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People Share The Unusual Ways They Make Money From Home

Photo: makemoneygk.blogspot.com

Making money can be a constant grind. You go to work, come home, eat, sleep, rinse and repeat – on and on, day in and day out. All to chase that paycheck. For lots of people, it’s enough to keep the lights on and still afford them a few luxuries here and there. For others, though, they’re always on the lookout for a way to make a few extra bucks on the side from the comfort of their own home.

Now you might think of working from home as selling scarves online, or simply working remotely. But, for many, having a side gig at home is anything but “usual.” From reselling found or reclaimed items online, to commissioned art, to participating in at-home medical trials, here are some of the more out-of-the-box ways people have found to make money from home…

Buy And Resell

Photo: shutterstock.com/George Sheldon

I’d buy stuff for next to nothing from charity shops or car boot sales and resell it on eBay. I used to make a decent profit, too. You have to make sure you have an eBay page that looks professional, and that your pictures and descriptions are good. Clothing and things considered ‘retro’ or ‘vintage’ or ‘quirky’ are always the best bet.

Now I see places like Urban Outfitters with their “vintage” rack selling charity shop goods for ridiculous prices. I have a friend who buys and sells a lot on eBay still; he’s a photographer and usually sells for more than he buys even after getting a good amount of use out of the item first – photography equipment, obviously. Makes good money off of it, too. Reddit user: JK07

Excess Inventory

Photo: flickr.com/Pip

I walked into a Staples that was having a moving sale a few months back. They had their entire stock of graphing calculators on sale for about 65% off. I bought them all and sold them over the next month or so on eBay and Amazon. I made about $1,500, all said and done, for selling about 45 calculators online to college kids.

I’ve done the same with office furniture, books, DVDs – you name it, I’ve probably bought and resold it. Not just online, either. Once in a while, if I’ve been able to get a lot of good stuff really cheap, I’ll have a garage sale and price it all a few bucks over what I paid. It’s not a lot of profit, but when you’ve got a big inventory, you’ve got to get rid of it somehow. Reddit user: [redacted]

Monster Trucks

Photo: flickr.com/Richtpt

I didn’t do this at home (you’ll see why), but I once got paid $20 an hour to slash car tires and smash out their windshields, windows, and mirrors. It was for a guy who did monster truck shows, by the way (I know what you were thinking), and they can’t drive over a car until all of the sharp and explosive bits have been taken care of. Fun job.

Plus, I got to see all the shows for free. I wasn’t a huge monster truck fan, but sometimes I’d stick around or even bring a friend if they OK’d it first. On the bright side, I now know how to remove windshields from cars. Not really a marketable skill the way I learned how, but I don’t know, it could save my life one day if being able to smash a window meant living or dying. Reddit user: lyndy650

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Origami Classes

Photo: flickr.com/bboylanky

I make origami animals. It’s pretty convenient because my zoology class requires an origami animal for a project. I’m the only one who actually likes to do this stuff. Depending on the difficulty of the animal, I charge somewhere between $5.00 and $8.00. But for $10.00, I’ll make an origami Batman. Some of my fellow students have been trying to pay me to make their animals.

I nipped that in the bud, though. Instead, I decided to charge them $30.00 per person for an hour-long origami class in my apartment. I covered the basics of folding and a few different animals. One guy got really ambitious and said he wanted to make a whale. I told him good luck and sent him to a website with some tutorials. He turned in a frog. I still give classes. Reddit user: Thisonework

Impromptu Valet

Photo: flickr.com/yonkershonda

Not at my house, but once, when I was at a bar where my friend worked as a bouncer, he came up to me and said, “That guy over there forgot where he parked his truck. He’ll pay you $20.00 to find it.” So, I talked to him, got a description of the truck, and then found it about 50 feet from the door of the bar.

