We reveal fast and easy ways to earn extra cash in your spare time – whether it’s at home, online or simply out and about.
If you’re worried about making ends meet, the good news is there are plenty of quick and easy ways you can make money without having to resort to drastic measures.
Some can help you earn extra cash while at home, some online and others by getting out and about.
Choose the money-making tips that suit you!
Use a cashback website
Whenever you shop online, you should always shop via cashback websites like Quidco or Topcashback.
You could earn hundreds of pounds a year just by buying things you needed anyway.
It’s really easy to do. Simply shop via one of their tracked links and you’ll get a percentage of what you spend back in the form of cashback.
Use a cashback credit card
Whether you are shopping online or in person, if you use a cashback credit card you will get a percentage of the money you spend back in cold, hard cash.
American Express offers some of the best cashback rates on the market for free cashback credit cards.
With the Platinum Cashback Everyday Credit Card (APR 30%), you can earn 5% cashback on all spending in the first three months of opening an account (limited to up to £125 cashback), and there’s no annual fee to worry about.
With cashback cards and cashback sites, it’s important to remember the idea is to get money back for spending you were going to do anyway – don’t spend more than you can afford, simply so that you earn more cashback!
Read our roundup of the best cashback credit cards here.
Become a mystery shopper
If you like to have a mooch around the shops and eat out, why not earn some extra cash as a mystery shopper?
Sites like MarketForce will pay you to drop in unannounced to shops and restaurants to rate the experience and will pay you for your feedback
For more details, see how we got on when we tried out mystery shopping.
Make money selling your pics
If you can take a decent snap of cityscapes and landmarks, you may be able to flog them to agencies, including Shutterstock, Alamy and 123RF.
The firms sell your images and pay you a commission based on what it goes for.
Find more ways to make money from your smartphone in this handy guide.
Do surveys
Loads of websites offer the opportunity to fill out surveys in exchange for cash.
Swagbucks is one of the newer players on the market and worth a look.
YouGov is among the most well-known sites, but it can take years to reach 5,000 points to get £50 in payment.
PopulusLive has fewer available surveys and the payout is limited to £50, but you could get up to £1 for every five minutes doing surveys, meaning you may reach your total quicker than you can on YouGov.
Crowdology has a much lower minimum payment limit of £4 and pays out via PayPal.
In summary, surveys are a good way to earn small sums of money if you have the time.
Get active
There are several apps that will pay you money or offer vouchers to keep fit and healthy.
Learn more by reading our fitness reward app challenge, in which we look at how much we could earn using BetterPoints or Sweatcoin.
Help with odd jobs
If you’ve got some time to kill, you could make money by helping others with their odd jobs.
Websites like TaskRabbit allow people in certain cities to list tasks they need help with such as picking up a parcel or moving home that they are willing to pay for.
In order to become a helper with either site, you will need to go through a verification process.
After that, you can pick and choose jobs in your area to earn extra cash in your spare time.
Rent out your parking space
Renting out your parking space can be a great way to top up your income.
For example, if you have a driveway outside your home that you don’t always use, you could rent it out through a site like JustPark.
Your space is more likely to be in demand if you live near a sports stadium, tourist spot, airport or train station.
To find out more, read 6 ways to make money from your car.
Rent out a room
If you have a spare room, taking in a lodger could be seriously lucrative.
Thanks to the Government’s Rent a Room scheme, you can currently earn up to £7,500 per year in rental income tax-free.
That means a lodger paying up to £625 a month won’t cost you a penny in tax!
Just remember, you will need to speak to your home insurer first.
For more information, read Rent A Room scheme: tax-free cash from your spare room.
If you want more short-term options, it’s possible to rent out almost any room in your house on a weekly basis.
Sites like OfficeRiders effectively help companies find space in private places for work meetings, events and co-working, while Kitchen2Rent does what it says on the tin.
Sell your old phone
Sitting on an old mobile handset that you don’t use anymore? Don’t leave it gathering dust at the back of the cupboard, flog it online!
