Whether it’s putting a coin or two towards a dream vacation, saving up for retirement, or spending them on treating oneself, having extra cash is unlikely to harm anyone. That is why some people come up with pretty inventive ways to earn some.
Members of the ‘Poverty Finance’ community recently shared their ways of filling up their pockets. Ranging from something rather conventional, such as pet sitting or language teaching, to some more peculiar activities like breeding cockroaches, their answers showed that in most cases, where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you’re interested in other lucrative ways redditors were able to earn some extra money, scroll down to find their answers on the list below.
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I currently work a full-time job. when my kids were
younger I would occasionally babysit for neighbors. I’ve lived in the same neighborhood for nearly 20 years so I know many people.
Once a month, on a Friday night, I host a Parents night out and babysit overnight. I still have a swing set, a tree swing and such so kids come to my home. I charge charge around $50 a child and I serve dinner and have a dessert, we play outside until dusk, come in and get cleaned up/put pjs on and then watch a movie. Depending on weather and age of kids we may use our blowup movie screen and projector and watch the movie outside along with popcorn and juice boxes. Afterwards it’s brushing teeth and getting settled down in sleeping bags. We set up camp in the family room
and kids fall asleep quickly. I’m up by 8 making breakfast to feed the little people and parents pickup a round 9:15. I usually watch 8-10 kids and it’s an easy $500. Kids LOVE the night and I have more demand then space available.
Back in college I put together furniture, 80% of the time for older folks who ordered flat pack furniture and couldn’t put it together themselves. I enjoy the puzzle of putting together IKEA furniture, and I usually had an interesting conversation or two with the older generation.
I had a plumbing backup and needed someone with a snake to clear the line. I looked on Craigslist and everyone was charging $99 for the snaking. This one guy advertised for $69. I called him, he came and had my line clear in 20 minutes. We got to talking. He and his family had just come in from Ohio a couple of weeks before because their 8 year old daughter needed medical treatment that was only available in Tampa, but before he left Ohio he had bought a used electrical plumbing snake for $400. Upon arrival he was instantly busy with snake jobs because his price was the lowest on all of Craigslist. According to him he was making about $400 per day, and he was working it 7 days a week. Good money in it once the initial investment is made, but of course it is not a glamorous job.
I have a flea market booth. The most lucrative part about it is freeze dried candy I buy from a local business. I buy in bulk and have 100% mark up and still sell a c**p load of candy! It helps that the local mall has pretty much the same stuff for 3x the price. People want to try it but don't want to pay those prices, so they get excited when they see mine and buy 3 for the price of 1 mall candy. It's silly, but I'm happy with it.
My sister and I are doing our first flea market soon. Hopefully it's a bigger success than our Etsy shop.
I pet sit. For people in my building. Mostly doctors. Three doctors and some elderly couples. I offered during the pandemic for free but they tipped me? I told them even i was a little offended .. its GREAT for my dogs to play and have dogs over lol….
I even take them to the park and on walks. Now if they go out of town they ask me to pet sit. I know some people charge 80 a night thats my pet sitter charges me.. they give me 40. Plus they bring me a little knickknack from wherever they travel to.
SAME! Due to the pandemic, my company still works remote and it's awesome. So I offer anyone who wants to have their dog stay here when they travel (as long as I'm not double booked). It's fantastic. Dog is happier here than in some kennel. I love having them around. Like the op, I really don't charge money but people insist on paying. It's not enough for me to quit my day job (not that I want to) but it's great money to have around.
Rev! You transcribe the audio that you hear, and it can be anything from police body cam to talks about blueberry fields. You can make decent money if you grind it. You DO get graded. If you get too many bad marks, you get 'demoted' to a base level. Premium folks get the pick of the litter when it comes to files. I easily make a couple hundred bucks a month doing it. You do need good, noise-canceling headphones. You have to follow their guidelines for transcribing--labeling speakers correctly, etc.
I met a dude once who sold cockroaches to Petco, Petsmart, etc. He was making like 200k off his garage.
I worked as a victim for a military training drill. It was $100 per day, paid in cash. If you did all three days of this exercise you got an extra $25. They are coming back to my area in two months.
