Article created by: Robertas Lisickis
Why join a pyramid scheme or any other form of selling your soul to make a quick buck if you can get some legal tender doing legal things in a very legal fashion without having to compromise your many talents, skills, and likes, or even feel like you’re doing work in the first place.
Folks online—and by online, we mean in this Reddit thread—have been sharing some of their very simple, very lucrative ways they themselves, or folks they know, do side-work that, in their mind, equates to partaking in a hobby that makes the money making process feel less like work and more like an adventure.
Everything from thrifting to scuba diving for shark teeth to making use of that huge truck you have that has the huge potential of bringing back huge discounted or used furniture for refurbishing and then selling it to the highest bidder—you name it, they… named it.
So, check out our carefully crafted curated list as shared by the lovely people of Reddit, and vote, comment and share your own side-hustles that are as enjoyable as a hobby in the comment section at the bottom of this listicle.
More Info: Reddit
#1 Painting
Image credits: ClydeinLimbo
#2 Streaming Game Content
Image credits: tenderfoot1914
#3 Dogsitting
Image credits: jovial_finn
#4 Being An Extra In Films Or TV Shows
Image credits: sawinnz
#5 Writing Fanfic
Image credits: HellOfAHeart
#6 Doing Handyman Work
Image credits: PBRpleez
#7 Donating (Selling) Blood Plasma
Image credits: Mourningair-
#8 Refurbishing And Reselling Used Furniture
Image credits: AggravatingDot6
#9 Internet Publishing For Local Businesses
Image credits: OGbeachbum
#10 Scuba Diving For Trinkets
Image credits: pro185
#11 Thrifting
Image credits: Suspicious_Drive6655
#12 Paid Medical Studies (You're On The Receiving End Of The Experiments)
Image credits: Sabiann_Tama
#13 Washing, Buffing And Detailing Yachts
Image credits: ShipwrightPNW
#14 Mowing Lawns And Doing Other Yard Work
Image credits: thehub1233
#15 Participate In Paid Research Studies In Universities
Image credits: sarar3sistance
#16 Investing In A Roth IRA
Image credits: Snuggalorian
#17 Bartending
Image credits: geniusatwork282
#18 Doing Art For Niche Markets
Image credits: LtAgn
#19 Ask Everyone You Meet For A Penny
Image credits: Muted_Childhood695
#20 Officiating School Sports
Image credits: myjunkermail
#21 DoorDash
Image credits: Available_Ad9182
#22 Wholesale Shower Curtain Ring Sales
Image credits: Realistic-Cheetah-14
I’m a janitor and make pennies but I also paint for a hobby and people sometimes buy what I paint. When they do it helps me out sooo much. It’s what makes it possible to treat my kids to nice things like a takeaway pizza once a month.
My little brother goes live on TikTok and plays Fortnite, literally just points his front camera at the TV as he plays. The people who watch him send “gifts” for him to do whatever they ask of him— make his character do a certain dance move, say something funny, or even turn off his console in the middle of the match. Those “gifts” translate into real money on a secure payment app like PayPal. He made about $150 in one day last week. I don’t understand it but he’s putting the money in his savings account so I’m proud of him either way.
I dog sit once a month, at least. If you're good with dogs, than it's an easy gig. Plus the last time I dog sat was closer to the ski hill so I rode a few hours every day. I've never worked with Rover on this side of the coin but it might be worth looking into. All I have to do is mention that I dog sit and people are asking for my number. Just be respectful to the dogs' people, be good to the dogs, and word spreads and more work opens up.
sawinnz said:
Being an extra.
You essentially get paid a couple hundred for essentially doing nothing.
USSMarauder replied:
One thing: If you've suffered a bad facial injury, you can make some serious money as an extra. Especially if the injury is the kind that would require green screening to replicate.
If you've seen LOTR The Two Towers, at Helm's Deep one of the soldiers is missing an eye. That wasn't CGI or prosthetics.
