29 Ways to Make Money Without Getting a Real Job

If you are without work and looking for a few extra income streams, this post lists over 33 ways you can make money without having a traditional nine to five job. These side jobs from home are the real deal. I'll only list legitimate ways you can actually make money without a job, and won't even bother mentioning fluff. These gig apps can help you land your next paycheck!

Ready to get to it?

How To Make Money Without A Job

Ready for the list? Some of these will even allow you to make $900 fast this week (or more). Don't believe me, check it out.

1. Earn passive income by renting your spare room.

Like Uber did for Taxis before it, Airbnb is fast revolutionizing the holiday and travel accommodation industry, and you’re set to profit from it!

Airbnb online marketplace is perfect for those unemployed people with space, rooms, or even entire houses to spare because the company lets you list your place for rent just like a hotel or motel.

Maybe you’re traveling overseas yourself and want to make the most of your empty place while you’re away?

Perhaps you have a spare room that currently houses nothing more than empty boxes?

With Airbnb, you can turn to fill that empty space in your home, and fill that empty spot in your wallet with more than a little spare change. If you wanted to see how much you can earn, just use Airbnb's handy calculator.

2. Make money playing games.

Did you know that you actually earn money without a job by playing games? Now don't expect to make a full-time income out of this but you can make enough to make the utility bills each month. If you wanted to get started, check out the following options to make money for playing games:

1. Mistplay (Android) – If you have an android device, you can download this app and start getting cash rewards for playing new games.
2. Solitaire Cash – Earning money by playing games on your phone sounds like a dream. But this app really pays you for playing solitaire with cash rewards.

3. Earn money passively by reading emails.

Earn extra cash by evaluating products and services. Get up to $50 for each completed survey, product and service reviews. Plus earn up to $.50 for every email you read.

Free to Join!

InboxDollars compensates its members to test out products, services and give feedback on those tested. It's free to sign up and only requires a small amount of information.

Click here for a registration bonus after confirming your email address.

4. Earn generous returns investing in real estate with only $500.

Fundrise allows individuals to invest in commercial real estate online through an eREIT (Real Estate Investment Trust). Their crowdsourcing model sets them apart from a traditional REIT allowing the average investor to participate in deals for as little as $10.

The interesting thing about Fundrise is that it lets investors buy into private commercial and residential properties by pcooling their assets through an investment platform.

Since the eREIT is sold directly to investors cutting out middle-men, they can have fees lower than 90% of the competition.

Here are some quick facts about Fundrise:

• Diverse portfolio of private real estate deals
• Minimum investment of $10
• Management and advisory fees add up to about 1%, but be aware of other fees

Click here to learn more about Fundrise

5. Start a blog to make money while you sleep.

If you are looking for ways to make extra money online then you probably already know about blogging. But do you have one yet? And do you really know how much potential there is to make money with blogging?

The best part? Starting a blog is easy. You can get the initial setup done in under 20 minutes.

6. Get paid to take surveys online.

Taking online surveys to make extra money is a no-brainer!

You definitely won’t get rich or make hundreds of dollars per day with survey alone, but you won’t waste much time, and you can make some money the easy way. Here is my favorite (and highest paying) survey site:

Survey Junkie: This is a free survey app for your phone that pays you to take online surveys, participate in focus groups, and try new products. And, I really mean free all around – free to join and they don’t charge anything to be a member (they will actually pay you in cash via PayPal). You can get a free registration bonus for free when you join through this link.

7. Score a $10 bonus from this company.

Swagbucks is another great survey site to make some extra money in your free time. As a new member, you can earn up to $35 per survey! They are known for giving out fun, top-paying surveys. And you can also get paid to play games and watch TV!

It’s similar to Survey Junkie, but there are also a few other ways you can earn money as a member (including a $10 bonus just for signing up).

Other ways you can make money with Swagbucks outside of surveys:

• Cash back program for online shopping (Includes $10 bonus).
• Get paid for searching the web (Includes $10 bonus)
• Watching videos (Includes $10 bonus)

Swagbucks is conveniently offering a $10 bonus just for signing up through this link, so act fast.

