10 Best Passive Income Ideas You Can Start Today

Creative Ways To Make Money Consistently

Have you been looking for different ways to make extra money consistently? Are you trying to find the best passive income ideas that actually work?

Chances are, you clicked on this article for that very reason.

But I’ve got good news for you! We have 10 of the BEST simple ways to earn passive income.

To manage your expectations appropriately, passive income will require some sort of effort. It is NOT free money, but it is simply the best way to continuously make money with very little effort.
So let’s define what passive income actually is.

What is Passive Income?

Passive income is income that requires little to no effort to earn and maintain. And the examples I have for you will emphasize exactly that!

Could you use some extra money?

Most people get paid just enough to pay their bills. This is exactly why we could all use passive income!

What have you saved for unexpected expenses? Anything?

If you’re living what feels like a paycheck to paycheck lifestyle, “I CAN RELATE!” This is why I am sharing this post because I’ve been there, shuffled through the deck of passive income ideas, and have found a way to enjoy passive income that makes money based on what I’ve already done. It’s discipline and work required at first, but then you start to see it pay off.

What helped me was searching for different ways to make extra money for my unplanned expenses. Then I stopped complaining and actually did something to fix my situation.

I began to resell products on Amazon for my passive income side hustle and get this, it earned me over $9,000 profit in less than 7 months!! I couldn’t believe it!

Yes! SIDE HUSTLES WORK!! I’m proof!

You can see how I did that here How To Sell on Amazon FBA For Beginners.

In case you’re interested in finding other ways to make an active income, make sure to check out:

10 Best Side Hustle Ideas You Can Start Today
How to Become a Property Preservation Contractor and Earn $200K+ per Year
10 Best Tips: How To Sell on eBay for Beginners

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.

Before we dive too far into how to earn passive income, let’s stop to consider how to reduce fixed expenses.

When you reduce your fixed expenses it’s the equivalent of creating passive income.

If you’ve got debt (i.e., student loans, credit card debt, medical debt, etc.) consider it BAD debt. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always hated it when people say they have “Good Debt”, there’s no such thing. DEBT IS DEBT!

Make sure to check out the articles below to help you cut expenses and save:

10 Best Steps to Drastically Cut Your Monthly Expenses
10 Things Women Can Do To Save $15,000 in a Year!

If you’d rather have someone do it for you, check out Trim!

Trim acts as your Personal Financial Assistant. It renegotiates your Comcast bill for a lower price, car insurance, and finds additional ways to save you money? Click here to check it out for free.

Money saved is money earned.

What are they getting out of it? Trim makes money by taking 25% of the money they save you, so you know they’re working extra hard to save you money.

Here are the Best Passive Income Ideas you Can Start Today

1. Make Money With What You Already Know

One of the easiest forms of passive income is to identify ways to earn with things you already do!

For instance, shopping, eating, walking, etc. Just take a look at some of the examples below for ideas to make money with things you already do. These are the BEST kinds of passive income ideas so make sure to bookmark this post to refer back to it later.

Rakuten
- Did you know you can earn money from shopping?! Rakuten has paid me over $200 this year alone just from shopping online through their site. The only thing you’re required to do is go to Rakuten or enable the plugin through your browser BEFORE you purchase. It will display as shown below.

Make sure you click on “Activate % Cash Back” and you’re good to go. You can sign up for Rakuten here.

Dosh
- The easiest way to make money when spending! This cashback automatically gives you money when you spend money at their partners like Wendy’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and many more. I love it! You don’t have to accumulate any points or coupons. Just cold, hard cash. You can sign up for Dosh here.
Open Table
- Going out to eat? Make a reservation via OpenTable and earn points that will earn you Perks! Like $25 – $50 Amazon Gift Cards, Hotel savings through Kayak.com, or even a monthly subscription to a magazine for 2 years! We eat out all the time so why not make money off it?
Sweatcoin
- Earn Sweatcoin credit to buy cool products or services just by WALKING. Or earn money via PayPal by inviting your friends and family. It doesn’t get much easier than that. No, you won’t make a million dollars but why not earn just for walking? This stuff adds up. You can sign up for Sweatcoin here.
Credit Card Rewards
- Although there are plenty of cash-back credit cards, below are my top two favorites that I personally use!
  1. American Express Blue Cash Everyday
    - I absolutely love my AMEX! I’ve earned over $150 in Cashback and they offer discounts to spend with your favorite stores which is a HUGE perk in my book. With this card, they offer $200 cashback when you spend $1K in the first 3 months + 3% Cashback at supermarkets and gas stations with NO ANNUAL FEE! Disclaimer: I only advise doing this if you can pay your monthly statement in FULL! That’s the only way this works.
      - You can sign up to get your American Express Blue CashEveryday Card here.
  2. American Express Platinum Delta
    - I ADORE my AMEX Delta card. My husband and I went on 3 trips last year for FREE! That’s right FREE just because of the points we racked up with this card. If you’re looking for a travel credit card THIS is it! Plus, you’ll earn 80,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months.
      - You can sign up to get your American Express Platinum Delta Card here.
Swagbucks
- Ok, so this one isn’t technically something you already do, BUT, if you’ve got 30 minutes or less to spare you can earn with Swagbucks in 3 simple steps.
  1. Sign up with Swagbucks for free.
  2. Earn points for answering surveys, watching entertaining videos, shopping online, and more.
  3. Redeem your points for free gift cards to over 100 of your favorite retailers.
- You can sign up for Swagbucks here.