I showed him where his truck was, he gave me 20 bucks, and I bought drinks for my friends. I did that for almost a solid year. It was crazy how many almost completely sober people forgot where their cars were. A few times I was even handed keys to bring the car around to the door. Pretty sure they just wanted “valet” service, though. Reddit user: ThatGuyFromOhio

The End Of The Season

Photo; flickr.com/Joe Shlabotnik

At the end of every ski season, I like to hike under all the lifts once the snow melts. I usually find 3 to 5 pairs of poles, several pairs of gloves, goggles, and all kinds of other equipment. I sell them on Craigslist and generally get around 100 to 200 dollars from all the stuff. You’d be surprised how many people drop both gloves or both poles.

I do find lots of singles, but the pairs are all I can sell. If I find two singles poles that are the same length, I combine them into a set. Sometimes I can combine single gloves that are close in style/size, as well. Not sure how much it snows around you, but I’ve dropped things before and they can be impossible to find. Reddit user: Drew-

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The Ol’ College Try

Photo: flickr.com/TheInvertedFan

I live in a college town with a student population of around 20,000. Each June, when students are moving out, you wouldn’t believe the things that are thrown out. Monitors, televisions, couches, clothing, etc. – all just tossed into dumpsters, or left outside dorms. I will generally grab things I see as potentially profitable and resell them on Craigslist.

If I find couches, I have a spare room at my house (I live near campus year round) and store them there. Then when school time comes around again, I resell these perfectly good couches, and make a respectable profit. The money I’ve made from doing this has paid for nearly all of my textbooks, and enabled me to live comfortably somewhat beyond the means of most college kids. Reddit user: [redacted]

Risk Taker

Photo: flickr.com/Piro

When I was in college, I made money on Craigslist and eBay by applying the skills I learned from using the WoW (World of Warcraft) auction house. I’d buy items I thought I could resell at a higher price. I’d make anywhere from $50 tp $300 a week – and one week I earned $564.21. But, I could also lose as much as $100 a week, if I picked bad items. Those are just risks you have to take.

I stopped when I graduated in favor of a “real” job and a steady income. I still have a collection of stuff I think I could sell again in case of financial emergency. Also, I have so much random crap in storage from this that I never could sell. Sewing kits, velvet paintings, clocks, Ed Hardy shirts. But, overall, I definitely made way more than I lost. Reddit user: [redacted]

There’s A Market For Everything

Photo: shutterstock.com/sezer66

It sounds crazy, but I used to sell vanity items in video games. Most casual game players would be surprised at the depth of an economy that some video games can offer. Everything from Dungeon Defenders to Team Fortress 2, to Planetside 2 to Diablo III. You can bet that if a game has an in-game Auction House, online store, or forum trading community, there’s a group of players that ride that economy like it’s the stock market.

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Just to clarify, I am NOT talking about hacking accounts and gold farming. I’m talking legit number crunching, buying, and trading done by actual players. Players that enjoy the economy more than the game content. If you dig deep enough in any of these games you’ll find a forum, server, or chat room where people wheel and deal real money for digital items. They have their own lingo, their own rules, and their own systems. Some people make bank. Reddit user: fat_computerguy

There’s Nothing Like Being Your Own Boss

Photo: flickr.com/John Douglas

When I was around 10, I’d ride my bike about a mile down the gravel road to the local golf course, and walk the perimeter looking for golf balls. I’d then set up just outside the fence at the second tee box and sell them for $0.50 each. I tell people this when asked what my first job was and they laugh. That is, until I tell them that the last time my sister and I did it, we made roughly $1,600.

Then, I turned 16 and got a “real” job after school. I mean, sure, I made more money than I did selling golf balls, but it taught me very early-on that there’s nothing like being your own boss. That’s why now, years later, I’m working on building my own business. I want that feeling of total freedom and control over my life again. Reddit user: cptnamr7

He’s Got The Goods

Photo: flickr.com/Tony Webster

I used to buy a lot of pop (soda) from the local cash & carry for something like 10p (pence, I live in the UK) for one. I’d buy crates of 24 and sell them at school for around 50p each. Eventually, I upped my business to include Kit Kats, Snickers, and just about any other candy bars I could buy cheap. It was a great deal considering the vending machines charged twice as much. I’d even sell these at a street stand in front of the house on weekends.