8. Get lower prices on your monthly bills.

Trim boasts that new users are eligible for up to $30 in cash-back deals as soon as they sign up.

The free app, Trim, saves you money with automation and within a few days, I saved an extra $100 within the first few days.

I simply linked my accounts and Trim went to work. It found ways to lower my bills and cancel subscriptions, analyzed my spending habits, and more.

The app is free and worth the 1-minute download as it can potentially save you hundreds.

More people should be using this app.

9. Get passive income for not deleting your emails.

If there ever was an app you should have in your life, it should be Capital One Shopping Price Protection.

Here's why: I bought Keurig cups online from Target the other week.  The price of the Keurig cups I purchased dropped in price, aftler the fact.  I effortlessly got refunded the price difference without doing a thing.

…I didn’t have to do anything, other than originally signing up for Capital One Shopping Price Protection.

This site will scan your emails for any purchase receipts from dozens of online retailers. You don’t even have to know about the price drop in order to get your refund.

Basically, Capital One Shopping Price Protection can help you receive reimbursement when possible.

Remember, it’s 100% free.

10. Download a money making passive app.

This is an easy way to make money from home. By using the internet as you do every day, Nielsen invites you to make a difference – and you can make money too. You don’t even have to do anything other than registering your computer or phone.

Nielsen will pay you $50 a year keep their app on your favorite internet browsing device and they also give away $10,000 each month.

So you can possibly make more than $50 for no effort at all. If you don't have a job, this is one of your best bets for earning money easily.

11. Get paid to lose weight.

HealthyWage offers people the opportunity to earn cash for losing weight.

Earn cash for losing weight?

Sounds too good to be true, but you read it right.

The company was founded in 2009, and it's HQ is in New York, and part of their mission is to provide ways to have a measurable impact of the growing obesity epidemic in the US.

They do this by legitimately offering cash prizes to make weight loss and fitness more fun and effective.

Since HealthyWage was founded they have been featured in literally hundreds of newspapers, magazines, TV shows, blogs and website.

How can you make money with it?

You essentially bet on yourself and how much weight you can lose.

Since they are promoting ways to be healthy, your winnings depend on how much weight you lose and how much you bet.

It's a great way to make money and be healthy at the same time.

12. Earn residual income leaving shows playing on your phone.

All you need to do is watch videos. Given how easy it is to lose yourself in a never-ending cycle of YouTube videos, this one couldn’t be easier.

The catch here?

The videos include ads.

While they may annoy you while browsing YouTube, you also don’t get paid to watch them. At InboxDollars, you do.

Who wouldn’t watch an ad or two if they were getting paid? 

You can just leave this playing on your phone and collect money, this is referred to as phone farming.

13. Join sites that give you free money to invest in stocks

Yup, it’s true!  There are several companies out there that will give you free money to invest in stocks. One of the most popular ones is:

Acorns: CNBC calls it “the new millennial investing strategy.”

Once you connect the app to a debit or credit card, it rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar and funnels your digital change into an investment account.

Sign up to try it risk-free with a $5 sign up bonus.

14. Deliver food with your car and earn.

If you’re free nights and weekends, you can earn extra money delivering food for fellow citizens around your city.

It’s easy to delivery food with Uber – if you have a car, it’s a perfect way to make a good amount of extra cash whenever it’s convenient for you.

A lot of people do this full time, so you can imagine that’s it definitely possible to do this as one of your side gigs and make extra money by delivering food with Uber, and be on your own schedule.

15. Get free money from this company.

Looking for how to make extra money on the side?

Then you should learn about Vindale.

Vindale is the secure, reliable and free survey site for anyone who wants to earn money online. Vindale asks for information about you so that they can match you with fitting surveys. At up to $50 a pop for some surveys and a free $2 just for signing up, it pays to check in daily to see which ones are available to you.

They've already paid out $6,955,991+ to members.

You can get access to hundreds of paid surveys at Vindale. 

Cashouts are through PayPal.

16. Earn cash for scanning receipts with your phone.

This is one of the easiest side hustles there is (this list has a lot of them).