2. Resell Products on Amazon

I earned over $9,000 in profit from reselling products on Amazon.

I can’t believe I just said that! It still seems pretty crazy.

In my first year of reselling, I earned over $9,000 in profit selling products on Amazon while working a full-time job and I didn’t even give it my all.

Most of the products I sourced were Retail Arbitrage (buying products in your local retail stores and them online for a profit) from places like CVS, Kohls, and Meijer.

I began shipping my products to Amazon FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon) because running home after work and trying to make it to the post office before they closed every day became exhausting. The FBA fees were worth it.

When you use Amazon FBA, they will ship, package, and handle all of the customer services for your products. That’s what makes it so great.

Let me be clear, shipping via Amazon FBA* is (in my opinion) completely passive! I just sit back and watch as sales come in. I don’t have to ship, handle customer service, talk to customers, or anything. Once the products are in Amazon’s hands, I’m hands-free.

If you’re interested in selling on Amazon, here are my 5 Best Tips on How To Sell on Amazon FBA.

Although reselling on eBay, Mercari, Etsy, and Poshmark are not as passive as Amazon FBA they are still money makers that can be a great source of passive income.

You can see how I sell products on those platforms here.

3. Smart & Easy Banking

Did you know you could earn up to .05% APY (Annual Percentage Yield) with a savings account with an American Express Savings Account?

Please know, the rate changes depending on the economy.

Their particular offer varies depending on your location, but you can learn more here. .05% could earn you a lot more than the general saving dividend of around .15%. There are no minimums, no fees, and 24/Customer support!

What’s your current savings rate?

Make sure you shop around for the best APY or CD (certificate of deposit). I’ve had several CD’s over the years with my credit union and earned hundreds because they offer great rates! But make sure you have another savings account or a solid emergency fund just in case you need it.

You don’t want to be penalized for withdrawing your CD before it’s time. Shop around at your local credit union.

Saving is good, but smart saving is better. Make sure to get personal with your money. I’d rather know more about the ins and outs of my money vs. knowing everything about the latest news on TMZ.

4. Invest With Muscle

Saving is investing… in the bank, but investing is saving with some power behind it. Sure, it may be riskier, but there are more gains (maybe even much MORE gains).

While there are hundreds of ways to invest, I’m providing you what I consider to be the BEST USER-FRIENDLY apps that help you invest passively.

The most time-consuming task you’ll do with stocks is doing your research to make sure you know and feel like whatever you’re investing in is indeed worth it.

If it is, you’ll do the work, buy the shares, and sit back and watch it grow.

One of the best and easiest ways to invest is to invest your spare change!

1. STASH

STASH is essentially a do-it-all home for your money.

Let’s say you’ve had your eye on Adobe Stock for quite some time, but it’s priced outside of your budget. With STASH, they allow you to purchase fractional shares.

Fractional shares allow you to purchase smaller pieces of investments, rather than having to buy the full share. This way, you can buy any dollar amount of Adobe stock, or any other fund or stock you know on Stash.

Give or take, you invest $5.00 into Adobe Shares, over the next few months, you check back to this share and it’s now sitting at $45 vs. the $5 you started with.

Be sure to check out the Stock Market and how it’s holding up. The market fluctuates, so be sure to check in often.

With STASH you’ll get 1) Affordable investing, 2) Online banking, 3) Simple automation, and 4) Personal guidance.

They have over 400 stocks and funds with no add-on trading commissions!

2. Acorns

With Acorns, you can set aside the leftover change from everyday purchases by turning on automatic Round-Ups.

For example, if you go to McDonald’s and your total comes out to $8.31, with round-ups, Acorns will automatically round the price up to $9.00 and invest $.69 into your portfolio.

It only takes 5 minutes to sign up and automatically adds money to your diversified portfolio.

I know it may seem small, but even small things add up.

Sign up with Acorns here.