That gigs are really nice. I used to do all kinds of those, for police, military, health care. Been a hostage on a boat, got medevac via helicopter, take the slide from a airplane.. Pay was good, but nowadays they usually dont use paid people, but teens from their schools that gets a free pizza :(
I sell plant cuttings and seedlings! Spring time I just sell my extra peppers and tomatoes, and then have some well loved houseplants that need a haircut every so often - i just root the cuttings in water and eventually pot and sell. Its not a ton of cash or anything, but it's a nice way for my hobby to pay for itself over time. Also been growing pomegranates from seed because where I live they are an uncommon houseplant. The local garden center sold small trees for 129+! I had no problem growing the little guys for a few months and selling for 20$ whereas the seed packs were 5 dollars for a bunch.
I sell photos of my feet.
I dog/house sat for years. I do it now for a select few people but at some point I was making an extra $1000 a month. There are lots of pros and cons but generally it was a good gig. I stayed at peoples houses with their animals, which paid more. People will pay really good money if you’re trustworthy and will stay in their home.
Yep, can confirm this is a very profitable thing. I never did that, but was asked - a LOT. I just don't like staying in other people houses and only willing to have dogs stay at my place. But people ask for this a lot and offer big money for it.
Every once in a while I'll go be a tester for food/drinks at P&K Research. Yeah it's weird, but $25 is $25.
In college, I was a “line waiter.”
Every time there was a new video game, console, or phone release, I would go to the store and offer to wait in line for someone.
I could make $100 in a night, and I would bring a book or some homework to keep me busy.
In Washington, DC, committee hearings are supposed to be open to the public. Special interest groups hire dozens of line waiters. They don't need that many people to observe the proceedings; they just occupy the committee hearings so there's no vacancies left over for the public. But if you get a tip that a hearing will take place in a few days in such-and-such a room, you legally COULD wait five days on line with no bathroom or food to witness a hearing.
I “teach English “ online, basically just chat with ppl. One of them is a kid where we do a 50/50 reading and watching Pokémon or Godzilla. So I get paid minimum wage to watch pokemon and old Godzilla movies.
I'm curious about this. Would you need to know the language of the person you are teaching, or is the whole point to immerse them in the English language without the ability to fallback on their native tongue?
Not super odd but I sharpen knives and tools to supplement my income. Startup costs are pretty low and if you go to a farmers market in a wealthier part of town, you can usually get a decent amount of business.
Kitchen and pocket knives are usually the standard but if you can sharpen tools like lawn mower blades, shears, chisels, etc. You can get a decent amount of consistent return business.
Anywhere from a couple hundred to about 1k a month depending on how much I am working at it.
Not that weird but I model for art classes. I have a FT job but I usually do classes a month and get paid in cash which is nice.
I used to do that when I was in college. I went to an art school, so there were a fair few of us who modeled for painting and drawing classes. It was a bit strange at first, sitting stark naked surrounded by a bunch of kids you knew from the dorms or parties, but it was also wild how fast you just.... didn't really care. There is something very freeing standing naked in front of a bunch of people and not really caring.
I do clinical studies. I was on an antibody one where the total pay is like $6k.
I got $300-700 a month for the first few months for a blood draw and 1 infusion. And once I complete it next month I get a $1,500 “bonus” for completing the whole thing.
Antibody drugs can cause (rare) severe anaphylaxis which could lead to death. I would totally try something that could cure my condition, I wouldn't try anything like that as a healthy volunteer.
Rubbish dumbs salvage sellable items for their tip shops, they sell things dirt cheap, buy clean and resell. I tend to pick up a lot of golf clubs for $1-$5 and resell for $40-$100. It’s amazing what people throw away.
I'm an artist, I draw commissions for any adult who wants nsfw 18+ content drawn. It's helped me earn enough money to make my car payment the past two months, which is great. I don't advertise my services, but I'm asked about it frequently on social media so the clients just come naturally to me.
