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The dream of many people is to get paid to do nothing.
If you were to ask someone how to do this, they would probably say it isn’t possible.
But they aren’t thinking outside the box.
Sure, it sounds like a fairy tale to get paid for doing nothing, but the truth is, it can be done.
And in this post, I share with you 25 ideas to make money doing nothing at all.
Let’s get started in finding you a clever way to get paid for not doing any work.
25 Legit Ways To Get Paid To Do Nothing
1. Take Surveys Online
Love sharing your opinion? Want to get paid for it?
If so, answering surveys is a low-effort way to earn some money on the side without having to pick up a part-time job or start a side hustle.
Some surveys have a low payout while others may pay tens of dollars for you to share your opinion, so joining as many as possible can be a great way to boost your income.
Some platforms to start with include Swagbucks, My Points, and InboxDollars.
You can maximize the income that you make on these platforms by taking advantage of additional earning opportunities like rebates, videos, and daily polls!
Earnings are paid out either as cash or gift cards to retailers you pick.
2. Offer Feedback About Website Functionality
Many companies need help testing out their website to make sure it works properly and shows up in the results of search engines.
By testing websites, you get paid for your feedback about how easy the site is to navigate, if there are any broken links, and you overall impression of the site.
This gig often yields far more income than taking surveys.
Have a webcam, a microphone, and some extra time?
Sign up with platforms like UserTesting or UserLytics to get started.
You’ll get paid $10 to $20 for your time and most review take less than 20 minutes
3. Pet Sitter
If you love pets and don’t mind opening up your home to them for a brief period of time, pet sitting is a great way to make some money when you’re feeling a little tight on cash.
Platforms like Rover will allow you to connect with clients in need of a sitter for a day, a couple of days, or even longer.
The more pets you’re able to watch, the more you can make.
The average pay is between $15-$20 an hour.
If you are good at this gig, you could easily make a stable income doing it.
4. Dog Walker
Dog walking, like some of the other items in this guide, is a little bit more involved than doing something like watching TV.
But it still requires far less effort than taking on another job and the money is good.
You can make up to $25 an hour walking dogs in your neighborhood.
As a dog walker, all you have to do is pick up the dogs, take them around a certain area to let them get some fresh air, do their business, and take them back home.
Starting is as easy as posting your services on Facebook!
5. Home Sitter
You can get paid to watch someone’s home? Absolutely!
Although these jobs are a bit harder to find, you can use a website like HouseSitter.com to find work.
Ideally you want to see if there are people in your area or relatively close to you who need help someone to keep an eye on their house.
You can make on average of $30 an hour as a house sitter.
6. Join Medical Studies Or Focus Groups
Whether you’re testing out a new product or a new medication, there are many organizations that may be looking to pay you to engage in focus groups or medical studies.
Just make sure that you do your research to understand the terms and conditions so you understand what it entails before you participate.
Also be aware that if any medical issues arise as a result of your participation, the study or focus group won’t be paying your medical bills.
Still many people join these groups as you can make up to $1,000 per study!
7. Food Or Drink Taster
A passion for food goes just beyond cooking.
People who love eating can also find jobs that are the perfect fit for them.
Whether it’s candy or snacks, alcoholic drinks or soda, there are companies out there that hire part-time or full-time taste testers to make sure that all their products are delicious and satisfying.
All you need to do is have a passion for whatever you’re tasting and the ability to communicate your experience well!
How much can you make as a drink or food taster?
The average salary is between $15 and $20 an hour.
8. Mystery Shopper
A mystery shopper is someone who goes into various stores tasked with learning more about the products that they sell and the type of service that they offer.
Being a mystery shopper is quite easy.
Just look for a platform that will offer you the tasks you’re looking for such as BestMark or Shopmetrics, sign up, and take on available tasks for stores near you.
Income is low for basic assignments, usually around $10 an hour.
But for more in-depth assignments, you can make upwards of $100 an hour.
And in some cases, you will be reimbursed for certain expenses.
9. Invest
Arguably the best way to get paid to do nothing is to invest your money.
When you put your money in the stock market, over time it grows into larger sums of money.
All you have to do is spend a few minutes opening an account.
