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Work Smarter, Not Harder: 30 People Who Found The Easiest Money Of Their Lives
Interview With Expert
Most of us were taught from a young age that if we were patient and worked hard, our efforts would pay off. But growing up shows you that life isn’t fair, and you can actually work a grueling job for 40+ hours a week and still have trouble making ends meet. So if you’re looking to take some shortcuts, there might be a way you can earn a little extra cash on the side without putting in too much effort.
Users on Quora and Reddit have recently been discussing some of the easiest and fastest money they’ve ever made, so we’ve gathered their replies below. Some of these are very creative side hustles, while others just involved being in the right place at the right time. So enjoy reading through these stories, and keep reading to find a conversation with personal finance expert and creator of Making Sense of Cents, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I get paid $50/day to stay in a 15000 square foot fully furnished house on 18 acres in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the US. My duties are 1) turn on alarm when I leave and at night, and 2) feed koi fish. I have the entire property to myself except the 5 days a year when the owners pop by to visit or grab some stuff. This has been happening for the last 5 years.
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#2
Went to a casino with the family. Dad handed me 20 bucks for gambling. Did not gamble, made 20 bucks.
#3
Got an email from a Nigerian prince. Money should be here any day now...
To learn more about how to make easy money, we got in touch with personal finance expert and creator of Making Sense of Cents, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner. She was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda and share her thoughts on this topic.
"There are definitely ways to make money that feel easy, but they usually come after putting in some effort upfront," Michelle says. "For example, I’ve done surveys (these are nice to do while sitting on your couch watching TV), sold used clothes (on eBay, to thrift stores, and more), and rented out my stuff, and those were pretty simple ways to make extra money."
#4
Breaking up with my ex. Saved so much money it felt like I had gotten a raise.
#5
I signed up to do extra work for a very s****y but major-studio film while I was in college; it was filming near my campus. For whatever reason, the director liked me and asked if I would be OK with speaking one or two lines to the main character (a famous actress). I said sure. Because I had to spend all day on the set and go to costuming and makeup, I was offered a SAG voucher (I'm not sure if it works that way anymore?) and was paid union rates. Instead of $100, I made a little under $2,000.
Bob Brooce 1 week ago
Somebody I once met rented a poster from his wall for a couple of hundred dollars when a film crew used the house he was living in. They decided they wanted something on the wall during the scene and when he said they could just use it a prop guy told him to ask for the money because they'd have sent somebody out to find and buy a poster if they didn't have his.
#6
$40 to *fix* the sound on my uncle's computer. Just needed to be unmuted.
Edit: Tried to tell him just needed to be unmuted. Wouldn't have any of that and had me come over to "Just do it". He also refused my refusal of the money.
Immortal Jellyfish 1 week ago
Think someone wanted a visitor, remember this when a family member or friend asks for a favour that seems like something obvious or stupid to you.
"One easy way I've made money was participating in a focus group where I got paid $400 for just one hour of my time!" the expert continued. "These opportunities do exist if you know where to look. However, if you’re looking for long-term income, nothing is truly 'easy' without at least some work. Blogging, for example, now earns me a full-time income, but it took years of effort to get there."
#7
Picked up a broken clothes dryer off of craigslist for free. Heating element was broken. Crimped the wires back together, sold it on Craigslist for $80.
That's not the best part, though. I delivered it to this chick's house, hauled it downstairs for her and hauled off her broken one cause I'm a nice guy, she tipped me $20. Spend $15 on parts to repair that dryer, sold dryer a few days later to a guy who gave me two old washers and a dryer AND $80.
Now my garage is full of f*****g appliances and I've got people constantly wanting to give me broken appliances or buy working ones from me, and I can't keep up. All I wanted was some beer money... :(.
Wang Zhuang 1 week ago
This doesn't sound like it truly meets the definition of easy money. The repairs might be easy, but it seems like he's constantly picking up/dropping off appliances. Sounds almost like a full-time job.
#8
I once worked security at a Hillary Duff concert. Once I got my hands on a set of earplugs, that was some d**n easy money. Just had to stand there and look mildly annoyed.That's basically my face all the time anyway.
