How to Make Money from Home: 23 Proven Ways

1. Rent out rooms in your home

One of the more traditional forms of earning extra money is to rent out rooms in your home and have housemates. Nowadays, you can also rent out rooms via Airbnb for long- or short-term stays.

In either case, you'll want good liability insurance and to choose a way that gives you the level of control you need over who is in your home. If you want to vet the person who will be renting, then you'd want to avoid Airbnb's instant-booking feature that allows people to simply book without contacting you.

Finally, make sure local laws, including HOA regulations if you deal with those, allow you to rent part of your home. Many HOAs ban short-term rentals, for example, even if they're just for a room.

If you're the one looking for housing, you can still make money from home—by being a housesitter. This is where you effectively babysit someone's home by living in it while they're gone on an extended vacation, for example.

Each home will have rules that you have to follow, such as whether or not you have to clean the home weekly or if you have to provide your own food. You can find these situations either through word of mouth or through sites dedicated to matching housesitters and homeowners. For some of these situations, the "pay" might be free rent, but others may pay you on top of having you stay.

3. Become an online tutor

If you know a subject well or are a native English speaker, you can sign up with an online tutoring company to offer your knowledge for pay. You might tutor a specific person in English or find people who need help with physics, if that's your specialty. Subjects include anything you could learn, including musical instruments.

4. Rent out your car

If you don't want to rent out your home, you can rent out your car. You will have to meet platform requirements regarding cleanliness, repairs, and overall condition. You'll want to ensure your car insurance allows you to do this, too, and find out from the rental platform what protection you have if the renter gets a ticket or gets into an accident in your car.

5. Start a freelance business

Freelancers are self-employed, and they run businesses that require licensing from the city or county and that have a tax structure such as a sole proprietorship or LLC. And you can make money from home as a freelancer, doing graphic design, writing, or another type of work. Do what you can to set aside estimated taxes whenever you get paid. It is all too easy to fall behind.

6. Pet sitting at your home

Pet sitting can involve you going to someone's home to check on and feed their pet. Or, you could have the pet stay at your home instead, if the owner doesn't want the pet to be alone most of the time. There are sites that match sitters with pet owners, and take note that it might take time to get started. You've got to build up word of mouth with owners so that others on the platform know that you'll take good care of their pets.

As with other work-from-home options that involve living things, make sure your landlord allows pets if you rent your home and check with the platform about what to do regarding medical costs if the pet has an emergency at your home—you might need pet insurance.

If you're pretty popular on social media or have a skill that could be popular on a streaming site like Twitch, look into monetizing those accounts. YouTube videos can make you cash, too, if you and the videos meet certain requirements.

In all of these cases, you'll have to build a following and meet guidelines for content, but whether you try to be an Instagram or TikTok influencer or have cat videos that get you royalties from ad views, you'll find your niche.

8. Sell web domain names

If you're really good at spotting trends and want to be actively involved in your money-making (and not have a passive process), flipping domain names might be your thing. This is where you buy domain names and then sell them to people who want to use them. People hold a website domain that another person or company wants to use, and that person or company has to buy the domain name to use it. So, the holder makes cash.

These deals are not always huge moneymakers; you'll hear about major sales where a multimillion-dollar company buys some guy's web domain name, but most of the time the sales are far smaller. Still, it's an option for earning money that you can do from home.

9. Make and sell homemade crafts, clothes, and art

If you're an artist, tailor/sewist, crafter, or what have you, you can sell your wares online. Your options generally are to set up your own website with a store that people can purchase from online, sell on a crafts-dedicated site like Etsy, or sell on an online marketplace like Etsy, Redbubble or even Amazon. Selling on another company's site will be easier if you don't like advertising yourself, but you'll have to give the site a cut of your profits or pay fees. If you want all the money from the sales for yourself, you'll have to set up your own website, hire designers and web security firms, and run everything yourself.

10. Trade cryptocurrencies

Just as you can trade stocks, so can you trade cryptocurrencies. You'll need to set up an account with a cryptocurrency site and choose your type of wallet (be careful here as "hot" and "cold" wallets each have different restrictions). You can choose to trade in futures or buy the currency and hold onto it as it rises or falls in price, selling it when it reaches a price you want in cash.

Cryptocurrency is still an evolving field, subject to more tax regulations and to the whims of the market. People can make money at this, but proceed with caution.

11. Trade foreign currencies (FOREX)

You can also trade foreign currencies, but start small in this field as the financial losses can be big if you make a mistake. You'll need an account on a trading platform and can set up automated trades or handle them yourself.

Do your due diligence regarding the currency you want to trade; most platforms will have articles about how to start trading. Trading may be as simple as holding a currency and selling it when it's worth more than your home currency (e.g., the U.S. dollar for people in the U.S.) or more traditional FOREX trading where you look at pairs of currencies.