I do dog training for both puppies and behavioral issues. Mainly work with the local shelter to help dogs get a handle on their own issues so they can get adopted. I always teach the black dogs a fun trick like spin or "fight me!" (They get on hind legs and flail their front paws like a boxing match) since Black Dog Syndrome means they're in the shelter longer.
Not money but I garden for some elderly friends as well as guerrilla gardening on unused city land. A little seed money, some good dirt, some water, a learning curve, and I’m supplementing my entire family’s groceries every day for the summer and fall.
I make simple static webpage sites for people.
P.S. Always get a proper contract signed for work like this, with deliverables, a deadline, a stated length of time for support, and how they can acquire support in the future.
I bake fruitcakes from scratch, using pecans instead of walnuts, and cream sherry in lieu of harsher liquors. I use 1/2 pound loaf pans, so no one is stuck with a lot of leftovers.
Baking begins in September, through October, so the cakes have time to soak up the sherry.
Business is pretty good, I can do a few hundred dollars or more easily, and still have folks clamoring for more.
https://preview.redd.it/xu3rmqirsrib1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b2f1e56824428f4826d55cce2156698883d35b0
I crochet and sell dolls
My mum does this and is amazing at it. I told her she needs to set up an online shop. She just finished Paddington Bear, with his little bag and a marmalade sandwich. Her talent amazes me, if only I inherited it!
You’d be surprised at how lucrative a Photoshop gig is on Reddit! There are tons of groups centered around requesting different photoshopped things, and many of them will tip $5-15 if yours is the best!
Similar to drug trials, I’m a regular volunteer for testing medical devices/smartwatches that measure blood pressure and/or blood oxygen. Each session lasts 60-90 minutes, pays $200, and only requires giving a small amount of blood. Typically limited to 2x per month but I’m not there for the $.
If you are healthy and can build up your microbiome using potent probiotics, you can literally get paid good cash for your stool! There are people that suffer from c-diff infections and require fecal transplants! Just google it!
I host trivia. It’s a few nights a week for 2.5 hours a night. It’s $50 each night plus the different venues hook you up with deals on food and drinks. Like one place you get a free meal, which you can use for like these giant a*s amazing pizzas that are like $25. Or another place I get free drinks. It’s pretty chill and I make about $500 a month. It helps.
Not weird but I've been working on cars since high school and I do mobile maintenance for basic upkeep and minor repairs. I always tell my clients to never bring big projects to me because if there is something seriously wrong with their car I am not willing to take on huge liability repairs, but things like oil change, brake pads/fluid, fuel line repair or head gasket replacement I can do confidently.
One thing I did was a mock jury I found on Craigslist. Went to a law firm where they catered food, drinks and snacks. We got to listen to a case and deliberate like an actual jury would and the whole thing was recorded. Got paid 200 plus travel fees for about 3 1/2 hours worth of work. Also I would go to peoples houses and assemble/disassemble patio furniture, barbecues, things of that nature and made on average 100 dollars a job
You can do mock juries remotely on Remotasks I have a friend that does them a few times a month and the pay seems great. You do have to be in an area where Remotasks is available tho (it's not in California which makes me sad)
I don’t think it is weird and it is a niche, so not a normal thing, but I make a decent probably equivalent to an extra part time job worth of money monthly on average, sometimes more. I have a full time “real” job, but on the side I sell items I find in the alley. Really nice stuff, have a Poshmark inventory of over 450 items, have sold well over 1000 items, and I’ve got at least 150-200 not even listed. Basically a huge “closet”. No one would ever guess where this stuff came from. I only list items in basically new or perfect condition. And only if I can list it for 20+ to start. I’ve got zero overhead. Other than sweat and time equity, it’s 100% profit.
I'm guessing by "alley" they mean any alley or outside location, but now I'm imagining some magical alley in which salable goods just appear. Or an alley with a loading dock belonging to a store that is confused as to how stuff they've left on the dock for just a minute keeps getting nicked...
Not a job or a real way to make money but, in Washington State, everytime at the grocery store I would snag the tossed losing lottery tickets in the lotto garbage cans. Scan them into the 360 app and get points, 1700 points was equal to 25$ on gift cards. I made about $825 in one year just by doing that, 125$ of that $825 was from winning thrown away lottery tickets. People just tossing winners in the garbage can. Once I found a completely unused scratched ticket, also got a few free tickets in bonus rounds that people just tossed. No winnings on those though.