The app you should know about is Ibotta.

This cell phone app is available for iOS or Android phones, helps you make money off your grocery receipts.

Yup, for real!

You use it after you go grocery shopping and use your receipt. It’s basically a rebate app, so you can earn anywhere from 50 cents to $5 off everything you buy. It's not brand specific either, you can scan any brand of cheese for 50 cents off, for example.

If you do regularly coupon, you can still use the app and get a rebate. You can essentially get grocery items for free if you're really into couponing. It's free and all you have to do is scan your receipt and you'll get free money back.

Best part, sign up here and you will receive a $10 cash bonus.

17. Teach English online from your computer.

Still wondering, how to make extra money from home? Well, have you considered teaching English online (pick your own hours too)? All that is required is that you are fluent in English, have a bachelor's degree, and have some tutoring experience.

You can see some more detailed VIPKID requirements here.

This a great way to earn money from home and already 30,000+ use VIPKID to teach English from home.

You'll make $12-$22 an hour, and Forbes ranked this company #1 on it's 2017 “Top 100 Places Work From Home Companies.”

Since this is a legitimate way to make extra money, the application process pretty detailed.

With an opportunity to make $650 a month, just from one hour out of your day, may be worth looking it.

You can learn more about teaching English online on VIPKID's website.

18. Rent out your car to strangers and earn passive income.

Did you know that you can rent out your car when you're not using it? And that you can bring in a lot of extra cash in your wallet by doing so?

Do you plan on heading on a vacation soon while your car sits unused at your home? Do you sometimes not use your car on the weekends?

If so, renting out your car while you're not using it could be an easy way to make passive income.

A well-known company, Turo, which has signed up nearly 5 million users to its website, according to Bloomberg, lets you do just that.

It's also really simple to do (and free).

Listing your car is quick and easy and takes less than 10 minutes to set up.

According to a recent Turo review, somebody listed their car for 5 days every month and made $3,496 in a year. 

Sounds pretty good to me.

Oh, and they also protect your car against physical damage, so you're fully covered.

You can sign up here and start making money with your car.

19. Teaching courses online.

If you can market or identify yourself as a developer, designer, or online marketer, then chances are you can teach a course to others and get paid.

You can test this side hustle by heading on to Udemy or Skillshare, where you can market your skills.

As you build your brand and become more successful, I would recommend teaching for higher-visibility online platforms like CreativeLive.

20. Start a low-risk drop shipping business online.

Oberlo allows you to easily import products from AliExpress directly into your Shopify store and ship directly to your customers – in only a few clicks.

It's very simple to open a shop on Shopify and drop ship items in order to create a business without too much risk.  

You can literally start and set up a drop shipping business without any type of product in one afternoon with minimal risk as Shopify has a 3-day free trial and Oberlo is completely free through this link.

21. Become a freelancer and sell your services.

Fiverr is one of the best sites in the world. The basic premise is “what would you do for $5?”

You’ll find everything from hilariously weird and useless gags to legitimate and genuinely helpful micro-business tasks.

Lately, I’ve been experimenting as a seller on Fiverr, and have found it a pretty successful avenue for selling website optimization services, article writing, and proofreading services.

Fiverr can work for you as both a seller and a buyer. It is a great way to make money and also you can find millions of services. Best $5 I've ever spent was using a Resume Revision service and now I receive way more employer call backs now after the revisions.

If you want to know which service I used, leave a comment below.

If you want to try Fiverr, sign up through here for 20% off your first order at Fiverr.

23. Become a driver for a ride-sharing app.

If you’re free nights and weekends, you can earn extra cash driving your fellow citizens around. You can earn money by driving with Uber – if you have a car, it’s a perfect way to make a good amount of extra cash whenever it’s convenient for you.

A lot of people do this full time, so you can imagine that’s it definitely possible to do this on the side and make extra money and be able to save it. Once you’re a driver you can choose to turn the app on or off and drive whenever you have some time to spare. They also have a feature that allows you to select your destination, so if you are leaving work (or any other long commute), you could pick up a ride that was going in the same direction.

