Need to Make Some Extra Money? Here Are 30 Side Jobs You Can Try

Are you ready to finally start earning more money this year? Who isn't?

A few years ago I was working at a job that didn't quite pay all my bills. Sound familiar? Even if you have all your bills paid, earning a few bucks on the side isn't such a bad thing.

While you could work more hours at the office or start your side business, there are also plenty of other chances for you to easily earn money on the side without much effort. Don't believe me? Check out the following thirty examples.

1. Write/Blog

If you have expert advice to share or are passionate about a certain topic then you can get paid to actually write about about your experience or hobby. You can start by launching your own blog. After you do promotions on social media, reach out to influencers, and find guest writing opportunities to validate that you're an industry leader, you can charge for ad space or become an affluent marketer. Pat Flynn is an excellent resource if you want to know how lucrative blogging can be, so I suggest you check out his advice.

Besides your own blog you can also get paid to write for other people. The problem with writing for others is that sometimes you'll only be able to find low-paying writing gigs on sites like Upwork. There are, however, plenty of decent paying writing job opportunities - sometimes in the range of $40 to $100 range. To help you get started, review this list put together by Writers in Charge.

2. Temp

There's no shortage of companies who are in need of either short-term or contract employees. In fact, you can do a quick search on Google and find hundreds of temp and hiring agencies in your region. Not only can this help you find a quick side gig, temping allows you to develop new skills and potentially land a permanent position that is better than your current position.

3. Invest in Real Estate

When I was younger I was part of school maintenance crew during my summer vacation. I'll never forget the advice that one of the full-time employees told us kids - purchase land, because there's only so much of it. Even though the housing market has gone through some pretty significant changes, there's still an opportunity to make side money by flipping houses, renting out vacation home, duplexes, triplexes, quads, commercial spaces, and undeveloped land.

4. Develop Websites or Applications

If you enjoy tinkering around with code, then why aren't you cashing in on your skills? Coders can make between $75 to $150 per hour. Best of all, you can even use free software to design your programs, which means you can cut out this expense and keep it in your wallet. Also, if you are not using this skill at least part of the time, you will become a little rusty at it. Then, when you need it, the skill won't be there or you will have a lull while you get yourself back up to speed. Here is a guide to programming that I put together for everyone out there looking to get started.

5. Give Tours of Your City

If you're intimately familiar with your hometown, and you love sharing that knowledge, then why not give tours of your city when you have downtime - like on the weekends?

While you could start you own tour guide business, you can also use sites like ToursByLocals, Shiroube, or Vayable to find tour guide opportunities.

6. Offer Calligraphy

If you have beautiful penmanship you could start a side calligraphy business where people will pay you for your handwriting, such as couples sending out wedding invites. If you want to see how it's done, visit Graceful Expressions Calligraphy to get inspired.

7. Run Errands

Personally, I don't mind running errands. It's a chance for for me to get out of the house and clear my head. But, there are a lot of people who don't have the time, ability, or the desire to run their errands. That's when you can use an app like TaskRabbit.com, Postmates, Agent Anything, or Door Dash (which I personally use everyday) to earn extra money running errands whenever your schedule is free.

8. Take in a Boarder

If you have spare room bedroom, you could rent it out on Airbnb. Or, if you don't want a revolving door in your home of guests coming and going, then you can take in a boarder. Before just letting anyone rent out the room, Money Crashers suggests that you check out the local rates for renting rooms, interview applicants, run a background check, and establish boundaries immediately.

9. Paint Murals

If you're a talented artist you can get paid to paint amazing murals. When starting out, make sure that you create your portfolio, produce eye-catching promo materials, and promote your business at local home and garden shows, for example.

10. Wash Cars

If you don't mind your clothes getting a little wet, then you can start washing cars for your friends, family, or neighbors on the weekends. If business is slow, you can also wash cars on the side for a dealership. The pay isn't great, maybe under $10, but it's an easy job you could do it when you have the free time.

11. Sign Up for Medical Tests

If you have no problem being a guinea pig, and you live in close proximity to a university, then you can participate in medical testing like clinical trials. Some medical experiments can pay anywhere hundreds, even thousands, of dollars for a study.

12. Set Up a Roadside Stand

Whether it's fresh produce from your garden, flowers, or snacks/souvenirs for travelers, you can set up roadside stand during high traffic times to bring in a couple of extra bucks. If you don't have a place to set-up shop, you can take this idea and apply it to concert or sporting events when audience members are leaving and are in need or a snack or bottle of water.

