20 Side Gigs That Will Put $100 or More in Your Pocket

Since we’ll stop traffic to pick up change, we’ll definitely hustle a little harder to earn $100. If you’re wondering how to make money, there are plenty of ways to do it, too.

Whether you’ve got a special skill, reselling savvy or want to earn back on the purchases you’ve already made, we’ve figured out some great options for making your next quick $100.

1. Share Stories About Your Kids on Scary Mommy

If you’ve got kids, you’ve got automatic story generators.

From pregnancy fashion choices to dealing with finding your tween daughter’s dating profile, there’s lots to say about parenthood. And on Scary Mommy, it’s “real talk” only — no sanitized, TV-commercial family frolicking in a white-picket-fenced yard.

As long as you have a way with words, you can generate some cash off those face-palm parenting snafus.

Here are eight parenting magazines and blogs that pay contributors, averaging about $100 per submission.

3. Earn Up to $200 Surfing the Internet

I love this one, because you just set it and forget it.

Did you know that Swagbucks will pay you for making searches on your computer or phone? Swagbucks is powered by Yahoo search so it’s the same results you normally see, plus they give you a free $5 just to sign up and make your first search! 

It’s not a lot of money, but I usually earn about $100-$200/ year in passive income doing this. Easy work though — can’t complain.

4. Test Drive a Car

Car dealerships often offer incentives to customers to come in and take a look at their cars.

They’ll give you cash or a gift card just to take a new car for a spin.

For example, Kia dealerships were recently giving $25 to anyone who came in and test drove a new car. How easy is that?

I’ve often seen these incentives go up to $100, which is pretty great considering this takes less than an hour of your time. A great way to find promotions is to check your local newspaper’s classified section.

Pay attention to advertisements on TV as well for national advertising campaigns by major automobile companies.

5. Get Cash Back From MyPoints

Have you heard of MyPoints? They are a cash-back site that lets you earn rewards by shopping online and printing coupons. We use them all the time at our house, because it’s instant way to save on everything you buy (for example, they give you up to 5% cash-back on every purchase you make at Amazon).

But, enough about that, here’s how to get a free $10 Amazon gift card:

1. Sign up for MyPoints here using your email address (it’s free).
2. Use the MyPoints portal the next time you need to shop online (it’s connected to thousands of stores including Walmart, Amazon, and Target).
3. As long as you spend $10 at any of those stores, MyPoints will reward you with 1,750 bonus points which you can redeem for a free $10 Amazon gift card.

6. Join a Focus Group

Most of you know surveys aren’t our favorite way to make extra money, but we make an exception when we’re just vegging out on the couch. We figure as long as we’re just watching TV, there’s no reason we can’t click a few buttons at the same time.

Vip Voice is a legitimate paid survey company (it’s rated an A+ with the Better Business Bureau).

I’ve heard some of the top-end surveys can pay up to $95, but those are rare and can take awhile to complete. Most surveys pay a buck or two and only take 10-15 minutes, making it pretty easy to earn $100 or more per month.

7. Sell Board Game Pieces

Ever seen a board game in the thrift store but noticed with great sadness it was missing half the pieces?

You might want to put the game in your shopping cart anyway. One Penny Hoarder made $250 in six months selling spare board game pieces online. You can even sell “mystery bags” of pieces for $12 a pop!

It may take some time for your listings to sell, but if you follow Laura’s guide, you can probably make $100 in about three months.

8. Drive With Lyft

Need a fun, flexible way to earn money while also meeting lots of new people?

Try driving with Lyft!

Demand for ride-sharing has been growing like crazy, and it shows no signs of slowing down. To be eligible, you’ll need to be at least 21 years old with a year of driving experience, pass a background check and own a car made in 2007 or later.

We talked to Paul Pruce, who’s been driving full-time with Lyft for over a year. He earns $750 a week as a driver.

Best of all, he does it on his own time. You can drive days, nights or weekends — it’s up to you!

9. Watch More TV

It’s definitely possible to get paid to watch TV.

Download the Perk Pop Quiz app and pick from one of the many trivia categories — The 90’s & The 2000s, Music & Movie Quotes and Famous Slogans are just a few.

The more correct answers you rack up, the more points you get. You can redeem those points for gift cards to Amazon, Starbucks, Nike, GameStop, Target and other stores.

You’re not going to get rich doing this, but it’s a fun way to make an extra $15 to $20 a month for the shows you already enjoy watching.

10. Sell Your Food Packaging

Instead of tossing your food packages in the trash or the recycling bin, why not sell them on Ebay?

Not every piece of trash is created equally, but the “Reward Points/Incentive Program” category is a popular place to sell food packages that can be redeemed in different loyalty programs.

For example, General Mill’s Boxtops for Education sell for around 10 cents each on eBay and Coca-Cola caps sell for around 25 cents. Even Campbell’s soup labels can be sold for extra money.

Read more about how to sell food packaging here.

