sometimes 2) a week. (Diane) $100

As we mentioned above, we’ll update this page on a regular basis as long as we keep receiving responses. So pay it forward and submit your own stay-at-home jobs and side gigs here.

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12 Comments

  • Reply Kasey @ Debt Perception April 9, 2014 at 9:10 am

    This is a great list! I could use Terri’s help with Quickbooks! 😉

  • Reply Lynsey April 9, 2014 at 9:36 am

    Excellent list guys – this has just reminded me that I could totally use my PhD & tutor before school exams start in May! I’ve just posted an advert on Gumtree 🙂

    • Reply Lynsey April 10, 2014 at 1:04 pm

      Got my first phone call about tutoring this evening!

      • Reply Johnny April 11, 2014 at 12:06 am

        YES! So awesome and exciting! Congrats, and hopefully the calls keep rolling in!

  • Reply Becky @ RunFunDone April 9, 2014 at 10:26 am

    I need to make some side money! I used to sell vintage sewing patterns on Etsy, but it was kind of time-intensive (I had to make sure all the pattern pieces were there, write up descriptions of the patterns, then pack and sell), so I ended up deciding that it really wasn’t worth the time and effort.

    • Reply Johnny April 11, 2014 at 12:09 am

      As awesome as side income is, opportunity cost has got to be a part of the equation. While I wouldn’t hold every job to the scrutiny of determining your hourly wage, it’s something that should be considered after a few months under one’s feet.

  • Reply Amanda April 9, 2014 at 1:16 pm

    I don’t have a ton of experience in freelancing, but I’m interested in whether people think this the time investment is worth it. The flexibility and autonomy are awesome, but in my experience, I make less for doing the same amount of work I would be doing in a part-time or full-time job working for “the man.”

    • Reply Johnny April 11, 2014 at 12:13 am

      Good question, Amanda. I’ve never relied solely on freelance income, so I usually pick up freelance projects on the side of a full or part-time job. The upside to freelance is that you can usually charge a much higher rate than what you’d be paid at a full-time job, autonomy, and calling your own shots as far as projects you take on, hours you work, etc. The downside is your taxes are higher, the work isn’t always consistent and you have to market yourself all the time.

      It’s a great option to explore. Dip your feet in and try to pick up a few freelance clients to see if it’s something you’d be interested in pursuing full time.

  • Reply Rachel April 10, 2014 at 10:00 am

    I love posts like these- it’s so interesting to see what others are doing. Seems like blogging is a great way to make money (I can vouch for that, too!)

    FYI= most of the links aren’t working in this post- they have your URL connected to the one you were trying to link to. Might want to fix that 🙂

    • Reply Johnny April 11, 2014 at 12:20 am

      Thanks for heads up on our links. We have 99 problems but a link ain’t one… anymore… cool, let’s just pretend this sentence never happened.

  • Reply Priced Drinks Slushes April 21, 2014 at 9:43 am

    There are a lot of people that will not complete online surveys
    because they have to give the companies too much person information,
    and for good reason. Surveymonkey provides a host of functionality such as selecting the background theme,
    creating new pages, and selecting the type of questions.
    Surveys are good paying when they already recognized you
    as an avid survey taker.

  • Reply Theresa June 7, 2014 at 3:01 pm

    This is an awesome list. I have not tried the Esty site. However, I have purchased some jewelry from there. I have made about $1,400 with Liveops. But it did takes some time to build up and that was cumulatively.

    I also made money with Iwriter. But with them you have to make sure that you are paying attention to what it is that the requester wants or you will be writing for nothing.

    If you have a black car than you can be a driver for UBer

    However my favorite thing is mystery shopping. To find a good work from home job you need to make sure that you do your own research. Google, youtube, and forums are your best friends. I found a great video about mystery shopping that gives you some realistic expectations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3-cappvCDM

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