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Someone Asked People The Weirdest Ways They’ve Ever Made Money, And These 40 Answers Are Wild
"Money makes the world go round", people say. Or, at least Liza Minelli in Cabaret did. Either way, we've got to make money. You can go the regular route and work a 9-5 job like the seven in 10 young Americans who are looking for a job change.
Or, you can choose to do something more out-of-the-box and take a page out of these folks' books. We've gathered the most interesting answers to the question: "What is the weirdest way you have made money?" and present them to you here.
From selling feet pics on the internet to helping elders with technology, people have made money in all sorts of funny and genius ways. So, scroll down and maybe you'll get inspired to start a new side hustle.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Going to community college. My state passed a bill my senior year of HS that first-time college students can go to any of the community colleges for free. There was stipulations of course, you need to be a resident of the state for a few years, you need to attend classes full-time, and you needed to maintain a 3.5GPA or above. Easy peasy.
A few weeks into my first semester, I get a check in the mail. It was my FAFSA being returned to me. The whole thing. I thought it was a mistake, there's no way this was meant to go to me, right? I called the 1-800 number for FAFSA, nobody there could give me a straight answer as this bill was only a thing in my state, and it is brand new. I called everyone I could think of in my college, the bursar's office, the financial services office, student accounts, the registrar, nobody knew why I had that check.
During winter break, I get an email from the bursar's office. They told me the money was mine, but it's intended for education related purposes, and they suggest I use the check towards tools as I was an automotive major.
I got a check the next semester, then the following, then the last. All in all, I was paid about $8,000 just for getting my degree, plus three certificates. Weirdest, but easiest way I've made a good chunk of change.
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#2
I bought a used car from a dealership once for $2000. Shortly after I bought it hail got me and I got $1000 cash to fix it. Never fixed it because who cares. Drove it for 5 years and sold it to some Australian guys who were working in the US for $2000 cash. They never did a title transfer.
I got a notice in the mail shortly after I “sold” it that it was previously totalled and it wasn’t disclosed when I bought the car. Got a $5000 check for the settlement.
Australian guys drove it to California and left it in a used car dealership parking lot then flew back to Australia. Dealership called me and chewed me out, but I explained that I sold it to other guys who left it there. We chatted for a bit and they offer me $1000 for the car WITH the title. Took it in a heart beat.
So my $2000 car made me $1000 from insurance. $5000 from settlement. $2000 from selling it. And another $1000 for selling it again. Not bad.
#3
On voting day, some years ago, a 600 pound pig that had escaped from a nearby farm was running around outside the polling location causing mayhem. I captured a video of a pig chasing a cop, which is automatically funny.
That made me almost $3,000 in royalties over the next 10 years. I still get a deposit once in a while.
Josephine Blogs 1 month ago
For those who are interested 🐷... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciiFlLIh7yk
#4
I have a neighbour who occasionally calls me to do small jobs on his property. It's usually tree work.
He doesn't know we're neighbours. He thinks I'm a professional contractor of some kind. He is always extremely impressed with how quickly I show up and get started when he calls. He would be less impressed if he knew that I live a few doors down and work from home.
We initially met when I was cutting down one of my own trees. I think he assumes that I was hired to do that, not that it was my house.
#5
Counting birds.
I did a "bird survey" on a beach every day at dawn for some university project. I wasn't a student, but was a friend of a friend who was (and who had originally agreed to do it but got a better offer.)
I was unemployed, had a car to get there, and was paid in cash. Nice way to spend a summer.
#6
Back around 2003, through an old business contact, an older gentlemen wanted his business to “be online”.
I thought he wanted a website, email, the basic things to get an online business presence.
We setup a meeting so I can get requirements. I get to his office and I start asking questions.
Turns out, he just wanted his 2 computers to be able to access the internet.
Went to Best Buy, bought a router, hooked up his 2 machines to it and was done. I told him not to worry about any money, as it wasn’t a big deal.
He insisted on payment.
He paid me $500 for 30 minutes work. I felt bad about it, but hey, I tried to do it for free….
Michael Largey 1 month ago (edited)
A local businessman offered me $500 to determine if his delivery network could be made more efficient. I put in a lot of work and came back with a one word answer - "No". (His problem was that he was not measuring the efficiency correctly.) He must have been happy with what I did because he kept hiring me for stuff.
#7
In high school I had 3 gay friends. They all paid me good money to go meet their parents as their girlfriend.