3. Robinhood

I’ve been using Robinhood for a long time and I love it!

One of the main things I love about Robinhood is that they have COMMISSION FREE investing. Anytime I see the word ‘free’ my ears perk up!

Personally, I don’t like to invest anything more than $5 per share, because I like to play it safe. I’m still learning how stocks work and until I do, I rather not risk a lot of my money.

One thing about stocks and Robinhood that I love, is that I can set up a “Stop-Loss” to protect my investment, and sell the stock when it hits the amount I’m happy with.

Sign up and get your FREE ROBINHOOD STOCK.

5. Monetize a Blog

Did you know some bloggers (the ones who really take it seriously) make $10K+ a month on average?

I know, right!? I couldn’t believe it either.

But my sister makes that much and I’m on my way to doing just that! I think it’s amazing how you can make money with a blog.

If you want to start a blog you’ll want to figure out how you can help people. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel if someone has a blog about what you want to talk about, that’s fine.

Just write better content, go over and beyond what they did and stand out.

The way to make passive income blogging is through ads on your site and affiliate marketing.

The recipe for successful blogging is to write articles, get it to rank on Google, and sit back and make money on ad income and affiliate sales.

6. Sell Physical & Digital Products Online

Do you have a craft you can sell? Turn your crafts into cash with an Etsy or Shopify store and sell your products online. Try Shopify out for FREE with a 14-day trial.

It doesn’t have to be something you know how to do right at this moment, you can learn to create different things people want or need. For example, creating a hat for a newborn, or seating chart template for a wedding reception.

Don’t be afraid to get creative. Most likely there’s a buyer out there.

Etsy is one of the easiest ways to start an online business. Etsy is a platform that lets users buy and sell handcrafted arts and crafts.

Don’t forget about digital products! If you’re good at organizing, artwork, or creating templates? Sell Printables.

If this sounds like something you’re interested in, you need to check out this FREE eBook selling Printables ‘The Seasonal Products Secret’. This ebook will give you a secret list of best-selling products by month and teach you how to capitalize on seasonal trends to make sales.

It’s a game-changer and you can download it now, for a limited time, absolutely FREE!

Once you decide if ‘printables’ could be your source of passive income, make sure you sign up for the E-Printables Side Hustle Course.

Once you get these products created and listed, this truly becomes a source of passive income.

Don’t miss this chance, sign up for the E-Printable Side Hustle Course NOW!

Now that we’re halfway through, I thought it’d be good to pause and tell you about some Passive Income Books that will keep you motivated and keep that drive you had when you first started reading this article.

Top 5 Passive Income Books

Definitely, something to check out to stay motivated.

7. Earn Passive Income From Rental Properties

Real Estate is a great way to start building your overall wealth-building plan.

According to Chris Hogan, rental properties can be a great source of passive income once you get a rental up and running. You’ll have to buy a property and fix it up, but once you get a renter, it’s one of the best passive income ideas you’ll find.

Other than needing cash to cover any repairs or maintenance, your part is mostly all hands-off! Plus, there’s even less for you to do if you hire a property management company and then you’ve made this business completely passive!

If you’re anything like me, I’m a little hesitant to jump into something without being fully and financially prepared. So I HIGHLY recommend having a fully-funded emergency fund which means 3–6 months of expenses covered.

Make sure to do your homework before allowing someone to rent your property. You want to make sure they keep it in good condition and also make sure you’re able to keep up with the rental payments.

Make Money With Bank Owned Property

Did you know you can Make Money by keeping up Bank-Owned Homes? I know, I couldn’t believe it either.

Let me explain…

I met Danielle Pierce at a financial conference earlier last year who is doing this and earning OVER $200,000 per year while still finding the time to homeschool her 3 children!

This is called Property Preservation or Repairing Foreclosed Homes. Danielle handles the administrative work and outsources 100% of the other work.

You can find out more about how it all works in my Property Preservation Contractor article.

If you’re interested right off the bat, make sure to sign up here for her FREE MasterClass.

8.Take Photos

Do you love taking photos? Are you considered the family photographer?

Get paid for it! Consider photography as your source of passive income.

There are plenty of ways to earn income from photography. However, the best way to make it become passive income is when you put it on sites iStock, Shutterstock, etc. Photography is a great passive income idea if you love taking photos.

Click here to become a contributor to Shutterstock.

I purchased my Canon EOS Rebel T6i Body, and I’ve taken AMAZING pictures with it. I also purchased the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens which is a KEY component of taking quality photos.

It is an investment that can pay off significantly!

For not so passive income ideas you can also:

Contact your local real estate agents and offer your services to take professional pictures of their new listings.
Offer your services for free to friends and family who want to take holiday, newborn, senior, wedding pictures, etc. Make sure they will allow you to put their photos in your portfolio. If you do a good job, those same people could turn into paying customers.