It’s one of the best options for passive income.
My favorite is Acorns.
You answer a few questions and Acorns will put you into the right investment and do all the work for you.
You can choose to set up an automatic monthly investment of as little as $5 or you can choose to simply invest your spare change.
And if you use their Found Money feature, retailers will put extra money into your Acorns account.
How much money can you make?
A few people I know have over $1,000 just from investing their spare change.
And as compound interest takes over, that money is going to grow into a very nice nest egg.
10. Rideshare Driver
The gig economy offers a convenient way to make money on your terms.
Unlike a full-time or a part-time job, you have the ability to work whenever you want, however you want.
One of the most prominent gigs is ridesharing.
With an app like Uber or Lyft and a set of wheels, all you have to do is figure out when you can drive people around and pick up whoever’s looking for a ride on the app.
Additionally, there’s currently a greater demand in this space at the time of writing!
The average hourly income is $20 an hour.
11. Food Delivery Driver
Similar to rideshare drivers, food delivery drivers are tasked with picking up orders from local restaurants and bringing them to their destination.
Some popular food delivery apps that you may have heard of include GrubHub, Uber Eats, and Postmates.
Average income is around $12 an hour.
But if you work during peak times, you can earn more.
12. Grocery Shop
Grocery shopping isn’t exactly doing nothing, except if you are already grocery shopping.
In this case, you can get the groceries for someone else at the same time and get paid for it.
With Instacart, you can simply grocery shop for others or do the shopping and deliver their items to them.
It’s an easy job and one that pays very well.
13. Write Book Reviews
If you don’t read, this likely won’t be the right recommendation for you.
However, if you do read, why should you have to do it for free?
There are a ton of platforms out there that will pay you for providing an honest review of the book that you’re reading.
A few examples include Kirkus Media, IndieReader, and U.S. Review of Books.
Simply sign up and then spend your time reading the book and write a review afterward to get paid.
Income varies widely for this, from a low of $10 per review up to $60.
14. Play Games Online
Playing games online can be a great way to earn money if you like to play games and want to get paid for it.
However, there are so many ways that you can do this, depending on how much effort you want to put in or how involved you are.
Some suggestions we have include:
- Playing games on InboxDollars for cash rewards and prizes
- Using a platform like Twitch to stream your content to audiences
- Finding contests where you can earn a prize for competing against others
- Looking for apps that pay you to play specific games
- Playing a game that offers in-game products that you could sell to others online or in the game
There are a ton of gaming opportunities online that can help you make money while doing what you love.
As they say, when you do what you love, you never have to work a day in your life!
How much money can you make playing games?
Income is all over the place, from as low as $10 an hour up to $60,000 a year for professional gamers.
15. Join A Microtask Platform
Side hustles and odd gigs can use up a lot of your focus and energy, which is not ideal if you need to conserve your energy for your full-time job.
If this is the case for you, you may want to join a microtask platform.
Microtask platforms like Amazon MTurk are job boards where small tasks will be posted that need completion.
In return for completing the gig, you earn a small amount of compensation.
And when I say small payment, you are looking at a few cents.
But if you can complete these small tasks quickly, you can do hundreds an hour, which turns into something close to minimum wage.
Just make sure that you aren’t picking up difficult tasks that won’t be worth your time or provide you with less compensation than you believe you should be getting.
16. Sell Your Stuff
You will have to put forth a little bit of effort into this one at first.
You need to figure out what you want to sell and then list it for sale.
But after that, you sit back and wait for buyers.
Meet up with the item and get paid and you’ve made some additional income.
Depending on what you sell, you could make a few bucks to hundreds of dollars.
And if you really want to build wealth, consider taking this money and investing in your Acorns account.
17. Get Paid To Text
Are you always on your phone texting with friends?
Did you know you can get paid for this?
Many companies out there will pay you to text with other people.
McMoney, IMGR, and ChatRecruit are just a few of the sites that allow you to make extra money.
On average you are looking at earning a few hundred dollars a month texting.
18. Become A Content Creator
Content creators and influencers tend to get a bad rap, but the reality is that anyone can make money on social media platforms.
