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We find ourselves often looking at ways we can save money each month. In fact, one of my most popular posts so far has been 36 Ways To Save Some Extra Cash Each Month and for good reason. Whether you’re trying to pay off debt or ramp up your retirement savings, there’s often not enough money from your normal 9-5pm job to go around. For that reason, I’ve put together this follow-up to my savings post. If you have some additional ways to earn some extra income on the side, please post a comment so we can all learn for each other’s experiences!

Surprisingly, I’ve used most of these below at some point in my life with success. They aren’t all easy and many you’ve thought of doing before. Hopefully there will be something in the list that catches your attention and helps you get ahead! Without further ado, here’s my list of 36 ways to earn some extra income (in no particular order):

1. Become a personal assistant. Many professionals have too many tasks to do in one day and simply don’t have the time to do them all. Tasks might include running errands, stuffing envelopes, taking cars for oil changes, etc. Send a letter of introduction to offices of doctors, lawyers and Realtors® and you’ll soon find yourself with a part-time job doing very easy work.
2. Share your musical talent. Do you play a musical instrument for your own enjoyment? Why not offer lessons? It is very easy to get $20 an hour (or much more) by teaching others what you already know and love.
3. Help Out During Tax Time. Tax time is a great opportunity for extra income if you’re willing to work evenings and weekends. Visit your local tax preparer’s office in December and January each and apply for seasonal work.
4. Help the elderly. Many people don’t want to dump Grandma in a nursing home but still want someone to keep an eye on her. Run an ad in your local newspaper or a free ad on Craigslist.com to advertise your services. Offer to drive your client to doctor appointments, shopping or take them for walks around town. You can also earn a good bit of extra cash by shopping for the elderly while you are already in the store buying your own groceries!
5. Put your writing skills to use. Do you like to write? Consider writing articles for blogs or look for freelance writing jobs on oDesk, Elance or the job board at Freelance Switch. Still can’t find what you’re looking for? Enclose a sample of your work in an email to blogs and sites that share a similar focus to what you’ve written.
6. Tutor students part-time. I studied Finance in college and made $20 per hour tutoring students during my M.B.A. It was great practice for me and the check at the end made it all worthwhile. An ad in the paper could bring the students pouring in for help!
7. Sell other people’s belongings on Ebay. Stores are popping up around my town that sell people’s items on Ebay. You don’t need a retail storefront to do the same job! Just print up some flyers, determine a reasonable percentage that you can charge people and stick them up on bulletin boards around town.
8. Do windows. The phrase, “I don’t do windows” shouldn’t be in your mind at any time. Washing windows can bring in a couple hundred dollars for large houses. Pick a nice neighborhood and drive around knocking on doors. Have a flyer ready to hand to the owner with your rates and keep your tools in the car. Be ready to work right that instance if someone agrees and do a great job. Word-of-mouth works wonders with this part-time job.
9. Loan money you already have. I would guess most people reading this are looking to pay off debt. However, if you don’t have debt and you’re looking to make extra money, loan some of the money you already have saved through social lending sites such as prosper.com and earn a substantial return. Be aware of the risks and try and diversify your loans as much as possible.
10. Hold a community garage sale. Holding a garage sale can be tedious for a lot of families because they only have a few items to sell. Without a lot of merchandise, it makes it awfully hard to get the motivation to sit in the driveway all day. That’s where you come in. Go door to door telling neighbors that you’re going to have a yard sale and you’ll sell their items for a small commission. Determine your rate and provide your neighbors with round price stickers. Have them put the price they’d accept on the sticker and put it on any item they’d like to sell. Run an ad in the paper for a garage sale and put all of their items in your driveway. Keep good accounting of what has sold and who the money needs to go to and you’ll be well on your way to making some extra money.
11. Clean boats. If you live near the water, now’s the time to start contacting marinas and boat owners. Summer is coming and boaters will be hitting the waterways in full force. The only problem is, washing a boat is a chore they just don’t want to do. Enter you. Offer to clean their boat and come up with a price that includes the cleaning supplies. Place flyers in marinas (with their permission) and wait for the phone calls to come in.
12. Sell cars for a used car dealership (with a catch). You have computer skills that can be put to good use here. Contact local used car dealerships and ask if you can sell their inventory and receive a commission without standing on the property and waiting for the buyer to come in. Explain that you’ll go out and get the buyer. Once accepted and you have your agreement in writing, put the dealership’s inventory online with Craigslist or similar sites and have the potential buyer call you directly. Meet them at the dealership and hopefully get the sale!
13. Waiter or bartend. College students have been paying their way for years with these two jobs. You don’t necessarily have to have bartending skills to work behind the bar. Focus on bars that only have beer and wine if you are unfamiliar with mixed drinks.
14. Coordinate mailings for Realtors®. Realtors® are constantly doing mass mailings of letters and postcards–especially now with the market being down. Take a flyer to local real estate offices showing your prices for stuffing envelopes or putting stamps on postcards. Earn their trust by delivering the finished goods back to them and allowing them to be the one putting them in the mailbox.
15. Auto detailing. Similar to cleaning boats, put some flyers up advertising your car cleaning expertise. As with many service related jobs, doing the best service possible will help you get some word-of-mouth clients.
16. Graphic design. Are you an artist with some time on your hands? Create a really nice flyer and get it in local businesses. Create logos, newsletters or business cards and stationary in your spare time to earn extra money.
17. Data entry. Although a little tedious, data entry can earn a fair amount of money online. Look at the freelancing sites listed above for some jobs or consult local real estate offices.
