You will find loads of ways to make money online and from home if you do a search on the internet. But how many of them are worth doing?
I thought I would try some and let you know my thoughts on each. None them will make you a fortune, but if you are sitting around with not much else to do (and let’s face it, many of us are at the moment), they might provide some amusement as well as bringing in some extra money.
This is by no means a comprehensive list, just some ways to make money online and from home that I have tried personally. Please add yours in the comments!
EASY WAYS TO EARN MONEY ONLINE AND AT HOME
Survey sites
Prolific
Prolific is one of the few online survey sites I have found that are worth spending your time on. Researchers from all over the world post studies on Prolific, and they are actually quite interesting to participate in.
According to the website, you should always earn at least £5 per hour for taking part in their research studies.
This won’t earn you huge amounts of money, as you can’t predict how many surveys you will be offered, but it can make a few extra £££s in a short time. My balance is currently £16.39 for 13 submissions, most taking no more than 10 minutes at a time. I had a couple time out on me when I had to take phone calls, so start them when you are confident you aren’t going to be interrupted.
I have been doing surveys on Prolific every now and again for a few years and prefer this to any other survey site, partly because you are taking part in useful academic studies and party because they are worthwhile financially. The latest study I took part in was about – you guessed it – covid-19, and paid me the princely sum of £1.88 for ten minutes of my time.
YouGov
YouGov* is my daughter Izzy’s favourite survey site. She got offered very few surveys to complete with Prolific, so tried this one instead.
You collect points for each one you complete and when you get to a tally of 5000 you will earn £50. Izzy says you get around 10-50 points per survey, but most are towards the top end of this.
I joined myself after Izzy’s recommendation and found the surveys quick and easy to do. They were also relatively interesting, although more general than Prolific. I earned 160 points doing three surveys which took around 15 minutes.
*The above link is my referral code and I earn 200 points for everyone that signs up and completes 6 surveys.
Qmee
Qmee was another of Izzy’s suggestions, although I didn’t like it as much as YouGov. The initial survey they gave me took a good 25 minutes, was extremely boring (being about sports, which I have little interest in) and paid me a measly 73p.
The second one, supposedly about leisure but actually about individual companies, was also really dull. The problem was that the questions were all very similar multiple choice and drilled down into minute detail. This took 2o minutes and earned me 30p. I have done a few others since, and they all seem to take longer than the estimated amount of time, which is a little irritating.
I have completed my profile as suggested, which Qmee say will open up better paying surveys. We shall see!
Maybe I will try a few more surveys and see if they get any better, but this one is strictly for when I would otherwise be twiddling my thumbs I think. I can think of more lucrative ways to spend my time.
Selling your old stuff
eBay
eBay has to top my list of ways to make money online – it is, after all, the world’s largest marketplace. I sell on here regularly and it is very straightforward to use. The eBay app is probably easier than doing it on a PC, but it’s swings and roundabouts.
I wrote a whole post on the topic of selling on eBay, so if you have had a clear out and want to make some money from your old stuff, read this post.
You can easily make quite a bit of extra cash on eBay, in my opinion.
Depop
I have tried and failed to make any money selling on Depop. However, I know people who are much more successful. Like the eBay app, it is very easy and straightforward to use, but has an odd Instagram style ‘you follow me, I will follow you back’ type vibe that I couldn’t get my head round.
Depop is good if you are selling hip vintage type apparel, especially if you can model it yourself. Maybe that’s where I failed – I just couldn’t fit into the lurid green 70s dresses I was trying to flog!
Facebook Marketplace/local selling groups
I have managed to clear out heavy items very quickly via Facebook when I offered them for free. It’s great to stop items going to the tip. However….
When I came to sell things I had a fair few time wasters. People would arrange to come to collect and then not turn up – this happened several times and was really irritating. I also had people asking me to deliver things, when I had quite clearly put them as collection only.
I would use it again, but probably for big things that I was prepared to either give away or sell very cheaply.
Vinted
At one point I did have quite a lot of clothing listed on Vinted*. However, I could command a much higher price on eBay. I’m not sure why this it, but Vinted does seem to be a place people expect to find bargains.
So if you are happy to sell your old togs for under a tenner, Vinted might work for you. Certainly my daughter Beccy was selling three or four items a week at one point when she had a huge clearout.
I found things hung around a lot longer on there, however, so if you want to get hold of cash quickly you would probably be better sticking to eBay. It is only for clothes, shoes and accessories.
Another potential downside: I found it slightly annoying that people could make you an offer on something which you accepted but they weren’t obliged to then purchase it (unlike on eBay when if you put in an offer it was considered sold). You also cannot access your funds until the buyer has received the items and is happy with it.
*This is my refer-a-friend link and I will earn a £5 commission if you sign up and list three items.
Ziffit
Ziffit will buy your old books, DVDs, CDs and games. I have sent boxes off in the past and earned around £10-12each time.
It’s worth doing if you have a lot of books, but Ziffit won’t accept them all. It can be frustrating when you scan several bar codes and Ziffit don’t want any of them! Even when they do, they usually give you less than £1. I had one, which they gave me a fiver for. On reflection, it was probably worth quite a lot and I should have researched selling it separately online.
It is very straightforward, quick and easy to use this app.
Music Magpie is a similar system but when I signed up they didn’t want any of my old CDs, so I ended up donating them to the charity shop!
Make money from your receipts
Receipt hog
I have been using Receipt Hog for a while now and I find it quite fun to use. However, I haven’t had many receipts to scan in of late….
It’s quite a fun way to make money online really. The idea is that each time you scan in a receipt you earn coins. Once you have got to 1000 you can trade in for a $3 Amazon voucher.
Unless you are a serious shopaholic, it can take a while to hit this landmark, but I rather like this little app. You can even play ‘hog slots’ – a slot machine game to earn more coins.
Zipzero
Zipzero is another app that is after your shopping receipts. The big difference between this and Receipt Hog is that you can use the cash you earn to spend on your monthly bills.
You get 1% of the value of each receipt and up to £50 a month to pay towards your bills. This could be really useful cash towards your energy, water, broadband or council tax.
Again, I haven’t been shopping enough to upload lots of receipts yet, but I have high hopes for this little app.
None of these ideas will make your fortune. However, every little helps!
This post gives more ideas to create a potentially lucrative side hustle, or check out my side hustle series for even more inspiration, including posts from guest bloggers.
Do you have any easy ways to make money online or from home in some way?
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