#8
I happened to be the exact height and weight as the defendant in a r**e case. A laywer hired a firm to make up 3d scans of me playing the defendant in the car seat with a dummy. 45 minutes of me sitting in a car on top of a dummy got me $800. It was soooo awkward amd weird.
The Big Bad 1 month ago
I understand the awkwardness, but still think you did a good thing and got paid well to do it. Hopefully they caught the a*s.
#9
I work for a pharmaceutical company. The company has a program where they would pay you for blood (small amount, only 100mL) that they would then use for research. Sounds sketchy, but it was legit. So I would be paid for my blood. Pretty decent money, at the time.
#10
Went to a club with my friends, hooked up with an older woman (I was 19, she was 37).
Woke up next morning to an empty motel bed, bill had been settled by the woman, she left me two hundred on the nightstand and her business card with the message: I loved doing this, whenever you feel like doing it again I'm up, here's a bit of cash to get you home.
#11
I stood on street corners dressed as a giant Twinkie and waved at cars.
#12
While studying abroad in Japan, I held up a sign saying you could touch my hair for 100 yen. A few people did it in an hour. I bought old Pokemon games with the money and sold them for over 10 times the price in tbe US.
Wang Zhuang 1 month ago
I've had multiple people tell me I should charge Chinese people money when they want to take pictures with me. All I need to do is make a sign, walk around with it at one of the famous sites and watch the money roll in hahaha
#13
Cleaned male horse’s sheaths. Performance horses are in rings and dust/dirt accumulates in there. Particularly geldings. (Neutered male horses). Makes the horse very uncomfortable and can lead to infection. No one wanted to do thiers and I needed money.
Best part was another person came along and offered to do it for half the price. A few people took him up on that. Not sure what he did but those horses seemed to be limping the next day. I got my customers back.
#14
College student 'medical' trial for workout supplements. Do a leg workout, they draw blood, two days later they draw more blood. Take some unknown powder for a week, do a leg workout, blood draw, two days later blood draw. $400.
I don't know what the f**k they gave me, and by definition neither did they.
#15
When I was in high school (Early 2000's) I found this site called furbid where you could get commissions for drawing furry p**n. I made so much money, but some of the requests I got made me really uncomfortable.
#16
I assembled a racing sim seat set up for a parent last year at Christmas 2023.
I made $400 for assembly and delivery.
Jrog 1 month ago
Not surprising, as assembling a racing sim rig is a pretty expensive endeavor, so having some markup is reasonable. A decent steering wheel can be $3-400 and up to $2000. The rig itself is $2-300. A decent shifter is $200. A racing seat is easily in the $300. Plus optionals as the display, sound system, buttonbox, PC itself... Depending on the setup, it could be a $400 markup on a $400 machine, that is high, or a $400 markup on a $8000 machine, that is low
#17
$5 found inside a bible in a hotel room. Now I always check.
#18
Probably working illegally in Australia (as a 25 yr old American) making cash under the table setting up exhibits at trade shows. I made $200 AUS to $300 AUS per day doing trade shows.
Or, reading Tarot cards at street festivals in Australia (there's literally one every weekend). I would clear $500 AUS per day at $15 AUS per reading (undercutting the competition charging $20 lol).
I went to Australia in 1996 to visit an online girlfriend, who's best friend committed s*****e while I was in the air - and she left a note blaming her, in part, as the cause of her s*****e. Online girlfriend was understandably upset, so I couldn't stay with her, so I was stuck in Australia with only $300 to my name. I made the best of the situation and staying in hostels all over Queensland. Stayed almost 4 months, had the experience of a lifetime.
I saw her on the way out as she was my ride to the airport. Truly sad situation for her but I am forever grateful for the experience.
Max Fox 1 week ago
For those who don't believe that there were "online Girlfriends" in 1996. I guess that people don't know how to do a basic Google search. There were numerous online chatrooms in the mid 1990s, and people met there and did establish relationships. I remember them, but for people who weren't alive in 1996, all it takes is a simple Google query, instead of somebody coming across as being a very confident idiot.
#19
When I was younger I played a lot of Laser Tag (specifically a chain called Laser Quest). Captained a team to other countries for tourneys, played for close to 10 years.
My city has something called "corporate challenge" where a bunch of corporations (split into groups based on number of employees) recruited internal teams and take part in dozens of activities. Everything from bowling, laser tag, dodgeball, all sorts of things. You would compete against other teams from other corps, scoring points based on your ranking within that activity.
I got a call from the area manager that the corp challenge finals were happening and someone was "sick" and they needed a filler. The alt had conveniently not shown up. I was paid for my time and we easily won gold, so now I have a gold medal in my bucket of LQ related goodies somewhere.