12. Get an at-home customer service job

If you'd prefer a more traditional part-time job but really want to work from home, look into customer service. A lot of customer service representatives actually work out of their homes now instead of at call centers. You may need specific phone equipment, including a headset with a microphone, and you definitely need a quiet environment.

13. Upload and sell stock photos

If you like taking photos and are good with both getting the shot and processing it into a clear image, you might look into selling your photos through an online stock-photo catalog. Some photos can be free under certain circumstances (e.g., for non-commercial use), while others can get you some royalties. Be sure to look at the site's terms and make sure you retain the main rights to each photo.

14. Be a virtual assistant

Many people who run solo businesses, especially those who are online who have gotten really popular, often have virtual assistants. These are remote admin assistants who help with administrative tasks and marketing from their own homes, instead of going into an office. You can find virtual assistant openings both through word of mouth and through job sites.

15. Sign up with survey sites

If you want to make a little extra money and not have a set schedule, look at signing up with survey sites. These sites have you take surveys and give you payment at the end. The payment might be held in an account until you reach a certain payout level, or you might receive gift certificates or cards for companies like Amazon. Note that you won't qualify for every type of survey as each looks for a certain demographic. But it can be a fun way to make a little extra money.

Why should Amazon and Overstock get all the goods? Why not start your own ecommerce site and offer a platform for people to sell their stuff? OK, that's not the easiest way to make money from home, but it's not as hard to set up if you know where you can get willing sellers who will use the platform.

No one said you had to aim for Etsy-level competition right away, of course. But, if you like running websites, running your own ecommerce site could get your extra income rolling in fast once sales start being made. You'll want to create a sales funnel that helps the site get more sales without you having to actively seek out buyers.

17. Monetize a blog

Have you noticed how many food blogs there are now, how many home-decor blogs, how many knitting blogs? Tools, comics, math explanations, you name it, and there's a community of blogs for it. And each community continues to grow. You could start a blog and monetize it, meaning you join advertising and affiliate programs, sell ebooks, and add other features that allow money to flow toward you.

For example, you might sign up for Google Adsense and get paid each time someone clicks through on an ad on your site. Blogs can be about anything; the hardest part is getting a substantial following and enough traffic to generate income. Take a look at different blogs as many have posts on how the owners moved into full-time blogging.

18. Work remotely as a social media manager

Want a chance to use your wit or offer cool explanations of cooking and related phenomena? Want to simply promote your favorite product? See if that company has an opening for a social media manager that allows you to work remotely. You'd manage the company's social media postings; some positions might also have you troubleshoot or be the front-line customer service contact for people tweeting at the company, for example.

19. Sell your old stuff online

Got some old family items that you no longer want, like dishes or lamps? Sell them on sites like Etsy and eBay. Got a ton of old books? Sell them on Amazon as a third-party seller. Clothes? There are a bunch of used-clothing companies that will take shipments of your clothes and sell them on consignment.

20. Sell others’ old stuff online

If you don't have things of your own to sell, you can look through thrift stores and garage sales for items that you can fix up and sell. Be aware that this has become so popular that there is a lot of competition in some quarters when stores get new donations or shipments.

21. Be a website tester

Functionality is essential for all websites but especially for businesses who rely on their websites to get customers or make sales. You can try being a website tester who evaluates websites by trying them out and letting the customer know what you thought. Sometimes these involve conversations with the customer, while other times you'll fill out a questionnaire. You'll need fairly up-to-date computer access, but this can be a fast way to get a few dollars per site.

22. Cook or bake, and sell your creations

If your city has legalized selling home-baked goods from your own kitchen, you might look into that if you like to bake or don't mind making meals to go. Once you build up a reputation for safe, delicious food (and after you've gone through the city's inspection and permitting process), you could earn money in your own kitchen, selling meals and different foods.

Generally, people will come to your home to pick up the food, you'll deliver the food, or you'll run a mail-order business for non-perishable goods like cookies. You can sell on your own in your neighborhood, or you can join a site that matches people looking for food with your cooking.

23. Start subscriptions and support accounts

Related to monetizing your blog or social media is the path of starting subscriptions and support or donation accounts. A blogger might offer exclusive content for people who sign up for a subscription through the blog or through a site like Patreon. You might offer links that allow readers to donate money on sites like Ko-Fi. These should serve as additional income streams that show up occasionally; do not assume they will become regular sources of income.

How can Mailchimp help?

As you've likely noticed, many of these options involve running your own website. You'll need a site that functions smoothly and that is built well, allowing visitors to navigate easily. Mailchimp can help you create your site, set up marketing campaigns, find the right lead-capture methods, and much more. In our Marketing Library, you can find numerous articles on all aspects of digital marketing.