You’ve probably heard that blogging is a great way to make money online or have come across several part-time home-based jobs. But these opportunities, while awesome in their own right, take up a lot of time and require a huge commitment.

But don’t worry! You don’t have to spend tons of time, energy or effort to make extra money online. With these 15 extra money ideas you can easily add to your income each month.

1. Usability Testing

This is one of my favorite, if not the favorite, of all the extra money ideas out there. As a user tester, you get paid to perform tasks while visiting a website or using an app. It’s really that simple.

There are a number of companies that actively hire usability testers. Although each company is a bit different, you can expect an average test to last about 10-20 minutes and pay between $8-$15.

My personal favorite usability testing company is User Testing.

I’ve been a tester for several years and can make a couple hundred dollars each month.

All you have to do is sign up and complete a practice test to be accepted. From there, you can start taking paid tests.

2. Writing

You don’t have to start a freelance writing career to make extra money as a writer. If you sign up at a so-called content mill, like Textbroker, you can get paid to write short and simple articles — some assignments may be just 50 words and can be done in just a matter of minutes.

Granted, you won’t make a lot of money per article but as far as extra money ideas, this one is pretty simple. Plus, there’s usually plenty of work to go around. So, when you’re in a tight spot, you can usually turn to writing to make a quick buck.

Another bonus is that content mills often pay quickly — usually within a week. In those months that you need money, like yesterday, it’s nice to have accounts at different content mills to get cash fast.

3. Forum Posting

If you spend any amount of time online, you’ve probably made your way through a forum or two. You may even be a regular contributor on a couple of your favorites. But did you know you can actually get paid to post on forums?

When someone starts a blog, message board or forum, it can be a little slow going at first. That’s where you come in. New forums will actually pay users to visit their sites and start discussions. This gives the illusion of activity and encourages organic participation.

Getting started is super simple. Just head over to one of the companies that hires paid forum participants, sign up, complete some sample posts, and you can start getting paid to post!

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4. Music Reviewing

One of the most fun (and super easy!) extra money ideas I know of can be found over at Slice the Pie where you can get paid to review music. All you have to do is listen to at least 90 seconds of a song and then write an honest review.

You can also review fashion, videos and earn extra cash when you refer friends to sign up as a reviewer. The amount you can make here varies quite a bit. A lot of it depends on what your star rating is (the better your reviews, the more you’ll make for each one!)

I love using Slice the Pie to make a little extra cash here and there. It’s an especially useful site for those nights you’re bored or when you just have a few minutes to spare.

5. Vindale

Not all survey sites are created equal. If you want to actually be paid with cash rather than points, then sign up at Vindale Research.

At Vindale, there are a number of ways to earn extra money. Reading emails, testing products, and participating in market research studies are just a few of the ways to rack up payouts quickly. Plus, you can also earn $5 for each friend you refer to Vindale — and those referrals can add up fast!

As far as extra money ideas, Vindale is known for their readily available surveys and higher-than-average pay-rate per survey.There’s also plenty of ways to earn bonus payments — even get an extra $2 after you sign up and complete your profile — how’s that for easy?

6. Transcription

You don’t need a ton of experience to make extra money from home as a transcriptionist. In fact, quite a few transcription companies will hire candidates with no prior experience.

Keep in mind, transcribing isn’t for everyone. However, if you’ve got a good command of English (including grammar and spelling) and can type reasonably fast, transcribing may be worth exploring.

There’s plenty of work out there and it’s usually pretty flexible, too. Although transcribing is one of the most available extra money ideas out there, many people earn a full-time living as a typist.

7. Call Reviewing

You know when you call a business and you hear that recording say, “Call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes” Well, you could be the person reviewing calls for “quality assurance purposes.”

Businesses want to know they are providing exceptional customer service and are not missing any sales opportunities (when appropriate). They also like to keep tabs on things like how long callers are on hold and if a question/concern was resolved.

That’s where you can come in. Two companies, Humanatic and Reynolds and Reynolds frequently bring on call reviewers. You listen to calls and score them based on a number of criteria. That’s it.

8. Search Engine Evaluation

If you’re looking for temporary extra money ideas, search engine evaluation might be perfect for you. As contract positions, they usually last just a few months. However, if you perform well, you may be given additional contracts.

You can earn up to $15 an hour when you work from home as a search engine evaluator. So, it’s definitely one of the better paying ways to earn extra money from home.

Some projects you might expect to work on involve improving Google and Bing search results.  Sometimes you may be asked to work on social media or ad evaluation projects, too.

9. Telephone Mystery Shopping

When’s the last time someone paid you to make a phone call? If you become a telephone mystery shopper, you can make as much as $5 for each call you place!

This is one of the simplest extra money ideas. Sign up as a mystery shopper at Call Center QA, complete shops, and earn five bucks. That’s it.

This is a great way to make extra money — but some phone mystery shoppers claim to make as much as $90 per day making phone calls.