Whether you have something important to share with others, a sense of humor that makes everyone around you laugh, or even an odd interest, turn to platforms like Instagram or YouTube.
You can monetize what you have to share with the world.
If you go viral, you can make thousands of dollars a day.
19. Find The Right Cryptocurrency Faucets
Bitcoin has become a household name, largely because one Bitcoin is currently valued at tens of thousands of dollars.
Do you have to buy your own in order to get a feel for what it is and how it can be used?
Absolutely not!
Cryptocurrency faucets are websites that offer you a small amount of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies over a set period of time, usually hourly.
As long as you take a closer look at your faucet and make sure that it pays out like it says it will, you can start making money with it.
All you have to do is go on your favorite website, click the claim button, and start earning!
20. Listen To Music
Are you a big fan of music?
The good news is that you don’t have to listen to it for free.
Sites like Slicethepie will pay you small amounts of money to review music uploaded by their users.
As a music reviewer, just remember that you have to vary your feedback and avoid sounding repetitive in your reviews.
Otherwise, you can get penalized!
21. Conserve Your Energy
Summer is quickly approaching.
For some states, this means trouble.
Take for example, California.
This state is quite accustomed to wildfires and rolling blackouts during the summer, which many government officials are trying to avoid.
If you live in a state where the power grid is especially impacted during certain months, you may be able to get paid to conserve your energy.
In the case of the above example, websites like OhmConnect will pay you in cash and rewards to turn off your power during certain times to reduce the strain on power grids in your area.
What could be better than earning some extra cash just for flipping a switch?
22. Be A Virtual Or In-Person Friend
The pandemic showed us just how valuable interaction can be.
However, finding friends can be hard.
If you’re someone who’s looking for friends and a way to make money, you should consider offering your friendship in return for compensation.
Websites like RentAFriend make it easy to find friends online or in-person who will pay you to talk to them, go places with them, or even teach them a new skill.
You can earn upwards of $25 an hour being a friend to someone online.
23. Rent Out Items You’re Not Currently Using
Renting out items that you’re not using is arguably one of the best ways to make extra money.
It requires little effort on your end besides listing and conducting occasional maintenance.
That being said, the number of things that you could rent out is numerous.
How can you make money with your unused items?
- Rent out your unused car on Turo
- Rent out an unused living space (rooms or whole homes) on Airbnb or VRBO
- Help others store their stuff by opening up storage space to platforms like Neighbor or Store At My House
- Let others use your space for events with Peerspace
- Put your unused bicycle to use by listing it on Spinlister
- Make others look stylish in your designer clothing with StyleLend
- Rent parking spaces with AirGarage
- Offer your old and high-quality baby equipment to parents on BabyQuipi
- List photography and video gear for rent on KitSplit
- Help campers use your unused land for camping space with platforms like Hipcamp or HomeCamper or even rent out your unused RV for travelers on a platform like RVShare
- Offer your unused equipment to others on Fretish
Put simply, there are a ton of rental platforms out there to help you rent out your unused stuff, regardless of what you may have lying around your home.
Look around for one that works best for you and get more value out of objects that are sitting around and collecting dust!
24. Get Paid For Your Body
Another way to make extra cash is to sell your body.
You can make money selling blood plasma, breast milk, sperm, even your poop!
And with the many options comes various income amounts.
You can make a few bucks to enough money to replace your full-time income with these ideas.
25. Walk Around Your City And Get Paid
Some may not consider walking to be “doing nothing”, but if you regularly go out for walks and earn no money during that time, you may as well look for a way to monetize it.
If you want to make your steps count, you can use an app like Sweatcoin, which will pay you in its native currency, which can help you access prizes and cash over time.
If you’re someone who’s more active or competitive, you may prefer apps like StepBet or HealthyWage, which allow you to engage in competitions to get the most steps or hit your weight-loss goals.
With these types of apps, it’s important to remember that there are some monetary risks, so you should only join if you’re absolutely sure that you can reach your goals.
Wrapping Up
There are 25 simple ways to get paid to do nothing.
As you can see, there are many ideas here and something for everyone.
And you can make anywhere from a few extra bucks to hundred or even thousands doing these side hustles.
You can even do a few at the same time to really boost the amount of money you earn.