Even though I’ve been a stay at home mom my entire married life, I’ve always found a way to bring in a little extra income for our family. When my kids were little I used to sell hand-painted furniture and hooked rugs to local shops and on ebay.
These days, you have to look no further than your computer and you’ll find so many opportunities to make money from home. Here are just a few ideas. Feel free to share more ideas in the comments below or let us know if you’ve been successfully earning money from home while doing any of these things:
Make Money While You Shop:
We have to buy things. Regardless of whether you hate shopping {me!} or love it {most of my female friends}, we all need things. Why not get paid to buy things you were already gonna buy anyway or simply surf the net? You heard me. People PAY YOU to shop. Sign me up!
Ebates: Ebates offers cash back from over 1,500 stores any time you start your shopping trip at Ebates.com. There are no points to redeem, no forms to mail in, and no fees.
Favado: A mobile savings app that helps you save time and money by discovering the best deals in more than 65,000 grocery and drugstores nationwide. The Favado app uses real-time couponing data to provide access to exclusive matching deals (coupons plus in-store promotions) for ultimate savings.
Ibotta: Ibotta allows you to earn cash each time you shop. Here’s how: Before shopping, choose your offers by completing tasks in the Ibotta Product Gallery. Once you complete at least one task per product offer, the product offer is automatically added to your shopping list on the Ibotta app so you can earn money for purchasing the item.
SwagBucks: Sign up for Swagbucks and earn money just for searching the web and shopping at your favorite retailers.
Inbox Dollars: Get paid to read emails. Seriously! Plus you get $5 just for signing up!
Nielsen Home Scan Consumer Panel: You report on what you buy, they reward you with all sorts of points you can exchange for electronics, household goods, etc.
Make Money For Your Opinion:
There are so many options when it comes to survey/opinion companies. You simply take their surveys and give your opinions on products and services and they pay you. Many research companies pay well but rarely have qualifying offers, many have daily offers but pay nearly nothing. Here are the ones I’ve heard the most positive things about:
Pinecone Research: Pinecone has by far the best reputation among survey companies. You evaluate new product ideas in the comfort of your own home and earn points for each survey, which can then be exchanged for cash!
Toluna: Not only can you earn money by taking surveys, but you can also test products before they become available on the market.
Valued Opinion: Their slogan is “Don’t give your opinions away, get paid for them.” And get paid you will!
Opinion Outpost: Not only can you earn cash when you take their surveys, but you can get Amazon gift cards or even donate to your favorite charities! How awesome is that!
CashCrate: Do you know that companies are paying top-dollar to have users like you try their products and services for free? CashCrate passes that money on to you. Simply complete the free offers and get paid without spending a dime!
Make Money on Your Money:
Credit Cards: Sign up for a credit card that pays you back or offers rewards. This is not a wise option if you don’t have the control or the means to pay the balance off monthly, because the interest would counteract the cash back earned.
CapitalOne360: No fees, no minimums and get a $50 bonus when you sign up for a checking or savings account.
Mint.com: By simply taking a hard look at your budget, you can take control of your finances and save potentially hundreds a month. Mint.com is a free budgeting software that I love. You can see an overview of all your accounts and monthly budgets with the click of 1 button and tighten the purse straps if needed.
Credit Sesame: Keeping tabs on your credit report and score can really help save you money. Seems silly, but your score directly affects the lending rates you get on all sorts of things. Cleaning up your credit starts by knowing what you’re dealing with. Credit Sesame not only does that for free, but they give you credit alerts as well so if some shady criminal is trying to fake being you and steal your identity, you’ll know!
Turbo Tax, Tax Slayer or H&R Block: Make sure you’re getting the most from your tax return. Might just be once a year, but using these programs can potentially earn you thousands more in missed deductions and much higher returns. Certainly an easy way to make a little extra cash!
Make Money on Your Stuff:
I suspect if Etsy existed when I was hand-painting furniture and hooking rugs I would have probably made a ton more money! The internet is awesome like that. If you’re crafty or even if you’re not, selling your stuff just got a whole lot easier.
Ebay: If you have stuff lying around your house, throw is on Ebay and make some money off of it. Clothes, books, whatevers. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure!
Etsy: If you make stuff, sell it! Hairbows? Camera straps? Muumuus? Get your crafty self in gear and open an Etsy shop and start making money on your talents! I don’t think there’s an affiliate link for Etsy but it’s a good idea.
Sell your produce/eggs: If you have an excess in your garden or chickens that are laying like crazy, set up a stand on the corner or place an ad on Craig’s List and turn that into cash. I’ve done a simple stand in my driveway and have seen great results!