I was clearly a ringer and brought in just to win the finals. Don't even remember the corp I played for, but found it hilarious that they would pay to win something that exists to be fun and team building. Really speaks to how larger corps work.
The Starsong Princess 1 month ago
My nephew played hockey at a very high level - Canada, of course. He’s looking for a finance job and was told to make sure he lists his hockey accomplishments on his resume. The companies he is applying to have teams and can always use a good player.
#20
I'm a retired RF engineer. I once earned $800 for one hour of consulting time that led to the resolution of a years long chronic problem that the vendor couldn't figure out.
#21
When I was working in switzerland in a hotel I accompanied an old russian lady to her room, where she noticed she forgot her bag in her car. Went down to her Maybach and up again for this plain bag and she handed me 1000fr as a tip. Turns out her deceased husband was in the oil business and her son took over and she arrived a couple of days earlier to enjoy the scenery before she has to meet her daughter in law which she didn‘t like. During her stay of 7 days she tipped me more than my regular salary.
#22
Collecting moss in the Kerry mountains. Lad would pick us up at 6 am in a van and drop us in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes he'd comeback early sometimes not. No phone signal. You pick moss until he came back. 60p a bag, cash in hand.
#23
My mom wouldn’t allow me to get a job after high school for the longest. So I sold clean urine to people who needed to pass their d**g tests.
#24
When I was a kid I made fliers and went door to door buying aluminum cans and soda bottles for 2 cents so I could turn them in for the 5 cent refund. I made a lot of candy money off the laziness of people who didn't want to take the cans or bottles to the store themselves.
person (i think) 1 month ago
Might not be laziness; might have been people supporting entrepreneurial kids
#25
My church would hold plays and musicals in the basement. In the lobby there was a gallery of local artists.
One night my family and I were seeing a play during "kids week." Basically all the art was made by children.
I was talking to my aunt during intermission when we noticed some middle aged woman and an elderly woman unload a bunch of snacks onto a podium that had a colored cereal box on it. They gave no f***s. They just scooted the box over and started eating.
My aunt was like, "$5 if you say something to them." Sure enough, I walk over and say "excuse me, this is a space for the artists not your personal snack tray." They appeared embarrassed and walk away.
Grandpa later gave me $20 more when he heard this.
#26
Ran social media and had a camera. That turned into helping run a medi spa. Then through that business owner I got a gig taking pictures for a escort business and that turned into me taking pictures of independent escorts and running their social media. I started taking their appointments and what not. Took me awhile to realize that I was managing them so I backed out after a couple weeks.
#27
Bought 6 donuts, I had 3 separate kids pay me $5 for a $1.89 donut. Made some money there.
#28
This is just a short list of some of the things I have done
1. Shoveled horse s**t
2. Shoveled pig s**t
3. Helped to build a corn silo
4. Inventoried sunglasses in d**g stores
5. Unloaded semitrucks
6. Was part of a weight loss study program ($300 a month for 12 months)
7. Delivered comunity magazines to local busnesses ($50 a month)
8. Changed light bulbs at a local credit union ($10 a light bulb)
9. Was a secret shopper at McDonalds (Got paid to order and eat different foods).
Uncle Schmickle 1 month ago
I'd LOVE to be a secret shopper / customer. Some businesses are so appallingly run, anyone with some common sense could make improvements to their benefit.
#29
Walked past a garage sale, saw a weird looking camera for $20.
Turned out to be an extremely rare field microscope that had some parts not documented online. Someone locally was all too happy to buy it for $2,000, if it had worked I was going to sell it for $4,000 but I was too worried about breaking it further attempting to repair it.
I still buy, repair, and resell to this day but nothing beats the profit margins on that Nikon model H field microscope.
Deta Rossiter 1 month ago
similar thing with me. paid low, and at the price. to the right collector. 5455.5% markup
#32
Another one. Had just moved to Seattle and looking for work. Signed on with a temp agency and was assigned to be a tester at ATL. I was working nights, so I’d clean up and go to ATL. They were calibrating ultrasound heads and software, so I’d lay on my side and get scanned for hours.
Room was kept dark for better screen visibility, and warm due to the equipment. Plus audio of my heartbeat. I slept through it after working nights.
Did this for weeks, paid to sleep.
#33
Years ago I got a survey in the mail asking me to fill it out with all the radio stations I listen to, what times, where, etc.
It came with a 1 dollar bill and an promise to send more once I return it in the envelope provided.
I filled it out and sent it back and eventually got about 10 cash in an envelope .
