Side hustles are great for bringing in extra income to pay off debt or increase savings. Depending on how serious you are about accomplishing your financial goals, you may be willing to take a side hustle you really don’t like. Such as delivering pizzas or driving for Uber. It’s not glamorous, but the extra income is great! That being said, not all side hustles need to be miserable! You can make extra money doing something you enjoy while even working from home!
When my husband, Jacob, and I were working on paying off $87,000 of debt, we took on a few different side hustles. I did social media management for a small business and Jacob picked up some handyman gigs from Facebook. By doing these side hustles, we were able to pay off our debt faster!
I love a good side hustle. But I also love flexibility. So finding a way to make extra money from home is a win-win! If you are looking for a side hustle to do from the comfort of your own home, here are 5 to check out today!
1. Bookkeeper
A remote bookkeeper gig can be great if you are organized and are good on a computer. I’m an accountant by day but don’t think that you necessarily need to be an accountant to be able to be a bookkeeper. Bookkeepers track income and expenses, pay bills, and run financial reports for businesses. Many businesses use Quickbooks or some other type of software to keep track of their books. If you know how to use Quickbooks, then this is really an awesome gig!
The typical bookkeeper makes around $17 an hour but I’ve even heard of bookkeepers who make up to $50 an hour! You can find these sorts of jobs by browsing job sights like Indeed or reaching out to small businesses to see if they could use your remote services. If you are organized and like numbers, this can be an amazing side hustle opportunity!
2. Teach English Online
Teaching English online with VIPKid is another great side hustle opportunity if you enjoy working with children. I know a lot of people in the #debtfreecommunity have done this side hustle and rave about it all over Instagram. By working with VIPKid, you can make between $14 to $22 an hour!
With VIPKid, you log onto your computer and teach English as a second language to children on the other side of the world via a video platform. All of the teaching materials are provided for you. You will just need to take a little bit of time to review them yourself beforehand so that you feel prepared.
To apply to be a teacher with VIPKid, you don’t need to be a professional teacher! You just need to have a bachelor’s degree, be eligible to work in the U.S. or Canada, and have one year of teaching experience. This experience can include being a coach, mentor or even a Sunday school teacher. You can pick the sessions that work best in your schedule. Although when you live in the U.S. and are teaching remotely on the other side of the world, some of the sessions can be really late at night or really early. But if you’re serious about getting out of debt and enjoy teaching, then teaching with VIPKid can be a great way to make some extra cash!
3. Start A Blog
This is a side hustle that I have done myself! I started my blog in May of 2016 to share about our personal finance journey as we were paying off debt. I started it on a free wordpress platform and I thought “maybe I could make money someday…” but didn’t pursue it. A year later I decided to start taking blogging more seriously so I signed up with bluehost to begin hosting a professional site with my own domain for only a few dollars a month.
I learned that you really can make money blogging! You make money blogging with ad revenue, affiliate revenue, sponsorships and selling your own product (learn more here). I have a full time job so blogging has definitely been part time and on the side for me. I made my first money with my blog through affiliate marketing (after taking the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing class which I’d highly recommend). What started out as maybe $100 a month from blogging has now grown to $2,000 a month from all income streams with my blog and YouTube channel. Again, super part time.
This side hustle can definitely take time to grow. Not a lot of people make it big really fast. But if you’re interested in sharing something you’re passionate about and are playing the long game, then blogging can be a fun way to make money! I’m hoping to turn it into my full time gig someday.
Learn about how to start a blog here.
4. Transcribing
Another side hustle that you can do from home is transcribing. There are a lot of online companies out there who need people to listen to an audio or watch a video and type out what is being said. I have done this before with Rev. You create an account and see what kinds of jobs are available, and are able to choose projects from there. You get paid variable amounts depending on the job. This is a great side hustle for you if you are great at typing!
5. Selling On Etsy
If you are crafty or like to create things, consider selling your creations on Etsy! I actually have my own Etsy shop where I sell my budget templates for $5 as an instant excel download. Therefore, you don’t even need to sell a physical product on Etsy! I love selling my templates because it’s become a pretty passive income stream for me and I make about $250-300 a month from selling a product that I created once!
If owning your own business interests you and you feel like you could sell something you’ve made (whether physical or electronic) consider listing it on Etsy as a side hustle from home.
Benefits of Side Hustles
Having a side hustle can be so beneficial to your financial future. But you also don’t need to hate your life while trying to make more money. Try finding a side hustle that you enjoy or even offers you freedom like working from home. And then you’ll be on your way to earning extra income and accomplishing your financial goals.