While compiling this list, I did my best to avoid scams, and stick with practical ideas that work. I have tried many (but not all) of these ideas. Some of these helped me earned a few dollars here and there, but there are some that helped me earn extra money on the side every single day and some are still providing me with revenue! Note that not all ideas will fit your skills and abilities. What works for you depends on your abilities and your current financial situation.

Passive Income Ideas

Passive income involves ideas or methods that, once you set in motion, require minimal maintenance work. The following money making ideas are mostly  passive, and are proven to work.

1. Earn Higher Interest on Your Savings

2. Build a CD Ladder

For a slightly higher yield, build a CD ladder.  Break your money into smaller chunks and buy a series of 1-year high yield certificates of deposit. To learn more about this, take a look at How to Create a CD Ladder .

3. Lend Money via Social Lending Network

Lending Club  is a platform where you can lend your money to other people. You’re the bank. Each note is only $25, so you can invest $1,000 and lend money to 40 people. There are many grades of loan (from safest to riskiest) and investors earn, on average, between 5.49% and 13.55% annualized returns. For more information, check out Investing and Making Money with Lending Club Peer-to-Peer Lending and my real money Lending Club Portfolio .

4. Invest in Dividend Paying Stocks or Funds

If you’re looking for current income, investing in the dividend paying stocks  (or dividend funds) is a good way to earn money regularly. Pay particular attention to the S&P Dividend Aristocrats ; these are companies that have long histories of increasing their dividend payouts each year.

5. Use Cash Back Reward Credit Cards

You buy stuff every day: Why not make the most of your purchases? Take a look at these credit cards that pay 5% cash back on your purchases. When you make your day-to-day purchases, use a rewards card and get money back. My family receives several hundred dollars a year from using these cards.

6. Get Cash Rebates When Buying Online

When you shop online, go through Ebates. This web site provides you with extra cash back (on top of your credit card cash back) when you buy through them. Install the browser toolbar for even better results.

7. Earn Money When You Search

You probably do a couple of web searches each day. If you do all your web searches through Swagbucks.com  (instead of Google or Bing), you can collect points called SwagBucks. Trade your SwagBucks for a variety of prizes, including gift cards for Amazon.com, Walmart, PayPal, and more.

8. Real Estate Investing

This is mostly passive once you have it all set up, but it does take a lot of work at the beginning. Real estate investing also requires occasional maintenance. Currently, we invest in a couple of rental properties and earn about $500 profit from each per month. You can read more about my rental properties at MoneySmartLife.com: How and Why I Became a Landlord .

If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, you can gain exposure to real estate investing through Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). REITs invest in real estate and mortgage, and pay out 90% of the taxable income to shareholders annually.

Ways to Make Extra Money

In addition to the passive income ideas listed above and other broad income generation ideas such as starting a business , getting a second job. and learning how to invest , here are specific money making ideas you can try. Most of these items require ongoing work to maintain the income.

1. College students: Sell your used books and textbooks  at the end of the semester.
2. Sign up for Cash Crate. complete surveys, and refer your friends.
3. Freelance using  Elance , Guru. Freelancer , Amazon Mechanical Turk and other similar sites for leads.
4. Make money blogging. This blog has been providing me with daily income since 2007. You can learn more about blogging  and start start your own. Use the following articles to learn more about starting a blog:
5. How to Start a Blog for Fun or Profit – Introduction to a Series  at Cash Money Life.
6. 28 Ways to Make Money with Your Website  at Daily Blog Tips.
7. Write for money using sites like Squidoo , Yahoo Contributor Network , and Triond. You can also write for TextBroker and Constant Content. Apply to write for various websites that hire freelance staff writers.
8. Ghostwriting. This is very similar to the idea above, but you write anonymously and the assignments are usually longer. You can ghostwrite articles, blog posts, and even books.
9. Offer basic services, including babysitting, housekeeping, gardening, dog walking. painting, snow removal, and other similar “odd jobs.” These basic services can provide income for motivated teenagers and most of these can be done right in your neighborhood.
10. Offer skilled services such as tutoring , resume writing. business consulting, blog development , and logo design .
11. Turn your hobbies into income streams. Many hobbies, like photography , videography. quilting, gardening, and woodwork are ideal revenue generators.
12. Sell handmade products on Etsy .
13. Write and sell eBooks. This is easier than ever with the help of Amazon and the Kindle.
14. Enter contests and giveaways (use Google Alerts ) and sell the prizes.
15. Search for freebies  and sign up bonuses. For example, you can typically get a $100 bonus from a credit card sign up .
16. Turn your everyday spending into college savings with Upromise .
17. Become an Amazon Associate. and ask your friends to use your affiliate link when they make purchases.
18. Sell unused items on eBay or Craigslist. You can also buy bulk items and resell them individually.
19. Sell your collectibles.
20. Start a bulk candy vending machine business .
21. Mystery shopping .
22. Find missing money using sites like MissingMoney , Where’s My Refund , TreasuryHunt , PBGC database. and GovBenefits.gov .
23. Create and sell CafePress T-shirts .
24. Set up niche online store. Some good examples are Amazon.com aStore  and eBay Niche Store .
25. Participate in paid focus group  studies.
26. Sell your body parts and fluids .
27. Collect cans and bottles for recycling .