I made around £50 to £100 a week, especially since you weren’t allowed out to the shops at break times. Needless to say, I was very popular in school. Everyone knew I was the guy who had the goods. Except for the time when someone started going around saying that I “had the goods.” A teacher overheard and I had to speak with a counselor to learn about “poor life choices.” Reddit user: [redacted]

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Odd Jobs

Photo: shutterstock.com/Tony Webster

I have and have had lots of odd jobs in my life. I’ve given plasma about 30 times. It doesn’t really pay well, but it’s nice to have a little extra spending money. I also do side jobs for a company that audits inventories. I get a couple hundred bucks to sit at home and count widgets for a weekend. Not too shabby, if you ask me.

For my main part-time job, I install tarps on agricultural trailers. It’s an easy couple hundred a job. In high school, I sold sodas to kids for $0.50 because the school charged more for them. Also, in high school my mom paid me to dig big rocks out of our creek so she could put them in her garden, but I’m not sure that counts as a job, or if it was just bribery. Reddit user: Walks500Miles

Turn Around And Sell It

Photo: shutterstock.com/Vastram

We were having a cookout at my dad’s house once. I was nine at the time, and we were all in the front yard playing horseshoes (me not so much playing as retrieving). I saw that the house across the street from me had a chair in the front yard with a sign saying “free.” I ran over there, grabbed the chair, and went back and wrote a sign that said “chair for sale.”

I sat myself in the chair right next to the street holding the sign. About five minutes later a lady pulled up, asked about the chair, and if I was really selling it or if it was a joke. I said “Nope, it’s $15.00 for the chair, ma’am.” Made $15.00 selling a chair I got for free mere minutes beforehand. I always wonder if that lady would have bothered to stop to pick it up for free, or if it being $15.00 made it somehow worth something. Reddit user: [redacted]

Focus Groups

Photo: shutterstock.com/Louella938

There are tons of companies who “sell” focus groups for testing products. You can get a job with them online, and you basically just get random stuff in the mail to test. You even get an actual paycheck if you try it out and review it afterward. You don’t have to go anywhere or anything, which is probably the best part.

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You get to keep whatever you test, too. One time they just gave me an entire case of strawberry applesauce to try. Yup, I got paid to eat applesauce. I still have a lot of it left. No idea what I’m going to do with it. Maybe I’ll set up a stand on the side of the road. But, you see what I mean. It’s relatively lucrative, too, if you’re constantly checking it. Reddit user: [redacted]

Administration

Photo: flickr.com/edwardk662

I think it was six years ago that I rummaged through a 200-year-old mill that’d been torn down. Half-way through the project, the people who bought it decided to sell it again. The guy who bought it next told me I could keep whatever I found if I wanted it – as long I signed a waiver that said I wouldn’t sue him if I got hurt.

I found this set of doors that somehow survived the demo intact. Pretty sure they used to lead to an office. How do I know? The doors still had the glass panes with the words “Administration” painted on them. I picked them out of the rubble, cleaned them up a bit, and sold them for $350 on eBay. I love picking through old buildings. Reddit user: WeirdWolfGuy

Cutting Down On Waste

Photo: shutterstock.com/optimarc

My daughter wanted to go to the Girl Scout jamboree, but I couldn’t afford the $1,600 (yikes) for her to go, so I had to get creative. The winery I work at had oak planks we put in the wine tanks. Instead of putting wine in barrels, we basically put the barrel in the wine for flavor. I don’t know how to describe what it does, but it makes a difference.

Anyway, the oak is, essentially, a waste product after being used, so I asked if I could start taking it home. They said “sure,” so I gathered it all, cut it into small chunks, and sold it as barbeque smoking wood for $20.00 per 10lb bag to neighbors and their friends. Paid for that jamboree in two weeks, and I’m now my daughter’s hero. For now. Reddit user: wumpwump

Some Sell For Thousands

Photo: shutterstock.com/Sharaf Maksumov

I create OCs (original characters) on DeviantArt and sell them for money. They’re called “Adoptables” and some people can make a huge living from it. It all depends on your skill/how popular you are. In a good month, I can make about $300. More popular artists hold auctions, and I’ve seen a custom character design go for thousands of dollars.

