Sat, May 26, 2012, 9:54 AM EDT - U.S. Markets closed

5 Ways to Make an Extra $500 a Month

There is nothing like making a little extra money on the side. If you want to make more money, the quickest way to make it happen is sell something you already know how to do. Below are my top five ways to make an extra $500 per month:

1. Rent out your living room. Make a cool video of your living space, post a few pictures of your cozy apartment, and voila ... you have a mini bed and breakfast business on your hands. Simply put: Allow people to rent your couch on airbnb.com. If you have a guest bedroom or a living room with a couch, you can make some extra cash today. Who knows? You might even make a friend or two.

[See The 50 Best Careers of 2011.]

2. Rent out your car. If you have a car sitting around in a garage or on the streets, you can rent it out for a couple of hours on GetAround.com. You can even park it near your office and only allow rentals during the times you are in the office. This could be the very start to your car rental empire. Watch out Hertz, there's a new rental car service in town.

3. Sell your knowledge. You will be surprised how much you know that other people don't. For example, you might be an amazing dancer, an Excel spreadsheet master, a great resume writer, or a social media whiz. Don't let all that talent go to waste! People will pay you to teach them your skills. You can easily make this happen by selling your knowledge in a form of a class on www.udemy.com. All you need to do is post videos of you teaching something and customers will pay to watch them.

[See The 50 Best Places to Work for 2012.]

4. Cook for people. I can't remember the last time I had a healthy home-cooked meal. I'm constantly eating out, and I jump at the chance to eat a home-cooked meal. If you are a good cook, you can make a little extra food and sell it for a little extra cash on cookitfor.us. It isn't that much time for you, since you have to cook anyway, and it can fill up your wallet. Don't be surprised if Anthony Bourdain comes knocking for an invitation one day.

[See 8 Reasons to Continue Your Holiday Job Search.]

5. Sell your services. Are you great at something? Sell mini projects that you can do $5 at a time on fiverr.com. You can sell logo design, Facebook help, relationship advice, and much more. Be careful to make sure you don't spend to much time on one particular task, you are only getting paid $5 for it after all. This is also a great way to build your portfolio.

Rishi Shah helps people get customers. You can download his eBook "10 Paying Customers in 10 Days" for free when you join his newsletter here. He is a member of The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country's most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to youth unemployment and underemployment and provides its members with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of a business's development and growth.



More From US News & World Report
 

39 comments

  • JOHN  •  5 months ago
    Why not write a stupid story like this one and get US NEWS to print it
    • Roger J 5 months ago
      TIME magazine will take it
  • Marcia  •  5 months ago
    You've got to be kidding! Allow total strangers to use your home or car? With all the weirdos, scammers and criminals out there? This is one of the stupidest articles I've ever seen! Wayyyyyyy too high risk for suggestions #1 & #2.
    • D 5 months ago
      Totally agree!!!!!!!!!!!
    • D 5 months ago
      and agree with John too...I think this writer must be from another country....or planet
  • Truthsayer  •  5 months ago
    6-become a Bankster and have Congress throw taxpayer money at you.
  • A Yahoo! User  •  5 months ago
    Ya! all that its said,Make some extra money by letting someone use your car or truck so I can hit another car or truck?I did that one time I let a dope friend talk me into loaning my car out to the "Dope Man" for a couple of chunk of crack and they ended up not being my car back,So go ahead and loan out your vehicle and see what happen!! Ha! Ha! Ha!
    • PHILIP 5 months ago
      It seems that crack messed up your diction as well.
    • A Yahoo! User 5 months ago
      your right this a stupid article ,I guess so many people out their in the world has nothing else better to do with there time,maybe they should watch a Cheeching & Chong Movies like up in Smoke,That was a classic!! i agree.
  • lola  •  Kansas City, Missouri  •  5 months ago
    who ever wrote this piece should try these in thier home first and let me know how it works out for you
    • RishiS 5 months ago
      I've rented out my apartment and worked out quite nicely. Made some extra money while I was on vacation.
  • bringingupbugandbee  •  Albuquerque, New Mexico  •  5 months ago
    Why? Why? Why???????? Why do I keep clicking on Yahoo! Articles like this? It's like I'm one of Pavlov's damned dogs! Must! Stop! Clicking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • why  •  5 months ago
    After you try #1 and get killed I guess the rest doesn't matter!
    • Henry 5 months ago
      i like that lmao
  • Jeffrey7500PV  •  5 months ago
    Or better yet, become a Congressman. You don't have to know or do anything (or even show up) while bilking the taxpayers out of $13,750 a month.
  • harry  •  5 months ago
    does yahoo pay u for stupid idea's - i wood fire u
  • reasonable  •  5 months ago
    yep, then it will take you six months to evict the idiot and $1200 in court cost. while he/she trashes your house! great idea.
  • pit bulls bite  •  5 months ago
    (1) rent living room / violate your lease (2) rent car / void car insurance (3) yahoo posters aren't smart enough to sell their lack of knowledge (4) cooking for people is probably illegal (5) ladies this your best bet.
  • RANDALL DARNELL  •  5 months ago
    rent your room , i am sure some one will manufacture some meth' you will have to deal with it and the law.
  • GetOverIt  •  5 months ago
    Or, you could rent out your clothes, children or heck even your pets.
  • gonzo  •  Cleveland, Ohio  •  5 months ago
    Rent out your bathroom......It is more modern than my living room
  • tree  •  Concord, California  •  5 months ago
    # 2 rent out your car... doesn't tell you about the increased liability or cost of insurance for doing that. and what if there is damage, theft etc.

    Rent out your living room? Same issues not to mention the dangers.

    Here's a rock solid idea.... come up with some really stupic ways to make extra money and publish them.
  • RickKarenH  •  San Francisco, California  •  5 months ago
    This is by far the dumbest article ever printed!
  • OreoBoots  •  5 months ago
    Dumb article
  • pit bulls bite  •  5 months ago
    the only one that makes sense in selling a service. i could use a woman's services, if you know what i mean........
  • VOTE with SENSE  •  Fort Worth, Texas  •  5 months ago
    6. Go on Welfare
  • Joe  •  Phoenix, Arizona  •  5 months ago
    ONE OF THE MOST REDICULOUS STORIES EVER! WHY NOT SELL BODY PARTS TOO!
 
Recent Quotes
Symbol Price Change % Chg 
Your most recently viewed tickers will automatically show up here if you type a ticker in the "Enter symbol/company" at the bottom of this module.
You need to enable your browser cookies to view your most recent quotes.
 
Sign-in to view quotes in your portfolios.

Trading Center

Yahoo! Finance on Facebook

  YAHOO! FINANCE ON TWITTER