#9
Waited in line for iPhone 4 for 12 hours. Sold spot to someone for $500 cash. My SO was still in line and used cash to buy us phones.
We also asked Michelle if she had any advice for people who want to make a little extra money without putting in too much effort. "You can try to look for things you’re already doing that can be monetized," she shared. "Selling items you no longer need, using cashback and rewards programs (for example, I like to use Fetch Rewards for all of my grocery receipts and Upside for my gas purchases), and doing short online gigs (like answering surveys) can be great ways to start."
"Another low-effort option is renting out things you own, such as a parking space, a car, an RV, or even baby gear," the expert added. "These types of side hustles don’t require a major time investment and can still bring in extra income."
#10
In junior high I sold 7 Beanie Babies for $950.
LooseSeal's $10 Banana 1 week ago
Just imagine what they're worth today. Probably like 2 or 3 dozen dollars.
#11
All I had to do was be born, and people STILL give me money every year for it.
Suckers. My mom was the one who did all the work anyway.
Moana Manana 1 week ago
I buy my mum a rose or her favorite chocolate for my birthday, every year. Puts a huge smile on her face, every time. .🥰
#12
I once sold my drunk friend two pieces of his own toast for ten dollars.
We also asked Michelle what the best course of action is when you find yourself with some extra cash you didn't expect. "It depends on your financial goals. If you have high-interest debt, paying that off first is usually the best move so that you can finally get rid of them," she told Bored Panda. "If you’re financially stable, putting extra money into savings or investments can help it grow over time."
"That said, I think it’s okay to enjoy some of it!" Michelle added. "For me, when I first started making extra money, I put it all towards my student loans. Because of that, I was able to pay off my $40,000 in student loans in just 7 months. Definitely the best decision for me."
#13
Drove my cousin to and from college.
He couldnt drive yet, and my uncle was like take him and pick him up, a cab was 60 so for an entire semester 4 times a week, 50 bucks a day. So great.
#14
After a night of drinking me and a buddy stopped at a place and got pizza, we ordered an entire pie although we really didn't need all of it. We got over there probably 30 minutes before all the bars closed to beat the rush of drunks. Well when the bars did actually let out, we were still sitting there eating. Since we had a bunch of slices left and we sitting by the door where a line was forming, I pushed a slice out onto the top part of the box and said watch this. Immediately I was offered $5 for the slice by some guy who didn't want to wait in line. Kept doing that for the rest of the pizza, sold the whole thing pretty quickly, paid for the entire pizza and probably ended up with an extra $5-10 for each of us to keep. I doubt the owners would have been happy to know we were reselling their own pizza inside their shop for a profit.
#15
I was taking an online Intro to Programming class (Java) for easy marks in high school. A few other friends were in it, one of them didn't really do many of the assignments. About a week before the final project was due (Nothing too complicated, one of the options was a simple game using some of the things we learned).
He said he'd pay me $300 to do the assignment for him and I thought he was joking. So I threw together a nice little Ottawa Senators trivia game and made the GUI pretty using the team colours and logos. This took about 3 hours including lunch.
I send him the project files and what do you know, he shows up the next day and hands me $300.
Michael Largey 1 week ago
Of course he showed up and paid the $300. Who could doubt his honesty?
Finally, Michelle shared, "Making extra money doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming. Start small, try different things, and see what works best for you. What feels easy for one person might not be for another, so experiment with different side hustles until you find the right fit."
#16
~$700 for taking a big a*s piece of aluminum to the scrap yard. A neighbor was using it as a retaining wall, tore it out, and said I could have it. I think it was part of a bridge.
Jrog 1 week ago (edited)
Scrap aluminum value for ungraded collection (i.e. random scraps, not from industrial recovery) is roughly $1200 per metric ton, close to the all time high. The historical peak was July 2024 with $1,8/kg for quality scrap, but about $500 for random collection. I hardly believe this guy had a 1,5 ton of top quality aluminum used as a retaining wall.
#17
A friend of mine needed to give a presentation to clients in India, and wanted me to translate the text matter into Hindi. His company was going to go to a professional agency for it anyway, and he figured he could save money by asking me to do it for a smaller fee.