13. Cater Waiter

Since most catered events take place on the weekends, there shouldn't be an issue squeezing this side gig into your schedule. Check your local classifieds or sites like Indeed to find a catering waiter job in your area.

14. Rent Chickens

Yes. You read that correctly. If you have outdoor space for a chicken coop then you can rent chickens from RentACoop and then sell the fresh eggs to your friends, family, neighbors, or even at that roadside stand that you've already built.

15. Scalp Tickets (Legally)

Let me start by saying that ticket resellers can be a major headache. However, it's comforting to know that an event is never truly sold out as long as you're willing to pay the price. With that in mind, reselling tickets is an incredibly easy way earn a couple of extra bucks. Just purchase a pair of tickets for an upcoming event and sell them on StubHub at a marked-up price. Easy, right? Before listing your tickets, browse StubHub and see what other ticket prices are currently selling for.

16. Put Ads on Your Car

Since you're driving around town anyways, and don't have to time to work for Uber, you could just put ads on your vehicle. Companies like Carvertise pay drivers $100 per month. That's not too shabby for something you're doing anyway. Just be wary of scams that ask you to pay something upfront.

17. Sell Pictures Online

If you're a photography, or enjoy photography as a hobby, then sell the photos that you've taken on site like Fotolia, Shutterstock, Flickr Collection on Getty Images, or SmugMug.

18. Flip Websites

If you have the cash and don't mind investing in a website and putting some time in developing it, like creating quality content on it, then you can actually flip it for a nice little profit. Flippa is the best place to purchase and sell domains. I personally have been able to flip almost $300,000 on this site over the past couple years. I also found my current company domain on this site!

19. Frequent Flyer Specialist

Do you have a knack for redeeming frequent flyer miles that get you the most bang for your buck? You can actually become a frequent flyer specialist and charge travelers around more than $60 for simply planning an itinerary.

20. Lifeguard

In high school I had gym teacher who was a lifeguard at the beach during the summer. In retrospect, I think that's an awesome side gig. You get to spend the summer at the shore, and potentially save some lives, that's a nice way to make some extra dough. Lifeguards may not make much, between $10-$12, however, it is a fulfilling duty.

21. Invent a Product

Thanks to crowdfunding site like Kickstarter it's never been easier to fund your product idea. Don't get caught in creating something too complicated though. There are low-risk and inexpensive inventions that you can develop - just like Spanx.

22. Substitute Teach

If you have a flexible schedule, or a schedule where you have a couple of days off during the week, you can sub. It's an incredibly easy gig that can pay anywhere between $75 to $150 a day.

23. Patent Researcher

Patent researchers are hired by either law firms, research businesses, the federal government and corporations to make sure that an idea is original. Researchers can make between $100 to $1500.

24. Referee

If you're a sports fanatic then you can actually be a part of the action by becoming qualified as a ref or ump - just make sure that you're unbiased. Games usually take place on nights or weekends, so you should be able to fit this into your schedule. Depending on where you live, you could make around $56 per varsity game.

25. Play Dress-Up

What I mean here is that you can become a mascot or beloved character part-time. For example, the Chick-fil-A Cow Mascot earns between $20-$30/gig and portraying Santa Claus can bring in another $1,000-$2,000 per season.

26. Fitness Instructor

You can teach a class before or after work in which you could earn approximately $125 per class. That's not a bad deal since it also ensures that you stay healthy. Some people don't need some big expert fitness guru, they merely need someone to walk around the block with them and they are willing to pay for this service.

27. Group Cruise Planner

You can organize cruise trips for groups and earn a commission between 15% and 18% of the cruise fare. Some planners have earned over $4,000 for planning just three cruises.

28. Earn Cash Back

If you're shopping, why not get rewarded? Sites like Ebates offer cash back if you start shopping from that site. Just be careful that you don't go overboard because that kinda defeats the purpose.

29. Find Free Money

Sound too good to be true? It's not. There are several places where you can discover free money. They include your state's treasurer, insurance company, IRS, treasury bonds, and pensions. This is one that several friends are doing very well at.

30. Collect Loose Change

Take a look through your junk drawers, clothes, couch cushion, or vehicle. I bet you'll quickly notice that there's some loose change laying around. It may not make you a millionaire, but you'd surprised at how much money has been thrown around and forgotten.

What other good ways have you found to make extra money on the side?

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

Source: Need to Make Some Extra Money? Here Are 30 Side Jobs You Can Try