12 Things I’ve Done To Make Extra Money

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One year ago, my life changed completely around making extra money so that I could do what I always wanted, travel around the world. Since then I’ve traveled to China, Abu Dhabi, Mexico and Europe.

Before I started this blog I was struggling to pay my bills back in college. Without my side hustle income, I don’t know how would I paid them. This side income allowed to me change my life and improve my economic status than if I only had one source of income.

I combined these side hustle activities with some saving money tips, which made a perfect combo.

I’ve done a lot of things over the last years to earn some extra money, and they helped me improve my life. I’m still doing some of the things listed below because I’m saving money to buy my first house which will allow me to have more financial freedom.

That’s why I thought you would like to read about the different ways I’ve made extra cash in the past. The list below describes some of the ways I used to do to make more money, however, some of them I still do.

#1) I Blogged For Fun (now It’s My Best Way To Make Extra Money)

Blogging is my favorite way of making extra money every month. You’ll probably not get rich, but in less than a year of blogging, $I’m making $1400 per month. Plus it’ a lot of fun, you will enjoy it while you are earning an additional income.

You can read some articles to help you out with blogging:

• How To Start A Blog With WordPress And Bluehost
• 35+ Ways To Make Money With Your Blog

Since I started my blog I became more productive and I prioritize my time better. Now I find time to go on holidays and travel around the world while I’m blogging during my spare time.

If you feel like starting a blog but don’t know how to start, I’ve created a step by step tutorial on how to start a blog with WordPress.

Additionally, you can enroll to my free blogging course below.

#2) Affiliate Marketing

I’ve made some money already with affiliate marketing sites. My top favorites are FlexOffers and Shareasale.

I earn more than $600 from FlexOffers every month and around $150 from Shareasale.

They both are free to join and signing up only takes 5 minutes. You can promote products and start receiving a part of the sales.

If you want to master your affiliate marketing income, I recommend you to have a look to my favorite course: Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.

• Related article: How I Increased My Affiliate Income 338% In 4 Months

#3) I Used To Take Surveys As A Way To Make Extra Money (And I Still Do)

Answering surveys was like a part time job for me. Now I do it only when I feel bored or when I’m watching TV. The best out of surveys is that some of them give you free stuff to try. Plus the extra cash always helps by the end of the month.

These free online survey sites are trustworthy and legitimate and can make a difference in your earnings. These are Swagbucks, TopCashBack (you will get a free $5 Amazon gift card by signing up too), Vindale Research,and Qmee. My recommendation for you is to sign up for all the free online survey sites.

Just by joining all of them you will receive an extra $30 for free as a sign-up bonus.

Other less popular survey sites, but that I also use from time to time are Mr. Rebates, Survey Downline and Ebates.

I also use cashback sites, TopCashback is an online reward site I recommend. You can earn cash by doing online shopping or trying new promotional products. Also, by signing up using my link, you will receive $10.00 for free just for signing up!

Taking surveys is one of those that you do if you are very tight at the end of the month because the more you do, the more money you make.

#4) I Did Some Freelance Jobs (And I Still Do)

Some readers contact me once in a while to help them with some technical thing on their blogs. I’m always happy to help them, but if the thing gets very complicated we put a price and I do it.

I also use Upwork to do some easy jobs. My favorite ones are in the $50-$150 range cause they can be done in a few hours.

In this article, you can learn how to make money online doing proofreading and other freelance jobs.

#5)  I Sold My Own Design T-Shirts And Now I Still Sell Them

Selling T-Shirts and apparel is fun. You don’t need to do any drop shipping or anything like that.

I create my own graphic design using Gimp, Inkscape or Photoshop and I upload the image to Redbubble. Then they integrate the image design to T-Shirts, hoodies, mugs, bags and much more. With one graphic design, you will have many products to sell.

By selling with Redbubble you can choose how much commission you want to obtain, which normally ranges from 20% to 30% of the selling price.

#6) I Worked As A Waiter In A Japanese Restaurant

Making sushi was never my strength but during my time living in London, I was working at nights in a Japanese restaurant near Tottenham. I worked for three days a week.

Working as a waiter is an easy way to make some extra money. You don’t need any qualification and to get the job is quite straightforward. Plus you can learn a bit of a foreign language as I did!

#7) I Created My Own App And I sold It

Back in college, I used to spend time creating Apps and selling them in market stores, it was quite funny and enjoyable. I did small games (similar to flappy bird) and even my own gardening App in which I shared when are the best times to sow different plants.

There are plenty of ways of creating Apps without any knowledge in programming. I’ve used Como for creating Apps and then sell them. If your App does not require very advanced features you can set it up in less than an hour. The only thing is that this service is not for free and you will need to pay for it.

#8) I Participated In As Many Competitions As Possible

Sports, Trivial, Video promotions, University grants…. I pretty much tried everything. Most of the times I didn’t get anything but other times I got Amazon vouchers, a tablet, free tickets to the theatre…

One time I won a prize valued in $3,500 to spend learning English in a foreign country during a whole month with everything included plus fancy trips.

So if you have any competition available, why don’t give it a try?

#9) I Worked In An Irish Pub As A Chef

This is a funny story. I started this work one week after arriving London, in fact, I was cleaning dishes as a kitchen porter. Two weeks after I joined, they fired the Chef due to hygiene issues.

The owners promoted me to Chef cause they loved the way I helped before with the kitchen. And there I was, working as a Chef without any fancy title behind.

It was so stressful, especially during Sunday Roast time, but I had a lot of fun and laughs and the money helped me a lot to pay my rent.

#10) I Sold My Old Stuff

Back in the day, I had loads of things which I didn’t use. One day I decided to sell all of them, I started using eBay and I made a good amount of money plus I got rid of useless stuff which I would never gonna use. I should probably still do it but is time-consuming.

Now, instead, I donate things I don’t use to charities or to people who really need it.

#11) I Made YouTube Videos And Make Money From Ads

I’m not and I’ve never been a YouTuber, but I created quite a few tutorials to use some software. I also made some few video game streamings and user guides. I didn’t make a lot of money but it was very exciting to see people comments and thumbs ups. When I created these videos I didn’t know anything about Content Samurai.

Now, I’m using Content Samurai to create video content and I am thinking to come back to the YouTube business.

#12) I Shared My Car For Commuting

Going to work by car sometimes can be boring, but if you bring people with you can be fun, plus you will have your petrol expenses cover.

Also, you will be environmentally friendly. My old company used to give monetary incentives to employees in the sharing car scheme and this was a good motivation to keep doing it.

#13) I Worked As A Lifeguard And Gave Swimming Lessons

When I was 18 I started working as a lifeguard during summers to make some money for the university. During the winter I did a course which cost me about $300 and took 3 months to complete (was only during weekends).

With this money I could pay my very first personal laptop and few more things I needed.

During this summer I also taught children how to swim and I did the whole maintenance of an Olympic swimming pool all by myself. It was killing me working 12 hours a day (weekends included) but it was very rewarding helping people.

#14) I Worked At Uni Helping With Practical Experiments

During my last year of Uni, I was helping with the practical experiments of a second-year subject (Mechanics). I was getting paid $200 per month for 8 hours of work.

The only thing I needed to do was to review the practical experiments and to correct students results.

Sometimes going to talk to old teachers might give you that easy job to get some extra money.

How did you make extra money a few years back? Would you recommend it? What are you making extra money for?