9. Monetize a Youtube Channel

Are you ready to be the face of your brand? If so, consider becoming a Youtuber.

How much do Youtubers make?

Well, I’m glad you asked…

According to ‘Learning Hub’, once you’ve established your following, Youtubers charge brands anywhere from $10 to $50 per 1,000 views, depending on the estimated amount of total views for the pending video. If the video hits 1 million views, then the Youtuber makes anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000.

Steps to Take to Make Money With Youtube

Create Your Channel: To earn directly through YouTube, you’ll need to go to your account and create a channel.

To start earning, you’ll need at least 10,000 channel views. The more videos you have, the easier it is to reach that 10,000-view threshold.

Connect to Google AdSense: Once you’re approved as a Youtube partner, you can connect your channel to Google AdSense, the company’s advertising system. Advertisers use AdSense to bid for space on videos based on factors such as your audience, video topic, and relevant keywords.
Sell products or services to viewers: If you have merchandise or offer a service that’s relevant to your audience, let them know about it and provide links in your videos.

10. Rent Out A Room In Your Home

While I know this may not be appealing to most, hear me out…

I cringed at the idea myself, but it’s hard to turn down money once you realize how much you could be making with this passive income idea.

For instance, you could rent out a room in your home ranging from $300 – $1000 per month. Over the course of a year, that’s $3,600 – $12,000 extra in your pocket per year for doing absolutely nothing but having a roommate.

You can’t beat that!

If this sounds like something you are interested in, make sure you sign up to earn money as an Airbnb host.

I realize since you’re opening up your home, you want to be sure you’re letting in a “decent person”. That’s why I think there are 3 huge perks selecting Airbnb as your hosting site.

A. YOU Run your Household

No matter what kind of home or room you have to share, Airbnb makes it simple and secure to host travelers. You’re in full control of your availability, prices, house rules, and how you interact with guests.

B. Airbnb Protects YOU as the Host

To keep you, your home, and your belongings safe, we cover every booking with $1M USD in property damage protection and another $1M USD in insurance against accidents.

C. Ensure Your Guests are Verified

In my opinion, this is the most important part. Airbnb requires guests to provide certain information before they can make a reservation, like a confirmed phone number and email address.

I don’t know about you, but a confirmed phone number and email address won’t do it for me. So for added control, you can require guests to also provide recommendations from other hosts and a verified ID.

Of course, if you’re renting a place where you aren’t currently staying, you can be much more lax about this.

Bonus Passive Income Ideas

Do you have a large following? Become a Digital Influencer.

If you have a large following, the best thing you can do is to identify ways to monetize it. For instance, LikeToKnowIt powered by Reward Style. Have you ever heard of it?! If not, LikeToKnowIt is a platform where social media influencers have exclusive access to monetization tools, a global network of 5,000 retail partners, and tailored growth services to help increase their following all designed to power the monetization of your content.

This means they will pay you for the clothes you wear!!!

As people come to your page and see an outfit they like or home decor items and purchase through your referral link, you get the commission. This could be from a post you did a year ago or longer.

Let’s say you have 10K followers on Instagram, you could post an item of clothing you’re wearing, include your affiliate link to purchase the item, and wa-lah. This is definitely a great passive income idea.

If you’ve got a strong or growing following, make sure you apply!! Or else, you’re just sitting on money wasted.

2. Get Paid To Lose Weight with HealthyWage

HealthyWage is a health and wellness money earning app supported by the Government to incentivize people to lose weight by putting their own money at risk with the potential of YOU earning up to $10,000!

Yes, you heard right, they provide weight loss and fitness challenges with CASH PRIZES!

Here’s How It Works:

Start with the HealthyWage Prize Calculator
Enter how much weight you want to lose, how long you’ll take to lose it
How much you want to bet a month for that period of time.

The calculator determines your prize amount, up to $10,000. You can play around with the calculator until you get your desired prize amount.

Achieve your weight-loss goal, and win your prize!

If you don’t hit your goal, your money goes to support HealthyWage, including prizes for others who achieve their goals.

If you’re working your way down on the scale, this is a great passive income idea for you! You’ll be working on losing weight anyway, so why not?

You can see how Jennifer won $4,181, and Anastasia won $10,000.

Click Here To See How Much You Can Make.

Have you found anything you’d like to do on this list? Let me know in the comment section below.

If you liked this article, there’s more. I’m working on some more passive income ideas so subscribe to my mailing list to stay up-to-date. Click here to subscribe.

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10 Best Passive Income Ideas You Can Start Today - Annie's Inspo (2024)