Who doesn’t love the idea of making money while you sleep? No one’s going to actually pay you for sleeping (at least not that we’ve seen). But there are ways that you can earn passive income, with minimal daily effort. Here are 5 ways you can make money without having to work at it (or at least with minimal work!).
1.Rent out things that might be useful to others
Do you have tools, electronics, or other expensive equipment that you might be able to rent out? Things like 3D printers, professional camera gear, auto repair equipment, a trailer, or power tools could all bring in a fair amount of money if you lend them out. You can advertise them on Nextdoor or a site like Rent My Equipment or relevant Facebook groups in your area. You’ll want to make sure you have a basic agreement for borrowers to sign, and you’ll probably want to take a deposit
2. Try your hand at investing
Investing can carry some risk with it, but it can also bring big payoffs. The key is to do it cautiously—carefully research your potential investments and opt for funds or stocks with minimal risk. Diversify, so that you don’t lose all of your money if one industry or stock takes a hit. Also make sure you only invest what you can afford to lose.
To get started, there are a lot of useful apps where you can research stocks and funds, and also start actually investing. Some of them will even let you invest with very small starting amounts, and buy fractional shares of high-dollar stocks.
3. Rent out a room in your home
Do you have a spare room in your house that you aren’t using? Renting it out can be a great way to bring in hundreds of dollars a month without actually doing any work. You do need to be okay with sharing your space, and you’ll want to carefully vet any potential tenants. Make sure they’re a good housemate fit for you in terms of personality. You’ll also want to run a credit check to confirm they have a good history of paying their rent and other bills. It’s also a good idea to ask them for a recent reference or two that you can contact to find out what kind of tenant or housemate they were.
Sites like rentser are designed specifically for this. It can help you with everything from finding a suitable housemate, vetting them, and getting all the right contracts in place.
4. Wrap your car with an ad
If you do a lot of driving and you don’t mind being a mobile billboard… you can actually bring in a pretty legit sum by allowing your car to be wrapped with an advertisement. You can get started by applying through a company like Carvertise. You enter your car details and the areas and miles you typically drive, and they provide offers for you to wrap your car with an ad. It can pay anywhere from $175 to $450 per month, which can be a nice chunk of extra cash. In some cases might even cover most of your car payment!
