How to make money from home

 Explore handy ways you can keep earning from home, in the long and short term.

There are plenty of reasons to want to make money from home – perhaps you’d like to supplement your main income, keep busy during parental leave, or even start a brand new career. We’ve put together a handy list of 26 ways to make some additional money from home (or in some instances, via the gig economy) – including everything from one-off tasks to ideas that may end up as an additional income stream.

1 Get paid to write online

If you’ve always wanted to be a writer, what better time to start? While a lot of online writing jobs don’t pay, there are still quite a few websites where you can make money by creating high quality, relevant content. You can get started by looking at:

• Listverse: a listicle website that will pay $100 per accepted article.
• Longreads: a long-form content site that pays competitive rates. The website doesn’t specify the amount paid but other websites and blogs have stated rates of $500-$1,500.
• Back2college: a site aimed at older students will pay $55+ per accepted article. 
• All Pet Voices: a pet website that pays $75 per accepted article.
• iWorkWell: a website for HR professionals and SMEs that pays $200 per accepted article. 
• Loaded Landcapes: a photography website that pays $20-150 per accepted article. 
• Income Diary: a website focussed on making money online that pays $200-$500 per accepted article. 
• A Fine Parent: a parenting website that pays $75 per accepted article. 

All of these sites only pay for accepted articles, so make sure that you review their criteria and read through the websites for an idea of their existing content and style before you start. Some websites also prefer to receive pitches before the main article. 

While a lot of freelance writers have regular clients, writing for some select websites allows you to build up a portfolio, create a niche, and work up to higher-paying and more reliable income, if that’s something that you want to pursue. 

2 Become a virtual assistant

If you’re a good communicator, have strong digital skills, and excellent organisational skills, you could work as a virtual assistant. You will need to accurately type at a speed of 80-100 wpm, work well remotely, and adjust to the needs of the business or person that you are assisting, but this is one of the more long-term and reliable options to make additional money. 

There are a number of virtual assistant websites like Virtalent and 24/7 Virtual Assistants, offering $10-12ph and 20-120 hours per month. However, these websites typically require extensive experience within the sector before they will take you on. If you’re new to being a VA or PA, you can apply for jobs on jobs websites like Reed, TotalJobs, or Glassdoor. 

If you’d like to brush up on your skills or improve your CV before you apply, you can take some free courses that can help you get hired by improving your communication, growing your digital skills, or just learning how to write a great job application. 

3 Have a clear-out

If you’ve noticed more clutter than usual – perhaps there are a few boxes that you still haven’t unpacked after moving, or a room that always looks overfull – you can clear out your home while making some money too. 

These websites are a great place to start once you’ve identified the items you’d like to sell:

Ebay is a great place to sell anything from garden furniture to old clothes and shoes.

Webuybooks will buy books, CDs, DVDs, and games. 

Music Magpie will buy phones, MacBooks, CDs, DVDs, games, books, and lego. 

Cex will buy phones, laptops, game consoles, DVD players, smartwatches, assorted tech, and DVDs/games. 

4 Get crafty

If you’re into arts and crafts, you could turn that hobby into an additional income. You can make your own jewellery, homemade cards, print t-shirts, upcycle things around the house, or even make beautiful terrariums to sell on sites like Etsy. 

Not all crafts sell well or will make a profit, so before you get started it’s a good idea to check out what’s already on there, how much it sells for, and compare it to what you’d expect for the time, effort, and spend associated with it. You can also see how much competition there is, and decide how you will make your own crafts stand out. 

5 Make money by taking surveys 

If you’d prefer a lower investment in both time and expense, you can make money by responding to surveys online. You can even do this while you’re binge-watching Netflix. The rewards depend on the website – some offer vouchers but a lot of them also payout via PayPal or directly to your bank. 

While it is relatively low-effort, it can also time quite a lot of time to build up your earnings – surveys pay as little as £0.05 and as much as £10 each, with the majority towards the lower end of the spectrum. You can get started with sites like YouGov, Prolific, Swagbucks, LifePoints, Survey Junkie, and OneOpinion.