And those are just a few of the ways to make money from home. How have you earned extra income from home? I know I missed a ton of great ideas so I want to hear it. What have you succeeded at? Failed at? Talk to me!
~Mavis
Lisa H says
Great article 🙂 I run a home daycare and also sell on ebay and half.com. I love working at home an spending time with my own kids while still making a living. We have a small garden and 7 hrns so we always have plenty to do and keep us busy. 🙂 thanks for all you do 🙂
Jen says
I use Savingstar to save a little more on my grocery bill and during the summer (when we are not in the garden) we shop estate auctions and resell our treasures to make some extra bucks 🙂 Easy money and we find a lot of really super cool stuff 🙂
Stacy says
Great article, thanks! Are your wooden items for sale that are on that table? I am looking for some wooden bowls…thanks bunches 🙂
Mavis Butterfield says
They were at a garage sale I went to last summer. 🙂
Michele says
I can’t believe you didn’t add what you’re doing now; blogging and affiliate marketing!
Mary says
Thanks Mavis! Just wondering if you’ve tried all of these sites yourself, and know if they’re worthwhile and legitimate. Also wondering if they all provide a worthwhile return on time invested. I know everyone’s idea of “worthwhile” would be different, but a few cents per hour would probably be time better spent elsewhere (gardening, cooking from scratch, knitting, etc.).
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes, I have tried several of them. I especially like Ebates, Swagbucks, Ibotta, Favado, Pinecone Research, Capital One 260 and Credit Sesame. 🙂 It’s amazing how you can make money doing what you already do everyday.
Alikat says
I just wanted to say that it is really neat to see another Mavis! We have a 3 y.o. With the same name, named after my grandmother.
Flea markets and craft fairs are also great places to sell/resell items.
Mavis Butterfield says
Tell Mavis I said hello. 🙂
Carrie says
I do a lot of quilting and sewing, and have earned quite a bit just by word of mouth from neighbors that I can do mending and basic tailoring, and I’ve also had several quilts commissioned. I made some clothes for my kids that ended up getting some contracts to sell at local stores, which turned into selling at some craft fairs and markets. Just think of something you’re good at, and put the word out!
buddyeb says
I like picking at recycling yards…for example i found old tractor grill $ 10 bucks …..took to primitive store $ 80 buck it was more on ebay..pick-up and dump fast thats money ….so check out recycling yards once they know you it get better but never tell what your doing …you will love it…also car recycling yards lot of great finds …happy hunting…buddy eb
Brandy says
I love SWAGBUCKS. I guess I cheat a little. I use my desktop computer for everyday use and I have a laptop sitting in the chair beside me. I’ll put on some of the videos on Discovery mode and it just keeps playing. The points keep adding up. I just glance over every little while and start the next one. It would not be worth the time were it not for that. 1 point =1 penny. Most videos are up to 5 points. So it’s 5 cents for 4 or 5 minutes of video. I do make sure I log onto swagbucks before i buy anything on Walmart.com and my purchase price gets 4x the points/swagbucks. So if I spend $25 dollars, I earn 100 swagbucks, or $1. Having said that, since 1-1-2014, I have earned almost $200. Honestly! I cash in my swagbucks/points for Walmart e-gift cards and use them in the online or in store for groceries. There are lots of sites that you earn bucks for shopping there and if you use Facebook or Twitter (I don’t), you get extra chances to earn. Lots of ways to earn. videos are just best for me. I aim for 500 bucks each week, but usually go way over that. You all should try it!
Brandy says
** Last line I aim for 500 -SWAGBUCKS each week…
Tammy says
I’ve tried several sites like Pinecone and Toluna and such, but rarely made enough to say they were worth my time. I am currently using mypoints.com. Just the act of opening emails and clinking on the link – it takes about a year to get enough points to get a 50.00 gift card to walmart or home depot or applebees or something, but it’s a christmas gift for someone by the end of the year. I’m sure if I did my shopping online through the my points site I would rack up more points.
I also have people collect the coke caps and codes in the cases and put them in on mycokerewards.com. You can only put in so many cap points per week, and only one account per adult in the home, but I have been doing this for several years and have gotten some cool stuff ; printers, a toaster, speakers, mp3 players, hats, an alarm clock, a membership for a year for pogo.com, gift cards to home depot, and tickets to an indy car race, free coke products coupons, and much more! Certainly not worth it if you don’t drink much soda yourself, but if you collect bottles to recycle/cash in, or if you have people saving caps for you, you can rack up the points pretty quickly.
I’m definately going to check out some others suggessted above. Thank you!!!