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If you have a popular-looking style, like anime, and like designing, then it’s nice for a little extra change. I bought a few things like a drawing tablet, and have used some of the money to pay for school, groceries, and unexpected expenses. As far as side gigs go, it’s not too bad. One day, I’d love to be able to say I do it full-time. Reddit user: Audill

Delivery Man

Photo: shutterstock.com/ Rido

I once worked as a freelance courier for a year until I had to move to another city. I worked seven days a week, but I was my own boss and basically would just chill at home until I got a call. I’d occasionally bring a friend along to hang out and keep me company while I did deliveries. Nothing big. Pick up a package, flowers, etc.

Some days I’d make $50.00, and others I could make enough to pay my rent. The most I made was $1,200 in one day. I’d get paid when I did a delivery, so I always had money in my account. I never had to worry about waiting for a paycheck. It was pretty easy money. I just drove around in my car doing small deliveries and listening to music. Reddit user: envirex

Selling Stickers

Photo: flickr.com/backbone flute

Get a vinyl plotter. It’s essentially a printer with a knife instead of ink. Also, instead of printing a photo, it cuts out a vinyl sticker. I got mine for under $200. Hop on Facebook, car forums, sub-Reddits, etc., and you can easily sell small stickers for $5.00 each. Stickers, by the way, that only take a few cents worth of vinyl to make.

Both my brother and I do it. My brother has made thousands of dollars over the last few years printing stickers for all sorts of jobs. It’s mostly a hobby for me. He sells lots of generic stuff on Facebook, but he has a few official contracts for content creators. Every once in a while he gets a custom order that can easily run $40.00 to $50.00.

It’s super cheap to start, super easy to set up, super easy to learn to use, and really quite easy to make money. It wouldn’t be a good main source of income (I don’t think), but it’s a good way to make extra money, and not have to work very hard for it. Reddit user: __celli

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One Man’s Scrap…

Photo: shutterstock.com/Jamikorn Sooktaramorn

Scrapping – copper wire and pipe, aluminum, brass, coils, etc. Depending on how busy we are and/or how motivated I am, I can make anywhere from $75.00 to $300 extra a month. Now granted I work for an HVAC supplier, so I have access to this type of material and our employer allows it, so it’s a little easier for me to acquire.

If you work in the trades, though, it’s something to keep your eye on. I knew a plumber’s apprentice who’d make over $1,000 on one trip. He said he’d just ask the foreman on a job if he could take some of the scrap, and if they let him, he’d load up every day and then sit in his garage and piece it all out. Reddit user: [redacted]

She Could Charge More

Photo: flickr.com/Christina Helton’s Shops

My mom beads earrings and averages roughly $1,000 per month. And all while she watches TV, too. She just comes home and beads after work. She says she just likes to have her hands busy, and it helps her pay attention to her shows better. I guess that’s why some older ladies like to knit and crochet in church. It helps them keep track of what’s going on.

Anyway, she’s been at it for at least three years now and averages a pair a night; sometimes she’ll even finish two in one night. Other times it takes her a few nights to make a pair, if they’re especially intricate. Lately, she’s started to get some custom orders. I think she should be charging more for them, but she doesn’t agree. Reddit user: TheDizzard

A Hermes Bag

Photo: shutterstock.com/andersphoto

My wife used to be a personal shopper. We’re in Paris, France, so a lot of luxury brands are much cheaper here than they’d be in the States. People would request a certain item from this or that brand, they’d send her the money to buy it, and then she’d send it to them. She’d get a percentage of the price of the item in payment. On a Chanel bag that cost a few thousand Euros, the commission was good.

The best opportunities are with Hermes bags, though, because they’re in incredibly high demand and really hard to get (you can’t just walk into the store and buy one, apparently). You can make really good money if you can get your hands on those, because people are willing to pay much higher than the retail price. Honestly, I always thought they were ugly, but my wife insists most people want them for the clout. Reddit user: Diplolifter

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It’s Turned Into A Career

Photo: Instagram.com/KanaLovesDisney

I dress up as movie characters – mostly Disney princesses – and teach and sell crafts at conventions to kids and their families. It started off as just a plushie-making panel at local, fan-run anime cons. It grew over the years to include all sorts of crafts – I draw and design, normally getting inspiration from craft books or online blogs, and then making them “nerdy.”