Disastrous-Dress8077 replied:
I’m incredibly ugly. Does that count?
If you have even the slightest amount of writing talent, you can get commissions from weird Furries (or other niche fandoms) to write pretty mediocre stuff for a fat pay check.
Example: I know this guy whose paid (on multiple occasions) 70USD a pop for poorly formatted, more or less amateur short stories (under 5 pages) about Furries and Pokemon or whatever.
Seriously, these people will gladly pay mad cash for literally any quality of writing as long as it indulges their interests.
PBRpleez said:
I am an electrician and generally handy, have a truck, and I work off the TaskRabbit app. It has really helped fill the gaps in-between pay checks.
AlexandraSuperstar replied:
You can post your services free on the NextDoor app and avoid having TaskRabbit take a cut. My boyfriend built a handyman business this way and now has 7 employees.
Mourningair- said:
Donate plasma. Especially right now. New donors in my area are getting 100-175.
ReferHvacGuy replied:
Can you really call it donate? Sounds more like... selling plasma.
TrollTollTony replied:
Yeah, as a former blood center employee this really annoys me. Blood centers don't pay for blood/plans because those donations actually go into other people for medical procedures. The FDA bans financial compensation for organ, tissue, and blood components.
Plasma centers that pay for it send the blood to pharmaceutical companies who use the blood to make drugs that they then spend billions to market and charge customers an arm and a leg for. You aren't donating, you are a wholesale blood supplier for a billion dollar corporation... But that's not as "feel good" so they call it a "donation".
If you have the space and the means of transport, get free/cheap furniture on Craigslist/marketplace/etc and refinish/fix and resell. I did this through college on top of having a part time job, so it wasn't the most consistent based on how much free time I had, but on good months I could make a couple thousand bucks with not all that much work.
Maybe 10 years ago I stumbled across Internet publishing for local businesses (and some not so local) that thought they couldn't afford a nice web site. The companies that publish professional web sites charge thousands of dollars, seriously inflated prices and it scares small businesses away.
Using one of the self publishing services available (I use Godaddy) I can build a functional, good looking web site to advertise services like mobile car detailing, home cleaning services, religious groups and their meetings and so on. I have a decent desktop and high speed connection so publishing isn't hard to do.
I'm legit with an LLC and I pay taxes on it all. It's just easier that way in the long run and provides potential customers some assurance that I won't take their money and run.
I keep it low key, my charges are ridiculously low, I don't ask for contracts or long term commitments. It's a good service at a low price that I can do from home in my pajamas.
Easy money!
My buddy tried scuba diving and thought it was a really cool hobby. So he spent like 2-3k on equipment for his weekend hobby. He started selling his funds online. Fast forward 6ish months and he quits his job because him scuba diving every other week and selling shark teeth he finds on eBay and to bulk buyer companies was making him more than his job as an EE. Last year he made over $100k doing this.
I work at a thrift store. My shift starts at opening time. When I pull in there's a massive line at the entrance every. Single. Morning. For the longest time I had no idea why, but everyone I tell this to speculates that it's because people buy things at the store (everything is *ridiculously* cheap. And when I say cheap, I mean I tagged a vase that was originally $150 for $8. I've also tagged some video games for insanely cheap prices, usually priced around $2) and sell them online for a much, much higher price.
ETA: For those who are curious, I work at Deseret Industries (or DI for short).
Right now, I'm in a paid medical study. I'm getting $10k for 3 weeks of my time. You take drugs that are going through the whole approval process. If the drug gets this far, it's generally known to be safe already. They are testing for how long it lasts in your system with various dosage amounts, fasted vs. unfasted, etc.
ShipwrightPNW said:
If you live by the water, learn to buff and detail yachts. It involves very little skill or talent and pays stupidly well.
time_to_reset replied:
Boats need constant cleaning. Especially those in salt water. You don't have to really know how to do anything special other than to know how to wipe [dung] down. It's also not like cars where you have to be super cautious with paint.