I just got ordained to officiate weddings online. I haven't started yet but tbh I think I'm going to. I have a niche and I do like weddings. I've worked them as a banquet server countless times.
I do these too! I am the only one who caters to LGBTQ weddings in our area!
Had an Etsy shop reselling vintage and antique cast iron cookware that I would find in rusty condition and restore to be collected or used again. Just recently shut the shop down due to time constraints, but it was a great little side gig at the time and I enjoyed it.
I make and re season cutting boards, decided to turn my wood working hobby into a side job.
I had a friend that did this on Etsy, but he said the unfortunate part was that it's almost all he makes now. So he didn't get to work on his other projects as much.
I watch the local Facebook groups and find odd jobs there quite a bit. People are always looking for random help. Last weekend I made $25 by going to a lady's house and clipping her cat's toenails!
My husband learned how to trim goat hooves and we're planning to offer mobile goat trimming services once school starts. There's one guy not too far away who charges $150 JUST for the house call. Every animal trimmed is another $40 or more on tip of that flat fee. We think that's pretty wild. We haven't solidified pricing yet but agree that the house call fee has to include trimming the first animal, it's nuts to me otherwise. And we figure a certain travel distance will be factored in to the base rate, with a per mile extra cost added if they're outside our basic radius.
Mobile goat trimming service. I need to work that phrase into an everyday conversation
I’ve said this here before but, my second job is at a small gaming store with 6 slot machines. All I have to do is clean the machines after each use and sell beer and wine ( bottles) not a bar and give out potato chips if they want them:) stock the pop and beer. Not really heavy lifting at all. Get a decent wage per hour and tips that we don’t have to claim:) EASIEST JOB !!
I do in-person research sometimes. All I do is fake shop and answer questions or I sit on a panel and answer questions and give opinions. I’m doing one that pays $250 this month for 1 1/2 hours.
Sometimes I sell on eBay.
Every Christmas, I try to work for UPS from October to January. I make over $6000 doing that. I’m retired and still in good physical condition so that’s possible.
Can collecting, there 10 cents a pop and everywhere in my state and if I fill 3 big black garbage bags it's at least an extra 50 bones for the budget, and collecting that many if you learn the areas, can obly take about 3 days.
I live in Kansas city metro, and soccer it’s kind of big her. I do soccer refree on weekend during fall and spring. The pay varies if you are a refree or assistant refree. It also varies with ages. At the end it always come down to like $30/hr.
I'm considering narrating audio books. Looks like upfront costs are about $300-600 bucks based on gear and setup for a "quiet room". Then it's timing and auditioning.
Pet sitting large animals. I have people who have goats, donkeys, chickens, rabbits, even bees. I'd look at them when sick or injured because I worked in a vet clinic and knew first aid or watch them when they went out of town. I only charged a like $20/day and gas. If I were to actually make money for living instead of as a favor, it'd be more like $10/day per head of large animal and $2.50/day/small animal. $300/d for large herds and commercial operations
Edit to mention it was always at their own barns with their own feed. If something ran out, I'd buy more and tack it onto the end payment
I grow mandrakes and sell them on ebay. Real mandrakes not little dolls. I'm also an artist and published writer.
"Tough times had fallen on Harry after he left Hogwarts. Forced to sell his prized Mandrake collection, he was heartbroken. Still, the kids needed new wands and Hogwarts tuition wasn't cheap."
Love all the ideas! I sell clothing, mostly on ebay. I source items from various places very cheaply and manage to usually sell for a decent profit margin. I've been at it for about five years. Lots of up and downs during that time, but I sell on average 10-15 items of clothing a day and growing every month.
I was in the RV industry for a long time, and video production on a small level is greatly needed. For a dealer, think short profiles of vehicles they can put on a website. Also, Mom and Pop campgrounds can have terrible websites, and I mean like they don't even have good photos, let alone videos.
Generally, if you can do the videos of what people are selling in a relatively quick way that is easy for the average non-technical person to use, you can be a hero.