Flash forward to 2018, and I get invited to major cons to show up and teach workshops. Everything’s included: flight, hotel, and meals. I get to set up a booth and sell my crafts, too. The best/craziest part is that I even get paid by the convention on top of all that. Just goes to show that, sometimes, an “unusual way” to make money can turn into a lucrative career. Technically not “from home,” but it started there. Reddit user: mokulen22

Buy It, Fix It, Sell It

Photo: flickr.com/Monkey Boy42

When I was in college (20+ years ago) I’d buy old, broken A/V equipment – film projectors, slide projectors, etc. – which I’d fix and sell. I’d typically make around $50.00 per item. That was when a lot of organizations were switching to digital projectors, but they also still had slides and film for training. So, they didn’t want to spend a lot to use them.

It was enough money to pay for expenses like rent, groceries, and the occasional dinner out. Buying used things cheap, fixing them, and selling them to other people is a great way to make some money if you can do it. After I stopped doing this work, people would still contact me because they heard I was the guy to talk to about getting 16mm film projectors. Reddit user: carlweaver

Selling Crabs

Photo: flickr.com/Saphiroo

This wasn’t at home, but while attending community college, before university, I worked a lot of odd jobs. They were mostly in or around shopping malls in western New York. The most memorable of which was selling hermit crabs as pets in a mall kiosk. I made $12.00/hr plus commission for each hermit crab sale or any “luxury” accessory, like a bigger tank or decorations.

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It was easy, cash only, non-refundable sales, and the owner ran several other kiosks in that particular mall. He was never around except to collect the cash nightly, and to pay me daily. Honestly, it was the getting paid daily part that I liked the best. I always had money coming in. Sometimes, he’d even show up at the end of the night with ice cream for his workers. Reddit user: MonsterBurrito

Jack Of All Trades

Photo: flickr.com/Carol VanHook

I was once put into contact with someone who wanted to give work to a fellow student at the university we both go to. I’m a Fine Arts major specializing in painting, but I’ve ended up finding ways to paint almost anything over the years, because my school really encourages us to be a Jack of All Trades. Being able to work in multiple mediums has its perks.

This guy had broken his leg for the second time, so this time around he didn’t want to mess with a boring, standard aircast (the plastic shell they put over a regular cast so you can walk). He got a brand new one and gave it to me to customize. He paid for all of my supplies, let me take any risks I wanted, and didn’t even want me to clear all of my artistic decisions with him beforehand, because he wanted to be surprised.

I had to sand the plastic, gesso it, paint it, and spray varnish it to fix the design on. When I brought it to him, it was like Christmas for him. He was so excited he paid me quite a bit, tipped me fifty percent of that, and let me keep all the supplies. We actually stayed in touch, and a few semesters later I painted the top of his graduation cap. It was pretty great. Reddit user: eggietoast

Photographing Mowed Lawns

Photo: Pinterest.com

I took pictures of mowed lawns. It was for this company that does landscaping remotely. They hire random landscapers through an agency and send them out to bank-owned homes to do lawn maintenance. Then, they hire someone like me to go take pictures to prove that the work’s been done. Seemed pretty sketchy, but they paid quite well – about $25.00/hr, depending on driving distance, number of houses, etc.

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It wasn’t a lot of work, and it was always weirdly URGENT. They’d call me one or two days a week and tell me something like, “We need pictures of this house in the next couple of hours.” I always thought they made the process more urgent than it needed to be, but I never knew what was going on behind the scenes. I made about $100 or so a week for not much work while I was in college.

Usually I’d be able to tell them, “Hey, I’m in class so I can’t go immediately, but I can get to it tonight, for sure” and most of the time they’d be fine with it. I got the gig from a posting on Craigslist offering up my services for any random or odd-jobs. Reddit user: [redacted]

Selling Gold

Photo: flickr.com/dgrosso23

This doesn’t really apply, but you could call it self-employment – kind of. Anyway, when I was 12, I’d make around $10.00 a day buying pixie sticks from the dollar store and selling them to classmates at a ridiculous markup. I ended up getting banned from selling candy at school after a few weeks, though, because of the ridiculous amount of litter it caused.