10. Fancy Hands

I’ve turned to Fancy Hands before to make extra money online. In fact, I was able to make a part-time income just by completing small tasks at Fancy Hands!

But if you’re just looking for extra money ideas, you could certainly use Fancy Hands to make a little extra here and there. It’s basically a crowdsourced virtual assistant company. You can complete 15-20 minute tasks and earn anywhere from $3.oo to $7.00 for each.

There’s a short application process. But once you get approved, you can immediately start earning. What I love most about Fancy Hands is the fact you can login in 24/7 and almost always find work available. So, if you have an unconventional schedule or just happen to be a night owl looking to make an extra buck, Fancy Hands is a great place to find work.

11. Needle

I know a lot of people like the idea of working from home as a chat agent. But these positions aren’t always flexible, extra money-makers. Instead, you’re expected to work a set shift that ties you down to your computer.

However, if you become a Brand Advocate for Needle, you get to set your own schedule as a chat agent. Needle partners with several internet retailers. As a Brand Advocate, you’ll help shoppers find the perfect product on these sites.

It only takes 10-15 minutes to apply. Needle reviews your profile and will approve you if you seem like a good fit. Then you’ll earn cash as well as points just by chatting online with customers!

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12. Video Captioning

REV is a translation, transcription and captioning company. They have plenty of work available for freelancers looking to make extra money. One of their most popular and readily available extra money ideas is video captioning.

As a captioner, you watch videos and type what’s being said. Afterwards, you’ll need to sync the captions to the audio so the right words appear on the screen at the right time. It takes a little practice at first, but once you get a feel for it, it’s quite easy work.

Payments are made weekly through PayPal. The average captioner at REV makes $240 a month. The highest earners take home more than $1,500 monthly — not too bad for an extra money idea!

13. Micro Jobs

When you only have a few minutes to spare, micro jobs and short task sites can be the perfect place to make some money. You never know what you may come across but some common tasks on these popular sites include image tagging, description writing, and internet research.

The largest micro jobs platform is Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. There are usually thousands of HITs (human intelligence tasks) posted here at any given time. While Mechanical Turk is a great source of extra money tasks, some people have figured out how to make much more and actually earn a decent amount each day.

14. Data Entry

A lot of people want to earn a living from home doing data entry. But the truth is, there’s not a whole lot of (legitimate) opportunities out there. However, if you’d like to make a few bucks here and there, you can find data entry work.

One of the easiest ways to get started is by joining The Smart Crowd. The Smart Crowd has a number of different tasks available you can complete. But the most popular of their extra money ideas is data entry.

There’s not always a lot of work available. And when there is, don’t expect to make a ton in one sitting. But if you make it a habit to login and work when you have a free minute, you can definitely build up your account!

15. Teach Conversational English

You don’t need previous teaching experience or any kind of certification to teach English online at Cambly. What you do need is patience, good speaking skills and a webcam.

This is very flexible work that can earn you as much as $10.20 per hour just for having a conversation with someone.

As a conversational English tutor at Cambly, you can sign up for shifts or login whenever you have free time. When a student wants to speak with someone, the “tutoring dashboard” will ring. If you want to work, you can answer. If not, no big deal.

Easy Home-based Extra Money Ideas

Thanks to all these different sites, it’s never been easier to make extra money from home. If you’re looking for a little more, check out this list of 40+ Ways to Earn Extra Money from Home from the Work at Home Woman — there’s a lot of great ideas for earning for doing things you probably already do online like shopping, surveys, and video watching.

Don’t forget to ‘like’ Work from Home Happiness on Facebook for your daily dose of extra money-making ideas!

Know of an easy way to earn from home? Share your thoughts in the comments below. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at ashlee(at)workfromhomehappines(dot)com.

Psst: This post contains affiliate links. Check out my disclosure statement to learn more! 

The post 15 Easy Extra Money Ideas You Can Do from Home appeared first on Work from Home Happiness.

Becoming a solopreneur, whether that means freelancing or starting your own business, is a great way to take control of your work life and earnings. But while making the decision to go solo can be a tough one, coming up with an idea that doesn’t require a storefront isn’t. Thanks to the internet, online marketplaces, and social media marketing there are endless possibilities for starting your own business right from the comfort of your own home.

The best part? Getting started doesn’t have to cost much (if anything!). If the cost of starting your own business has been holding you back or you have budget concerns, check out these 12 home business ideas you can start for cheap!

1.  Cleaning Service

Offices, residences, retail, or restaurants are all potential customers if you want to start a cleaning service. You can even put a unique spin on it by offering “green cleaning.” For the cost of some quality cleaning products and supplies, you can get your first client as soon as you can make a Costco run. Cleaning service businesses typically don’t require a lot of advertising. When you do really good work, word-of-mouth referrals take care of new business for you.

2. Online Writing Services

No list of home business ideas would be complete without mentioning online writing services. Copy editing, ghostwriting, and copywriting are super important in today’s online world of information. Companies from around the world rely on the service of writers to get them noticed in a sea of content. Think you need a lot of education and experience to start a writing career? Think again. You can start a freelance writing career with no prior experience.