11. Braid Horse Manes

Ever wonder how much it costs to maintain a horse’s locks? More than you might think!

Contributor Kat Tretina started braiding the manes and tails of show horses after she learned the task could earn her $100 per horse.

The job requires dexterity and a bit of horse appreciation, but if you live in horse country, it could pay off.

12. Resell Thrift Store Clothes

Always finding the best brands at thrift stores?

Always feeling disheartened when the awesome bargain isn’t your size? Take it home anyway, and flip it on eBay.

One contributor took a $5 pair of thrift store jeans and sold them online for $50. Can you imagine making $100 just for reselling two pairs of designer jeans?

13. Sell Craft Supplies

Not thrilled about trying to recoup the money you spent on crafty projects by selling them?

Maybe you can earn more — without the time investment — by selling supplies. Contributor Janet Berry-Johnson bought cross-stitch patterns at thrift stores and resold them on Etsy, earning $600 in her online shop’s first five months.

To pick up supplies on the cheap, check thrift stores, Craigslist, Facebook yard sale groups or even craft stores when they’re having major clearance sales.

14. Earn $100+ By Opening a New Bank Account

There are a number of banks that will give you free cash just for opening a new account.

There’s no harm in having multiple bank accounts. In fact, I often find it’s helpful to have multiple places to save (I’m less likely to touch the money), so I have savings accounts for my Christmas fund and my vacation fund.

The top bank bonus is $250 right now — head over to this list to see all of the banks in you area that are offering free cash.

15. Deliver Groceries

While you’re at the store, earn extra money picking up someone else’s groceries.

Connect with clients through TaskRabbit or Instacart. Pick up and deliver groceries to people in your area who don’t have the time or interest for grocery shopping.

Use these apps to work whenever you want to make some extra money. You might as well pick up a job anytime you’re headed to the store yourself.

Instacart is an app designed solely for grocery pickup and delivery in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

After brief training, you can log on to Instacart when you want to work and accept job assignments. Shoppers can earn up to $25 an hour during peak hours, plus occasional tips.

Make $100 in four trips to the store? It’s almost too easy.

Meanwhile, TaskRabbit is a general gig site available in 18 U.S. cities and London. You can pick up tasks from housecleaning to bartending at a private party — or shopping and delivery.

16. Sell Baked Goods

One enterprising woman told us how she makes $500 to $600 each monthselling baked goods at farmers’ markets and to her neighbors.

Setting up a baking business is different in every state, but the startup costs are low — you probably already have the supplies and just need to stock up on ingredients.

Just testing the waters? Go into it with a bake-sale mentality and sell small items to friends, family and neighbors. Charge a few bucks for a slice of your best dessert and earning $100 could be a piece of cake.

17. Become a Pro Pooper Scooper

If you already pick up your own dog’s poop, or if you don’t own a dog but want an easy way to make some money, you could actually get paid to pick up dog poop.

A pooper-scooper can make $40 to $45 per hour if he works with an average of four clients per hour, says Matthew Osborn, former professional pooper-scooper and author of “The Professional Pooper-Scooper.”

We even found one guy who turned this crappy problem into a $1.5 million startup!

18. Feed a Cat

Want to make $20 a day just for checking up on Fluffy or Fido?

Sign up for a site like DogVacay and pick up pet-sitting gigs when you’re itching for a few extra bucks. The more care required, the more you tend to get paid.

Walking dogs pays more than feeding cats. Staying overnight with a pet pays more than either of the first two options, and so on.

But hey, when the weather’s nice, those dog walks can be great exercise.

19. Get Paid to Earn Straight A’s

Got big goals for your grades this semester?

Earn cash for studying by signing up for Ultrinsic. Choose an incentive by course, or set a goal for the whole semester to find out what you can get paid for making the grade.

20. Get a $100 Bonus For Opening a Motif Account

Update: This offer has expired.

Motif Investing is unique among online brokers, because instead of picking individual stocks, you invest in a cluster of stocks (usually 20 to 30) from a similar field.  Sort of like a mutual fund, but the motifs range from Clean Energy, to Republican Companies, to Healthy and Tasty, to Obamacare.  Basically any interest you have or trend you’d like to invest in can be found on Motif…

Even better, they’re giving away a ton of cash right now. If you open a new account with $1,000 and make one trade, you’ll earn $100.

Now Motif charges $9.95 for each trade you make, so you’re going to net $90.05 in extra cash with this one.  That’s like getting all of your transaction fees free AND earning $100 extra. Sweet! Sign up here.

(Editor’s Note: The sign-up bonus is no longer available, but you can still get 3 months of Motif service for free.)

Read more about it here: “How to Make $100 This Week with Motif Investing”

Your Turn: How did you make your last extra $100?

Advertiser Disclosure: We are paid for some of our opinions in the post and some links may redirect to an affiliate partner. We’re letting you know because it’s what Honest Abe would do. After all, he is on our favorite coin.