Around the same time, my father would give me three or four gold dollars for lunch every day, which I’d consistently trade for six or eight paper dollars; those kids loved the coins. Why he gave me gold dollars is totally beyond me. Honestly, it was probably for the same reason I traded them for paper money. Kids love gold coins. Reddit user: tapetape

$600 In Eight Weeks

Photo: shutterstock.com/Africa Studio

Nutritional studies: I did those from home for a while. For one, they basically wanted to see how your appetite was influenced by the different kinds of flour they fed you. So for the next few weeks, I’d be sent a biscuit made with a different type of flour. I’d eat the biscuit and then go into the lab to have my blood glucose measured, and then eat pizza slices to test my appetite after two hours.

Due to the nature of the experiment (measuring blood glucose every 15 minutes while I was at the lab), I came in for almost eight hours once a week for six weeks. I ended up making $600 in total. In the end, it’s not really great, but I was able to show up to the lab on the weekend, so it was just like an extra day of work. Reddit user: [redacted]

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It’s Like Magic

Photo: flickr.com/Max Mayorov

I play Magic: the Gathering, and people in the U.S. have a thing for playing with foreign cards. I was studying abroad in Berlin for an engineering program and traded my English cards for the German equivalents. No one asked for money because in European tournaments, English is generally the common language, and lots of German cards have strange phrasing.

So, I took all of those cards back to the states and sold them to other players at meet-ups to make a little extra cash. I ended up making nearly a grand from that one trip. I’ve been back to Germany a few times since and always come back with German cards to sell. I still don’t really get why Americans like using foreign cards, but I don’t ask questions. I just sell cards. Reddit user: [redacted]

It’s Like A Game

Photo: shutterstock.com/FOTOKITA

I used to work out of my home boosting (aka being good at competitive video games) and being paid to play on the payer’s account and increase their ranking on the leader board. For some of the most popular games you can earn up to $90.00 an hour. I’ve always had a knack for video games, so it was an easy way to make some money in college.

I even used to sell characters in games. I’d create a new email, buy a new account, and play a character to max level before selling it. The buyer would get the email account and all the necessary logins that went along with it, so they could play the game with that character. I guess some people just don’t have the patience to do it, themselves. Reddit user: Zhieyen

Tools And Fences

Photo: flickr.com/JobsForFelonsHub

We install fencing on the weekends as a side gig – wood, chain-link, etc. We price it by the picket or length of chain-link, and build in the price of hiring a guy to dig the post holes. We do one a season, and it ends up giving us an extra few thousand bucks each time we do a job.

We also go to estate auctions. We’ve had tremendous luck reselling tank sets, sand blasters, welders, etc. There’s a huge market for used tools from estate sales. Lots of guys love to collect older, well-made tools. I’m sure some of them use the tools, but I know that plenty of them just fill up their garage and never touch them. Reddit user: Noelle305

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An Entrepreneurial Arborist

Photo: flickr.com/watts_photos

Every spring I sell Japanese maple trees. I have 10 of the trees on my property, and they make hundreds of saplings every year. In the fall I take 20 or 30 of them, grow them up a bit, store them in pots in the basement over the winter, and then sell them in spring as they grow leaves again. A one foot tree can net me $50.00. The taller the sapling, the more I can charge.

I got the idea from my mom. I grew up with a Japanese maple right smack in the middle of the yard. Beautiful tree. Every spring, she’d dig up a few saplings to give away to anyone who wanted one. She did it out of the goodness of her heart. I did it because I realized that they were super popular, and people would pay good money for them. Reddit user: zomgitsduke

The Free Meals Were Worth It

Photo: whiteman.af.mil

Again, not at home, but I used to work as an extra on TV shows and movies. I was having no luck finding a “real” job, so I registered with a huge casting company and would get sent random jobs every week. The pay was good, and I got free catered meals (worth it for that alone). The people are a lot of fun too. I’d do it full time if I wasn’t in school.