3. Event Planner

Some people just have event planning in their bloods (I, am not one of them). Taking care of the details of an important day and making sure everything goes off without a hitch, is what party planners are known for. Thanks to their fire-putting-out capabilities and knack for getting things done, people are willing to pay big bucks for a party planner who takes the reins while letting them actually enjoy their event. There are some great resources out there about starting your own event planning business from the ground up.

4. Household Organizer

The saying, “Cluttered desk, cluttered mind,” are words I live by when working from home. The same can be said about running a household and having everything in a state of disarray negatively affecting how smoothly your days go. It’s no secret that organization leads to productivity, but getting (and staying organized) just isn’t everyone’s forte. If you’ve got a knack for order and can help others clear the clutter, you’ve got a home business you can start for dirt cheap. (Bonus points when you let clients know about Amazon’s trade-in program which allows them to get rid of their stuff and earn money back!).

5. Grocery Delivery

Wouldn’t it be great if your car paid for itself? Well, if you use it to be a grocery deliverer, it just might! There’s a reason why services like Uber, TaskRabbit, and Amazon Flex have soared in popularity, people love the on-demand economy and convenience of getting things done when they need it. Cash in on the craze and start a grocery delivery business. This kind of service is easy to market towards busy parents, small business owners, and elderly or disabled individuals who might otherwise have difficulty getting their shopping done (bonus ideas: offer other errand running services to increase revenue!)

6. Property Manager

I once filled in as a property manager for about three months while a former landlord (and good friend!) was away on personal business. Although she had just a handful of properties to her name and about a dozen tenants, I stayed pretty busy keeping up with collecting rent, fielding calls, showing vacant properties, and setting up work orders for repairs. Property owners need highly organized and efficient individuals to handle the day-to-day operations of having income-producing properties.

7. Social Media Consultant

You’re going to pin, tweet, post, snap, and update anyway, so why not get paid for your expertise? Social media shows no signs of slowing down, in fact, there seems to be a new platform popping up every week. And that’s a lot of social media to handle. That’s why companies rely on social media savvy individuals to keep up with multiple accounts and help them stay relevant. If you can produce share-worthy content and know how to increase social interaction, you’re on your way to what can be a lucrative social media consultant business!

8. eBook Author

Writing an eBook isn’t as hard as you think. The best part of becoming an eBook author is that you literally can earn money while you sleep (or eat, or shop, or any other time!). With eBooks, you do the work once and get paid over and over again. Deciding on a topic and writing your first eBook can be done in a month’s time, even if you have a full-time job and other daily commitments.  The best way to earn money as a eBook author is to build up a portfolio of multiple books. The more you have, the more passive income you’ll generate!

9. Resume Writer

Perfecting your resume is tough, but when you do, it can open many more doors than an outdated or out of touch one ever could. Job seekers recognize the power of a well-crafted resume and are turning to professionals to help them write an effective resume or CV that gets them an interview. There are tons of these kinds of gigs listed on the various freelance marketplaces. Networking on LinkedIn is also a great way to get the word out about your services and start securing work.

10. Virtual Assistant

There’s really no limit to what a virtual assistant may be tasked with. Much of a VAs responsibilities will largely depend on the client’s line of business and needs. But if you’re a jack or jill of all trades, keep calm under pressure, and are generally pretty good at prioritizing and getting things done, you just might be the perfect VA. This profession has exploded in popularity in recent years. And now is as good as time as any to set yourself up as a virtual assistant and help busy professionals get more done in a day.

11. Blog

Running a blog is very much the same as running a business. While you might not see a ton of money rolling in right away, with the right monetization strategies in place, you can eventually make a living blogging and grow it into your very own personal brand. The startup costs are pretty small and between affiliate marketing, ad networks, sponsored posts, and other direct ad sales, there’s many ways to produce income with your blog.

12. Get Crafty

Crafting is big business! Just look at all the successful Etsy sellers raking in six figures every year. Etsy aside, there are no shortages of sites where you can start selling your crafts today. You don’t need a ton of inventory to get started, just enough to take some really good pictures and set up shop on whichever sites you choose. Many people start out selling part time and end up turning their hobby into a full-time home-based business.

More Resources and Inspiration

If you’re looking for a home-based business idea, but aren’t quite ready to go it alone, you may want to consider direct sales.

The Work at Home Woman has some great information on the Best Products to Sell from Home.

Direct sales success takes a lot of commitment and marketing. It’s certainly not for everyone. If you think you might not be the best sales consultant, take a look at Dream Home Based Work’s massive list of 120 Work at Home Jobs You Can Start from Home, the startup costs vary, but with such a large list, there’s something for everyone!

Once you have decided on a home-based business to start, don’t forget how effective social media is for marketing your services. When done right, you can land your first client by using social media.

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