I crochet dish scrubbies out of tulle. They rip my hands up so i wear latex gloves but people buy the c**p out of them at 4 bucks each.
Great idea but just a warning to people that this can lead to micro plastics entering the water supply. Disposable sponges do this too. Hessian can be a Todd alternative. Just thought I'd leave this here in case anyone wants to make scrubbies but is unaware of the environmental impact.
taught myself how to make 3-D models in blender and now i make some passive income selling assets pack on unity/unreal. It’s pretty easy all you need is a pc and and internet connection and some time to dedicate to learning blender. I used tutorials and online forums and taught myself the basics in less than a week but like most things results may vary
I have a full time job. I also sell online for extra income. And I do a lot of survey sites/apps and couponing/receipt apps. I average about $100-150 a week on surveys and apps depending on the work that comes in.
Buying and selling antique imported European or Egyptian doors might qualify as a weird side hustle. My partner and I happen to have access to a ton of these so we find buyers and ship them to their house. Business definitely isn’t as good as it was a couple years ago but it’s still a nice little side hustle.
There’s a huge group fitness instructor shortage and some studios or gyms will train you in spin/Pilates in hopes that you’ll bring in money. I paid for my yoga teacher training but I’ve made back the money 5 fold in a year, and I work at a studio that pays like s**t. However it’s exhausting on your body. I teach maybe 10 hours a week not even including desk time and cleanup time on top of my 9-5 full time job. It’s a good chunk of change to basically get paid to exercise though.
Focus groups and research studies. There are several websites and you join their database and get emailed or called when something is in your area and matches. I used to make a ton of money a few years ago. Lately it’s been sparse. I sign up and answer questionnaires to see if I’m eligible but never hear back.
There's a website called the side hustle database, just Google it and there's hundreds of ideas on the website, you can sort based off of things like "passive income, remote, 0 startup costs, 6 figure potential, and work outside of the house"
Not a good tip. The site is full of scammy entries ("become a dropshipper!" by paying a monthly fee), laughable proposals ("Start a blog: 100k+/yr") or entries that look like paid advertising ("UX test with Userzoom!" Yeah, sure, a company that has abysmal reviews and apparently steals personal data, sells to scammer and does not pay for jobs done)
Farmer's Market. Bigger stands (usually produce) often need help at the market with set up and customers but it's not worth paying someone to come all the way from wherever the farm is. Bonus if you speak the predominant language of customers and even a little of the language of the farmhands (ie English with a little Spanish).
Misc design jobs. Logos, social media stuff, banners, letterhead, etc. This one is largely by word of mouth or occasional fiverr gig.
Childcare. I don't want to go backwards (my kids are all in school), so I charge a friend to watch their kid once or twice a week. Charging because it had to be worth it for me to lose that free time away from small humans. We have a clear boundary around what's "billable" time vs just being a friend.
i do door for one of my favorite local punk venues. free drinks and i make $50-ish maybe more a night.
I sign my kids up for research studies. It’s not much money, but I’ll take some grocery gift cards in exchange for someone watching my kid play 🤷🏼♀️
My partner donates plasma. Again, not tons of money but pays for his hobbies so I don’t have to.
I hope to be a gestational carrier and use that money to finally get ahead.
I legally grow hemp and sell CBD products at local farmers markets. Was a big starting investment and I'll be red for a little while still but it's starting to pick up and turn a profit.
Scrap metal. Pop in at any car repair places, brake shops, etc on your normal work drive or any drive you do at least once a week, ask them if you can clear out their scrap parts for them. Same goes for machine shops, plumbing places(copper lines and hot water heaters are great)
this and recyc generally here in africa is a nightmare. guys strip infrastructure to sell as "scrap". Legit. Manholes, power lines, rail tracks! all gone.
I'm on my local planning commission. $200/meeting and we meet 2x per month. Pretty technical subject matter but if you've got the knowledge, go for it.
My partner and I did valet for college football games. We got paid hourly (I think at the time it was $11/h) but the tips at the end of the night made it worth it.
