Over the last year, we’ve spent more time at home than ever before. Stay-at-home measures brought on by the pandemic have left us scratching our heads thinking about the new hobbies we could undertake from the confines of our living rooms. It’s safe to say that many of us have also binged on Netflix and tackled those novels we never thought we’d have time to read.
As far as work has been concerned, the priority for most of us has just been keeping hold of our current jobs as a COVID-led recession started to bite. But for others, the time created by no longer having to commute spurred another question — how to make a little extra cash from the comfort of our own homes, trading our talents and wares online.
It’s not a trivial question either. The little-known wonder of compound interest means that earning even as little as $50 or $100 extra dollars a month can have a transformative impact on your finances over the long term. This is particularly the case if you invest the money into assets like shares or bonds and then reinvest the proceeds of any growth back into purchasing more of those assets. There are funds available that enable you to do this in a process known as accumulation.
An extra $100 a month sounds possible, right? There are reasonably quick ways to generate extra cash in your spare time that means you don’t have to give up seeing your family members in the evening or forgoing the time you currently spend on your favorite hobbies. Better yet, you could combine the two, commercializing your passions so that making extra cash doesn’t even feel like work.
So, with all this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of easy ways for you to make money from home.
Crafting, then selling your products in international marketplaces such as Etsy
Do you enjoy crafting in your spare time? Turns out age-old hobbies such as crocheting and sewing are enjoying a bit of a renaissance, with a strong market for authentic, handmade and individualized toys and gifts.
There are so many great websites out there selling anything from crochet blankets to handmade jewelry. Whether you have a small yet established business and are looking for ways to grow your brand, or are a complete novice looking to take your hobby to the next level and earn a bit of extra cash on the side, marketplaces such as Etsy are very easy to join and can help you succeed.
Not only do you get your own mini-website to sell from, ready-made templates and easy-to-follow guidance for setting up, but there is also an online service available so you can speak to support specialists.
Etsy’s fee structure is very reasonable and affordable too (with listings starting from as little as $0.20 before sales fees).
Other platforms include ‘Amazon Handmade’. For those of you who already have experience in selling your craft, this could be a good option. Based in Canada is iCraft Gifts. It is a smaller firm looking to become a household name in selling handmade crafts and has already enjoyed 1.3 million unique visitors in the last six months.
Freelance writing anyone?
Others might feel more comfortable with building sentences than they are physically making things. That’s fine. There are plenty of reputable freelance writing agencies out there offering fees of around $30 or more for a 1,000-word article.
You’ll have to submit some examples of your work to be considered by them and then, to begin with, you may need to accept quite a diverse range of topics to write about. You could write product reviews, game reviews, or even casino reviews. This could involve committing to a good few hours of desktop research before you write your first word in order to sound authoritative on your subject matter. But if you’re able to impress the client enough and therefore obtain a regular account or repeat business on similar topics, the time it takes to write high-quality copy will rapidly dwindle as you build up your expertise.
Mystery shopping
Another way of making some cash on the side would be a bit of mystery shopping. Who doesn’t love shopping? Research suggests there are over 1.5 million mystery shoppers worldwide. What could be better than getting paid to eat out at a local restaurant and then leaving a review? OK, you might need to wait a few months to eat out, but you can do mystery shopping online too — for example, getting paid to evaluate a client’s website or online chat function from a customer experience.
Mystery shopping is market research in its simplest form. To qualify, you’ll typically need to be 18 years or over, have a valid email address and strong communication skills.
So, there you have it, lots of ways to make extra cash from the comfort of your own living room. Build up your reserves for when society reopens and we can all go back to eating out in restaurants and generally going back to what we know and love.
Just remember that learning a new commercial skill isn’t just useful during the lockdown. The rise of e-commerce around the world means that labor (that’s the people like us who make up the workforce) is going to become increasingly mobile in the years ahead. That’s the beauty of the global scale of the internet — it’s a marketplace all earners will need to become increasingly familiar with.
