How to make money while housebound

Nadia Krige 18th Jun 2018 One Comment

Reading Time: 6 minutes

For many of us, working from home is the dream. However, sometimes you get forced into making money while housebound unexpectedly.

Often this may be due to an extended recovery period post-injury, illness or operation. Or perhaps, you find yourself housebound by association, taking care of a family member or friend.

While rest is of the utmost importance for the former and dedication the name of the game for the latter, staying busy with odd jobs around the house could help keep your mind off things. It could also be a great way to earn a bit of extra cash.

Here are 11 innovative ideas to make money while housebound:

• Freelance writing
• Sell your photography online
• Buy and sell clothes online
• Transcription work
• Online surveys
• Do tasks on Amazon Mechanical Turk
• Put your homemaking skills to good use
• Matched Betting
• Sell your used toilet rolls
• Join Magpie Money

 

Freelance writing

Have a talent for stringing sentence together and maybe even writing stories? You could always consider freelance writing as a way to make money while housebound!

There are a myriad ways to do this. From ghost blogging for companies to submitting interesting articles to publications to even finally getting that novel you’ve always been dreaming about out of your head and onto paper.

Also, if an accident, illness or injury put you in the position of being housebound, you might even consider writing a real-life story about it to encourage others in similar positions. You could make as much as £3,000 if your story gets picked up by various publications.

Read more about making money as a freelance writer.

 

Sell your photography online

Perhaps you have folders full of amazing photographs you’ve taken, but never had the time to sort. Well, now’s the perfect time. Plus, you could actually even make money in the process by selling some of your best shots online.

Sound a bit out of your league? Seriously, it isn’t! The need for affordable digital photographs is increasing and stock photo hosting sites are always happy to receive applications from amateur photographers. They don’t always pay much per photo (in the vicinity of £2 max), but the more you contribute, the more you will earn.

If you’re confident in your photography skills, however, you might want to consider selling your prints online. You can do this by setting up a simple blog and adding a shop feature. Market your work on Instagram and Facebook and you’re bound to have clients falling over their feet pretty soon.

Read more about making money by selling your photos online.

 

Buy and sell clothes online

Vintage/preloved clothing is growing in popularity among fashionistas all over the globe. Cash in on this eco-friendly and nostalgic trend by setting up an online shop of your own.

This is an especially great idea if you have a wardrobe full of almost new items you hardly ever wear. Sort through them and pick out items you know might catch the eye. Next, create a profile on eBay, Etsy and Instagram. Once you’ve done this, take some time to photograph the clothes in an attractive manner, decide on a price for each and upload onto your various platforms.

Once you get into it, you could also start buying new stock online and then reselling on your site.

Read this article for a few tips on how to run a successful second-hand clothing business.

 

Transcription work

If you have a knack for listening closely and typing speedily, you could put these talents to good use by transcribing documents. If you have previous experience in the medical, financial or legal fields, you’ll be an even more sought-after.

You can sign up for transcription jobs on various sites, such as Sterling Transcription and will generally get paid a rate per audio minute. While this rate will depend on a variety of factors, you can expect it to be between 50p and £1.

 

Online surveys

Whilst doing online surveys for money won’t provide you with a steady, substantial income, paid surveys are a great way to make money while housebound with very little effort.

There are various paid online survey sites you can sign up with. If you fill in one or two on a daily basis, you can even make in excess of £50 a month!

Sure, it’s not going to pay all your bills, but it could be a great way to save for a specific cause.

Read more about making money with online surveys.

 

Do tasks on Amazon Mechanical Turk

Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (known as the MTurk for short), offers willing workers across the globe the opportunity to make some extra cash by completing simple online tasks.

Based on the idea that human beings can still do certain things much more effectively than computers, Amazon MTurk is a marketplace that connects businesses with a scalable, crowdsourced workforce.

Jobs (known as HITs) you can expect to find on the site include things like data entry, URL searches, copy editing and user feedback experience.

You can expect to make between $2.50 and $5 an hour, especially if you take on a lot of small HITS that can be completed relatively quickly.

Unfortunately, only workers in the US and India can disburse their earnings into a bank account. Workers from all other countries can transfer their earnings (always in US$) onto an Amazon gift card.

Read more about making money with Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.

 

Put your ‘homemaking skills’ to good use 

Ward of the cabin fever by putting some of your finer talents to good use. Things like sewing, ironing and cooking are the perfect way to make money while housebound.

Read more about making money by sewing.

Find out how to start your own ironing business.

Investigate the possibility of catering for functions and parties.

 

Matched betting

Over the past few years, matched betting has been growing in popularity and it’s easy to see why. It’s something you can do in your spare time without impacting on your family or social life. Plus, despite the link with gambling, matched betting is risk-free and guarantees profits from the huge range of betting promotions available from online bookmakers.

There is the potential to earn a regular income ranging from £500 to £1000 per month for only a few hours work each week.

Read more about matched betting and how it could help you make money while housebound.

 

Sell your old toilet rolls on eBay

While most of us might toss the little brown tube at the end of the toilet roll into the recycling bin without a second thought, a lot of people actually treasure them for the infinite DIY possibilities they hold.

If you make an effort to save each tube and then sell bulk packs of between 50 and 200 on eBay or Gumtree, you can get a pretty steady – albeit very small – income from very little effort.

Read more about making money from your used toilet rolls.

 

Join Magpie Money

Last, but certainly not least, join Magpie Money!

Magpie Money is our new scheme which rewards you for being a great reader.

• Reading our articles
• Taking part in competitions
• Leaving comments
• Doing surveys
• Taking advantage of offers

Sign up and start collecting now.