I DJ weddings and provide light shows for bands coming thru town. I also work air conditioning for a living so I do that on the side as well as handy man work.
People pay so much money for DJs and bands for weddings that it makes my charge of $100 an hour look really cheap.
There's so many DJ out there that suck. I DJed professionally In the 90s and had the chance to work with some of the best at the time . DJing isn't just syncing songs together. It's reading the room, understanding beats, keys and structures of songs. The DJ I learnt from was a drummer and had a record shop, oen of the best parts of the job was going down to the shop and listing to new songs and learning to mix them in. I would slit my vanes if I had to DJ for a wedding, There's only so much Macarena and birdie song you can deal with, VOLARE ........ I co DJed a wedding once but it was for another DJ so that was OK. I've sometimes play now for a local pub but more then dance it's to keep the vibe on a Saturday for an older crowed although we've a had a couple of good Saturday where people of got up to dance so I gave them some 70s disco.
I sell art, I suppose that isn’t weird inherently but I’ve been asked to draw some weird s**t lol
It's not a *lot* of money, but it's better than nothing: Mechanical Turk pays you to do microjobs. Things like surveys, studies, data entry, all sorts of various little "bits and bobs" type jobs. Depending on how dedicated and reliable you are. It can make anything from pocket change to what's probably a fairly modest income in a very poor country. Cloud Research is also good, as is Clickworker.
i'm working on opening up commissions for VTuber models/character art (those anime avatars that streamers use). there's a niche in the market for any art style that isn't very soft cutesy anime, and full models can be upwards of 1500 dollars a pop. there's also people who will just do the prep work without drawing it, like rigging or preparing the image to be rigged.
I participate in New York City’s citizen idling complaint program.
According to the DEP, the fine for a first-time offenders is $350, and more for repeat offenders. A 25% cut — or $87.50 — is paid to the person who shot the video and filed the complaint.
If you have to invest in a digital Photo Booth and don’t mind giving up some of your weekend you can make some great money.
Deliver local magazine monthly (150-250/mo)
Shots girl (30/hr, ~10 hrs/mo)
Teach a skills class at a makerspace or community center (100-400/class, 2/mo)
Social posting for small businesses (I pay mine 100/mo for Instagram only)
Donate plasma (150-700/mo)
I am an external expert on thesis in my old uni (nautical Academy), I do some a year and for 2hr pre-read and an hour of actually being there its €150 cash in hand.
lately i’ve been doing mystery shop assignments at Trader Joe’s — a gig I got off craigslist
I watch for lawsuits and join when I qualify. I’ve made a few hundred the past couple of years, but my main motivation is how tickled my husband gets when a random check arrives. Am always looking for ways to impress him, lol. '
5 years ago did a (free) 3 day course on how to safely remove wasp nests. Now I charge $200/nest removal and it only takes bout an hour. Not year round off course but still 20-30 nests each summer.
I did this in our backyard... except for the safely part. Didn't get stung, but definitely got lucky. Then I read what I should have done - wait until night.
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My daughter plays travel volleyball. She wants to play in college, so we take video of all her games to put together highlight videos that she then links to college coaches. Other girls on our team have approached me about making similar videos for them. I'm not a professional, just a dad trying to help his daughter create opportunities for herself. But I've made probably over $1,000 now over the past year by making highlight videos out of film I already was taking.
Like about 20% of all of these jobs I never even heard about lol, this was a pretty cool article
5 years ago did a (free) 3 day course on how to safely remove wasp nests. Now I charge $200/nest removal and it only takes bout an hour. Not year round off course but still 20-30 nests each summer.
I did this in our backyard... except for the safely part. Didn't get stung, but definitely got lucky. Then I read what I should have done - wait until night.
Load More Replies... My daughter plays travel volleyball. She wants to play in college, so we take video of all her games to put together highlight videos that she then links to college coaches. Other girls on our team have approached me about making similar videos for them. I'm not a professional, just a dad trying to help his daughter create opportunities for herself. But I've made probably over $1,000 now over the past year by making highlight videos out of film I already was taking.
Like about 20% of all of these jobs I never even heard about lol, this was a pretty cool article