You can sell it yourself on a site like eBay or Gumtree, or use one of the many mobile phone recycling sites to see who will pay you the most for your old phone.
Just be sure to do some research on what previous users have got for their phones.
Unfortunately, there are a number of unscrupulous sites that promise big payouts, then try to short-change you once the phone has been sent.
Looking for a new phone contract? Compare deals with uSwitch now!
Sell your old tablet
A number of these sites offer cash for old tablets too, so if your old iPad or Kindle is sitting unloved and unused, cash it in too!
Sell your old DVDs
A host of sites will pay you for your old DVDs, but the amounts are often paltry.
All you have to do is enter the barcode from your DVD on sites like MusicMagpie, Zapper and CeX, and the site will give you a price for your DVD.
It’s worth comparing what you will get from a few different sites, as the values can vary significantly.
We ran the rule over what you could expect in Selling DVDs UK: MusicMagpie versus Zapper, CeX, Ziffit and Momox.
Sell at a car boot sale
You could enjoy a more significant return selling your old bits and bobs at a car boot sale.
You can find your local sale at carbootjunction.com.
It’s probably a good idea to go down to a sale first, to get an idea of where the best pitches are and pick up some tips on how best to flog your wares!
For a great guide on how to do it properly, check out Car boot sales: top tips to sell successfully.
Direct selling
Alternatively, you could try direct selling to a firm such as Avon or Usborne Books.
A good place to find out which companies are worth looking into is the Direct Selling Association.
You should also read our excellent guide on How to make money around having a family.
Make money from online searches
How often do you reckon you search for something on Google, Amazon, eBay or Yahoo? Most of us search on at least one of these sites fairly regularly.
But thanks to a site called Qmee, you can get paid for these searches.
Enter your search term as usual, and a Qmee result will appear alongside the normal search results. Click on the Qmee result and you’ll pocket a cash reward.
It’s only a few pennies a time, but it can quickly add up. For more details, read Qmee: get paid to search online.
Have opinion, will travel…
Sign up to a market research firm and you’ll be sent invites to take part in all sorts of survey projects, with a cash incentive.
For example, by signing up to Focus4People, we got invitations to take part in surveys on travel, news, energy and credit, which offered up to £50 for one hour.
The downside is that to take part you may need to travel, and slots are often during the day.
But if that doesn’t bother you, it’s an easy way to make a little extra money.
Swagbucks lets you earn money from the comfort of your own home, but the amount you earn is pretty limited.
…or just watch the telly
Even better, why not get paid to watch the telly? Thanks to TheViewers.co.uk you can make a few quid just for having an opinion about some TV shows.
This might mean giving feedback on what you’ve watched recently, reviewing a new show before it airs nationally, or helping develop ideas for new shows.
To find out more, read Join TheViewers and get paid to watch TV.
Sell yourself
No, not like that! But if you have a useful skill or two, why not make the most of them?
On PeoplePerHour.com, there are thousands of people adept at website design, image editing, writing and social media who are selling their services an hour at a time.
If you are more useful with your hands – perhaps you are a dab hand with a paintbrush or a bit of carpentry – then why not stick an ad on a site like Gumtree or in your local newsagent?
Play video games
Yes, it really is possible. There are thousands of people streaming their game playing on sites like Twitch, and some are making a pretty decent living from it.
It’s certainly not easy though. Check out our guide to making money from video games for more information.
Start a YouTube channel
Along similar lines, why not start a YouTube channel? The hosts of some channels are pocketing millions each year, and you could get a slice of the action too!
Read Make money from YouTube if you want to find out more information.
*This article contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission on any sales of products or services we write about. This article was written completely independently
More on making money:
How to make money as an Uber driver
Shpock: boot sale app to rival eBay and Gumtree
How to make money with Deliveroo
Selling gift cards UK: Zeek versus Zapper and Cardyard
Source: easy ways to make money