Plus, boat owners tend to have money, so they gladly pay for someone to do the [dirty] jobs.
I grew up in little town with heaps of boats and during summer there was always heaps of work to do. I liked washing hulls the most. Just chilling in the water all day. But I'm not sure if I would enjoy it as much as an adult anymore.
Preferably if your a kid. But mowing lawns or raking/mulching leafs, or shoveling snow.
What I learned as a kid doing this, is that you charge like 5$ because in adults eyes, your just a kid that doesn’t know money. So most people will pay you like 15-20$.
And yea sometime there will be that person that will give you the $5 and leave but the chances of getting extra are a lot higher.
Sign up for Prolific! Answer a bunch of non-identifying demographics, get the opportunity to participate in paid research studies from universities, various companies and other research facilities all over the world. Ranges from quick surveys, more in depth studies, sometimes you can come across ones wanting to schedule virtual interviews for further research.
Based in the UK and you get paid in pounds, but you can cash out to PayPal and easily convert it to local currency. (You can also get a free PayPal debit card upon applying for ease of just using your balance like any other money) If you have the time to really put into it during the day when most studies are posted, and have an internet connection somewhere where you can focus, you could probably make a few hundred a week depending on the studies you’re eligible for. I’ve made $200/week when I was unemployed a couple of times in the past. And that was in the western summertime where there weren’t nearly as many studies as there are at the moment. Highly recommend!
Snuggalorian said:
Invest in a Roth IRA before the age of 21. You'll be a millionaire by the time you retire.
ws1173 replied:
While this is great advice, this statement is only true if by "invest" you mean "develop a habit of regularly contributing to".
geniusatwork282 said:
Assuming you’re in the United States, bartending. I know it sounds like a basic, boring answer, but tip culture can be great. Breaking out my tips into dollars-per-hour, and adding it to my base pay, I typically make anywhere from $30-$40 dollars an hour. And most bartending jobs are part time.
easy10pins replied:
Former bartender here. The tip money is great but feeling with drunk people can become tiresome.
LtAgn said:
Well, I heard that the Furry community pays artists pretty well. If you're good at art, it might be worth looking into.
Speaking of art-related things, virtual streamers are kinda big right now, so assets like Live2D models and backgrounds sell for quite a lot.
david0990 replied:
> "Furry community pays artists pretty well. If you're good at art"
They pay even if you're kind of [bad]. The Furry community is super weird and well paid or employed Furries tend to just support "up and coming" Furry creators in hopes of having their earlier works and supporting their community. BUT they can get super dark, and sketchy very fast. I have family that are part of their communities and it can get ugly. Several artists get trapped doing furry art and deviating they can get mass hate from the community.
Ask every person you see for a penny or a dollar.
In 1987 a guy named Mike Hayes asked everyone he could for a penny to pay for college. He collected 2.3 million pennies. Paid for his education.
myjunkermail said:
Officiate youth/high school sports. I generally make at least $30/hour and it’s good exercise.
flargenhargen replied:
Get to have crazy parents scream into your face.
OSUBonanza replied:
Win-win.
Available_Ad9182 said:
I met a guy at a church camp who did door dash for extra money. His wife and him were on a strict budget and the main income was saved. Door dash was how he paid for his toys (guns, new tents and camping gear). Both agreed that the door dash money was the other person’s to keep.
three-sense replied:
I do DoorDash and it’s pretty good for “toys”, which in my case is new release video games and smaller electronics. I don’t see it paying for a house, car, etc., but it’s a solid side hustle to do so you won’t have to dip into your ancillary paycheck as much.
Wholesale shower curtain ring sales to independent motels in Brooklyn, NYC area.
They don’t have a Union and there are no Mobs to take interest in the market.
38% of immigrants staying at motels steal shower curtain rings for cheap jewelry and aftermarket sales. So there is always an unserved market cash on the table at any given flea bag motel in the NYC area. Try it and you will be amazed.