You can do this 2-4 times a week on your commute and can easily make up to $400 each month and save it all by driving for Uber.

Another ride-sharing option that’s available to you is Lyft. Uber seems to be more globally known, however, if you’re in the United States you probably have heard about Lyft. It’s basically the same as Uber, but some argue that you make more as a Lyft driver.

>>> Right now Lyft is offering a $1000 sign up bonus for Top Savings Readers! Wow!

24. Submit claims for open class action rebates

If you use a product that’s involved in a class-action rebates, a little online legwork could get you a cash payout.

The rules of each settlement are different, but in most cases, you’ll have to provide proof of purchase or product use, like a serial number or a receipt.

Once you fill out your online claim form, you may have to wait a few weeks or months before receiving your payment.

Psst — We regularly post new class-action settlement information, so check in often to make sure you’re not missing a chance to get paid!

24. Join a delivery and errand service.

With all of the on-demand apps out there today this one is an easy one. All you need to have is a car or bike, in most cases.

Apps like Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats, PostMates, etc are easy to sign up for and start making money.

There are always people that are looking for a ride or looking to get something delivered.

Another great part about doing this is that you can pick your hours.

If you have 30 minutes between classes you can do a ride or two. If you are only available 8-11 at night then you can work then.

It is extremely flexible and you can make good money doing it.

25. Become a coach or consultant.

Becoming an online coach or consultant for others is becoming more valuable as are in the information age.

If you are a very savvy at social media or are a fitness expert then selling your time and hopping on a Skype call or Google hangouts is a great hustle.

You don't even have to start your own website at first, you can list your services on Fiverr.

26. Do research on dividend-paying stocks.

It’s been said that the average millionaire has seven streams of income.

Dividend stocks are usually always in the mix.

Dividend stocks are similar to regular shares of stock, but they pay you a small portion of the companies earnings monthly or quarterly.

So it’s wise to build a portfolio or dividend paying stocks!

If you want to get hip to dividend investing, check out Robinhood.

What I like about Robinhood is that they make it really easy to invest in stocks, while still having a plenty of features as you get more comfortable with investing.

27. Become an affiliate marketer and earn passively.

If you already have a blog or website you probably have heard about affiliate marketing.

You can make money by referring website your visitors and readers to buy products online and earn a small commission on each sale. This can make you rich, as some bloggers make over $5,000 monthly just through affiliate marketing.

If you wanted to take a stab at affiliate marketing for your website/blog I would recommend Aragon Premium as they are the best affiliate program for bloggers.

I use them for TopSavings and it's been great so far!

A perfect way to add affiliate links to your blog or website that doesn't look spammy.

28. Download passive income apps that really pay.

You’re not going to get rich by downloading mobile apps that pay you, but you can use these to earn a passive income every month. Money making apps can be a simple way to pad your bank account in your free time.

You probably know these apps aren’t my favorite way to make extra money, but I make an exception for it when you’re just hanging out — e.g. watching T.V., riding the metro, during your break at work, or in the back of an Uber. Might as well click a few buttons and make some money while you’re at it.

Here is our list of the best money making apps if you wanted to give them a shot.

29. Earn money by stop paying high interest debt.

If you’re serious about saving money to make extra money, then you should know about balance transfers. If you’re paying only monthly minimum each month then you’re subject to paying money in interest alone and not even the principal balance.

An example is: If you have $2,000 on your VISA card, and it has an 18% APR, then you’ll be paying $400/year in interest alone if you only pay off the monthly minimum each month. That’s $400 down the drain.

You can avoid this by signing up for American Express Blue Cash Everyday.

AMEX Blue Cash Cash Everyday is a card with no annual fee, and you can transfer your current debt from any type of credit card (all with no fees), and pay 0% interest for 12 months on your current debt amount. With no interest for 12 months, you can steadily pay down your balance with your savings from the other steps, which will save you a great deal of money in most cases

Ready to Make Money From Home? Go Get It!

If you went through this list then you should have found a money making idea that will allow you earn money from home.

Enjoyed these best ideas to make a living without a job? Then be sure to come back as I will continue to update this post often.