#34
I used to work giving environmental snowshoe tours at a high end ski resort. Often, the only people on the tour were women who's partners had left them to ski or were divorcee. On a lot of occasions, after the tour the women would ask if I would be interested in showing them around the resort or the town after work or on my days off. Made some great money and ate at a bunch of restaurants I could not otherwise have afforded. It was strange that some people are so lonely for company that they would pay for it.
Uncle Schmickle 1 month ago
You provided a very useful service. The ladies would have been interested in the environment and sightseeing with a knowledgeable person, rather than risk life and limb skiing.
#35
While working at a casino I went to a machine for a quick repair. The woman sniffed me like she was trying to do a line of c**e off my shoulder and then gave me 50 dollars.
#36
Sold my dirty panties and used shoes.
Donna Peluda 1 month ago
A girl at the gym sells her sweaty undergarments from her workouts online. What ever floats your boat.
#37
We went to Nova Scotia for basketball in high school. All my teammates were native, and they all got $1000-$5000 extra spending money from their bands. So every single person on the team would pay me $50 to bring their bags from the bus to the hotel rooms. There was 13 other kids, so each hotel we stayed at paid me approx $650. I came home with $2000 more then I left with. *I had $165 spending money for the whole week including meals, came home with $1900ish.
#38
I held the door open for someone and they handed me a fiver. Told them it wasn’t a job so they didn’t need to tip me, they wished me a merry Christmas and let me keep it.
Serena Myers 1 month ago
Reckon I could do this at my local vet. They have a push me pull you door rather than an automatic one, and a step outside, which makes it awkward even for me womanhandling a yelling 6kg (just over 13lbs for the benefit of the non-metric) cat in a carrier through the door, never mind large and recalcitrant dogs! Mind you, after they'd paid their bills (the owners, not the dogs) they probably wouldn't have any cash left! Lovely veterinary practice, though.
#39
Way before Uber and Lyft around late 90's I sometimes was the driver for a tenant living above our house.
Gave me his truck keys, ordered me to drive around his businesses and made sure he was fine because the kicker is that he asked me to do this because he was hammered and didn't want to get caught for DUI.
Most of his business were butcher shops, tortillas shops, and "carnitas" restaurants that were run by his sons and daughters.
Quite boring since like a regular driver, I spent most of the time driving and waiting to move to the next store, but at the end of the evening, I ended with around 50 USD of pocket money each time, that was A LOT for a high-school student.
#40
Sold my body for medical research. I did a bunch of Harris lab studies, from aspirin to heart meds to pay the bills. I always had a pharmacist friend that would look over the paperwork to see if it was safe or not. Some had over 50 blood draws in a weekend.
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Wang Zhuang 1 month ago
I used to make extra money by serving on mock trial juries. $50 plus a free lunch for about 4 hours of work, and I found the cases to be interesting. I'd still be signing up for these if I still lived in Florida. I also used to drive Lyft and could make a nice chunk of change on special event nights in Miami.
ElfVibratorGlitter 1 month ago
Obviously there's escorting, but that's not surprising in any capacity. When I was a kid my friend and I cut a bunch of wild grasses in some field. We walked around the neighborhood selling bouquets of grass for like $0.25. My mom still has the ones I sold her in a vase, surprisingly not as ugly as I remembered (...or maybe it's not actually the same grass...)
Lyone Fein 1 month ago (edited)
I have worked for the Census going door to door. Also as a phone survey caller to farmers who use pesticides (I think they were trying to prove a link to cancer). For over a decade I made jewelry and sold it at the local farmers market. And for several decades I worked as a n u d e model for artists and art classes.
Wang Zhuang 1 month ago
I used to make extra money by serving on mock trial juries. $50 plus a free lunch for about 4 hours of work, and I found the cases to be interesting. I'd still be signing up for these if I still lived in Florida. I also used to drive Lyft and could make a nice chunk of change on special event nights in Miami.
ElfVibratorGlitter 1 month ago
Obviously there's escorting, but that's not surprising in any capacity. When I was a kid my friend and I cut a bunch of wild grasses in some field. We walked around the neighborhood selling bouquets of grass for like $0.25. My mom still has the ones I sold her in a vase, surprisingly not as ugly as I remembered (...or maybe it's not actually the same grass...)
Lyone Fein 1 month ago (edited)
I have worked for the Census going door to door. Also as a phone survey caller to farmers who use pesticides (I think they were trying to prove a link to cancer). For over a decade I made jewelry and sold it at the local farmers market. And for several decades I worked as a n u d e model for artists and art classes.
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