Introduction

Whether you want to make some extra cash between work shifts or you’re bored and want to be productive in your spare time, there are ways you can make money without much dedication on your part. Sure, you could use your spare time to start a side gig and earn some money, but we’ve tried to keep this list full of activities that don’t take much effort.

That way, you can earn money relatively easily and quickly, so you can enjoy the rest of your spare time. These are often called micro-jobs that are offered by services like Remotasks. You can find five micro-jobs below, check them out and see if you can fit some of them into your schedule.

1. Online Surveys

There are advertisements for online surveys everywhere, which may seem too good to be true and put you off the idea. Many of the ads try to sell you a dream, that you can make an income answering inane questions on the Internet, but that’s obviously not how that works.

You won’t make a lot of money doing online surveys… but you can make some money. For how overhyped many of these services are, they still pay for five to fifteen minutes of your spare time. It’s better than slouching in front of a TV, though you can do both at once!

You sign up for these services by signaling your interest. You’ll typically have to give your email or some other contact information, which is used to send you surveys. Many surveys are targeting certain demographics, so you can add your voice into the mix and make some cash by doing so. You’ll typically make 50 cents to 5 dollars per survey and many offer gift cards and Amazon discounts instead.

2. Reading Emails

Having mentioned email, you can also make some money by reading emails for certain companies. The companies want people who will click on their emails and then click on the link inside. Clicking on links inside emails is risky business, so you should do your due diligence and figure out if the business is legitimate.

Why do they want you to do this? It’s quite simple. The companies doing the marketing for the site through the link will get a small commission for each visitor that is sent there. By sending you there, the owners will pay the marketers who will cycle some of that cash to you.

3. Playing Games

Even if you've got all the gaming gear, unless you get into esports or streaming, you won’t make a full income by playing your favorite video games. That said, some sites will pay a few dollars to play certain games. Mistplay is a popular option for those who play mobile games often while Swagbucks also has several services that pay those for playing games.

Your mileage while playing these games will vary. They’re typically simple games that are presented to you for play, either for testing or data purposes, so you won’t get paid for playing the latest AAA titles. That said, they’re a great way to find a variety of lesser-known games and see what’s trending in digital gaming marketplaces right now.

4. Human Intelligence Tasks

Human Intelligence Tasks (HITs) are another great way to make some extra cash in your spare time. Companies like Mechanical Turk (MTurk) have many of these tasks and micro-jobs that are best done by people online instead of automated by a computer program. Don’t worry, the tasks are still very simple, like tagging images to labels and using other inferential reasoning that machines just aren’t good at yet.

You don’t get that much for the tasks, only a few cents, but you can spend a half-hour or an hour doing them quite easily. If you do that, you can stack up those cents and come away from the month having made around a hundred dollars.

5. Credit Card Rewards

You can make some extra cash if you have a credit card and a good credit score. Whether it’s the local store or your favorite online retailers, many offer sign-up bonuses for new cardholders that you should take.

From there, the rewards vary. For Amazon, the largest online retailer that everybody has heard of, you can get an Amazon credit card and get a few dollars to go toward future purchases.

You need to be responsible with your credit card, obviously. Missing payments will harm your credit score and eat up any rewards you’re getting.