If you ever do it yourself, pro tip: don’t tell the makeup artist how you think you should look. 1) They don’t care, and 2) They can and will get you fired for it. I knew a guy who did a few zombie rolls on The Walking Dead in Georgia. Well, one day he flat out told the makeup artist that he “needed a better makeup” because he’d done this a few times. He got blacklisted. Reddit user: stalebread108

Online Survey Taker

Photo: shutterstock.com/Tero Vesalainen

From time to time I do online surveys for some extra cash. They get a little repetitive, and occasionally they feel very tedious, but I manage to make an extra $10 to $20 every couple of days just from doing them while waiting for things to happen in the background on my computer, or if I’m just listening to music or something.

It’s not something that I think anyone can make a full time income off of – unless you’re extremely dedicated, but it definitely doesn’t hurt to have a few extra bucks to spend on whatever. Plus, occasionally, you get invited to do a survey that has a really big payout. Sometimes $50.00 for one 20 minute survey. Not too bad for just sitting around and listening to music. Reddit user: moosieq

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Searching For Gold

Photo: shutterstock.com/Tomasz Majchrowicz

Buy a metal detector and hit the public beaches looking for coins, silver jewelry, and gold jewelry. Clean and cash in the coins and sell the jewelry to gold buyers or on eBay. Save any scrap metal you dig up to cash in at your local scrap metal recyclers. Note: finding gold is often hard because it signals the same as metal trash like lead and aluminum.

You have to dig up a LOT of that to find gold (unless you get lucky). They say you’ve got to dig upwards of 500 to 1,000 junk items to find a gold item. Silver is different. It signals the same as coins (dimes, quarters, half dollars and even pennies). So if you dig up coin signals you might find silver jewelry. You can also offer your finding services on Craigslist. To find a ring someone lost or to find property line markers. I’ve made about $1,000 so far. Reddit user: [redacted]

The Price Of Vanity

Photo: shutterstock.com/Jurij Krupiak

I’m not an at-home worker, either, but I modeled for a makeup school a couple of times. You get to sit for four or five hours while someone does your makeup over and over, and then you get £30. They mostly look for women to model for makeup, but if you’re a man, hairdressing schools will pay you to let their students cut your hair.

Obviously, you have to be happy with getting the haircut or color they decide for you. Sometimes you’ll come out looking a proper mess, but you can also get lucky and get a really cool cut. Being a makeup model, though, is more reliable if you want to try and make a career out of it. You can wash the makeup off. You can’t wash off a bad haircut. Reddit user: thelivingplanet

Straight From The Farm

Photo: flickr.com/sanchom

My aunt has goats and rents them out to mow lawns. Her friend does it, too, and most of her customers are wealthy people who, for whatever reason, like goats mowing their land. I can see the appeal, though. There’s no fumes from the gas, and it’s quiet. You’ll even get some free “fertilizer,” too. What’s not to love?

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We – my aunt and I – also sell eggs from our chickens. It’s just her and I on a little hobby farm, and nine chickens put out just as many eggs per day. The eggs can pile up fast, so we get egg cartons from the local feed store, box them up, and sell them for $5.00 a dozen. Again, the eggs are really popular with wealthy people. They like the idea of farm fresh eggs. It’s exactly what they’re getting, too. Reddit user: LivedItLovedIt

It’s A Rental

Photo: flickr.com/ppressurewash

Maybe not unconventional, but you can buy a decent pressure washer for under $300 and make pretty good money on the side. Decks, driveways, houses, you name it. There’s always something in need of washing, and always someone willing to pay for it. I got mine on sale a few years back, and do a couple of jobs every weekend in the spring and summer. I make about $6,000 a year.

I used to work with a guy that rents his pressure washer from Lowe’s. He says he doesn’t have to worry about machine maintenance that way. When he gets to a client’s house he tells them he’s having his “worked on” and the one with the big fat “rent from Lowe’s” sticker is a loner, because he didn’t want to cancel the job. They’re usually impressed by the “dedication” and tip him well, because he still made it out. Reddit user: funnylooking6

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