So I did it. For like 150EUR, 10EUR per slide. Took me about 2 hours in all.
What's funny is that he didn't need to do this at all. The presentation was in English. All his clients in India would understand English perfectly.
Whatever, corporates.
General Anaesthesia 1 week ago
Showing a little respect by addressing clients in their own language in their own country goes a long way, though.
#18
Bought some Bitcoins a few years back before they gained their current momentum. It was just after a crash at the time, so in hindsight they were at a "good" price, although I was unaware of this.
Anyways I had completely forgot about them until I read about the bitcoin market crashing again, around April of this year. I thought "Oh well, there goes my money". I checked to see how worthless they were only to find out they roughly were, and still are, worth about 40-fold what I paid for them!
#19
In 2012 when hurrican Sandy hit NY I just so happened to arrive on the day of the hurricane. Was totally stranded without power or water in the East Village. NExt day I got a zipcar to charge my phone. Driving around I saw tons of people who needed rides and being me, I stopped and picked up a person. Then I stopped to pick up 2 oldies, and they immediately ask "how much?" "Ten bucks," I told them.
2 hours later I had driven from the East Village to Upper EAst like 4 or 5 times, and made about $300.
The Cute Cat 1 week ago
You should do it for free and just let them to tip if they want to. They are victim of disaster, not people that walking to a concert with a bag full of cash..
#20
Found $40 on the ground. picking it up: 5 seconds tops.
Hourly wage at that rate: $28,800/hour
Yearly Salary at that rate: $57,600,000.
#21
Won an eating competition, 1000 bucks in 2 min.
Also found out what Churros taste like, so win/win.
#22
Bought a home befote a housing boom. $120, 000 profit in 1 year from selling 1 house.
#23
Working as a bank teller. Someone brought in $86 in silver half dollars. All pre-1964 some were pre whatever date was needed so that they were 90% silver. Sold them on Craigslist within the week for $1850. For anybody that is wondering, I did attempt to convince the customer not to deposit them. The customer insisted that they had no value.
#24
Being on Mad TV. Got paid over $500 just for "performing" for a few hours (I was part of a fake band they used in a sketch), and when it aired, I received a $400 royalty check. I received about 10 more checks after that, totaling another $400. Never got to see that kind of easy money again tho :( ...
#25
Easiest/wierdest money I made was when I was backpacking around the country, and one day this Asian guy in a Porsche pulls up in front of the hostel and asks if I wanted to earn some money. For 2 weeks I got paid $100 each day to be driven around in a Porsche, and I would get given a phone and a list of phone numbers to call and figures that I had to read out to each phone number.
He said he was a real estate agent but that some of his clients didn't like to be spoken to by someone with an asian accent, which I went along with because it was easy money ($100 for 30-40 minutes work), but I'm 99% sure it was gambling figures.
#26
Cleaning some pool furniture. About a half hour of work for 60$ was great at 16.
Paul C. 1 week ago
I worked as a carpet fitter. One day a job came up to fit vinyl in the kitchens of a block of flats. Small kitchens about a metre by two metres. There were about thirty and I thought that there was about three days work. Got there and no skirtings, or units were fitted. This meant I just had to sweep the floor and pretty much just lay the vinyl out, because everything would be put on top around the edges. Got paid a minimum charge of £30 for each one, which took about ten minutes. They were all done in about six hours, got paid £900 with two days off. This was in about 1985. That £900 would be about £3,500 today.
#27
I get payed to sit here and look at reddit... so I guess I got that going for me..
#28
I set up a Wii for my mom's friend's kid. $20 to plug in the cord to the tv and turn it on.
#30
Sold my car to some bald guy with a beard wandering the desert.
What do you think ?
Petra Schaap 1 week ago
When the BF and me just started dating he looked through my vinyl collection, picked out two 7" es (one was Kinks) and asked "can I sell these?" It funded a week long holiday 😁
Petra Schaap 1 week ago
When the BF and me just started dating he looked through my vinyl collection, picked out two 7" es (one was Kinks) and asked "can I sell these?" It funded a week long holiday 😁
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