Believe it or not, there are ways you can get paid to do nothing.
You can do this by generating passive income, though passive income usually requires some upfront investment and work to get it going. For me, there are days I take off and do nothing, but my passive income streams are still generating money while I am resting.
Hopefully one day you have this financial freedom as well. But in the journey to get there, here are some legit ways you can get paid for doing just about nothing.
11 Ways to Get Paid to Do Nothing
Here are 11 great ways to get paid to do nothing:
- Invest Your Spare Change
- House Sit
- Use a Cashback Site
- Rent Your House
- Rent Your Car
- Rent your Wi-Fi
- Unlock Your Phone
- Listen to Music
- Sell Your Stuff
- Test mattresses
- Collect a Pension
1. Invest Your Spare Change
One of my favorite ways to get paid for doing nothing is by making smart investments. Take my word for it: This is one of the best financial moves you can make in life.
When you invest, you put money into securities and other assets with the expectation that it will produce a solid return over time. Some types of investments require a lot of hands-on work, while others don’t.
The great news is, that you don’t have to have a lot of money to start investing! You can start by simply investing your spare change with Acorns.
2. House Sit
Working as a house sitter can be the easiest job in the world. All you have to do is find someone who’s going out of town and needs someone to watch their place.
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, two great sources for house-sitting gigs are Care.com and Nomador.
Once you land a house-sitting gig and sit down to watch videos, consider viewing through a survey site like Swagbucks to earn extra cash and free gift cards on the job. In addition to paying users to watch videos, Swagbucks also lets people earn money by browsing the web with its search engine.
3. Use a Cashback Site
Saving money is as good as making money. And you can do this by using one of the best cash back shopping sites.
Ibotta provides rewards for everyday purchases like groceries, pet supplies, and gas — things you have to buy anyway for you and your family to survive. It works with in-store and online shopping. The app partners with leading providers like Lowe’s, Petco, Cabela’s, and Walmart, to name a few examples.
One nice feature about Ibotta is its “nearby offer alerts” feature. If you’re near a store that has a deal going on, you’ll get a notification — and a potential opportunity to save money or get a reward for making a purchase.
4. Rent Your House
If you own a house or rental property, consider putting it up on a site like Airbnb. Airbnb lets you set your own rates and determine the specific time periods when your house is available.
Don’t want to manage this process? No problem. Hire a management company and you won’t even have to clean up after guests. The site is safe and easy to use, and you can potentially bring in hundreds of dollars per month — or even more.
5. Rent Your Car
With Turo, you can make money from your vehicle when it’s not in use. In my opinion, every car owner should use this app.
Turo lets you list your car in a marketplace and rent it to just about anyone in the area. The app offers insurance, and you can also use a tracking device to reduce the likelihood of theft or nefarious behavior.
Best of all, you don’t have to do anything. Simply leave the car in a designated area like a lot or garage during the day, and use a lockbox so the renter can pick up the vehicle.
Turo gives you control over pricing, so you can set your own rates. This is particularly a no-brainer if you have a car that you rarely use.
6. Rent Your Wi-Fi
If you live in a community with other people nearby, you should look into setting up a hotspot and selling connectivity. Simplify offers a service that basically lets you act like a mini internet service provider.
Basically, the service lets you sell unused Wi-Fi or mobile bandwidth for cash. It’s very easy to set up and deploy.
According to Simplify, selling 100 GB bandwidth can bring in about $100 per month — enough to at least pay your internet bill.
7. Unlock your Phone
If you’re like most people, you’re on your phone all day, every day. Have an Android? Use an app like Screenlift, and you can make money just for unlocking and using your phone. You can bring in around $20 per month — not bad for merely swiping or entering a PIN on your device.
Right now, there don’t appear to be any functional apps on the market that pay you to unlock an iPhone. These companies come and go all the time.
That said, both Android and iPhone users can access Nielsen Mobile. You can make an easy $50 per year just by letting the firm access your phone for market research purposes.
8. Listen to Music
You read that right, you can literally get paid to listen to music.
Using sites such as Current Rewards or Slicethepie, you can start making money while jamming out. This could be in addition to house sitting…sit down, turn on some music, and start bringing in the extra cash.
9. Sell your Stuff
I know the aim is to do nothing here. But picking up your unwanted clutter and sending it to a company for cash isn’t exactly back-breaking labor — especially when the company pays for shipping and sends you a box. Plus, you probably need to get rid of some stuff anyway.
Decluttr can help make this a reality. The company pays cold, hard cash for unwanted devices, games, and DVDs.
Decluttr either sells your stuff in its online merchandise or recycles it. The company even wipes data from your devices, saving you a big step — although this is something you’ll probably want to take care of anyway.
10. Test Mattresses
Sleep research providers occasionally offer promotions and giveaways. You could potentially make money just for trying new mattresses and sleeping.
For example, EachNight is a leading sleep research and mattress review website. The company recently hired five nap reviewers to participate in sleep studies. Participants had the opportunity to receive $1,500 when the project was complete.
Fifteen hundred bucks just for going to sleep? Sign me up.
11. Collect a Pension
If there’s one point I can’t stress enough, it’s to take care of your future self. It’s only a matter of time before you’ll be old. And when you get to that point, you’re not going to want to work as hard as you are right now.
One way to collect money during retirement is through a pension. Basically, this is where the employer contributes money into a pool of funds and invests it on behalf of its workers.
Pensions are nowhere near as prevalent as they once were. But some companies still offer them — and they’re easy to find in the public sector. For example, teachers, nurses, state and local government workers, and military members all currently receive pensions.
The amount you make from a pension depends on the organization and the pension benefit they offer. Median benefits can range from around $10,788 annually (private pensions and annuities) to $22,662 (state and local government pensions).
For most, a pension won’t produce a ton of money in retirement. But it’s an excellent way to supplement retirement accounts, Social Security, and savings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most frequently asked questions about getting paid to do nothing.
Can you make a lot of money doing nothing?
It all depends on the opportunities that you set up. If you form the right plan and have patience, you can make a fortune over time. For example, opportunities like investing and starting your own business tend to be much more lucrative than taking online surveys. Either way, the trick is to set up multiple passive opportunities to maximize your revenue.
Should I quit my job and do nothing?
The short answer? Probably not. Don’t quit your job until you have substantial savings to carry you for at least six months — and several passive income streams that produce steady cash flow. There’s a lot of pressure today to quit your job and be an entrepreneur. But it takes careful planning and research. Your paycheck is still one of your greatest financial assets. Don’t give it up until you know you can replace it and then some.
The Bottom Line
Money-making doesn’t always have to involve hard work and long hours. As you can see, there are plenty of ways to pad your bank account and supplement your full-time income with not having to do very much — but only if you take the right approach.
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