18. Sell your prints. If you enjoy photography, why not make some money while you’re at it? Take pictures that are marketable and put them on sites like snapfish.com to sell your prints. If you do generate some money quickly, take pictures of local businesses and order a 4″x6″ print with a watermark. Mail that print to the business with a letter saying that you can enlarge it for a certain price. You’ll be surprised to see how many owners want a picture of their business to admire!
19. Fix computers. If you know your way around a computer, get the word out that you’re the person to call! Charge by the hour and perform the service in people’s homes. Of course, encourage their word-of-mouth by leaving them with your card and a newly fixed computer.
20. Get that camera back out for Realtors®. Realtors® are getting a lot of mention in this post for good reason–they’re more than willing to outsource a lot of their tasks! Offer to take the photographs for them for their MLS listings or create the virtual tours of the property.
21. Freelance web design. If you have a site or two of your own, why not create sites for businesses around town? A little door-to-door advertising with a professional brochure can get you some business. For more help, read my post “How To Get Web Design Clients.”
22. Deliver phone books. You know how once per year you’ll come home to see the local yellow pages on your doorstep? You may have thought there was a phone book fairy that came in the night but you’re wrong. People like you and I are working part-time delivering the books. Contact your local telephone company to find out how you can take part.
23. Be an entertainer. A friend of mine plays guitar and sings. He just started playing the guitar a year ago but he’s already out performing at restaurants and wine shops around town. The gigs are really fun for him and he earns between $150 and $250 a night (including tips).
24. Clean swimming pools. It’s going to be warming up across the country soon and people will once again look to find a reliable pool cleaner. Get those flyers in their mailbox before they find someone else!
25. Garage sale for Ebay items. A friend and I spent a Saturday morning driving around locally and visiting other people’s garage sales. These people were practically giving items away that we were able to sell on Ebay! You need to be picky when doing this but you can make $200 a morning pretty easily. It does help to have someone at home that can quickly look up items for you on the auction site before you buy. Focus on items that are light and easy to ship and you’ll have a good bit of fun while you make extra cash!
26. Mow lawns. Think summer, people! It’s almost here and soon the grass will be growing and your opportunity will arrive. Get flyers out now to get some clients lined up for the summer. Focus on houses in a row so you can easily go from one to the next.
27. Start a home watch business. If you live in a seasonal area, there’s a great opportunity for you to make money watching houses for absentee owners. Water plants, run appliances, check all doors and windows to ensure they’re locked down and most importantly… collect your paycheck! You’ll want to get licensed, bonded and insured for this but the money will make it worthwhile.
28. Hold open houses. This is my last Realtor® tip… I swear. Realtors® often have more listings than they have time and this presents an opportunity for you. In most states, you do not need to hold an active real estate license to hold an open house! Offer to sit in the homes for the Realtor® and collect an hourly fee. By law, you can’t answer a lot of the questions that are asked of you by your guests but you can quickly call the agent to get answers for her clients. This works out really well for the Realtor® because if you find the buyer, they still receive all of the commission! For that reason, you can often charge $20-$30 per hour to sit there. Remember to take a book or your laptop and use the time productively to make even more money.
29. Be the local handyman or painter. If you’re good with home repair, be the local handyman in your area. Create a schedule of fees for common repairs and get that flyer out to the homes in your neighborhood. Right at the top, put a really catchy banner with one service that you don’t mind doing at a lower-than-average rate. This should get your foot in the door and entice the customer to look to you for further services.
30. Help people move. A moving company is a major undertaking but offering extra manpower isn’t a big deal. Sell your free time (and strength) to people about to move and you’ll make a bit of cash on the side.
31. Create custom cards for families. Sometime in early November, send postcards to homes offering to make custom greeting cards. Here’s the scoop… you visit the home of your customer, take their picture in front of the tree, Photoshop their holiday message on the front and order the cards to be printed from sites like overnightprints.com. You’ll make money for your service and you can upcharge the cost of printing a bit too!
32. Get a roommate. Have an extra room in your house? Visit some online sites to find a roommate and you’ll get a check every month and have half of your utilities paid for as well!
33. Clean houses. I already have you out cleaning the windows of homes but think about taking a step inside as well. This is similar to the home watch business in that you’ll want to get licensed, bonded and insured but if you have the time to clean, you can make some very steady money on the side.
34. Start a blog. I’m convinced that almost any blog can make $100 a month minimum. With Google Adsense, you’ll make money any time people click the ads on your site. Sites like TextLinkAds will pay you whether people click or not! It’s just too easy!
35. Turn old VHS tapes to DVD. This might not sound like much but this is my favorite tip on the list. I did this simply by putting a 3×5 card on the bulletin board at my community mailbox and the phone calls came pouring in. So many people have family videos on VHS and would love to have them on DVD. There’s a trick to really making this work well though–charge a flat rate for the first DVD ($25 in my case) and then charge $10 for each additional copy. You’ll find that someone will buy a DVD and then they will have family members calling you for additional copies!
36. Grow pumpkins for Halloween. This may sound like a silly suggestion but there is good money in pumpkins! Pumpkins are very easy to grow and require minimal upkeep. There are guides online that will help you put your additional land to good use. You can then set up a stand on the side of the road and make a really incredible return on your investment. In the north, pumpkins need to be planted in mid-May so get ready!

How Do You Make Extra Money?

I hope you’ve discovered some new ways to make extra money by reading this post but now I want to hear from you! You are creative and I’m sure you have a great way to bring in some extra cash so let’s hear it in the comments!